The Gospel According to Scholars

“WHO are the crowds saying that I am?” (Luke 9:18) Jesus asked this of his disciples almost two millenniums ago. The question was controversial then. It seems to be even more so now, especially around the Christmas season, which is supposed to center on Jesus. Many believe that Jesus was sent from heaven to redeem mankind. Is that what you think?

Some scholars propose another view. “The image of Jesus as one who taught that he was the Son of God who was to die for the sins of the world is not historically true,” claims Marcus J. Borg, professor of religion and culture.

Other scholars claim that the real Jesus was different from the one we read about in the Bible. Some hold that all the Gospels were penned four decades or more after Jesus’ death and that by then Jesus’ true identity had been embellished. The problem was not with the Gospel writers’ recall, assert the scholars, but with their interpretation. After Jesus’ death the disciples came to view him differently—as the Son of God, Savior, and Messiah. Some boldly claim that Jesus was no more than a wandering sage, a social revolutionary. Such, say the scholars, is the gospel truth.

The “Scholarly” View of Jesus

To defend their “scholarly” view, critics seem eager to dismiss anything about Jesus that seems supernatural. For example, some say that the virgin birth was a cover-up for Jesus’ illegitimacy. Others reject Jesus’ prophecies regarding Jerusalem’s destruction, insisting that these were inserted into the Gospels after their “fulfillment.” Some even say that Jesus’ healings were purely psychosomatic—mind over matter. Do you find such positions sound or preposterous?

Certain scholars even claim that Jesus’ disciples fabricated the resurrection to keep their movement from collapsing. After all, the scholars reason, Jesus’ followers were powerless without him, so they wrote their Master back into the story. In effect, it was Christianity, not Christ, that was resurrected. If that seems like scholarly flailing about, what of theologian Barbara Thiering’s proposal that Jesus was not executed at all? She believes that Jesus survived his impalement and went on to marry twice and father three children.

All these assertions bring Jesus down to the only level upon which many scholars will accept him: that of a wise man, marginal Jew, social reformer—anything but the Son of God, who came “to give his soul a ransom in exchange for many.”—Matthew 20:28.

Perhaps around this time of the year, you have read parts of the Gospels, such as the part about Jesus’ birth in a manger. Or you may have heard such in church. Did you accept the Gospel accounts as valuable and believable? Then take note of this shocking situation. In a so-called Jesus Seminar, a group of scholars has met twice a year since 1985 to determine the authenticity of Jesus’ words. Did Jesus really say what the Bible attributes to him? Members of the seminar voted on each saying with colored beads. A red bead meant that a statement was surely spoken by Jesus; a pink bead meant that Jesus probably said it; a gray bead signified doubt; and a black bead denoted falsification.

You might be disturbed to learn that the Jesus Seminar has declared that 82 percent of the words attributed to Jesus were probably not uttered by him. Only one quote from Mark’s Gospel was deemed trustworthy. Luke’s Gospel was said to be so full of propaganda as to be “beyond recovery.” All but three lines of John’s Gospel got the black bead vote, denoting falsification, and the bit that remained was accorded the gray bead of doubt.

More Than Academics

Do you agree with the scholars? Are they presenting us with a more accurate portrayal of Jesus than that found in the Bible? These questions are more than a matter for scholarly debate. At this time of the year, you may be reminded that, according to the Bible, God sent Jesus “in order that everyone exercising faith in him might not be destroyed but have everlasting life.”—John 3:16.

If Jesus was no more than a wandering sage about whom we may know little, it would be pointless to ‘exercise faith’ in him. On the other hand, if the Bible’s portrayal of Jesus is truthful, our eternal salvation is involved. Therefore, we need to know—does the Bible contain the truth about Jesus?