Page 13 - Christology - Student Textbook

events in Jesus’ life that virtually all false teachings agree that happened are the baptism and
crucifixion of Jesus.

Jesus Seminar
Jesus Seminar asserts that only 18% or less of what is recorded in Scripture concerning Christ is
historically plausible. So where do they come up with this statistic? Apparently, they used different
historical methods of studying who Jesus was than most Biblical scholars do. Their methods include
literary, source, and textual criticism, and faulty hermeneutics. It is interesting that orthodox
scholars use some of the same tools to validate the legitimacy of the Bible.

One of their classic teachers, Friedrich Schleiermacher, argues that if God could not change, then,
miracles could not happen. Therefore, the presence of miracles in the Gospel invalidates the
authenticity of the Gospels themselves. Another of their classic teachers, Rudolph Bultmann
believed that the Bible contained many myths about Jesus and should be “de-mythologized” in order
to discover the “deeper truths” it held. These myths included all miracles and apocalyptic references.
“I do indeed think that we can now know almost nothing concerning the life and personality of
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Jesus.”

Bart Ehrman, a contemporary historian, denies the orthodox presentation of Christ. He rebuts the
historicity of much of the biblical presentation of Christ and rather asserts that the Jesus of history
was a charismatic leader whose memory was embellished by Jesus’ disciples.

Jesus Seminar’s assertion that 82% of what is recorded in the Scripture concerning Christ is
implausible. The Apostle John argues that “these have been written so that you may believe that
Jesus is the Christ . . .and that believing you may have life in His name” (John 20:31 [NASB]). Notice
that it is in the Gospel where Jesus’s birth, ministry, crucifixion, and resurrection are gloriously
revealed. Since Jesus’ birth was a miracle, it fulfilled what was prophesied by the obedient prophets
(Isa 7:14; Mic. 5:2; cf. Matt 1:23; 2:6).

Gnostics
Gnostics believe that Jesus was the God trapped in a human body but repudiate His bodily
resurrection. One of their beliefs concerning human beings is that they are “split between the
physical and spiritual world. Human self or soul is naturally divine but is trapped and imprisoned by
the material world.” One of the grave implications from that belief is that continued imprisonment
by the material world would mean that one would probably miss out on salvation. Gnostics believe
that freedom from the physical realm (equivalent to the attainment of salvation) come from
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acquiring “secret knowledge.” Cross and Livingstone delineates it as “revealed knowledge of God
and of origin and destiny of mankind.”
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A foundational believe of biblical scholars is that our salvation hinges on is Christ’s incarnation. If
Jesus Christ pretended to be God, our faith in Him is a deception. God cannot deceive us or He
ceases to be God. If Jesus did not become a human, He could not have died for us. If He did not
become man, He could not have sympathized with our weaknesses (Heb. 4:14-16). He could not
have provided our salvation “by grace. . . through faith” (Eph. 2:8 [NASB]).

19 Rudolph Bultmann, New Testament and Mythology: And Other Basic Writings, ed. Schubert M.
Ogden (Minneapolis, MN: Augsburg Fortress Press, 1984), 5.

th
20 John D. Barry, ed., The Lexham Bible Dictionary, 6 ed. (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2016).
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21 F. L. Cross and E. A. Livingstone, eds., Dictionary of the Christian Church, 3 ed. (Peabody, MA:
Hendrickson Publishers, 1997), 683.

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