Hijacking the Historical Jesus: Answering Recent Attacks on the Jesus of the Bible

313 Pages·2012·1.31 MB·English

by  Larson

Hijacking the Historical Jesus

A Christian Response to Recent Attacks
on the Historical Jesus

By Phil Fernandes & Kyle Larson
with Matthew J. Coombe

IBD Press
Bremerton, WA
Copyright © 2012 by Phil Fernandes and Kyle Larson

Hijacking the Historical Jesus:
A Christian Response to Recent Attacks on the Historical Jesus
by Phil Fernandes and Kyle Larson

Printed in the United States of America

First printing 2012 by IBD Press, Bremerton, WA.
Kindle edition published simultaneously

ISBN 13: 978-1478212522
ISBN 10: 1478212527

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or
transmitted in any form or by any means without written permission of the
publisher.

Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are from the NEW
AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE. Copyright © The Lockman Foundation
1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977. Used by permission.

IBD Press
Institute of Biblical Defense
P. O. Box 3264
Bremerton, WA 98310
[phone]
instituteofbiblicaldefense.com
philfernandes.org
[email protected]
"Hijacking the Historical Jesus" will certainly bring to your remembrance the
events of 9/11. Unlike those nineteen hijackers on that dreadful day, Dr.
Fernandes and Kyle Larson deal with over two millennia of hijackers who have
attempted to take over the historical Jesus. Their work has compiled the most
complete list of hijackers past and present I have ever seen in one book; from the
attacks that started with early Christian heresies, to the cults and religions of the
world; to the philosophers and liberal theologians all the way up to the modern
day hijacker's like Bart Ehrman and the Jesus Seminar.
In this day of compliance and compromise in order to not be ridiculed or
ostracized among mainstream scholars, it is refreshing to read an
uncompromised examination of the historical Jesus. I highly recommend this
book.

Eric Urabe, President, Java Bible Fellowship

“The first thing that I noted about this book was the exhaustive list of topics
in the table of contents, all of which looked like candy to this lover of the Bible
and the Lord Jesus Christ. I wanted to jump in and devour it. However, I soon
discovered that this book is no light fare. The authors have done their
homework, and, it appears, the homework of many others as well. With the logic
of scholars, the authors walk the reader through many issues regarding Jesus that
have been debated for years as well as confronting more recent issues within
Christology. This book should be required reading of all those who study
Christology in academic settings and by all Christians who simply love Jesus
and want to know the truth about who He is and how that truth affects them as
believers.”

Dr. Rick Walston, President of Columbia Evangelical Seminary

“Dr. Fernandes explicates the competing views against the historical Jesus of
the New Testament identifying fact, fallacy, and fiction. He calls upon those
investigating this matter to adopt neutral presuppositions so as to avail the
investigator the most open minded and least biased path to the truth. Dr.
Fernandes offers one of the most comprehensive works on the topic
demonstrating that the Jesus of the New Testament represents the Jesus of the
first century.”

David W. Howard, Apologist and Conference Speaker

“Unlike liberal scholarship, Hijacking the Historical Jesus honestly
approaches the biblical text. This book is a fresh breeze in conservative
scholarship. If you want to defend the historicity of the Bible, this book is a must
read.”

Gary Tronson, MA in Theology (Liberty University)

The Historical Jesus may be the most popular New Testament area of study at
present. Viewed from different perspectives in the press and elsewhere, many
concerned persons may not know who can be trusted on these absolutely crucial
questions. Some have no doubt even concluded that the biblical Jesus has been
“hijacked” by the critics. I have known both Phil Fernandes and Kyle Larson for
a couple of decades. Both have researched the relevant questions and their
treatment here covers a wide variety of topics, criticisms, and responses.
Besides, both of these fellows are great guys, too!

Gary R. Habermas, Distinguished Research Professor, Liberty
University & Theological Seminary
Dedication

Phil dedicates this book to his beloved wife Cathy (his best friend next to
Jesus), his daughter Melissa, son-in-law Tim, and Phil’s grandson Nathan. May
all who read this book love and serve the true Jesus of the Bible.
Chapter One
The True Jesus of the Bible

On September 11th, 2001, Islamic extremists hijacked American commercial
airplanes and flew them into the twin towers and the Pentagon. Another hijacked
plane crashed in a field in Pennsylvania. Many commentators claimed that these
terrorists had “hijacked” the Islamic faith. In reality, these Muslim terrorists
seemed to take the violent commands of the Koran very seriously. They had not
hijacked the Islamic faith; instead, they passionately obeyed the unethical
commands uttered by Muhammad in the Koran.
However, the past few generations have witnessed a real hijacking: the
hijacking of the historical Jesus. The historically reliable New Testament protrait
of Jesus has been replaced with varieties of a politically-correct Jesus, New Age
Christs, and other false Christs. In most cases, these false Christs were created in
the image of the people who promote them.
Was Jesus married to Mary Magdalene and did He appoint her to lead His
church? Or, was Jesus merely a man who never claimed to be God? Maybe Jesus
was merely a legend or myth—He never really existed? In short, is traditional,
biblical Christianity a perversion of first century Christianity? Today the
traditional view of Jesus has been replaced by a myriad of false conceptions of
Christ that look nothing like the true Jesus of the Bible. The traditional view of
Jesus has been hijacked, and the Christian church needs to respond. We need to
defend the true Jesus of history—the true Jesus of the Bible.
Today, two of the leading false pictures of Jesus in the Western world are
being proclaimed by Dan Brown, author of the bestselling novel The DaVinci
Code, and by the radical left-wing scholars who comprise the Jesus Seminar—a
think tank dedicated to presenting an alternative, politically correct Jesus to the
world. The next two chapters will examine their work and refute the false
Jesuses they promote. Other false portraits of Jesus will be refuted as well.
In this chapter, we will examine ancient Christological heresies (i.e., ancient
false views of Jesus), the liberal “Christian” view of Jesus, the cultic views of
Jesus, and the mistaken views of Jesus found in the world religions as well as in
postmodern circles. We will then briefly discuss the true biblical view of Jesus.
In later chapters, after refuting the work of the DaVinci Code, the Jesus Seminar,
and other recent attacks on the historical Jesus, we will build a strong case that
the true Jesus of the Bible is identical with the real Jesus of history. The Bible
clearly teaches that Jesus is fully God and fully man. He always existed as God
the second Person of the Trinity, but at a point in time He added a human nature.
Throughout the history of the church there have been those who have rejected
this biblical view of Jesus and have instead promoted false Christs who cannot
save.

Ancient Christological Heresies

In the first few hundred years of the history of the church, numerous false
views of Jesus were taught (Erickson, Word Became Flesh 41-86). The early
church fathers had to refute these false Christs, thus forcing the church fathers to
systematize the biblical teachings about Jesus. Their work has gone a long way
to help us discover the real Jesus found on the pages of the Bible. Before looking
at the four key doctrines formulated by the early church fathers, we will examine
the false views concerning Jesus proclaimed in ancient, modern, and postmodern
times.
Docetism was an ancient heresy that acknowledged Jesus to be God, but
denied His humanity. Docetists taught that Jesus only appeared to be a man, but
was not genuinely human; He only pretended to be human. This false view of
Jesus was taught by the ancient Gnostics. Gnostics believed that salvation came
through secret knowledge that only the initiated few could receive. They taught
that the realm of the flesh was totally evil; hence, God, who was from the totally
pure realm of the spirit, could not truly become a man and partake in the evil
realm of the flesh. By denying Jesus’ humanity, Docetists rejected the true Jesus
of the Bible.
Ebionism, another ancient heresy, taught that Jesus was not God. Ebionites
accepted Christ’s full humanity, but rejected His deity. Ebionites could accept
Jesus as a prophet or a great holy man, but they refused to worship Jesus as God.
Arianism was the ancient heresy that denied Jesus’ full deity, teaching that
Jesus was a lesser god—He was not equal or one in nature with the Father.
Arius, the founder of this heresy, taught that Jesus was the first being God the
Father created. Once created, Jesus then created everything else. Arianism was
condemned by the early church fathers at the council of Nicea in 325 AD.
Today’s Jehovah’s Witnesses are modern Arians.
The ancient heresy called Apollinarianism denied Jesus’ full humanity.
Apollinarians accepted Jesus’ full deity and acknowledged that He manifested
Himself in a real human body. However, they denied that Jesus had a human
spirit; rather, His human body was animated by His divine spirit. Hence, in their
view, Jesus was not fully human.
Nestorianism was the ancient false doctrine which viewed Jesus as two
distinct persons—a human Jesus and a divine Jesus. The early church fathers
rejected this view since, if Jesus was two persons, then only the human Jesus
died for our sins. If God did not die for our sins, then we are still in our sins—we
remain lost. The one Person Jesus must be fully God to be the worthy sacrifice
for our sins, yet He must be fully man to be able to die as our sacrifice. Just as it
is a heresey to deny either Jesus’ humanity or His deity, it is also heresy to
divide Jesus into two persons. Jesus is one Person with two distinct natures.
The ancient mistaken notion of Jesus called Eutychianism taught that Jesus
had only one blended nature—His deity and His humanity blended to form a
unique hybrid nature. In essence, Eutychians taught that Jesus was not fully God
and fully man; rather He was half man and half God. But, if this is the case, then
Jesus would not be fully God. Since the Bible clearly teaches that Jesus is fully
God, Eutychianism was condemned by the early church.
Adoptionism denied Jesus’ deity by declaring Him to be merely a righteous,
sinless man upon whom God’s wisdom and power descended. In this false view,
Jesus was not literally God but could be spoken of as God since God poured His
wisdom and power upon Him.
Sabellianism was the heresy that taught that God is only one Person.
Sabellius, the founder of this heretical movement, believed that the Father, Son,
and Holy Spirit are all the same Person. At times, God would reveal Himself as
the Father; at others times as the Son or the Spirit. But, according to Sabelllius,
they are all the same Person. The early church condemned this view since the
New Testament clearly teaches that the one true God is three distinct but equal
and eternal Persons—the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

The Liberal “Christian” View of Jesus

Unfortunately, false views of Jesus did not disappear in ancient times. To the
present day, there are heresies about the Person of Christ that the church must
oppose. Even many who call themselves “Christians” deny the true Jesus of the
Bible and proclaim a watered-down, politically correct Jesus. Liberal
“Christians” are not open to the possibility of miracles. Therefore, they deny that
God could become a man or rise from the dead. Liberal “Christians” believe
Jesus to be a very wise man, but not God become a man. Liberal “Christians”
cannot even accept Jesus as a prophet, for prophets miraculously proclaim God’s
truth, but liberal “Christians” reject the possibility of miracles. Therefore, they
consider Jesus to be merely a wise teacher, but not the incarnate God.
The Cultic Views of Jesus

Pseudo-Christian cults claim to be Christian, but, in reality, they deny the
essentials of the Christian Faith. They teach a false Jesus, a false Gospel, and a
false way of salvation. They deny that Jesus is fully God and fully man, and they
reject the biblical teaching that salvation is by God’s grace alone, through faith
alone, in the true Jesus of the Bible alone. We will look at a few pseudo-
Christian cults to show how these cults proclaim a false Jesus—a Jesus vastly
different from the true Jesus of the Bible.
The Latter-Day Saints, also known as the Mormons, teach that the Father,
Son, and Holy Spirit are three separate gods, and that there are innumerable gods
besides them (McConkie, 576-577). Mormons teach that Jesus is one of many
gods and that He was not always god. He was once a man on this planet, but
eventually attained godhood. Throughout all eternity He is progressing (i.e.,
getting better) in His godhood. Certainly, this is a far cry from the Jesus
presented in the Bible. It should also be noted that Mormonism teaches that
Mormon males can become gods someday. This is the Mormon doctrine called
“eternal progression” (Ludlow, 71-79).
The Jehovah’s Witnesses are modern-day Arians. They deny Jesus’ full deity,
teaching that He is a lesser god, the first being that God the Father created.
Jehovah’s Witnesses believe that after Jesus was created, He then created
everything else that exists. Jesus is not equal to the Father; He is a lesser god. In
fact, Jehovah’s Witnesses teach that Jesus is Michael the Archangel become a
man.
Christian Science and the Unity School of Christianity purport themselves to
be Christian churches, but, in actuality, they have more in common with the false
religion of Hinduism than with biblical Christianity. These cults are very similar
in their thought. Christian Scientists are pantheists—they teach that God is the
universe. He did not create the universe, but is identical to it. God is non-
personal; He is not a personal God who can love us and give us moral
commands. Instead, He is a non-personal force, an “it.” Adherents of the Unity
cult are panentheists—they believe that the universe is God’s body. God is the
soul of the universe. Whereas the Christian Scientist believes that God is
everything, the Unity cultist believes that God is in everything. Whatever the
case, in both of these cults, man is not separate from God—man is God. All
people have the Christ or God consciousness within them. Jesus, in these cults, is
demoted to being a mere man who exercised His God consciousness better than
anyone else. Jesus is not the Christ; He just displayed His Christ consciousness
to a greater degree than anyone else in history. The Christ within Jesus is the