I Don't Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist (71 page)

11
. Quoted in David Estrada and William White, Jr.,
The First New Testament
(Nashville: Nelson, 1978), 137.

12
. Keep in mind that this is
not
the gap between the events and the original writings. That gap is even shorter, as we’ll see later in this chapter.

13
. See Williston Walker, Richard Norris, David Lotz, and Robert Handy,
A
History of the Christian Church,
4th ed. (New York: Scribner, 1985), 123-124.

14
. For a breakdown of these quotations, see Norman Geisler and William Nix,
General Introduction to the Bible
(Chicago: Moody, 1986), 431.

15
. For more details and for sources, see Geisler,
Baker Encyclopedia of
Christian Apologetics,
532.

16
. Philip Schaff,
A Companion to the Greek Testament and the English
Version,
3rd ed. (New York: Harper, 1883), 177.

17
. For more details and for sources, see Geisler,
Baker Encyclopedia of
Christian Apologetics,
532.

18
. Fredric Kenyon,
Our Bible and the Ancient Manuscripts,
4th ed., rev. A. W. Adams (New York: Harper, 1958), 23.

19
. Paul Barnett,
Is the New Testament Reliable?
(Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 1986), 38-40.

20
. See John 5:2; 2 Thess. 2:4; Heb. 5:1-3; 7:23, 27; 8:3-5; 9:25; 10:1, 3-4, 11; 13:10-11; Rev. 11:1-2.

21
. See Barnett,
Is the New Testament Reliable?
65.

22
. See Paul Barnett,
Jesus and the Rise of Early Christianity
(Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 1999), 343.

23
. Colin J. Hemer,
The Book of Acts in the Setting of Hellenistic History
(Winona Lake, Ind.: Eisenbrauns, 1990), 376-382. For a summary of Hemer’s reasons, see Geisler,
Baker Encyclopedia of Christian Apologetics,
528.

24
. Most, if not all, scholars date the origin of this material prior to A.D. 40. See Gary Habermas,
The Historical Jesus
(Joplin, Mo.: College Press, 1996), 152-157; see also Habermas and Licona,
Case for the Resurrection of Jesus,
forthcoming), chapter 7.

25
. In addition, by writing “I delivered to you,” Paul was reminding them that he had already given them that testimony earlier. So while he wrote them in, say, 56, he must have verbalized it to them during an earlier visit to Corinth, probably in A.D. 51. This also means Paul must have received it prior to 51, which means this information was in existence prior to then.

26
. William Lillie, “The Empty Tomb and the Resurrection,” in D. E. Nineham, et al.,
Historicity and Chronology in the New Testament
(London: SPCK, 1965), 125.

27
. William F. Albright,
Recent Discoveries in Bible Lands
(New York: Funk & Wagnalls, 1956), 136.

28
. William F. Albright, “William Albright: Toward a More Conservative View,”
Christianity Today,
January 18, 1963, 3.

29
. If Luke really did interview eyewitnesses as he claims, then his Gospel contains early eyewitness testimony that should be considered just as reliable as if Luke had seen it himself. Eyewitness testimony is primary source material even if it was recorded later by someone else.

30
. A. N. Sherwin-White,
Roman Society and Roman Law in the New
Testament
(Oxford: Clarendon, 1963), 189.

31
. William Lane Craig,
The Son Rises
(Eugene, Ore.: Wipf & Stock, 2001), 101.

32
. William Lane Craig, “The Evidence for Jesus.” Posted online at
http://www.leaderu.com/offices/billcraig/docs/rediscover2.html
. Accessed August 10, 2003.

33
. Gary Habermas,
The Historical Jesus
(Joplin, Mo.: College Press, 1996), chapter 7.

34
. Some scholars think there’s other circumstantial evidence that Mark was written in the 30s. Mark mentions the high priest five times but doesn’t name him. The three other Gospels identify him as Caiaphas. Why doesn’t Mark identify him? Perhaps because Caiaphas was still the high priest when Mark was writing, so there was no need to name him. If this is true, then Mark was written by A.D. 37 because that’s when Caiaphas’s high priesthood ended (Josephus,
Antiquities,
18:4.3).

35
. Some scholars believe New Testament writers used written records that predate the Gospels. Luke 1:1 seems to confirm this. However, many liberal scholars suggest that the Gospels are not eyewitness accounts but were derived from one yet undiscovered source known as “Q.” In the next chapter, we’ll show why the New Testament writers
were
eyewitnesses. For an outstanding critique of biblical criticism and the idea that there was a “Q” source from which the New Testament writers drew, see former “Q” proponent Eta Linnemann,
Biblical Criticism on Trial
(Grand Rapids, Mich.: Kregel, 2001); see also Geisler,
Baker Encyclopedia of Christian Apologetics,
618-621.

36
. Craig Blomberg,
The Historical Reliability of the Gospels
(Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 1987), 197.

37
. For the debate on audiotape, see
www.impactapologetics.com
.

38
. Incidentally, while we may not have documents from the 500, their inclusion with fourteen eyewitnesses identified by name makes their seeing the risen Christ an unlikely invention of Paul. We’ll discuss this further in chapter 10.

C
HAPTER
10
D
O
W
E
H
AVE
E
YEWITNESS
T
ESTIMONY
A
BOUT
J
ESUS
?

1
. See Colin J. Hemer,
The Book of Acts in the Setting of Hellenistic History
(Winona Lake, Ind.: Eisenbrauns, 1990).

2
. The threat of death even extended to Romans. See Paul Maier,
In the Fullness
of Time
(Grand Rapids, Mich.: Kregel, 1991), 305.

3
. A. N. Sherwin-White,
Roman Society and Roman Law in the New
Testament
(Oxford: Clarendon, 1963), 189.

4
. William Ramsay,
St. Paul the Traveller and the Roman Citizen
(New York: Putnam, 1896), 8.

5
. See a complete listing of the miracles in Norman L. Geisler,
Baker Encyclopedia
of Christian Apologetics
(Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker, 1999), 485.

6
. One reason Luke wrote Acts may have been to show Paul’s innocence to officials in the Roman Empire. He certainly provided enough historical references to show that he was telling the truth. Of course, it would not have been wise of Luke to lie to Roman officials.

7
. Craig L. Blomberg,
The Historical Reliability of John’s Gospel
(Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 2001), 63.

8
. F. F. Bruce,
The New Testament Documents: Are They Reliable?
(Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 1981), 82.

9
. Quoted in ibid., 90-91.

10
. See Blomberg,
Historical Reliability of John’s Gospel,
69-281. For other good discussions of John’s historicity see Paul Barnett,
Is the New Testament
Reliable?
(Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 1986), 56-80; and Geisler,
Baker Encyclopedia of Christian Apologetics,
388-395.

11
. Barnett,
Is the New Testament Reliable?
62.

12
. See William D. Edwards, Wesley J. Gabel, Floyd E. Hosmer, “On the Physical Death of Jesus Christ,”
Journal of the American Medical
Association
255, no. 11 (March 21, 1986): 1455-1463.

13
. Skeptics might say, “Well, maybe he saw some other crucified person whose heart was punctured with a spear.” That might explain it if this were the only eyewitness detail John gives us. But as we have seen, he’s given us several other details, which strongly suggests he really was an eyewitness to the crucifixion of Jesus.

14
. There may actually be more than those we have identified because we did not conduct an exhaustive search on every name that appears in the New Testament.

15
. Pilate appears often in the New Testament: Roman governor of Judea, Matt. 27:2; Luke 3:1; causes slaughter of certain Galileans, Luke 13:1; tries Jesus and orders his crucifixion, Matt. 27; Mark 15; Luke 23; John 18:28-40; 19; Acts 3:13; 4:27; 13:28; 1 Tim. 6:13; allows Joseph of Arimathea to take Jesus’ body, Matt. 27:57-58; Mark 15:43-45; Luke 23:52; John 19:38.

16
. Mark refers to the high priest but does not name him (14:53). Again, this leads some scholars to believe that Mark’s account was written before A.D. 37 because that’s when Caiaphas’s reign ended. The theory here is that Mark was writing to a contemporary audience who already knew who the high priest was.

17
. Josephus,
Antiquities,
18:2.2.

18
. See Matt. 26:3, 57; Luke 3:2; John 11:49; 18:13-14, 24, 28; Acts 4:6.

19
. See “The Short List: The New Testament Figures Known to History,”
Biblical
Archaeological Review
26, no. 6 (November/December 2002): 34-37.

20
. See “The Short List: The New Testament Figures Known to History,”
Biblical
Archaeological Review
26, no. 6 (November/December 2002): 34-37.

C
HAPTER
11
T
HE
T
OP
T
EN
R
EASONS
W
E
K
NOW THE
N
EW
T
ESTAMENT
W
RITERS
T
OLD THE
T
RUTH

1
. For an explanation of these and more than 800 other verses critics have questioned, see Norman Geisler and Thomas Howe,
When Critics Ask
(Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker, 1992).

2
. It’s interesting to note that the creed recorded in 1 Corinthians 15 does not include the women as eyewitnesses. Perhaps that’s because the apostles recognized that a mention of women would add no further credibility to the fourteen male eyewitnesses specifically named there.

3
. See Gary Habermas,
The Historical Jesus
(Joplin, Mo.: College Press, 1996), 205.

4
. See Geisler and Howe,
When Critics Ask,
21.

5
. Simon Greenleaf,
The Testimony of the Evangelists
(1874; reprint, Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker, 1984), 9-10.

6
.
The Gospel of Peter.
See Ron Cameron,
The Other Gospels
(Philadelphia: Westminster, 1982), 80-81.

7
. Even if one argues that Matthew’s angel is an embellishment, that wouldn’t disprove the historicity of the Resurrection. In fact, even the embellished Gospel of Peter is built on the historical fact of the Resurrection.

8
. N. T. Wright,
The Resurrection of the Son of God
(Minneapolis: Fortress, 2003), 603.

9
. J. P. Moreland, interview by Lee Strobel,
The Case for Christ
(Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan, 1998), 250.

10
. Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians, which was written in the mid-50s A.D., deals with the issue of Communion as if it has been in practice there for quite some time. Paul says he passed on to the Corinthians previously what the Lord had passed on to him (1 Cor. 11:23). Paul’s first visit to Corinth was about A.D. 51, which is probably when he passed the practice of Communion on to them. This, of course, would mean Paul had to have received it even earlier.

11
. Charles Colson, “An Unholy Hoax?”
Breakpoint
commentary, March 29, 2002 (No. 020329). Posted online at
http://www.epm.org/Unholy Hoax.htm
.

12
. From a speech delivered at the Mississippi College School of Law, reported at
http://tmatt.gospelcom.net/column/1996/04/24/
.

13
. For a discussion of the few Qur’anic passages that some Muslims believe speak of miracles, see Norman Geisler and Abdul Saleeb,
Answering Islam,
2nd ed. (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker, 2002), 163-168.

14
. See ibid., 163-174.

C
HAPTER
12
D
ID
J
ESUS
R
EALLY
R
ISE FROM THE
D
EAD
?

1
. Gary R. Habermas,
The Risen Jesus and Future Hope
(Lanham, Md.: Rowman & Littlefield, 2003).

2
. While scholars are not unanimous on the empty tomb, a
majority
of them (about 75 percent) believe the tomb was empty. The other eleven facts stated here enjoy nearly unanimous scholarly support.

3
. Habermas,
Risen Jesus and Future Hope,
9-10.

4
. William Lane Craig, in Paul Copan and Ronald Tacelli, eds.,
Jesus’
Resurrection: Fact or Figment? A Debate Between William Lane Craig and
Gerd Lüdemann
(Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 2000), 56.

5
. In 1968, an ancient burial site was uncovered in Jerusalem containing about thirty-five bodies. It was determined that most of these had suffered violent deaths in the Jewish uprising against Rome in A.D. 70. One of these was a man named Yohanan Ben Ha’galgol. He was about twenty-four to twenty-eight years old, had a cleft palate, and a seven-inch nail was still driven through both of his feet. The feet had been turned outward so that the square nail could be hammered through at the heel, just inside the Achilles tendon. This would have bowed the legs outward as well, so that they could not have been used for support on the cross. The nail had gone through a wedge of acacia wood, then through the heels, then into an olive wood beam. There was also evidence that similar spikes had been put between the two bones of each lower arm. These had caused the upper bones to be worn smooth as the victim repeatedly raised and lowered himself to breathe (breathing is restricted with the arms raised). Crucifixion victims had to lift themselves to free the chest muscles and, when they grew too weak to do so, they died by suffocation. See Norman Geisler,
Baker Encyclopedia of Christian
Apologetics
(Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker, 1999), 48.