Will the Real Jesus Please Stand Up? Part 1: Why should we study the historical Jesus?

This post marks the beginning of a new series that I am writing on the historical study of Jesus of Nazareth. In this series, we will review the various portraits of Jesus that scholars such as John Dominic Crossan, E.P. Sanders, and N.T. Wright have constructed. In addition, we will examine some of the Gospel materials ourselves in an attempt to gain some insight into this scholarly enigma. However, before this massive task can be undertaken I must answer the question posed above: why should Christians study the historical Jesus? To this question, I will give two answers.

First, Christians should study the historical Jesus so that they can deconstruct the false portraits of Jesus (as a quasi flower child, a social/political revolutionary, an existentialist preacher, a Greco/Roman Cynic philosopher, etc.) and paint a portrait of Jesus that is more faithful to both the history and the scriptures. There are many opinions out there on Jesus of Nazareth, several of which are not orthodox Christian opinions. Additionally, with the rise of the so-called ‘new atheism’ and its figureheads (Dawkins, Dennett, Harris, Hitchens), Christianity is being attacked by opponents who are more hostile and ignorant than ever. These atheists can argue all day on whether or not god (in the general sense) exists, but what Christians should be doing is making them deal with the historical figure of Jesus. Several of these men simply push Jesus to the periphery and say that the gospels are nothing but myths. They should not be allowed to do this, and if Christians devoted themselves to the historical study of Jesus, these men would not be able to get away with such sophomoric arguments.

Second, Christians should study the historical Jesus so that they can be better equipped to proclaim the gospel of grace to an increasingly graceless world. The same Jesus who appeared on the scene two thousand years ago is alive and reigning today, and his word still has the power to cause us to drop our nets and follow; but we must study the history in order to understand what his word is and what it means for us in the twenty-first century. All too often Christians will read the text of scriptures as though it was written by several modern (or postmodern) thinkers who were concerned with answering the same kind of questions we are. This is simply not the case. The revelation of God took place at a certain time in history and we cannot divorce that revelation from its historical context without suffering dire consequences. It was John Calvin who said that the human mind is a perpetual factory of idols. When Christians neglect the historical study of scripture, they are in grave danger of constructing an idol and calling it Jesus Christ when it is not. We must understand that this task is both a dangerous one and a necessary one. It is necessary for the reasons we discussed above. It is dangerous because we may not like what we discover when we analyze the historical evidence. It might be the case that Jesus was not primarily concerned with some of the things we thought he was, and as Christians we need to resolve to accept that sobering truth.

It is my firm conviction that by embarking on this study of the historical Jesus we will find ourselves humbled even more by the majesty of our God and his word given to us through his Son. Please pray that God will give us all discernment and wisdom so that we might be able to truly understand the words and deeds of his Son and what they mean for us today.