So, are we sure that Jesus Christ was an historical person?
By SCOTT
WILLIQUETTE
Associate Pastor, Grace
Baptist Church
Was Jesus Christ a flesh
and blood person or a mythi-
cal character used to commu-
nicate religious and moral
truths? Did He actually walk
on this earth or is He similar
to the characters in Aesop’s
fables? (Remember stories of
The Big, Bad Wolf and The
Tortoise and the Hare?)
I guess before we proceed,
we need to answer the ques-
tion, “Does it matter if Jesus
was a human being?” It does.
The gospel, the good news of
forgiveness and eternal life,
is a lie, an empty promise, if
Jesus did not walk this earth
as a member of the human
race. The Bible teaches that
we have all violated God’s
laws and will therefore be
punished unless a pure and
sinless human being
exchanges himself for us and
bears that punishment.
Because only perfect peo-
ple can inhabit God’s eternal
kingdom, we must also
somehow become pure in
His eyes. That can only occur
if the holiness of a sinless
human being is legally trans-
ferred to us. Finally, accord-
ing to 1 Timothy 2.5 only a
man could be the go-be-
tween, the mediator, between
God and other men. For all
these reasons, Jesus’ full
humanity is a necessary ele-
ment of the gospel and of
God’s plan for the human
race. Only the sinless Jesus,
who was both God and man,
could bear our punishment,
provide holiness to be trans-
ferred to us and mediate
between us and God the
Father.
If Jesus was not one of us,
the gospel is a sham. So, was
Jesus a member of the human
race or not? Numerous
ancient secular historians
testified as to the existence
of the Israelite, Jesus Christ.
Cornelius Tacitus, a Roman
historian, wrote in AD 112 of
Christus who “was put to
death by Pontius Pilate, proc-
urator of Judea in the reign
of Tiberius.” The secondcentury writer Lucian of
Samosata alluded to Jesus as
“the man who was crucified
in Palestine” because He
introduced a new religion to
the world. The famous
Jewish Pharisee and histori-
an Flavius Josephus who was
born a few years after Jesus
was crucified wrote, “Now
there was about this time
Jesus, a wise man, if it be
lawful to call Him a man, for
he was a doer of wonderful
works, a teacher.... He drew
over to Him both many of
the Jews, and many of the
Gentiles. He was the Christ,
and when Pilate at the sug-
gestion of the principle men
among us, had condemned
him to the cross, those that
loved Him at the first did not
forsake Him; for He appeared
to them alive again in the
third day.”
Many other ancient histo-
rians wrote of Jesus as a lit-
eral figure in human history,
including Thallus, a
Samaritan-born historian,
(AD 52), Plinus Secundus
(AD 112) and Suetonus (AD120). The 15th edition of the
Encyclopedia Britannica
uses 20,000 words to
describe the person of Jesus
Christ. Its description of
Jesus and His life takes up
more space than the articles
on Aristotle, Cicero.
Alexander, Julius Caesar, or
Napoleon Bonaparte.
Concerning the testimony of
the many independent secu-
lar accounts of Jesus of
Nazareth the Encyclopedia
Britannica records: “These
independent accounts prove
that in ancient times even the
opponents of Christianity
never doubted the historicity
of Jesus, which was disputed
for the first time and on inad-
equate grounds by secular
authors at the end of the 18th
, during the 19th , and at the
beginning of the 20th centu-
ries.”
As helpful as these
accounts are, the Bible pro-
vides authoritative proof of
Jesus’ human existence. It’s
divinely inspired historical
accounts leave no room for
doubt regarding the fact that
Jesus was both God and man
(see the four Gospels as your
primary source). For our pur-
poses in this article, let’s
focus on the words of Apostle
John in 1 John 1.1-3, “That
which was from the begin-
ning, which we have heard,
which we have seen with our
eyes, which we looked upon
and have touched with our
hands, concerning the word
of life--the life was made
manifest, and we have seenit, and testify to it and pro-
claim to you the eternal life,
which was with the Father
and was made manifest to
us--that which we have seen
and heard we proclaim also
to you.”
Here John records the
experiences of himself and
the other Apostles regarding
“that which was from the
beginning” and “the word of
life,” references to Jesus.
“We,” the Apostles, “heard”
Jesus speak every day. The
term used indicates that the
things Jesus said rang in their
ears for the rest of their lives.
John then states that they
“saw” Jesus with their own
eyes, and “looked upon”
Him. The phrase “which we
have seen with our eyes”
indicates the reality of Jesus’
humanity and physical body.
The words, “with our eyes”
make it clear that he is not
referring to something seen
in a vision or a dream. The
words “looked upon” go a
step further. They speak of
visual examination; to gaze
or stare at something.
The Apostles knew Jesus
was real and fully human
because they saw His physi-
cal body with their own eyes;
they visually scrutinized and
studied Him. Not only did
the Apostles hear and visual-
ly examine Jesus, but they
also handled His physical
body with their fingers
(“have touched with our
hands”). In Luke 24:39 Jesus
speaks to His disciples after
His resurrection and says,“Look at my hands and my
feet. It is I myself! Touch me
and see; a ghost does not
have flesh and bones, as you
see I have.” Twice in 1 John
1.2 we are told that Jesus was
“made manifest to” or
“appeared to” the world.
These words, central to
John’s argument, indicate
that multitudes of people saw
and heard Jesus during His
earthly life. Jesus was a gen-
uine, physical, tangible,
touchable part of human his-
tory.
He walked on this earth,
spoke to people, performed
miracles and died on a rough-
hewn cross at the hands of
Pilate and Jewish leaders.
John and the other Apostles
heard, visually examined and
touched Jesus Christ – God
in the flesh, and thousands of
others did as well. God
became a man. He experi-
enced the struggles of earthly
life, physical limitations,
hunger and thirst. He
expressed human love for
others and knew human sor-
rows. I hope this will stimu-
late you to pick up a Bible
and read one or all of the four
gospels. As you do, you can
be confident that the Jesus
portrayed on its pages actual-
ly did and said all that is
recorded there.Pastor Scott Williquette
can be reached through the
church website, http://www.
GraceBaptistMarshall.com,
or directly by email: train-
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