Faith Builder - Early Testimony

Christians living in today's world have a harder task when it comes to holding strong to their faith. So many questions have been raised as to the character of the real Jesus. Old texts, though not as old as the original scriptures, have resurfaced causing some to doubt their faith. Was Jesus who he said he was?

I have struggled with a lot of these questions over the past few years. Through reading some of Lee Strobel's books, and through studying the word, I have been able to put myself in the shoes of the skeptics. I'm glad to report that after all of this time spent, I have not been convinced by the skeptic's arguments but have found countless more reasons why my faith in Jesus Christ has been well placed.

This morning I was reading through 1 Corinthians 15: 3-7, an important text to those that believe Jesus really was the Messiah and not just some later invented, extravagant myth. According to Cambridge graduate, Dr. Craig Blomberg, the history of ancient documents is usually accepted if the event the document was written about took place within 500 years of the penning of the document. That seems like a long time, however, there was no Internet, television, telephone, or even newspaper for word to be passed around very quickly. Therefore it would take a much longer time for a story to spread, change over time, and then keep spreading. So 500 years is a good starting point. As Strobel's book Case for Christ points out, the biographies of Alexander the Great were written more than 400 years after his death, and yet are still regarded as accurate history.

Going back to 1 Corinthians 15: 3-7, let's see if Paul's writing falls within this acceptable period. Jesus died circa A.D. 30. By conservative estimates, Paul's conversion took place circa A.D. 32-35. Shortly after Paul's conversion he received a text from the early Christian church. This text is included in his letter to the Corinthians.

"For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the scriptures, and that he appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve. After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, and last of all he appeared to me also..." 1 Corinthians 15:3-7.

In a nutshell this is what the early church believed. For Paul to have received this text means that not only did this text exist at the time of his conversion, but it existed even earlier as it had already been written down. This creed from the church can therefore be dated as early as two years after Jesus' death (Strobel 1998).Furthermore, the eyewitnesses, Jesus' friends, family, and enemies, were all still around. Those who saw him crucified, and those who saw him after the resurrection were there to write down what they had seen. This is not the stuff of myth, this is eyewitness material. As a journalist, I will take the eyewitness accounts over the opinions of skeptics thousands of years later.

For further information and study I recommend Lee Strobel's The Case for Christ.
For more on apologetics go to http://www.leestrobel.com/