I. General Tests for Historicity

Bibliographical test

1. In manuscript copy, the quantity for the NT is over 5000 Greek texts and even more in different languages. Furthermore, virtually the whole NT can be found in citations from the early church fathers.

2. The time gap was very short, but for individual books of the bible, the various manuscripts need to be looked at individually.

C. The text we currently possess is an accurate representation of the original NT

3. Other helpful pieces of evidence are: Personal letter, intended for small audiences, written in unpolished style, contains trivia, and contains lists of details.

Extant Greek Manuscripts:	5,686
Manuscripts in Other Languages
Latin Vulgate	10,000+
Ethiopic
Slavic
Armenian
Syriac Pashetta
Bohairic
Arabic
Old Latin
SUBTOTAL	19,284+
ALL MSS	24,970+

Author	Book	Date Written	Earliest Copies	Time Gap (Years)	No of copies
Homer	Iliad	800 BC	400 BC	400	643
Herodotus	History	480-425 BC	AD 900	1350	8
Thucydides	History	460-400 BC	AD 900	1300	8
Plato		400 BC	AD 900	1300	7
Casesar	Gallic Wars	100-44 BC	AD 900	1000	10
Tacitus	Annals	AD 100	AD 1100	1000	20
NT		50-100 AD	114 (fragment) 200 (Books) 250 (Most of NT) 325 (complete NT)	+50 100 150 225	5366

II. The Presence of Eyewitnesses

Prima facie, a strong case can be made for the fact that the NT and sources behind it was written by eyewitnesses.

a. Explicitly in Luke 1:1-4, Gal 1, 2 Pet 1:16.

b. Apostles needed to be eyewitness (Acts 1:21-22, Heb 2:3)

c. Early speeches refer to the knowledge of unbelieving believers. (Acts 2:22)

And Christianity began in Jerusalem just a few weeks after the death of Jesus in the presence of both friendly and hostile witnesses.

d. Indirect testimony to eyewitness evidence in the Gospels. Mark changes from 3^rd to 1^st person at times and can be used to infer Peter was reminiscing.

IV. Marks of Historicity in the Gospel Material

C. The Presence of Irrelevant Material Some of the material in the Gospels is irrelevant to the issues facing the early church. It is easier to explain the origin and preservation of the material by attributing it to Jesus himself.

1. Especially noteworthy is Jesus’ attitude of favor to Israel.

2. Also, Jesus’ use of the phrases the kingdom of God and the son of man.

3. Jesus’ controversies with the Pharisees (e.g. the Sabbath) and his comments on Corban practices.

4. The Eucharist narrative does not seem to have played an especially prominent role in the early churches’ celebration of the Lord’s Supper!

E. Counterproductive Features If a document contains features which are embarrassing or counter-productive to the purpose for which it was written, then it has a high probability of being historical.

4. Also, his own family showed opposition to him. Jesus’ own disciples are portrayed poorly (when they show unbelief, cowardice, and slow learning.)

V. The Time Factor

A. The Expansion of Christianity

1. Christianity began in Palestine which was Jewish in culture, but also had Greek influences.

2. Hellenistic culture outside of Palestine was not really affected by Jewish culture.

C. Material that shows Greek influence says nothing, but material showing Jewish influence (or was originally Aramaic) is early.

B. Paul’s Letters

1. General Dating Almost all critics have accepted Romans, 1 and 2 Corinthians and Galatians as Pauline and written between 49-65. The others are heavily debated.

a. Paul’s letters exhibit high Christology. This makes the time gap short.

b. No evolutionary development can be detected in the letters themselves. Thus, Paul’s static Christology was completed before 48.

2. Creeds and Hymns Paul’s letters contain a number of creeds and hymns (Rom 1:3-4; 1 Cor 11:23ff; 15:3-8; Phil. 2:6-11; Col 1:15-18; 1 Tim 3:16; 2 Tim 2:8; see also John 1:1-18; 1 Pet 3:18-22; 1 John 4:2)

1. They are pre-Pauline, very early, often translate easily back into Aramaic, and show features of Hebrew poetry and thought-forms. They were probably well recognized before Paul incorporated them into his letters. Date them around the first decade after Jesus died (33).

2. The content of these creeds and hymns center on the death, resurrection, and deity of Christ. They consistently present a miraculous and divine Jesus who rose from the dead.

3. They served as hymns of worship in the early church.

C. The idea of a fully divine, miracle-working Jesus who rose from the dead was present during the first decade of Christianity. This defeats the claim that Christianity is a legend which arose several decades after the crucifixion.

3. Galatians 1 and 2 Paul’s retracing of his conversion within a year or two after crucifixion and his visit and learning from the apostles in Jerusalem three years later indicate that the belief in a divine, risen Jesus existed within just several years after Jesus’ death.

5. 1 Corinthians 15:3-8

1. Features indicate it is pre-Pauline:

a. The words delivered and received are technical rabbinic terms for holy tradition indicating Paul received it.

b. Certain phrases are very Jewish. “the twelve,” the third day,” he was seen,” “for our sins,” “he was raised”

c. The poetic style is Hebraic

d. The Aramaic Cephas is used; this was an early way of referring to Peter.

2. 1 Cor. was written in 55 and Paul first visited Corinth in 50 so the formula precedes the date. Most scholars date it within 3-8 years after Jesus’ death and fits well with the mention and timeline of James and Cephas in Gal 1:18-19.

3. The facts reported in the formula precede the formula

C. This is very early historical testimony to the resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth.

The Resurrection of Jesus

I. The Empty Tomb

A. Arguments for the Empty Tomb

1. A Variety of Sources M, material special to Matthew, (Matt 28:11-15), Mark 16:1-8, Luke 24:1-12; John 20:11-18, Speeches in Acts, and 1 Cor 15:3-8.

B. Historicity of the Empty Tomb

2. The Pre-Pauline Formula in 1 Cor. 15

a. he was buried implies an empty tomb because it stands between Paul’s mention of the death and the resurrection, following Mark’s general chronology.

b. Paul’s concept of baptism (Rom 6:4; Col 2:12) makes parallels. Coming out of the water would be like coming out of the tomb.

c. Consider Jewish beliefs of a bodily resurrection at the time.

d. Since no one saw the actual resurrection, the third day formula points toward the discovery of the empty tomb.

C. Explaining the Empty Tomb

0. An impressive case has been made to show that the account of the tomb was early (and not a late addition) and very historical to refute modern views. So what’s the best explanation?

1. Moreland does not consider naturalistic accounts of the empty tomb (like the swoon theory, or the wrong tomb theory) because they are dealt with elsewhere and are weak.

2. These men are Jewish Theists and 1 Cor 15:12-19 helps show the seriousness of their conviction.

3. Since Jesus was not the expected political Messiah, it would be hard to convince others of its truth.

4. The resurrection narratives bear signs of historicity, are early, and came about in the presence of hostile witnesses.

5. If the story was a hoax, it is amazing that no one let the cat out of the bag.

II. The Resurrection Appearances Almost no NT scholar denies that early followers had some sort of resurrection experience.

A. The Nature of the Appearances

Features of the appearances:

1. They occur to several individuals at different occasions.

2. They are reported to have taken place during a very specific period of forty days.

3. The three Greek words commonly used to denote the appearances (mostly ophthe) implies seeing something which was objectively present outside the mind of the observer.

4. The appearances do not happen to just believers although everyone who experienced it became a believer. Several of the Twelve were unbelieving, even after one appearance. Paul and James were not believers when they saw Jesus.

Features of the risen Jesus:

1. The writers of the Gospels and Paul are agreed that Jesus appeared in bodily form.

2. The body was no longer bound by space and time

3. Jesus could be touched and heard as well as seen.

4. There was a continuity between Christ’s body b/f and after the resurrection since he was recognized and Thomas played that nasty “holy hand” game.

B. The Evidence for Historicity

1. Features of the Appearance Narratives

a. In 1 Cor. 15:3-8 is Paul’s early testimony. This is strong evidence since Paul was sincere about his faith and understood the resurrection to be bodily.

b. Women were the first to see the risen Christ.

c. Early, primitive phrases (“twelve,” “Cephas”) are used in 1 Cor. 15

d. Reports are difficult to harmonize attesting to integrity and independence.

e. The disciples were slow to believe.

f. Unbelief makes sense when one realizes the Jewish picture of the Messiah did not include a resurrection.

g. The reports are extremely reserved.

2. The Predisposition of the Disciples

a. In Jewish thought, the resurrection of the dead was always at the end of history.

b. There was no conception of isolated individuals resurrected (as opposed to resuscitation or translation.)

c. The resurrection was conceived in a crude, physicalist way of reassembling of the parts of the predeath body.

d. Jewish understanding of visions were understood as being visions of people directly translated to heaven, not raised from the dead and in Jewish tradition, visions were always experienced by individuals, not groups.

Conclusion: These Jewish disciples were not predisposed to inventing the appearances or to having expectations of a resurrection which led to hallucinations.

3. Impossibility of Hallucinations to Explain Resurrection

a. If there were hallucinations, their Jewish framework would have interpreted it as a resuscitation or translation, not a resurrection.

b. Hallucinations combine beliefs already present, they do not introduce new ones.

4. The Psychology of Hallucinations

a. Hallucinations happen to persons who are high-strung, highly imaginative, and nervous.

b. They are linked in an individual’s subconscious, past beliefs, and experiences.

c. It is extremely unlikely that two ore more people would have the same hallucinations.

d. Hallucinations typically occur at particular places (of nostalgia, for example) and occur over a long period of time.

C. Explaining the Appearances

Alternate views: the mythical interpretation, the subjective-hallucination, and objective-vision theory. The former two have already been considered. The last one requires supernaturalism and leaving out the physical body leaves the empty tomb and Paul’s belief in a bodily resurrection unexplained.

III. Four Key Features of the Early Church

A. The Transformation of the Disciples They became martyrs, Paul, James!

B. The Change in Key Social Structures in Judaism

There are five structures.

1. Animal sacrifice

2. Emphasis on keeping the law.

3. Sabbath is a big deal

4. Clear-cut non-Trinitarian monotheism

5. The Messiah was a human, political figure who would establish the Davidic kingdom.

C. The Sacraments of the Early Church

The sacraments presuppose the resurrection of Jesus.

1. The Eucharist was early (1 Cor. 11) was a celebration!