Creedal Passages

The Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John are not the earliest sources documenting the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. The scholarly consensus dates these Gospels about 35-65 years after the death of Christ.

Instead, the earliest sources are actually derived from what most bible scholars call the 'creedal passages'. 1 Corinthians 15:3-8 and the long list from Acts, for example, are passages whose material is believed to go back all the way to the 30s AD.  Even most critical (i.e. skeptical) scholars concede as much regarding these specific New Testament passages.

In these 'creedal passages', the divinity of Christ, His sacrificial death, bodily resurrection, and post-resurrection appearances are clearly believed and taught by the earliest Christian community (specifically a mere 2-9 years after the death of Christ).

While these extremely early sources do not prove a divine Jesus, they do demonstrate that belief in a divine Jesus was not a product of myth and legendary development over the course of decades and centuries. It was there from the very beginning.

Holy Saturday

Here are numerous quotes and citations from early Christian and apocryphal sources regarding the mystery of Christ's redemptive activity between the time of His death and resurrection.

- ST. IGNATIUS, 2nd century — "He descended alone into Hades, but He rose up from it with a multitude, and He cleft the aeonian barrier, and broke down its middle wall."

- ST. JUSTIN MARTYR, 2nd century. — "And He descended to them (the dead) to preach to them His salvation."

- Odes of Solomon (non-canonical poem), 2nd century, Ode 42 "Sheol saw me and was shattered, and Death ejected me and many with me.I have been vinegar and bitterness to it, and I went down with it as far as its depth..And I made a congregation of living among his dead; and I spoke with them by living lips; in order that my word may not be unprofitable.And those who had died ran towards me; and they cried out and said, Son of God, have pity on us. And deal with us according to Your kindness, and bring us out from the bonds of darkness. And open for us the door by which we may come out to You; for we perceive that our death does not touch You. May we also be saved with You, because You are our Savior. Then I heard their voice, and placed their faith in my heart. And I placed my name upon their head, because they are free and they are mine."

- ST. IRENAEUS, 3rd century. — "Christ descended to preach even to those (who were under the earth) His advent."

- ORIGEN, 3rd century. — "Jesus descended into Hades, and the Prophets before Him, and they proclaim beforehand the coming of Christ."

- Clement of Alexandria 3rd century- "the sole cause of the Lord's descent to the underworld was to preach the gospel.

- (apocryphal) Acts of the Apostle Thomas, circa 3rd century "You Who went down even to Hades. And did bring out thence those shut in for many ages."

- Eusebius 4th century. — "Bursting open the eternal gates of the dark abode, and opening a way of return to life for the dead there bound in chains of death."

- St.Epiphanius, 4th century "Christ, like a swift-winged hawk, snatched away all that He bad from the beginning, from the devil and left him deserted."  "Christ arose, and the prison of Hades was emptied."

 - St. Chrysostom, 4th century "While the devil imagined that he had got hold of Christ (in Hades), he lost all in fact whom he was keeping." 
"The fire of hell (Gehenna) is extinguished, the sleepless worm (evidently the 'worm that dies not') dies those who were in Hades. are set free from the bonds of the Devil"

- Didymus 4th century "In the liberation of all no one remains a captive; at the time of the Lord's passion he alone (Satan) was injured, who lost all the captives he was keeping." 

- The Apostles' Creed, first partial formulation in the 2nd century, with the phrase "He descended into Hell" likely added in the 3rd or 4th century

- ATHANASIUS 4th century. — (The devil) "sitting by the gates sees all the fettered beings led forth by the courage of the Saviour."

- GREGORY OF NAZIANZUS, 4th century. — "Until He loosed by His blood all who groan under Tartarean chains."

- ST. AMBROSE, 4th century. — "Christ….bursting open the bars and gates of hell, recalled to life from the jaws of the devil…souls bound in sin."

- ST. HILARY OF POICTIERS, 4th century. — "He knows…that even to those who were in prison and had once been unbelieving, the exhortation was preached."

- Victorinus, 4th century "The Savior descends into Hades by that Passion of the Cross in order that He may set free. every soul."

- Ambrosiaster,  circa 4th century "Christ snatched from Hades all *** the devil, lost, together with Christ, all whom he was keeping."

- St. Ephrem of Syria, 4th century "Christ burst open the most voracious belly of Hades * seeing that Death trembled * and sent forth all whom from the first man up to that time he had kept in bonds."

- (apocryphal) Gospel of Nicodemus, circa 4th century ""When Jesus arrived in Hades, the gates burst open, and taking Adam by the hand Jesus said, "Come all with me, as many as have died through the tree which he touched, for behold I raise you all up through the tree of the cross.'"

- Maximus of Turin, 5th century "Christ carried off to heaven man (mankind) whose cause He undertook, snatched from the jaws of Hades."

- ST. JEROME , 5th century "Our Lord was shut up in æonian bars in order that he might set free all who had been shut up."

- ST. CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA . 5th century "And wandering down even to Hades he has emptied the dark, secret, invisible treasures." "Through Christ has been saved the holy crowd of the Fathers, nay, the whole human race altogether which was earlier in time (than Christ's death) for He died for all, and the death of all was done away in Him."

And here's some Bulgarian Orthodox music which always makes me think of Holy Saturday:

Holy Week Begins

All four New Testament Gospels record the following Holy Week events:

- Jesus rides into Jerusalem on a donkey (Palm Sunday)
- Jesus and his apostles have the Last Supper (Maundy Thursday)
- Jesus is betrayed and arrested
- Peter denies knowing Jesus
- Jesus stands trial before Pontius Pilate
- Jesus is crucified (Good Friday)
- Jesus is buried by himself, in a tomb, by Joseph of Arimathea
- Jesus rises from the dead (Easter Sunday)

According to most modern bible scholars, these events were recorded about 35-65 years after Christ died. For the sake of comparison, based on some online research, here are the time frames for the earliest written references regarding other major religious figures:

- Abraham, about 1500 years after his death
- Moses, anywhere from 400-900 years after his death
- Buddha, about 300-400 years after his death
- Muhammad, 100-150 years after his death

Technically, the earliest written references to Christ date to only about 16-27 years after his death (New Testament epistles such as James, 1 Thessalonians, 1 Corinthians, and Galatians, and probably the Roman historian Thallus in his Eastern Mediterranean history), but they are not considered biographical in nature, like the Gospels.

Anyway, I'd like to wish everyone a fun and contemplative holy week. Approximately 2.2 billion people, or about 30% of the world's population, will be commemorating these events over the coming week.

Skeptic's Quote

H. G. Wells, British writer, 1866-1946

When asked which person left the most permanent impression on history, he replied that judging a person’s greatness by historical standards:

“By this test, Jesus stands first.”
“I am a historian, I am not a believer, but I must confess as a historian that this penniless preacher from Nazareth is irrevocably the very center of history. Jesus Christ is easily the most dominant figure in all history.”
“Christ is the most unique person of history. No man can write a history of the human race without giving first and foremost place to the penniless teacher of Nazareth.”

Source 


Wishing everyone a very merry and blessed Christmas!

"The Word became flesh and dwelt among us..." John 1:14

Statistical Odds of the Virgin Birth

Christians and Muslims believe in the virgin birth of Jesus Christ, though Muslims do not accept the divinity of Christ as Christians do. If the virgin birth truly occurred, then this miracle could have occurred in one of two ways: supernaturally or hypernaturally.

If it took place supernaturally, then God acted outside the natural law by overriding the known laws of physics and biology. This is by far the most common view and what most people would refer to as a miracle. Such a view is not conducive to scientific inquiry.

If it took place hypernaturally, then God acted within the natural law by employing the known laws of physics and biology to produce an extraordinary, statistically improbable event. Such a view is conducive, even if only in a limited fashion, to scientific inquiry.

So, what if the virgin birth of Jesus Christ was, in fact, a hypernatural miracle? 

A 2007 Slate article, Can a Virgin Give Birth, answers "Yes-but it's very, very, very, very unlikely." In other words, as the article points out, it would be an extremely improbable event, mathematically (and biologically) speaking. But if this extremely improbable event did happen, what of the added coincidence that it would've happened to the one man billions have believed to be a miracle worker (Muslims), billions more have believed to be God in human flesh (Christians), and even quite a few agnostic & atheistic scholars have claimed to be the most influential figure in human history?

While the odds of the virgin birth being a hypernatural miracle are incredibly low, perhaps considering these odds in the larger context of the odds of humanity even existing in the first place might prove a useful comparison.  For example, in 1986, two top cosmologists, Barrow and Tipler*, wrote a book called the Anthropic Cosmological Principle. They were also mathematicians and physicists. In the book, they laid out ten steps which were necessary for human evolution. Borrowing from a blog that briefly summarized some of the key points, here is something particularly relevant:

     "Moreover, in the Anthropic Cosmological Principle two of the world’s leading cosmologists, John D. Barrow and Frank J. Tipler, point out 10 steps in the course of human evolution, such as the development of the DNA base genetic code, the origin of mitochondria in the cells, the origin of photosynthesis, the development of aerobic respiration, the development of the inner skeleton and the development of the eye, each of which is so improbable that before it would have occurred the sun would have ceased to be a main sequence star, and would have incinerated the earth. The odds they calculated for the assembly of the human genome was somewhere around 4 to the -360th power to the 110,000th power — simply an incomprehensible number. For reasons like this as well as others, “there has developed a general consensus among evolutionists that the evolution of intelligent life. . . is so improbable that is unlikely to have occurred on any other planet in the entire visible universe."

Viewed in this broader context, one could say that the odds of a hypernatural virgin birth are much higher than the odds of humanity coming into existence in the first place.   


* Apparently, Dr. Tipler, also makes a positive argument for the virgin birth being a hypernatural miracle in his book The Physics of Christianity.

Icons and Theme

Found this picture in a book called 'Christmas in Ukraine'. Thought these images best summed up the meaning of Christmas.

In case you can't quite make it out, these are icons of the Virgin Mary, Christ, and St. Nicholas

And on that note, I have decided that this year's Christmas decorating theme will be.........St. Nicholas.

Good Friday

"And when I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw all people to myself." John 12:32

"...because we trust in the living God, who is the Savior of all men, especially of those who believe." 1 Timothy 4:10

"And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world." 1 John 2:2

Interesting factoids:  In addition to early Christian testimony, Christ's death by crucifixion is explicitly confirmed by the following primary sources:

- Tacitus, 1st/2nd century Roman historian

- Josephus, 1st century Jewish historian

- Sanhedrin 43a in the Talmud (70-200 AD period)

- Lucian, 2nd century Greek satirist

Tacitus and Josephus specified that Christ was crucified under the Roman Procurator Pontius Pilate.

In addition, the earthquake and mysterious darkness at the time of Christ's crucifixion appear to have been mentioned in the writings of Thallus, a 1st century Roman historian, and Phlegon, a 2nd century Greek historian, as cited by 3rd century historian, Julius Africanus.  In the New Testament, the Gospel of Matthew records the earthquake, and the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke record the 3 hour darkness.

Finally, in historical Jesus research, Christ's death by crucifixion is considered one of three historical data that reaches the level of 'historical bedrock', i.e. its historicity is accepted by the vast majority of New Testament scholars, which includes atheist, agnostic, and 'liberal' scholars. The other two historical data will be unveiled on Easter Sunday.

Jewish New Year

Today is the first day of Rosh Hashanah, or the Jewish New Year. While it is popularly known as a strictly Jewish holiday, it may also be the birthday of Jesus Christ. According to a theory put forth by respected scholar Dr. Ernest L. Martin, Christ was likely born on the first day of Rosh Hashanah in 3 BC. In his book 'The Star that astonished the world', he lays out what I think (as a layman) is a pretty compelling case, one which incorporates a wide swath of biblical, historical, and astronomical data. If he's right, it certainly makes for quite a 'coincidence'.

RIP Mama Holidays

On this day, 5 years ago, Mama Holidays died. When I was a little boy, she used to buy me a Halloween costume and a plastic Jack O'Lantern. She also helped make Christmas and Easter really special. A lot of my child-like fancy, as it relates to these 3 holidays, comes from her.

RIP Mama Holidays
Jesus said unto her, "I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believes in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live." John 11:25

Resurrection Sunday

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