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Today: “Will the Real Jesus Please Stand Up?” (Mt 16:13-26; 1 Cor 15:1-27 & assorted texts)
Intro):
*** Who is the real Jesus?
I. Jesus #1: is the so-called “historical Jesus” (behind the NT gospels) held up by some Biblical scholars as the real Jesus.
II. Jesus #2: is a primarily incarnational Jesus (found in portions of the NT gospels) held up by many emerging Christians & churches as the real Jesus.
III. Jesus #3: is the incarnational & exalted Jesus (revealed in the whole of Scripture) that Christian churches have almost universally held up as the real Jesus since “the Church” was 1st birthed.
Concl:
Digging Deeper Into the Study of Jesus & the Bible
It is impossible to give a nuanced presentation of “Who is the real Jesus?” in 30-40 minutes. I am preaching today with a broader brush than I prefer. I do so unashamedly because sometimes it is important to get a “big picture”/”forest” look. However in order to help you get a more complete look I share below some of the best resources I know that are more thorough & complete. I have read most, but not all of these books. Most of these books give evidence that the Biblical portraits of Jesus are historically accurate & valid and that scholarly criticism of Jesus & the Bible is not compelling.
1. These are books that deal with “The Quest for the Historical Jesus”:
Ben Witherington III: The Jesus Quest: The Third Search for the Jew of Nazareth (Downers Grover, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 1995), 247; Craig L. Blomberg, Jesus and the Gospels (Nashville: Broadman & Holman, 1997); Craig L. Blomberg, The Historical Reliability of John’s Gospel (Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 1998); D. A. Carson, The Gospel According to John (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 1991), 40-68; Jesus Under Fire, ed. Michael J. Wilkins and J.P. Moreland (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan, 1995); Paul Barnett, The Truth About Jesus: The Challenge of the Evidence (Sydney: Aquila Press, 1994); Luke Timothy Johnson, The Real Jesus: The Misguided Quest for the Historical Jesus and the Truth of the Traditional Gospels (San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1996); Gregory Boyd, Cynic, Sage or Son of God? Recovering the Real Jesus in an Age of Revisionist Replies (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker, 1995); Gary Habermas, The Historical Jesus: Ancient Evidence for the Life of Christ (Joplin, Mo.: College Press, 1996); Lee Strobel, The Case for Christ: A Journalist’s Personal Investigation of the Evidence for Jesus (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan, 1998). Note also: The Historical Jesus Quest: Landmarks in the Search for the Jesus of History, ed. Gregory W. Dawes (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 1999), and The Historical Jesus in Recent Research, ed. James d. G. Dunn and Scot McKnight, are collections of many authors in one volume, and Sources for Biblical Theological Study, Vol. 10 (Winona Lake, Ind: Eisenbrauns, 2005) is a helpful collection of historic essays on the quests for the historical Jesus.
2. The following books show the basic historical reliability of the New Testament:
Colin J. Hemer, The Book of Acts in the Setting of Hellenistic History, ed. Conrad H. Gempf (Tubingen: J. C. B. Mohr, 1989); William Ramsay, The Bearing of Recent discovery on the Trustworthiness of the New Testament (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1915); Craig L. Blomberg, The Historical Reliability of the Gospels (Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 1987); & F.F.Bruse, The New Testament Documents: are They Reliable? (Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 1973).
3. My 2 favorite books on these topics (popularly written, yet intellectually sound) are: The Supremacy of Christ, Copyright 1995 by Ajith Fernando & Lee Strobel, The Case for Christ: A Journalist’s Personal Investigation of the Evidence for Jesus (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan, 1998).
4. In regards to the recent (so-called) “Lost Tomb of Jesus please see http://www.csl.edu/Img/about%20csl/LostTomb.pdf & www.jewsforjesus.org/publications/realtime/45/01 which so how unlikely this is. If you want more on “emerging Church” views of Jesus see Mark Driscoll’s talk on this at www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/EventMessages/ByDate/1833_The_Supremacy_of_Christ_and_the_Church_in_a_Postmodern_World/ |