Come, let us reason together. Part 4

In the last post I continued an argument for the reliability of the New Testament. Based on that foundation this post will explore Christ's claim of deity in the New Testament. Jesus claimed to be God. This point is crucial to the overall argument. The logic behind this began with the statement that truth about reality is knowable. There are some things of which we can be absolutely sure (i.e., 2+2=4). I have also argued that the opposite of truth is false. The Law of Non-contradiction says opposite ideas cannot be both true at the same time and in the same place. That means all religions cannot be true, they teach opposites. Opposites cannot both be true at the same time or in the same place. Is it true that a theistic God exists? We explored this statement through different arguments for Gods existence. Because of these arguments we noted the probability of Gods existence. If God exists then miracles are possible, and they can be used to confirm a message from God. The New Testament can be trusted as a historically reliable source, and confirms Gods existence. This post will show that the New Testament confirms Jesus as God, as well as His message as coming from God.

Numerous times in the New Testament Jesus claimed to be God:

1. Jesus claimed to be God in the New Testament. He claimed to be the "I Am" of Exodus 3:14,

"God said to Moses, 'I AM WHO I AM'; and He said 'Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, 'The Lord, the God of Issac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.' This is my name forever, and this is my memorial name to all generations."

In John 8:58 Jesus says,

"Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I am."

2. Jesus also forgave sins which only God can do. Mark 2:5-7 reads,

"'Son, your sins are forgiven.' But some of the scribes were sitting there and reasoning in their hearts, 'Why does this man speak that way? He is blaspheming; who can forgive sins but God alone?'"

3. Jesus claimed that He should be honored just as God the Father is honored. In John 5:23 Jesus says,

"He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent me."

4. Jesus said he was the Jewish Messiah, who was God according to the Old Testament passages Isaiah 9:6, Psalms 110:1, and Zechariah 12:10. Zechariah reads,

"I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace and of supplication, so that they will look on ME whom they have pierced; and they will mourn for Him, as one mourns for an only son, and they will weep bitterly over Him like the bitter weeping over a firstborn."

This passage shows that God is the Messiah, but also that the Messiah would suffer by a piercing. It also speaks of the Spirit being poured out. Incidentally these are the events we see happening around Christs death and resurrection.

In John 4:25-26 Jesus claims to be that Messiah,

"The woman said to Him, 'I know that Messiah is coming (He who is called Christ); when that One comes, He will declare all things to us.' Jesus said to her, 'I who speak to you am He.'"

5. Jesus went as far as to accept worship on numerous occasions. The Bible presents worship as due only to God. Jesus Himself states this as true in Matthew 4:10,

"Go, Satan! For it is written, 'You shall worship the Lord your God, and serve Him only.'"

Jesus however, accepts worship. In Matthew 8:2 a healed leaper worships Him, in Matthew 9:18 a ruler kneels before Him with a request, in Matthew 14:33 those in the boat worship Him after He calms the storm, and in Matthew 28:17 the disciples worshiped Him. While these are only a handful of examples from the Gospel of Matthew there are many more in the Gospels. What is noteworthy about a study on the accounts of worship given to Christ in the Gospels is that Jesus never rebuked anyone for worshiping Him, and on occasion He commended those who did.

6. Jesus put His words on the same level as God's. In Matthew 24:35 Jesus says

"Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away."

7. Jesus asked His disciples to pray in His name. In John 14:13 Jesus says

"Whatever you ask in My name, that will I do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son."

8. Jesus accepted titles of deity in scripture. In John 20:28 Jesus does not condemn Thomas for calling Him Lord and God.

"Thomas answered and said to Him, 'My Lord and my God!'"

These are eight ways in which Jesus claimed to be God in the New Testament. Why is this important? It is important because scripture also confirms His message as being from God. Since we can trust scripture as historically reliable the message it confirms deserves our attention. How does it confirm Christ's message? Jesus's claim to be God is confirmed in three ways. First, His fulfillment of prophecy. Second, His sinless and miraculous life. And third, His predictions and accomplishment of His resurrection. These are three things that no other religions leader can claim.

First His fulfillment of prophecy. The Old Testament predicted that the Messiah would be God (Psalms 2:7, 45:6, 110:1; Isaiah 7:14, 9:6; Zechariah 12:10). For example Isaiah 9:6 reads

"For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; And the government will rest on His shoulders; And his name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace."

The Old Testament predicted that the Messiah would be God, and Jesus was the Messiah (John 4:25; Mark 14:61-62). Mark 14:61-62 reads

"Again the high priest was questioning Him, and saying to Him, 'Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed One?' And Jesus said, 'I am; and you shall see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of power, and coming with the clouds of Heaven.'"

Since the Old Testament predicted that the Messiah would be God, and Jesus was the Messiah, He had to be God in order to fulfill these predictions.

Second, the Bible confirms Christ's miraculous life. Scriptures record more than 60 miracles that cannot be explained away as either psychosomatic, or as magic. The Bible also confirms that Christ lived a sinless life. This is impossible. No mere human could live 33 years in a sinless state. Christ even invited His enemies to look at Him and accuse Him of sin. None could.

Third, the Bible confirms Christ's predictions and accomplishment of His resurrection. There is plenty of evidence in scripture for Christ's death. The nature and extent of His injuries as recorded in the passion sections of the Gospel accounts are suffienct to show he died. The nature of cruxifiction itself assures us He was dead. The piercing of His side as assurance of His death in the Gospel accounts confirms He was dead. His death was predicted in the Old Testament (Isaiah 53, Daniel 9). Jesus Himself predicted His own death and resurrection (John 2:19; John 10:18; Matthew 12:40; Matthew 17:22). The Gospel writers wrote that His death and resurrection was accomplished (Matthew 28:6; Mark 16:6; Luke 24:39; John 20:27). What evidence do we have for the accomplishment of Christ's death and resurrection? First, the Jews admit that the tomb was empty, but they did not produce the body. Second, Jesus made 12 different physical appearances over 40 days to over 500 people. Third, many Jewish priests were converted and thousands of unbelievers were converted. Fourth, His unbelieving brother James and hardened opponent Saul were converted. Fifth, His scared, skeptical, disciples were transformed overnight into brave missionary martyrs.

The summary stems from all we have explored so far. Jesus is God, and He must be to fulfill prophecy, to manifest deity, and to redeem humanity. The Old Testament predicted that the Messiah would be God. Jesus was the Messiah, therefore He must be God to fulfill the prophecy. Jesus is the mediator between God and man (1 Timothy 2:5). He is the reconciler of God and man (2 Corinthians 5:19). Jesus must be both God and man to be reconciler and mediator because only a God-Man can bridge the gap between God and man.

(Thanks to Normal Geisler for influencing my thinking on this subject).

Come, let us reason together. Part 3

In part one and two of this post I began an argument for why I believe theism, specifically Christianity, to be the true faith. I included arguments for Gods existence. I wrote that if God exists then miracles are possible, and they can be used to confirm a message from God. This gives credibility to the claim that the Bible is the Word of God. If the Bible is the Word of God we must consider what it teaches. This post will not go into great detail, but I encourage you to read previous posts for more information, (see: http://stevepack.blogspot.com/2008/05/laying-foundation.html and http://stevepack.blogspot.com/2008/06/shibileth.html ).

The New Testament documents are historically reliable. The New Testament has more, earlier, and more accurately copied manuscripts than any other book from the ancient world.

The New Testament events are recorded accurately. There were more, earlier, and more accurate writers than for any other book from the ancient world. The New Testament has nine writers who wrote 27 books. The authors include eyewitnesses, contemporary writers of Christ, contemporary authors of the eyewitnesses, and writers who wrote within 20 years of the New Testament events. Even with the diversity displayed in the authorship of the Bible the themes beginning in the Old Testament are constant throughout the New Testament. The whole of scripture is beautifully unified.

The gospels claim 500 eyewitness to Christ's resurrection. Luke based his gospel, and the book of Acts on eyewitness accounts. Hebrews has been confirmed by the Apostles who were eyewitnesses themselves.

There is evidence that the book of Acts was written by 62 AD. If this is true then we know that the gospel of Luke was written earlier because of the prologue in Acts. Josephus recorded the death of James at 62 AD. In Acts James is still alive. Paul is still alive in Acts, his death occurred under the persecution of Nero between 64-67 AD. But in Acts there is no mention of Nero's persecutions. There is no mention of the Jewish wars that took place around 66AD. Finally there is no mention of the fall of Jerusalem which took place in 70AD. Considering the nature of the book of Acts you would expect major events like these to be mentioned if they had occurred. None of these major events are mentioned suggesting that Acts was written around 62 AD. The book of Luke would have been written before Acts and without exploring this timeline any further we already have one gospel written 60 years after the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

According to the teachings of the Greek historian Herodotus any date in the 1st century is too early to allow mythological development on foundational truths. Many people will not accept the accuracy of the New Testament writings even though the New Testament is closer in time to the actual events than any other ancient books. Usually the earliest is considered the most accurate. There are few questions about the reliability of sources teaching on Alexander the Great even though the ancient writings we have about him are written around 300 years after his death. There are five main surviving accounts on Alexander by Arrian, Curtius, Plutarch, Diodorus, and Justin. The problem of the sources concern Alexander-historians, because each presents a different "Alexander". Will the real Alexander the Great please stand up?

The accuracy of the New Testament writings has been confirmed by noted Roman historians, legal experts, Non-Christian sources, and archaeological finds. No archaeological evidence has ever refuted the Bible, yet thousands of them support the accuracy of scripture.

Because we can trust in the accuracy of the New Testament we must trust what it says. In the New Testament Jesus claimed to be God, and his claim was miraculously confirmed. My next post will explore these claims.

(Thanks to Normal Geisler for influencing my thinking on this subject).

Come, let us reason together. Part 2

In my last post I began an argument for why I believe theism, specifically Christianity, to be the true faith. The post ended with arguments that prove the likelihood of Gods existence. While everyone who reads these posts may not agree that the arguments prove the existence of God they should at least recognize that the probability exists. If the existence of God is probable, then so are miracles. This is the key point. Without miracles Christianity crumbles. Without miracles the Bible cannot be the Word of God, Jesus cannot be the Son of God, and Salvation cannot be an act of God. The Bible claims that miracles occurred. Without miracles the Bible loses its credibility. Jesus claimed to be the Son of God and proved it true by performing miracles. If miracles are impossible then Jesus loses credibility. Without Christ's resurrection from the dead there is no salvation, and we are still dead in our sins. In other words there is no hope. Paul even wrote in 1 Corinthians 15:17 -19 "...if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins. Then those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If we have hoped in Christ in this life only, we are of all men most to be pitied." Christians need not despair. We have good arguments for the existence of God. For further discussion on these arguments I recommend this blog: caisonjones.blogspot.com

If God exists then miracles are possible. If God is supernatural, then He can preform supernatural acts. If God can create a universe, then God can act within that universe. If He could not, then the effect would be greater than the cause, that's illogical. The burden of proof lies in the hands of the skeptic. To disprove miracles, you must first disprove God.
My responsibility is to show that theism makes miracles possible. Here is some logic I learned from Normal Geisler:

1. If the world had a beginning, then it had a beginner.

2. The world had a beginning.

3. Therefore it had a beginner.

4. Creation is the biggest miracle of all (something out of nothing).

5. If God can do greater miracles (like creation) then he can do lesser.

If God can create matter, then He can multiply matter. (The feeding of the 5000/see Matthew 14:14-21, Mark 6:30-44, Luke 9:10-17, John 6:1-14).

If God can create life from non life, then He can bring life to a dead corpse. (Christ's resurrection/ see Matthew 27:57-28:20, Mark 15:42-16:12, Luke 23:50-24:27, John 19:31-20:31).

Miracles can be used to confirm a message from God. (see John 3:2, Acts 2:22, Hebrews 2:3). Of all the three major world religions (theism, pantheism, atheism) only theism has miracles.

Here is some more logic from Normal Geisler:

1. If a theistic God exists, then miracles are possible.

2. A miracle is a special act of God.

3. God is the standard, and source of all truth, he cannot err. (moral argument)

4. Nor would a theistic God act to confirm something as true that was false.

5. True miracles in connection with a message, confirm that message to be

from God.

In summary, if God exists then miracles are possible, and they can be used to confirm a message from Him. This gives credibility to the claim that the Bible is the Word of God. If the Bible is the Word of God we must consider what it teaches.