Christian Publishing House Blog
Apologetic Defense of the faith, the Bible, and Christianity
Though we cannot state with perfect accuracy the date either of the birth or death of the great Apostle of the Gentiles, both may be inferred within narrow limits. When he is first mentioned, on the occasion of Stephen’s martyrdom, he is called a young man, and when he wrote the Epistle to Philemon he calls himself Paul the aged.
All who know anything about Jesus, know that he lived almost his entire life in Nazareth, and was known as the Nazarene. Yet, he was born some 90 miles [150 km] away in Bethlehem? Why, late in her pregnancy would Joseph and Mary make such an arduous journey?
On occasion, some critics raise the question: "How do you know that certain documents known as the 'New Testament Apocrypha' are not divinely inspired, and therefore do not deserve a place side-by-side with the widely-accepted New Testament documents?"
Virtually all reputable scholars of antiquity agree that Jesus existed. Reconstructions of the historical Jesus are based on the Pauline epistles and the Gospels, while several non-Biblical sources also bear witness to the historical existence of Jesus.
Pontius Pilate was the fifth governor of the Roman province of Judaea, serving under Emperor Tiberius from the year 26/27 to 36/37. He is best known today for being the official who presided over the trial of Jesus and ordered his crucifixion.
Colin. H Roberts tells us that there was a notable 'degree of organization, of conscious planning, and uniformity of practice' in the early church. (Roberts, Manuscripts, 41) Do not let someone offer some exception as a means to undermine the organization of early Christianity.
The records of this year which we possess are extremely meager, comprising only two or three incidents, which may be here enumerated, especially as they form a kind of program of His future work.
Little could the Jewish people know that He about whom they were speculating, and praying was growing up in a carpenter’s home away in despised Nazareth. Yet so it was. There He was preparing Himself for His life, ministry, and death.
It might have been expected that He would find a nation saturated with the ideas and inspired with the visions of His predecessors, the prophets, at whose head He might place Himself, and from which He might receive an enthusiastic and effective cooperation. But it was not so.
Flavius Josephus, (c. 37–c. 100 C.E.) A Jewish historian from a priestly family. Josephus became a Pharisee and was later appointed by the Sanhedrin as a commander during the Jewish revolt against Rome. As a Jewish historian, we must then ask, what about the authenticity of what Josephus had to say about Jesus, James, and John the Baptist?