Who Do You Say Jesus Is? – Part 3

My last Musing ended with the following statement, “There are many documented, non-biblical historical references to the life of Christ, but that must wait until next time! Jesus really lived, died by crucifixion, and was resurrected.” Today we will briefly look at several of the main reinterpretations of the historical Jesus. The first is the “Swoon Theory”. This theory postulates that Jesus survived death on the cross, thus denying the resurrection of Jesus. No resurrection, no atonement for sin, he is not the incarnate Son of God. This story as stated by Hugh Schonfield in “The Passover Plot” says an unidentified man gave Jesus a drink with drugs that made him pass out and appear dead on the cross. He revived on Saturday and his body was removed from the tomb, but he died shortly afterwards. This unidentified man was the one the women at the tomb saw, and also the men on the road to Emmaus. Per Jesus’ last words, he spoke to them as recorded in the Gospels. It is ironic that even Schonfield says his work is “an imaginative reconstruction”. It was a popular read for a while yet influenced many people to come to a non-biblical conclusion, thus impacting their eternal destiny.

Another view on the swoon theory by Joyce Donovan says a doctor hid in the tomb and nursed Jesus back to life. The soldiers did not stab him in the side as recorded in the Bible. The swoon theory was very popular for a good 50 years or so. However even a liberal scholar such as David Strauss disproved it. Who would remove the heavy stone at the tomb? The Roman guards had to be bribed and told to keep quiet. How could a man beat as bad as Jesus, and hung on the cross walk to where the disciples were hiding? Where did he get new clothes to wear?

Crucifixion results in the victim usually dying of asphyxiation. That is why the ankles/leg bones were broken. Jesus was already dead; thus, the Roman soldiers did not break his legs. Also, the blood and water that came out when the spear broke his pericardium sac is exactly what would be expected if the victim were already dead. This theory is so weak that by the 20th century even the most anti-biblical, liberal religious people abandoned it.

Did Jesus really claim to be God? Many say that Jesus never said he was God, that either his immediate disciples or the Apostle Paul invented this claim. Schoenfield states that the early church twisted Jesus’ life to say he claimed deity. He says Jesus was not trying to start a new religion but wanted to stay true to Judaism. However, he also has no historical manuscripts to uphold his position. There are thousands of New Testament documents that validate the Gospels recorded history. Besides Jesus claimed to be the Son of God, the Son of Man, he taught that salvation was only in Him, He was the Way, the only Way to come to the Father. He also said he had the power to forgive sins, something the Jews used to murder him. He said that he and the Father were one in John 10:30.

The contemporaries of Jesus viewed him as God, Mark 2: 6-7 and John 5: 17-18. Why shouldn’t we do the same? The prophet Isaiah (45: 22-23) and Philippians 2: 6-11 show that Jesus Christ was and is in fact one with the God of the Bible. Jesus is called Son, Christ and Lord throughout the entire New Testament writings. If one reads them with an open mind, asking God the Father to reveal the truths of the Gospel to them, God will do exactly that.

You may have noticed that I did not reference scripture as much as I usually do. That is because I desire you read the New Testament for yourself and see what it has to offer. I challenge you to read the New Testament this winter and then believe it! It will change your life because that is what Jesus is all about, changing lives. It is the biography of the incarnate Son of God, and history of the early church.

Dave Carroll is an area missionary with InFaith, America’s oldest Christian home mission agency, and Pastor of the Wolf Creek Baptist Church. Source material for this article comes from the book, “The Historical Jesus”, by Dr. Gary R. Habermas, 1999. You can contact Dave at 406.459.8935 or [email protected].