The Unique One: 18 Distinctives of Jesus Christ

By Cecil Price

Who is Jesus Christ? Today, we encounter diverse and conflicting messages about the historical Jesus from a variety of religious and secular sources. Some hold to Christ, being the Son of God, as the greatest personality of history. Others consider Jesus as a great teacher, philosopher or prophet. And, a small segment views Jesus of Nazareth as

• Language: English
• Publisher: Bible Message Publications
• Release date: Nov 12, 2013
• ISBN: 9781940828015

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INTRODUCTION

Josephus, a first century Jewish historian who became a Roman citizen, and Tacitus, a Roman senator and historian who lived until the early part of the second century, both refer to some events from Jesus’ life in their writings. Yet, the majority of what we know about Jesus Christ comes from the Bible, and particularly, the New Testament. Since the Bible is thousands of years old, can it be trusted?

In working through the issue of considering whether Jesus is God, several reasonable and fair questions to consider include: How reliable is the Bible? How does it compare to other ancient documents? Can a book as old as the Bible be a trustworthy source of information? Truly, entire books have been written addressing these subjects. And, a whole discipline of Christian studies, called apologetics, devotes itself to making a defense of the Bible, and the Christian faith. Should you conclude Jesus is who He claims He is, you will be challenged, and perhaps ridiculed for arriving at such a conclusion.

Now, take a moment to think of a world without copy machines, document scanners, photography, manufactured paper, publishing houses, printing companies, and eBooks. In Bible times, skilled, professional scribes hand-copied the words of the Bible without using the technologies we regularly employ today. Due to their meticulous work ethic and high honor for the texts they copied by hand, massive amounts of scholarly materials attest to the accuracy and reliability of the Bible.

Before looking over some notable verses about the life of Jesus recorded in the New Testament, consider these points as to why the Bible can be trusted.

THE BOOKS IN THE BIBLE

The word Bible comes from the Greek word, biblos, meaning book. The books of the Bible consist of a collection of writings penned over a 1500-year period from approximately 1450 B.C. (the time of Moses) to A.D. 100 (around the time of the apostle John’s death). The Old Testament, written primarily in Hebrew, includes some portions in Aramaic. While keeping the same content, Christians subdivide some of the books into individual books for a total of 39. Judaism maintains the books together comprise 24 total, yet some rabbis contend the number to be 22 books.¹ The New Testament, originally written in Greek, includes 27 books.

What determining factors make a book a part of the Bible? Scholars and students of the Bible use the term canon (or Greek, kanon) meaning standard or measuring rod to describe the books inspired by God, and received or accepted by God’s people to be part of the Bible. Professors Norman Geisler and William Nix shed light on how a book would be included as a part of the Hebrew Bible or Old Testament:

In brief, a book is canonical if it is prophetic, that is, if it was written by a prophet of God. In other words, propheticity determines canonicity. Of course, one did not have to belong to the school of the prophets begun by Samuel (1 Sam. 19:20) or to be a disciple (son) of a prophet (2 Kings 2:3). All one needed was a prophetic gift as Amos (7:14) or Daniel (7:1) possessed. A prophet was a mouthpiece of God. He was one to whom God spoke in visions, dreams, and sundry ways. Even kings such as David (2 Sam. 23:1–2) and Solomon (1 Kings 9:2) were prophets in this sense. It was necessary to have prophetic gifts in order to write canonical Scripture, because all inspired writing is prophetic (Heb. 1:1; 2 Peter 1:19–20).²

Similar requirements apply to the New Testament as every book included in it came from the pen of an apostle, a prophet, or one of their close associates.³ Therefore, God determined whether or not a writing became a part of the Bible, instead of a decision made by the people of God.⁴ For the early church, the New Testament books held equal authority with the Old Testament.

Another reasonable question would be: Is the canon of Scripture closed, or specifically, do we possess a completed Bible? Just as God, through inspiration, determined the books to be included in the canon of Scripture, He established when His written revelation had been completed. The closing verses of the final book of the New Testament in Revelation 22:18, 19 provide a warning, not just in relation to that particular prophetic book, but also to the Bible as a whole.

TO READ FURTHER:

A General Introduction to the Bible by Norman L. Geisler and William E. Nix, Moody Press.

How We Got the Bible (pamphlet), Rose Publishing, www.rose-publishing.com

BIBLE MANUSCRIPTS COMPARED TO OTHER ANCIENT

DOCUMENTS IN EXISTENCE

Most ancient books have fewer than ten surviving manuscripts in existence.⁵ With no comparable rival, a treasure trove of partial and complete New Testament manuscripts exists today. The number of known Greek manuscripts continues to rise. As of late 2012, according to Dr. Dan Wallace, Executive Director of The Center For The Study of New Testament Manuscripts, scholars currently know of 5,824 Greek manuscripts in existence.⁶

The New Testament has far better manuscript evidence for its wording than any other ancient manuscript. Senior Research Professor, Dr. Darrell Bock affirms: We are confident that the text of the Bible we work with today basically reflects the text as it was produced. This is certainly the case with [the] New Testament which has far better manuscript evidence for its wording than any other ancient document.⁷ We can maintain great confidence in the Bible translations we have today based on these biblical manuscripts.

TO READ FURTHER:

Can We Trust the Gospels?: Investigating the Reliability of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John by Mark D. Roberts, Crossway.

How We Got the Bible (pamphlet), Rose Publishing, www.rose-publishing.com

THE TIME GAP BETWEEN THE ORIGINAL WRITINGS AND THE COPIES

Most ancient documents have a time gap of at least 700 years from the date of writing and the date of the earliest copy we possess.⁸ In contrast, we have fragments such as the John Rylands Papyrus from the Gospel According to John within 40 years of its writing, and complete manuscripts within 100 years of its writing.⁹

Today, for the New Testament, there exists more manuscripts, and earlier manuscripts written closer to the time of the occurrence of the actual events detailed, than from any other writings from ancient history.¹⁰ And, in comparing the New Testament with other religious documents, no other ancient document has as small of a gap between when the original was written and the earliest manuscript copies we have today.¹¹ The New Testament provides us with writings produced by authors extremely close to the events they describe.

TO READ FURTHER:

The New Testament Documents: Are They Reliable? by F. F. Bruce, William B. Eerdmans Publishing.

THE SUPPOSED ERRORS AND CONTRADICTIONS

IN THE BIBLICAL TEXT

Minor variant readings or differences among the ancient manuscripts do exist, but they do not affect doctrine.¹² Moreover, no textual variation affects any central Christian teaching.¹³

80% of the variants are spelling differences.¹⁴ Many of these variants include differences in word spellings such as honor vs. honour or consist of misspellings like beleive instead of believe.¹⁵ Remember, the scribes and copyists didn’t have spell-check or word processors. Today, these differences in the text may be described by some as typos, but they were really slips of the pen.¹⁶ Also, variants include word order such as Jesus Christ in comparison to Christ Jesus. Again, such variants do not affect the meaning of the text.

In the New Testament’s Gospel accounts, Jesus directly quoted from the books of the Old Testament. Clearly, He considered the Old Testament Scriptures to be authentic, accurate, and God-given. And, He saw Himself as the fulfillment of many of these very Scriptures (see Matthew 26:54, 56).

Even though we only possess copies of the originals today, by comparing the various manuscripts it’s possible to arrive with a high degree of certainty of what the original text contained.¹⁷

According to apologist Norman Geisler, the New Testament is the most accurate document we have from the ancient world. Geisler states: No other ancient book has as many, as early, or more accurately copied manuscripts.¹⁸ If we cannot trust it, then we cannot rely on any other ancient document either.¹⁹

TO READ FURTHER:

Can I Trust the Bible? (booklet) by Darrell Bock, Ravi Zacharias International Ministries, www.rzim.org

THE NEW TESTAMENT ACCOUNTS SUBSTANTIATED NOT TO BE LEGENDS

The apostle Paul, writing about 20 years following Christ’s resurrection, mentions that the majority of the more than 500 individuals who had seen the risen Christ were still alive at the time of his writing 1 Corinthians (see 1 Corinthians 15:3–6). If Paul’s information about Christ’s resurrection included inaccuracies, these eyewitnesses would have refuted his claims.

Also, in relation to the Gospels written by Mark, Matthew, and Luke having been written within 30 to 40 years of the events they detail, it would be unlikely for them to be legends as some eyewitnesses to the events would still be alive to dispute any inaccuracies in the record of descriptions and accounts.²⁰

As a whole, with the New Testament writings being circulated within the lifetimes of many of those alive during Christ’s ministry, these same people would be able to confirm or deny the accuracy of the accounts.²¹

TO READ FURTHER:

Jesus and the Eyewitnesses: The Gospels as Eyewitness Testimony by Richard Bauckham, William B. Eerdmans Publishing.

THE DEAD SEA SCROLLS

For years, the oldest manuscript we had of the Old Testament was the Masoretic text from the 10th century A.D.²² In 1947, the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls occurred in the Qumran caves of Israel. These hundreds of documents are considered by some Bible scholars to be the greatest archaeological discovery of the 20th century. The Dead Sea Scrolls date from the third century B.C. to near the end of the first century A.D.²³

Scholarly comparison of the Old Testament books currently known to exist with the Dead Sea Scrolls continues. Overwhelmingly, these ancient scrolls found in the caves of Qumran confirm the reliability of the Old Testament texts we use today.

TO READ FURTHER:

Holman QuickSource Guide to the Dead Sea Scrolls by Craig A. Evans, B&H Publishing Group.

The Dead Sea Scrolls (pamphlet), Rose Publishing, www.rose-publishing.com

THE SO-CALLED LOST BOOKS OF THE BIBLE

The Bible sometimes makes reference to other books such as the Book of the Wars of the LORD in Numbers 21:14, and the book of Jashar in Joshua 10:13. Just because other books are mentioned in the Bible doesn’t mean those particular books should be considered as a part of the Bible.

Apocryphal books were written during the 400 silent years after the completion of the Old Testament books, and prior to the times of John the Baptist and Jesus Christ. The Apocrypha are not lost books. Copies of these books remain available today. The Jews do not consider these books to be part of the Hebrew Bible. And, Protestants do not consider them a part of the Scriptures, though Roman Catholics do.

Some recent novels, scholastic books, and movies make claims of the early Christian church intentionally omitting other gospel texts from Scripture. These gospels are commonly referred to as Gnostic Gospels. Some of the more notable titles of a collection of works include the Gospel of Thomas, the Gospel of Judas, the Gospel of Mary, and the Gospel of Philip. Even while these writings have the names of first century followers of Christ mentioned in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, they were not written by these personalities. These Gnostic Gospels were written between the 2nd and 4th centuries A.D. or 100 to 300 years following the four recognized Gospels included in the New Testament.

TO READ FURTHER:

The Gospels Lost and Found (pamphlet), Rose Publishing, www.rose-publishing.com

ARCHAEOLOGY

Through the centuries, critics, and skeptics of the Bible have questioned the places, people, and events mentioned in the Old and New Testaments. Archaeology continues to be a faithful witness to the Bible’s accuracy. For example, prior to the 19th century some had doubts if the Hittite kingdom ever existed as the Hittites are mentioned over a dozen times in the Old Testament with no other historical evidence. In 1906, Hugo Winckler discovered evidence of the Hittite empire. Now, based on the tablets found from this civilization, a dictionary has been composed of their language.²⁴

Another interesting example comes from Daniel 5:1, 30. The Bible mentions Belshazzar as the final king of Babylon while secular history recorded Nabonidus as the last king of the Babylonian empire. For centuries, it appeared the Bible was wrong. Yet, in 1929 a new discovery showed Nabonidus spent his time in Arabia, allowing his eldest son, Belshazzar, to run the affairs of the kingdom for a decade or so. In effect, they ruled as co-regents.²⁵ Famed Jewish archaeologist Nelson Glueck observes that no archaeological discovery has ever contradicted a Biblical reference.²⁶ Archaeology remains as a valuable friend for substantiating the Bible’s historical record of places, people, and events.

TO READ FURTHER:

The Popular Handbook of Archaeology and the Bible: Discoveries That Confirm the Reliability of Scripture by Joseph M. Holden and Normal Geisler, Harvest House Publishers.

FULFILLED PROPHECY

The Bible contains prophecies that have been precisely fulfilled, and many have yet to be fulfilled. Jesus incredibly fulfilled many prophecies made hundreds of years prior to His life and ministry on Earth. Here are a few:

Isaiah was written around 700 years prior to Jesus’ earthly birth.

TO READ FURTHER:

100 Prophecies Fulfilled by Jesus (pamphlet), Rose Publishing, www.rose-publishing.com

THE BIBLE’S DISTINCTIVENESS

The texts of the Old and New Testaments have been preserved so well throughout the centuries that noteworthy Bible scholars conclude God was not only involved in the writing of the originals, but His hand has been involved in the preservation of these writings through every generation.²⁷ James Kinnebrew describes some of this divine preservation: The Bible has endured the opposition of pagan emperors, godless critics, and even misguided religionists. Its survival through unparalleled persecution has been the source of universal amazement.²⁸

The Bible you and I can hold in our hands remains as a highly trustworthy copy of the original writings composed by the Old Testament men of God and the first century