other external testimony

There are other kinds of external testimony to Jesus which are not in written form – such as the remarkable growth of Christianity in its first two decades even amidst complete marginalization and overt persecution. It would be difficult to believe that this occurred without an actual (remarkable) historical figure as its source. These indirect external testimonies to the historicity (and remarkable character of Jesus are discussed in Units II-C, D, E, and F.)

Of course, the New Testament goes far beyond these direct and indirect extra testamental sources, and gives a very detailed picture of both Jesus and His Jewish historical context. Wright, Meier, and other historical exegetes hold that Jesus came from a background of Palestinian Judaism, and that He overlaid this background with an emphasis on apocalyptic eschatology. Though He was undoubtedly familiar with Hellenistic thought, it was not central to His worldview. The general portrait of Jesus within this Palestinian framework is described quite succinctly by John P. Meier as follows:

…the total Gestalt, the total configuration or pattern of this Jew who proclaimed the present yet future kingdom, who was also an itinerant prophet and miracle worker in the guise of Elijah, who was also a teacher and interpreter of the Mosaic Law, who was also a charismatic leader who called disciples to follow him at great price, who was also a religious personage whose perceived messianic claims wound up getting him crucified by the Roman prefect, in the end, a crucified religious figure who was soon proclaimed by his followers as risen from the dead and Lord of all. It is this total and astounding configuration of traits and claims that makes for the uniqueness of Jesus as a historical figure within 1st-century Judaism.^[4]

But how can we be so sure that this picture of Jesus is historical? What techniques can be used to ascertain the truth of any historical texts, and in particular, New Testament texts? Why did the early Church go beyond the claim that Jesus was a man and claim that he was divine – “the Lord,” “the Son of God,” and even, “in the form of God,” and “not grasping at his equality with God”? We will discuss each of these questions in the following three subsections: