Jesus Christ: Legend, Liar, Lunatic...Or Something Else?
Jesus Christ
Since the Bible is a historically reliable account of Jesus Christ’s life and ministry we must read what it says He said about Himself (note that this account has been confirmed by the non-Christian, Christian, and archeological sources). Jesus’ self understanding shows that He saw Himself as God. The data is there that He thought this way, thus you either accept His claim or refute His claim. Jesus’ divingly authoritative teachings and most profoundly and importantly His divine resurrection are central to Christian particularist claims. Ravi Zacharias, a respected minister and Christian apologist, said it like this:
“The clear implications of Jesus saying he’s the way, the truth, and the life are that, first, truth is absolute, and second, truth is knowable. His claim of exclusivity means categorically that anything that contradicts what he says is by definition false.”
If Jesus Christ is who He said He was then all other belief systems contrary to His person and teachings are falsified, plain and simple. However, Zacharias gets this assertion straight from the Scripture. Even the Apostle Paul stated to the churches at Corinth:
“But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not risen; and if Christ has not risen, then our preaching is in vain [it amounts to nothing] and your faith is devoid of truth and is fruitless (without effect, empty, imaginary, and unfounded). We are even discovered to be misrepresenting God, for we testified of Him that He raised Christ, Whom He did not raise in case it is true that the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised; and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is mere delusion [futile, fruitless], and you are still in your sins [under the control and penalty of sin]; and further, those who have died in [spiritual fellowship and union with] Christ have perished (are lost)! If we who are [abiding] in Christ have hope only in this life and that is all, then we are of all people most miserable and to be pitied.” 1 Corinthians 15:13-19 (AMPL)
In short, our knowing that Christianity is true stands or falls upon the divine personhood of Jesus Christ (His divinity was affirmed through His Resurrection). If Jesus thought and showed He was God, if He was God, then all the teachings of Jesus are not teachings of just a morally good man but God Himself. And if Jesus’ teachings are God’s teachings, which are catalogued in the Bible, then we as human beings have an obligation to believe and follow those teachings. Therefore to better understand the fact that Jesus was God, we need to look at several points of interest: (1) Jesus’ self understanding (what He thought of Himself); (2) Jesus’ actions (the importance of His miracles); (3) Jesus’ fulfillment of messianic prophecy; and (4) Jesus’ uniqueness as a religious teacher.
(1) Jesus’ Self Understanding Jesus’ self-understanding is simply what Jesus thought of Himself. Scripture plainly shows that Jesus not only believed He was God, but He taught and showed this to be true. Due to time and space I have decided to list the important points that confirm from Scripture Jesus’ self understanding. This list of data verifies that Jesus saw Himself as God and acted out on that understanding.[1]
He called Himself the “Son of God” many times in the four Gospels
He changed peoples names (Simon to Peter in John 1:42). In Jewish tradition only God could change peoples names because Jews believed that a persons name was bound to their destiny.
He claimed to be sinless (John 8:46). Scripture teaches that all humans are born into sin with an inherent sin nature, only God is the ultimate good sinless Being.
He forgave all sins (Mark 2:5-12; Luke 24:45-47). No one can forgive sins save for God alone. We can forgive people for wronging us, but in these passages Jesus is not forgiving people of what they have done to Him, He is forgiving them for what they have done to others and themselves.
He accepted worship: from a leper (Matthew 8:2); from a ruler whose son Jesus had healed (Matthew 9:18); from the disciples after the storm (Matthew 14:33); from a Canaanite woman (Matthew 15:25); from the mother of James and John (Matthew 20:20); from a Gerasene demoniac (Mark 5:6); from a healed blind man (John 9:38); from all the disciples (Matthew 28:17); and from Thomas (John 20:28)
He uttered the divine name “I AM” in His own name (John 8:58)
He promised to send the Holy Spirit (John 14:25;16:7-15)
He claimed to give eternal life (John 3:16; 5:39-40)
He claimed the authority to change the Mosaic Law (Matthew 5:21-48; 19:3-9; Mark 10:2-12)
He foretold the future (Matthew 24; Luke 24:1-7; John 6:64)
He called Himself “your Lord and Teacher” (John 13:14)
He said He will come at the end of time to judge the world (Matthew 25:31-33)
He said we will be judged by how we have treated Him (Matthew 25:31-46)
Now, based upon all this information we can see that Jesus did in fact believe Himself to be God. So now we are left with two choices: Jesus is God or Jesus is not God. If you are going to refute Jesus Christ’s claim to divinity you must prove that He was not God. This would mean you must prove one of the following: (a) Jesus was a legend (He never existed), (b) Jesus was a lunatic (He was psychologically disturbed when He declared Himself to be God, (c) Jesus was a liar (He just said He was God but was not), (d) Jesus was a pantheistic guru (He though of Himself as “God” just as Hindus see God). That is it; you must accept one of these options. As C.S. Lewis put so candidly:
"I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: 'I'm ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don't accept His claim to be God.' That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic - on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg - or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to."
A lot of people say that Jesus was a good man, a good moral teacher but He was not God – however the words that Jesus said show that He thought this way, therefore if He thought this way you can not simply accept Him as a good person then ignore His claims – either He is God or He is not. If Jesus is not God then He can not be classified as good, but rather crazy or a liar or some kind of religious guru. Others take the approach that Jesus never existed as a real person, that He was a legend. With that we need to look at which concept of Jesus is correct: legend, lunatic, liar, or guru. If you can not prove any one of these is verifiably true then you are left with option (e) Jesus was who He said He was - God.
(a) Jesus the Legend.This option takes the approach that Jesus as an actual person in history never really existed. This idea of the “Jesus Myth” is quite popular among skeptics and “free thinkers” today on college campuses. However is it valid? Short answer: No! The fact is that there is overwhelming evidence, both Christian and non-Christian sources, that confirm Jesus was an actual person as espoused in the Gospels. For our purposes let’s look at the non-Christian evidence. The New Testament accounts are in themselves reliable sources however, some skeptics have an inbuilt prejudice towards the Scriptures therefore they will deny their trustworthiness right from the start. Because of this, we need to produce extra-biblical sources that confirm Jesus of Nazareth was in fact a real person. Do we have such sources? Yes we do! I can not go into detail here for fear of getting way off topic (the issue of extra-biblical evidences and discussing the reliability of the New Testament is an issue unto itself and can be addressed later), therefore I will simply synopsize those extra-biblical non-Christian sources. In all there are roughly seventeen (17) independent non-Christian sources confirming Jesus’ existence. Seventeen may seem menial but let me just mention that there are less than 10 sources confirming the existence of Roman emperor Tiberius (who lived during Jesus’ time), however he is taken at face value as a historically reliable figure by every ancient historian, even the Jesus skeptic ones.[2] Ancient historian writers such as Tacitus (lived from 55 A.D. to 120 A.D.), Suetonius (lived from 69 A.D. to 140 A.D.), and Thallus wrote of Jesus (whom they called Christus, Chrestus, or some similar variation). Orthodox Jewish sources from Josephus (lived from 37 A.D. to 97 A.D.) and the Jewish Talmud also confirm Jesus. Governmental officials such as Pliny the Younger and Roman Emperor’s Trajan and Hadrian describe the early Christian Church and its customs and beliefs about Jesus. Greek historian Lucian and Syrian Mara Bar-Serapion provide more details about Jesus. Also several non-orthodox, Gnostic writings speak about Jesus in a more theological manner. In all there at least seventeen (17) non-Christian writings that record more than fifty (50) details concerning the life, teachings, death, and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth who was the Christ. Even more compelling is the fact that these sources are dated between 20 to 150 years after Jesus’ death in 30 to 33 A.D. Note that many of the disciples lived until the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s A.D.![3] What is even more compelling is the fact that if we actually take the extra-biblical Christian sources (those sources from the early church) there are nearly an additional 26 sources, which would bring the total sources of confirming Jesus of Nazareth up to 43 – compared to Emperor Tiberius who has 10.[4] On top of this, if we take the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, along with the Book of Acts as reliable sources (and they are despite what bigoted scholars may say), we have even more compelling sources confirming Jesus as a real person! Piecing together just ten of the non-Christian references and we see this about Jesus:[5]
He lived during the time of Tiberius Caesar
He lived a virtuous life
He was a wonder-worker (performed miracles)
He had a brother named James
He claimed to be the Messiah
He was crucified under Pontius Pilate
He was crucified on the even of the Jewish Passover
Darkness and an earthquake occurred when He died
His disciples believed He rose from the dead
His disciples were willing to die for their belief
Christianity spread rapidly as far as Rome
His disciples denied the Roman gods and worshiped Jesus as God
How could non-Christian writers collectively reveal a storyline that was exactly parallel with the New Testament is Jesus never existed? Furthermore, this shows that the non-Christian sources affirm the New Testament as being historically accurate. To the point, the option that Jesus was a legend is simply lunacy, which brings us to option (b).
(b) Jesus the Lunatic. This option is the belief that Jesus was actually crazy and thus should not be taken serious – He is made the equivalent of those “Repent, for the end of the world is near” people that walk the streets of New York or crazy guys who say they are God. Is this an accurate understanding of Jesus? The answer seems to be absolutely no! There is no evidence, psychological or otherwise, that proves Jesus was crazy. Crazy, or rather disturbed people “frequently show inappropriate depression, or they might be vehemently angry, or perhaps they’re plagued by anxiety…[or they will] have misperceptions…[such as being paranoid]….[or they may have] thinking disorders – they can’t carry on a logical conversation, they’ll jump to faulty conclusions, they’re irrational….[Other signs are] unsuitable behavior such as dressing oddly or being unable to relate socially to others.” Jesus showed no such signs. The fact is Jesus was in His right mind when He spoke of the coming of Gods Kingdom and in His confirming that He was God incarnate. It can also be pointed out that irrational, crazed people do not say such profound sayings as Jesus did – He did not just speak, He taught on a level that the everyday person understood, through parables and so forth – crazed people can not teach or logically hold discourse. To drive the point home even farther, the fact is Jesus did not just say He was God, He showed He was God with His miraculous works! More on this is a moment; look under Jesus’ actions.[6]
(c) Jesus the Liar. This option takes the approach that Jesus was lying about being God. Is this accurate? Answer, you guessed it, no! Liars lie for one of two reasons, to get themselves out of trouble or for selfish reasons. Jesus saying that He was the Messiah and God incarnate was not conducive to Him getting out of trouble – on the contrary it is because of such assertion that He got into trouble! The Jewish religious leadership wanted Jesus dead because of the blasphemous declarations He was making of being God incarnate. As for lying for selfish reasons – what did it profit Jesus to declare He was the Messiah? Yes He could have received worship and mindless followers, but Jesus’ actions, as documented in the Gospels, show that He never demanded worship, in fact He usually would tell people not to tell others Who He was. Jesus did not receive mass worship, He did not gain political or economic power – reasons why most people create cults in which the leader is seen as a deity. No, Jesus received persecution, torture and eventual crucifixion for His words. Any sane thinking Jew in 1st Century Palestine would not have thought they would become powerful via declaring they were God incarnate. (d) Jesus the Guru.This option is the belief that Jesus was a mystical pantheistic guru, equivalent to Siddhartha Guatma (The Buddha). First off we need to know what pantheism is. In short, pantheism is the belief [“ism”] that everything [“pan”] is God [“theos”]). Thus option (4) asserts that Jesus was neither liar nor lunatic but was actually who He said He was, God. However there is a catch for the understanding of “God” in this sense is much different compared to the biblical, Christian sense. In this sense Jesus’ use of “I am God” is the same as the way Hindus and other pantheistic belief systems use it: the universe is God, nature is God, we are all God. This option is fallacious to its core for two reasons. First Jesus was a Jew not a pantheistic Hindu. In first century Palestine Jews had no concept of pantheistic beliefs nor did Israel have any connection to India where Hinduism dwelt. It is unhistorical and no evidence to back it up. Secondly, if Jesus was a pantheist then He was the worst pantheist religious leader in history, for no one, not his friends, family, followers or enemies understood what He taught. Since its conception with Jesus’ inner circle, Christianity has been monotheistic with a belief in a Trinitarian Godhead; it has never been pantheistic. Furthermore Jesus’ enemies confirm the opposite, Jesus was executed not because of pantheist beliefs but because of His “blasphemous” declarations that He was not only the Son of Yahweh but He was Yahweh. [7]
The evidence shows that Jesus was neither a legend, lunatic, liar, or guru – therefore, by logical deduction, He must have been who He said He was – God incarnate.
[1] The list of data comes from the following: Kreeft, Peter. “Why I Believe Jesus Is the Son of God,”Why I am a Christian, ed. Norman Geisler and Paul Hoffman. (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2006) pgs 245-246; and from Norman Geisler and Frank Turek. I Don’t Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist. (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2004) pgs 344-345 [2] Geisler, Norman and Frank Turek. I Don’t Have Enough Faith. pg 222[3] Habermas, Gary. Why I am a Christian, pgs 164-165 [4] Geisler and Turek. I Don’t Have Enough Faith. pg 222[5] List comes from: Geisler and Turek. I Don’t Have Enough Faith. Pg 223 [6] Information comes from: Strobel, Lee. The Case for Christ. Interview with Dr. Gary R. Collins, “Was Jesus Crazy When He Claimed to Be the Son of God?” (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1998) pgs 145-147 [7] Information in this paragraph comes from: Kreeft, Peter. Why I am a Christian, pgs 247-248
Jesus Christ: Legend, Liar, Lunatic...Or Something Else?
Since the Bible is a historically reliable account of Jesus Christ’s life and ministry we must read what it says He said about Himself (note that this account has been confirmed by the non-Christian, Christian, and archeological sources). Jesus’ self understanding shows that He saw Himself as God. The data is there that He thought this way, thus you either accept His claim or refute His claim. Jesus’ divingly authoritative teachings and most profoundly and importantly His divine resurrection are central to Christian particularist claims. Ravi Zacharias, a respected minister and Christian apologist, said it like this:
“The clear implications of Jesus saying he’s the way, the truth, and the life are that, first, truth is absolute, and second, truth is knowable. His claim of exclusivity means categorically that anything that contradicts what he says is by definition false.”
If Jesus Christ is who He said He was then all other belief systems contrary to His person and teachings are falsified, plain and simple. However, Zacharias gets this assertion straight from the Scripture. Even the Apostle Paul stated to the churches at Corinth:
“But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not risen; and if Christ has not risen, then our preaching is in vain [it amounts to nothing] and your faith is devoid of truth and is fruitless (without effect, empty, imaginary, and unfounded). We are even discovered to be misrepresenting God, for we testified of Him that He raised Christ, Whom He did not raise in case it is true that the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised; and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is mere delusion [futile, fruitless], and you are still in your sins [under the control and penalty of sin]; and further, those who have died in [spiritual fellowship and union with] Christ have perished (are lost)! If we who are [abiding] in Christ have hope only in this life and that is all, then we are of all people most miserable and to be pitied.” 1 Corinthians 15:13-19 (AMPL)
In short, our knowing that Christianity is true stands or falls upon the divine personhood of Jesus Christ (His divinity was affirmed through His Resurrection). If Jesus thought and showed He was God, if He was God, then all the teachings of Jesus are not teachings of just a morally good man but God Himself. And if Jesus’ teachings are God’s teachings, which are catalogued in the Bible, then we as human beings have an obligation to believe and follow those teachings. Therefore to better understand the fact that Jesus was God, we need to look at several points of interest: (1) Jesus’ self understanding (what He thought of Himself); (2) Jesus’ actions (the importance of His miracles); (3) Jesus’ fulfillment of messianic prophecy; and (4) Jesus’ uniqueness as a religious teacher.
(1) Jesus’ Self Understanding
Jesus’ self-understanding is simply what Jesus thought of Himself. Scripture plainly shows that Jesus not only believed He was God, but He taught and showed this to be true. Due to time and space I have decided to list the important points that confirm from Scripture Jesus’ self understanding. This list of data verifies that Jesus saw Himself as God and acted out on that understanding.[1]
Now, based upon all this information we can see that Jesus did in fact believe Himself to be God. So now we are left with two choices: Jesus is God or Jesus is not God. If you are going to refute Jesus Christ’s claim to divinity you must prove that He was not God. This would mean you must prove one of the following: (a) Jesus was a legend (He never existed), (b) Jesus was a lunatic (He was psychologically disturbed when He declared Himself to be God, (c) Jesus was a liar (He just said He was God but was not), (d) Jesus was a pantheistic guru (He though of Himself as “God” just as Hindus see God). That is it; you must accept one of these options. As C.S. Lewis put so candidly:
"I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: 'I'm ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don't accept His claim to be God.' That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic - on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg - or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to."
A lot of people say that Jesus was a good man, a good moral teacher but He was not God – however the words that Jesus said show that He thought this way, therefore if He thought this way you can not simply accept Him as a good person then ignore His claims – either He is God or He is not. If Jesus is not God then He can not be classified as good, but rather crazy or a liar or some kind of religious guru. Others take the approach that Jesus never existed as a real person, that He was a legend. With that we need to look at which concept of Jesus is correct: legend, lunatic, liar, or guru. If you can not prove any one of these is verifiably true then you are left with option (e) Jesus was who He said He was - God.
(a) Jesus the Legend.
The New Testament accounts are in themselves reliable sources however, some skeptics have an inbuilt prejudice towards the Scriptures therefore they will deny their trustworthiness right from the start. Because of this, we need to produce extra-biblical sources that confirm Jesus of Nazareth was in fact a real person. Do we have such sources? Yes we do! I can not go into detail here for fear of getting way off topic (the issue of extra-biblical evidences and discussing the reliability of the New Testament is an issue unto itself and can be addressed later), therefore I will simply synopsize those extra-biblical non-Christian sources. In all there are roughly seventeen (17) independent non-Christian sources confirming Jesus’ existence. Seventeen may seem menial but let me just mention that there are less than 10 sources confirming the existence of Roman emperor Tiberius (who lived during Jesus’ time), however he is taken at face value as a historically reliable figure by every ancient historian, even the Jesus skeptic ones.[2]
Ancient historian writers such as Tacitus (lived from 55 A.D. to 120 A.D.), Suetonius (lived from 69 A.D. to 140 A.D.), and Thallus wrote of Jesus (whom they called Christus, Chrestus, or some similar variation). Orthodox Jewish sources from Josephus (lived from 37 A.D. to 97 A.D.) and the Jewish Talmud also confirm Jesus. Governmental officials such as Pliny the Younger and Roman Emperor’s Trajan and Hadrian describe the early Christian Church and its customs and beliefs about Jesus. Greek historian Lucian and Syrian Mara Bar-Serapion provide more details about Jesus. Also several non-orthodox, Gnostic writings speak about Jesus in a more theological manner. In all there at least seventeen (17) non-Christian writings that record more than fifty (50) details concerning the life, teachings, death, and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth who was the Christ. Even more compelling is the fact that these sources are dated between 20 to 150 years after Jesus’ death in 30 to 33 A.D. Note that many of the disciples lived until the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s A.D.![3] What is even more compelling is the fact that if we actually take the extra-biblical Christian sources (those sources from the early church) there are nearly an additional 26 sources, which would bring the total sources of confirming Jesus of Nazareth up to 43 – compared to Emperor Tiberius who has 10.[4] On top of this, if we take the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, along with the Book of Acts as reliable sources (and they are despite what bigoted scholars may say), we have even more compelling sources confirming Jesus as a real person!
Piecing together just ten of the non-Christian references and we see this about Jesus:[5]
How could non-Christian writers collectively reveal a storyline that was exactly parallel with the New Testament is Jesus never existed? Furthermore, this shows that the non-Christian sources affirm the New Testament as being historically accurate. To the point, the option that Jesus was a legend is simply lunacy, which brings us to option (b).
(b) Jesus the Lunatic. This option is the belief that Jesus was actually crazy and thus should not be taken serious – He is made the equivalent of those “Repent, for the end of the world is near” people that walk the streets of New York or crazy guys who say they are God. Is this an accurate understanding of Jesus? The answer seems to be absolutely no! There is no evidence, psychological or otherwise, that proves Jesus was crazy. Crazy, or rather disturbed people “frequently show inappropriate depression, or they might be vehemently angry, or perhaps they’re plagued by anxiety…[or they will] have misperceptions…[such as being paranoid]….[or they may have] thinking disorders – they can’t carry on a logical conversation, they’ll jump to faulty conclusions, they’re irrational….[Other signs are] unsuitable behavior such as dressing oddly or being unable to relate socially to others.” Jesus showed no such signs. The fact is Jesus was in His right mind when He spoke of the coming of Gods Kingdom and in His confirming that He was God incarnate. It can also be pointed out that irrational, crazed people do not say such profound sayings as Jesus did – He did not just speak, He taught on a level that the everyday person understood, through parables and so forth – crazed people can not teach or logically hold discourse. To drive the point home even farther, the fact is Jesus did not just say He was God, He showed He was God with His miraculous works! More on this is a moment; look under Jesus’ actions.[6]
(c) Jesus the Liar. This option takes the approach that Jesus was lying about being God. Is this accurate? Answer, you guessed it, no! Liars lie for one of two reasons, to get themselves out of trouble or for selfish reasons. Jesus saying that He was the Messiah and God incarnate was not conducive to Him getting out of trouble – on the contrary it is because of such assertion that He got into trouble! The Jewish religious leadership wanted Jesus dead because of the blasphemous declarations He was making of being God incarnate. As for lying for selfish reasons – what did it profit Jesus to declare He was the Messiah? Yes He could have received worship and mindless followers, but Jesus’ actions, as documented in the Gospels, show that He never demanded worship, in fact He usually would tell people not to tell others Who He was. Jesus did not receive mass worship, He did not gain political or economic power – reasons why most people create cults in which the leader is seen as a deity. No, Jesus received persecution, torture and eventual crucifixion for His words. Any sane thinking Jew in 1st Century Palestine would not have thought they would become powerful via declaring they were God incarnate. (d) Jesus the Guru.
The evidence shows that Jesus was neither a legend, lunatic, liar, or guru – therefore, by logical deduction, He must have been who He said He was – God incarnate.
[1] The list of data comes from the following: Kreeft, Peter. “Why I Believe Jesus Is the Son of God,” Why I am a Christian, ed. Norman Geisler and Paul Hoffman. (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2006) pgs 245-246; and from Norman Geisler and Frank Turek. I Don’t Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist. (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2004) pgs 344-345 [2] Geisler, Norman and Frank Turek. I Don’t Have Enough Faith. pg 222[3] Habermas, Gary. Why I am a Christian, pgs 164-165 [4] Geisler and Turek. I Don’t Have Enough Faith. pg 222[5] List comes from: Geisler and Turek. I Don’t Have Enough Faith. Pg 223 [6] Information comes from: Strobel, Lee. The Case for Christ. Interview with Dr. Gary R. Collins, “Was Jesus Crazy When He Claimed to Be the Son of God?” (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1998) pgs 145-147
[7] Information in this paragraph comes from: Kreeft, Peter. Why I am a Christian, pgs 247-248