In this short article from The Gospel Coalition, Kyle Dillon
briefly examines five popular theories about Jesus and general guidelines for
how Christians can respond. The theories
include:
1. Jesus the Pagan Myth: The
stories of his birth, life, death, and resurrection were borrowed from pagan
myths.
2. Jesus the Failed Prophet: Jesus
mistakenly predicted the world would end within the lifetime of his disciples.
3. Jesus the Moral Philosopher:
Jesus was a cynic philosopher renouncing worldly goods and social
conventions.
4. Jesus the Violent Revolutionary:
Jesus message was a call for national liberation from Rome but ended in
failure.
5. Jesus the Ahistorical Existentialist: What is important is an individual’s
experience of God, not the imaginative, irrelevant facts of the Gospel stories.
When Jesus is studied within a first-century Galilean historical
and geographical context, he states, “we can arrive at certain conclusions about what he
must have been like.” A historically plausible
portrait of Jesus should include the following:
1. He was comprehensible: His
words and actions fit in the historical and geographical context and his
message was understandable to first century Jews.
2. He was crucifiable: His words and actions were offensive enough to
make the authorities want to kill him.
3. He was
consequential: He left an impact
such that his followers were willing to suffer and die for their testimony that
he rose from the dead.
But don’t take my word for it, read the article – don’t wait
for the movie.
Have a little hope on me,
Roger
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