Knowledge About Jesus

Sources of Knowledge about Jesus outside of the gospels * Rabbinic Judaism * A book hostile toward Jesus * Called Jesus the son of a hair dresser * Dates back to the mid to late 2nd century * Not as reliable as other sources * Apocryphal Gospels * Tries to satisfy the question of what Jesus was doing before the onset of his ministry * Second goal is to explain theological viewpoints some view as questionable * Includes books such as secret gospel of Mark, the gospel of Thomas * Focus on knowledge and enlightenment * Involves five basic principles * Ontological dualism – moral line, spirit is good and matter is bad * Refusal to attribute matter
to the ultimate God of goodness and life * If matter was evil God would not create it * The fall of man explains matter * Belief in a divine spark within some human beings which needs to be freed from its material prison – divine reality inside you belongs to a spiritual realm * Belief in a mediator that comes from the spiritual world into the physical and brings knowledge * Salvation is by knowledge * The synoptic problem * Which gospel came first? * It is believed that Mark came first and that Matthew and Luke used it as their frame work * John does not appear to pay any attention to the other gospels * Matthew contains over 90% of Mark * Luke contains over 80% of Mark * Another theory is the Griecsbach Hypothesis * This states that Matthew came first the Luke and Mark is simple the ‘readers digest’ version of them * The problem with this hypothesis is that it does not show how Matthew and Luke cleaned up the wordiness of Mark and that Mark does not appear to be an abridgement * There is also the Chaos Theory of Synoptic origins * Scholars say they simply cannot tell which came first * Historical criticism of the Gospels * Quest for the Historical Jesus * Influence of the enlightenment period * The age of reason * Because of the age of reason people sought to subject everything to a bar of reason * 2 important enlightenment figures * Descartes * Mathematician and theologian * Thought all knowledge should be as concrete as mathematical knowledge * Tied to doubt all things unless they could not be doubted * Kant * Had an anti-religious edge to his philosophy of enlightenment liberation * Believed in “homo mensura” man is the measure * Human reason is the standard for everything * Led to naturalism * Everything happens because of natural law * The enlightenment period begins people doubting Christianity because stories like the loves and fish multiplying and the water to wine cannot be explained by natural law * The modern age * Reimarus * Librarian who dies in 1768 * Argues that the miracles performed by Jesus were not real and he was a political figure trying to get elected but by some bad choices got himself killed * Paulus * Argues that all the miracles could be explained away by an understanding of science and causality * Healings caused by Jesus’ personality, secret medications, nature miracles * Walking on water was actually a sand bar * The resurrection was just Jesus waking from a coma * Disciples were opportunists * Historical criticism studies * Mythic criticism * Believe there is no historical evidence for Jesus * Mythic writer D.F. Strauss argues the gospels are permeated with myth * The gospels were the result of primitive (pre-enlightenment) society * Rational criticism * Jesus was historically evident * All of Jesus miracles are easily explained away – see Paulus * Form Criticism * Criteria of authenticity * Criterion of dissimilarity * If Jesus’ words are different from Judaism or the early church we can only be reasonably sure that he actually said it. * Jesus was a Jew as were his followers so why would He go against them? * Multiple attestations * Whether a saying by Jesus or a story of him is found in more than one tradition then it is true * Coherence * If it fits with other Jesus traditions it might be true * Jesus Seminar * A group of 200 NT scholars meet for years to vote on the sayings of Jesus I the NT * Used beads to vote on whether or not they thought they words were Jesus * Red – Jesus * Pink – sounds like Jesus * Gray – it may be Jesus * Black – It isn’t Jesus * Many people disliked this group of scholars * Faith Seeking Understanding * Faith comes first but it seeks to understand the reasons for our faith * Faith can grow and mature and should be rooted in three fundamental recognitions * Priority of faith * Faith comes first whether you are Christian or not * Common grace * All of us are given minds to think with and we should seek truth * The problem of sin * We must be careful sinners because our minds are clouded by sin * Gospel of Mark * Who may have written it? * Superscriptions were probably added in the mid to late second century * Unanimous tradition says Mark was written by John Mark when he was in Rome with Peter * An early Christian writer ,Papias, says Mark represents the witness of Peter told as mark, but that Mark did not put the events in chronological order * Style * Compressed, fast paced style * Uses the word euthus 42 times ( means at once or immediately) * Written in the historic present tense – writing about something in the past in present voice * Sometimes Aramaic words are used but he always translates them into Latin * Themes and motifs * Ministry of Jesus in Galilee * Journey to Jerusalem * Jesus the servant of God * Messianic secret * Jesus tells people to be quiet about what He has done
* This is confusing to scholars * Some try to explain it away that Jesus didn’t want to be misunderstood because Jews were expecting a Military leader to defeat Rome * This misunderstanding would ultimately lead to his death if Rome thought he was out to set up a coup * Failure to recognize and understand * Parables are more than just cute stories * There is much debate over the words to describe the parables whether Jesus used parables because the people did not understand or if because he did not want them to understand * The Cross * Necessity of the Cross is a big theme in Mark * In NT times it was a symbol of horrific, gruesome, appalling capital punishment * “take up your cross and follow me”- a very disturbing statement at the time * Central part of Marks gospel * The mighty acts of Jesus * Victories over Demonic Forces * First miracle listed in Mark is an exorcism of a man outside of the synagogue * Shows that Jesus cannot be caged * Healing Miracles * Jesus heals and raises people from the
dead * Jesus can only heal if you have faith * Nature Miracles * Jesus calms a storm, multiplies food, walks on water * Shows Jesus is in control of every situation * Problems in the end of Mark * Mark 16: 9-20 (the final verses of Mark) are stylistically different than the rest of the book * The Gospel of Matthew * Who and when was it written? * Author - like Mark appears to by anonymous and accredited to Matthew after its writing concluded * Latest possible date is AD 100 but could have been written as early as AD 70 * Style differences from Mark * Matthew is more precise * Matthew takes out the word immediately and negative references to the disciples * Matthew includes more old testament allusions and conclusions * Matthew is structured around the five discourses * Sermon on the mount * Discourse on mission * Parables of the kingdom * Kingdom community * Discourse on the future * The significant themes of Matthew * Virgin birth * Fulfills Isaiah 14 * Jesus Son of David * Fulfills prophecy * Genealogy makes Jesus a decedent of David * Jesus as fulfillment of OT prophecy * The Jewish Law * Matthew recognizes Jesus as the fulfillment of the law of the Messiah * The Church * Ekklesia meaning gathering is only found in Matthews gospel * Says the church will be built on the teachings of peter * Spends a great deal of time on the importance of church * The parables of the kingdom * Matthew speaks more about the kingdom of heaven than the kingdom of God most scholars argue that these are different terms for the same reality * Jews wouldn’t use the term God in common speech because they viewed it as disgraceful so it is possible that kingdom of heaven was just a supplement for kingdom of God * The sermon on the mount * Matthews Sermon on the mount has a striking resemblance to Luke’s sermon on the plain * Troubles come in whether you should interpret it literally or figuratively * The Gospel of Luke * Who and when was it written * Luke also appears to have had its author tacked on later * Luke and Acts seem to be written by the same author * Major factor pointing to Luke the doctor/physician as author is the “We” passages – probably referring to when he was traveling with Paul * Written before AD 90 * Aims of Luke * Dedicated to Theophilus * Means lover of God * Could also be referring to a literal person who funded Luke while he was writing * Uses a broad historical context * Style of Luke * Considered to be the best author of the New Testament * Uses many styles * Prologue – stately style * Infancy narratives – Septuagint style * Rest of the book – koine Greek – the everyday language * Takes out the repetition of immediately found in Mark * Structures his stories around geographical movements * Themes in Luke * Universal significance of Jesus * Powerfully emphasized * Jesus is applicable to all types of people * Interest in people and the less fortunate * Gives striking attention to women * Mentions 13 that are not mentioned anywhere else * Word woman is used 43 time in Luke’s gospel * Women were the one who paid for Jesus and his disciples to travel * Luke also pays more attention to children * Also high lights Jesus’ interaction with social out casts – poor, sick, lame, etc * Prayer * Luke stresses the importance of prayer * Presents Jesus as a person of prayer * Two parables deal with persistent prayer * Causes a bit of confusion – what Christ praying to himself? * Jesus uses a “how much more than” argument for why we should pray * The Holy Spirit * People are frequently referred to as being filled by the holy spirit * Fulfillment of Prophecy * Makes it clear Christ fulfills the OT prophecy * Songs included in Luke * The Magnificant * Benedictus * Gloria in Excelsis * Nunc Dimittis * Luke Specific parables * Parables of the lost things (son, coin, sheep) * More about the searching father than anything else * 3 methods of interepreting parables * Allegorical * All things have symbolic significance * Moralistic * Parables only have a single interpretation – a moral lesson * Multiple meanings * Parables are layered in meanings * The Gospel of John * Who and when it was written * Not a synoptic gospel * Content points to an author being a Jew from Palestine * Appears to be an eye witness of the events described * John the apostle is the best candidate * Some people say the book was written by a group of people * Scholars date the writing around AD 90 * Difference between John and the synoptic gospels * No synoptic witnesses * Institution of the Lord’s Supper is not discussed * No baptism of Jesus or exorcism accounts * The coming of the kingdom of God (main theme of the synoptic) is largely absent from John * Distinctive features of John’s gospel * Prologue * The use of the word logos * Can mean literally word or principle of reason * Use of dualisms * Uses dualisms one after another * Light v darkness * Above v bellow * Of the world v not of the world * John loves to juxtapose things * Gives a contrast between good and evil * The “I AM” sayings * The use of these sayings is prolific * There are two forms of the I AM sayings * The predicate form * When Jesus says I AM ______ * Quite common in John’s gospel * The Absolute form * When Jesus simply says I AM * Important themes of John * The importance of Faith * John was written to evoke faith and encourage belief * Importance in faith is constantly highlighted * The Holy Spirit * Jesus is endowed with the Holy Spirit and it will pass the holy spirit on to believers * John emphasizes the Holy spirit differently than any other gospel * Parakletos is the Latin word for Holy Spirit meaning comforter, advocate

Books of the NT * Matthew * Mark * Luke * John * Acts * Romans * 1 Corinthians * 2 Corinthians * Galatians * Ephesians * Philippians * Colossians * 1 Thessalonians * 2 Thessalonians * 1 Timothy * 2 Timothy * Titus * Philemon * Hebrews * James * 1 Peter * 2 Peter * 1 John * 2 John * 3 John * Jude * Revelation