Are His Claims Real?

“There is more evidence for the reliability of the New Testament writings than any 10 pieces of classical literature put together.”

Was Jesus’ claim to be God nothing more than a figment of the early church’s imagination? Something added to the Bible by Jesus’ followers?

It’s an interesting idea, but most scholars believe that at least three of the Bible’s gospel accounts (Matthew, Mark, Luke) were written within a generation of Jesus. Many eyewitnesses would still have been alive to disagree with these first century writings. But there is no evidence of that occurring.

In fact, there is more evidence for the reliability of the New Testament writings than any 10 pieces of classical literature put together. Historians of ancient Greece, for example, have to rely on only eight manuscripts of Thucydide’s History of the Peloponnesian War with the earliest one written some 1,300 years after the originals. Biblical scholars meanwhile, have more than 20,000 New Testament manuscripts at their disposal, with several copied less than 200 years after Jesus’ birth.

Lastly, there is no question that the early Christians believed in and worshipped one of their own countrymen as God in human form. It’s never been seriously disputed. Which leaves us to wonder at such behaviour. If, in fact, Jesus never claimed to be God, what were a bunch of monotheists (believers in only one god) doing falling at his feet?

Next Steps:
What Does this Mean?

Further Reading:
The Audio Drama - Watch the Jesus Film
Take a more in depth look at Jesus’ life
The Gospel of John