Jesus is Preeminent

Colossians 1:15-20

“He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.”

I.  Jesus is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.
     A. The Father is invisible.
          1.  Exodus 33:19-20  “And he said, “I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you my name ‘The Lord.’ And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live.””
          2. John 1:17-18  “For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known.”
          3. 1 Timothy 1:17  “To the King of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.”
     B. Image. (Eikon) Hebrews 1:1-3  “Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,”
     C. Firstborn.
          1. John 5:18  “This was why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.”
          2. "Well what does it mean that He was the firstborn? It's a simple thing, protokosin the Greek, it means the right to rule, the heir, the ranking one, the one in authority. It has to do with the rights of inheritance. You know, in the Jewish mind the firstborn was the one who inherited everything. And what it is saying here is that Christ is the inheritor of all creation. He is the heir of everything. It doesn't mean necessarily that He had to be born or that He had to be the first one born. You think of Jacob and Esau. Esau was born first but Jacob was the heir. Jacob was the protokos." -John MacArthur, Colossians and Philemon
          3. Psalm 89:26-29  “He shall cry to me, ‘You are my Father, my God, and the Rock of my salvation.’ And I will make him the firstborn, the highest of the kings of the earth. My steadfast love I will keep for him forever, and my covenant will stand firm for him. I will establish his offspring forever and his throne as the days of the heavens.”
          4. Hebrews 1:5-8 “For to which of the angels did God ever say, “You are my Son, today I have begotten you”? Or again, “I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son”? And again, when he brings the firstborn into the world, he says, “Let all God’s angels worship him.” Of the angels he says, “He makes his angels winds, and his ministers a flame of fire.” But of the Son he says, “Your throne, O God, is forever and ever, the scepter of uprightness is the scepter of your kingdom.”
II. Jesus created everything in heaven and on earth.  John 1:1-3 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.”
     A. Visible and invisible. 1 Corinthians 15:51-55 “Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.” “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?””
     B. Thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—
          1. Revelation 20:7, 10-15 “And when the thousand years are ended, Satan will be released from his prison...and the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever. Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. From his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done. And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done. Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.”
          2. Revelation 19:6-8 “Then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the roar of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, crying out, “Hallelujah! For the Lord our God the Almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready; it was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure”— for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.”
     C. All things were created through him and for him.  Philippians 2:9-11 “Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
III.  Jesus is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
IV.  Jesus is the head of the body, the church. Matthew 16:15-19  “He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.””
V.  Jesus the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. 1 Corinthians 15:20-23  “But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ.”
VI.  In Jesus all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.”

Jesus vs Sin

Matthew 9:1-8

And getting into a boat he crossed over and came to his own city. And behold, some people brought to him a paralytic, lying on a bed. And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Take heart, my son; your sins are forgiven.” And behold, some of the scribes said to themselves, “This man is blaspheming.” But Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said, “Why do you think evil in your hearts? For which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Rise and walk’? But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins” —he then said to the paralytic— “Rise, pick up your bed and go home.” And he rose and went home. When the crowds saw it, they were afraid, and they glorified God, who had given such authority to men.

1.  Remember that Matthew has been showing us that Jesus has authority. 

Matthew 7:28-29 And when Jesus finished these sayings, the crowds were astonished at his teaching, for he was teaching them as one who had authority, and not as their scribes.

     a.  Over sickness. Matthew 8:17 This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah: “He took our illnesses and bore our diseases.”

     b.  Over weather. 

Matthew 8:27 And the men marveled, saying, “What sort of man is this, that even winds and sea obey him?

Psalm 89:8-9 O Lord God of hosts, who is mighty as you are, O Lord, with your faithfulness all around you? You rule the raging of the sea; when its waves rise, you still them.

     c.  Over the enemy. Matthew 8:29 And behold, they cried out, “What have you to do with us, O Son of God? Have you come here to torment us before the time?”

2.  Notice that all this stuff is happening in ONE day!  "And getting into a boat he crossed over and came to his own city."

3.  "Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Rise and walk’?"

Matthew drives home the point! "But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins” —he then said to the paralytic— “Rise, pick up your bed and go home.” And he rose and went home. When the crowds saw it, they were afraid, and they glorified God, who had given such authority to men."

4.  Matt gets real. 

Matthew 9:9-13 As Jesus passed on from there, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he rose and followed him. And as Jesus reclined at table in the house, behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and were reclining with Jesus and his disciples. And when the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” But when he heard it, he said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. Go and learn what this means, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’ For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.” 

Sermon Notes

But as for you, teach what accords with sound doctrine. Older men are to be sober-minded, dignified, self-controlled, sound in faith, in love, and in steadfastness. Older women likewise are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers or slaves to much wine. They are to teach what is good, and so train the young women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled. Likewise, urge the younger men to be self-controlled. Show yourself in all respects to be a model of good works, and in your teaching show integrity, dignity, and sound speech that cannot be condemned, so that an opponent may be put to shame, having nothing evil to say about us. Bondservants are to be submissive to their own masters in everything; they are to be well-pleasing, not argumentative, not pilfering, but showing all good faith, so that in everything they may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior. (Titus 2:1-10 ESV)

I.      Preacher Man.

A.    Teach.

B.    Live it out.

1.     Integrity.

2.     Dignity.

3.     Sound speech that cannot be condemned.

4.     Silencing.

II.     Old men.

A.    Sober-minded.

B.    Dignified.

C.   Self-controlled.

D.    Sound.

1.     In Faith.

2.     In Love.

3.     In Steadfastness.

III.   Old woman.

A.    Reverent in behavior.

B.    Not.

1.     Slanderers.

2.     Slaves to much wine.

C.   Teaching the young woman:

IV.   Young Woman.

A.    Love your husbands.

B.    Love Your children.

C.   Self-Controlled.

D.    Pure.

E.    Working at home.

F.     Kind.

G.   Submissive to their own husbands.

V.    Young men.

A.    Self-Controlled.

VI.   Bondservants (employees).

A.    Submissive

B.    Well-pleasing  (not argumentative)

C.   Not Pilfering (Showing Faith)

VII. So that.  .  .

A Prayer

O LORD,

I am a shell full of dust,

    but animated with an invisible rational soul

    and made anew by an unseen power of grace;

Yet I am no rare object of valuable price,

  but one that has nothing and is nothing,

  although chosen of thee from eternity,

  given to Christ, and born again;

I am deeply convinced

  of the evil and misery of a sinful state,

  of the vanity of creatures,

  but also of the sufficiency of Christ.

When thou wouldst guide me I control myself,

When thou wouldst be sovereign I rule myself.

When thou wouldst take care of me I suffice myself.

When I should depend on thy providings I supply

  myself,

When I should submit to thy providence I follow

  my will,

When I should study, love, honour, trust thee,

  I serve myself;

I fault and correct thy laws to suit myself,

Instead of thee I look to a man’s approbation,

  and am by nature an idolater.

Lord, it is my chief design to bring my heart back

  to thee.

Convince me that I cannot be my own God,

    or make myself happy,

  nor my own Christ to restore my joy,

  nor my own Spirit to teach, guide, rule me.

Help me to see that grace does this by providential

  affliction,

  for when my credit is good thou dost cast me

    lower,

  when riches are my idol thou dost wing them

    away,

  when pleasure is my all thou dost turn it into

    bitterness.

Take away my roving eye, curious ear, greedy

    appetite, lustful heart;

  show me that none of these things

    can heal a wounded conscience,

    or support a tottering frame,

    or uphold a departing spirit.

  then take me to the cross

  and leave me there.

My Heart - Today

Right Now - the eyes of our community turn to us.  They are gleefully looking to watch us devolve into fighting, squabbling and bickering.  The county fully expects us to fall upon each other with anger and malice and cannot wait to hear us talk about how this person or that is bad, wicked, or evil.  The enemy thinks he has set us on a path that will cause us, due to our hurt, to lash out at the saint beside us.

Today – God is still on His throne of Grace, People, even those who have hurt you or disagreed with you, are NOT the enemy, The Bible is still God’s word that guides us in our daily lives - which includes how we interact with others.  I have preached for the last few weeks about how This is JESUS church, and that is still truth.  I have said repeatedly that in the light of the great sacrifice that Jesus made on the cross we have NO right to hold grudges, or not forgive, and church, that is still truth.  If it was only true when things go the way we want, or when we are happy then it wouldn’t be truth, but it is. And so.   .  .

Right now - we have an amazing opportunity!   We have a unique opportunity to live out the truths of God’s word in such a way that the World will find shocking, and Satan will find scandalous.  We can respond to this disappointment in LOVE.  We can return good for evil, we can refuse to participate in anything that is not honoring to our common Savior.  Could it be?  Could it be that this very moment, this weight of disappointment, this time when people are upset and hurt, could it be, that THIS is the beginning of something amazing.  If we can love, pray, give, and forgive in Jesus name, THIS could be the beginnings of a revival that could sweep over our town, county state and country.  Maybe this could be a blessed time, an amazing movement, a great awakening.  Maybe this could be a time when people act more like Jesus than ever before, and we act the most like Jesus when we forgive.

Today – Let us pray for each other.  Let us hold off on the “I aint never going back there” kind of comments.  Let us sacrifice our “rights” on the altar.  Let us seek to serve this community for Jesus’ sake.  Let us continue in any leadership roles God has allowed us to hold.  Let us Love.

This morning in my families devotion our verse from Proverbs “just happened” to be
Proverbs 24:10 If you faint in the day of adversity, your strength is small.

If you are depending on YOUR strength it IS small.

But my Bible still has Psalm 121, which says:

1I lift up my eyes to the hills.
From where does my help come?
2 My help comes from the LORD,
who made heaven and earth.
3He will not let your foot be moved;
he who keeps you will not slumber.
4Behold, he who keeps Israel
will neither slumber nor sleep.
5The LORD is your keeper;
the LORD is your shade on your right hand.
6 The sun shall not strike you by day,
nor the moon by night.
7The LORD will keep you from all evil;
he will keep your life.
8The LORD will keep
your going out and your coming in
from this time forth and forevermore.

So, Today, lean on HIS strength and Love like Jesus Loves.

Your Slave for Jesus' Sake,

Thom

Edwards Resolutions I

There are few things written by man that have so profoundly effected me as the writings of Jonathan Edwards.  Though written several hundred years ago they are  as useful today as ever.  Allow me to share a few of Edward's Resolutions:

4. Resolved, never to do any manner of thing, whether in soul or body, less or more, but what tends to the glory of God; nor be, nor suffer it, if I can avoid it.

5. Resolved, never to lose one moment of time; but improve it the most profitable way I possibly can.

6. Resolved, to live with all my might, while I do live.

7. Resolved, never to do anything, which I should be afraid to do, if it were the last hour of my life.

8. Resolved, to act, in all respects, both speaking and doing, as if nobody had been so vile as I, and as if I had committed the same sins, or had the same infirmities or failings as others; and that I will let the knowledge of their failings promote nothing but shame in myself, and prove only an occasion of my confessing my own sins and misery to God.

12. Resolved, if I take delight in it as a gratification of pride, or vanity, or on any such account, immediately to throw it by.

16. Resolved, never to speak evil of anyone, so that it shall tend to his dishonor, more or less, upon no account except for some real good.

17. Resolved, that I will live so, as I shall wish I had done when I come to die.

20. Resolved, to maintain the strictest temperance, in eating and drinking.

52. I frequently hear persons in old age, say how they would live, if they were to live their lives over again: Resolved, that I will live just so as I can think I shall wish I had done, supposing I live to old age. July 8, 1723.

56. Resolved, never to give over, nor in the least to slacken, my fight with my corruptions, however unsuccessful I may be.

67. Resolved, after afflictions, to inquire, what I am the better for them, what am I the better for them, and what I might have got by them.

Jesus Seminar - Fini

Conclusions Reached by the Jesus Seminar

If one flips through The Five Gospels: The Search for the Authentic Words of Jesus the first thing that jumps out is what Jesus did not say.  “Matthew 5:5 Congratulations to the gentle! They will inherit the earth”[1] is in black denoting that according to the Fellows this is not an authentic saying of Jesus. “You are the salt of the earth” is also in black.  Matthew 18:10,  “See that you don’t disdain one of these little ones”[2] is in black, as well as Luke 14:27, a verse many consider one of Jesus’ pivotal teachings “Those who do not carry their own cross and come after me, cannot be my disciples” did not make the cut.  In fact, as the book jacket states “only 20 percent of all the sayings of Jesus are colored red or pink.”[3]   Only 15 sayings of Jesus are colored red and often the parallel passage is found not be spoken by Jesus. The red sayings are all short, pithy "aphorisms" (unconventional proverb-like sayings) such as, "turn the other cheek" (Matt. 5:39; Luke 6:29), "congratulations, you poor" (Luke 6:20; Thomas 54), and "love your enemies" (Luke 6:27; Matt. 5:44) -- or parables (particularly the more subversive ones) such as the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:30-35), the Shrewd Manager (Luke 16:1-8a), and the Vineyard Laborers (Matt. 20:1-15). The only saying that appears in more than two Gospels that was colored red each time was, "Pay to the emperor what belongs to the emperor and God what belongs to God" (Matt. 22:21; Mark 12:17; Luke 20:25; Thomas 100:2). This was also the only saying in the entire Gospel of Mark to be colored red. 

We see Jesus as a non-Jewish Cynic, the very picture that we have if we read the earlier works of Robert Funk, and John Dominic Crossan (The Co-Chair of the Jesus Seminar). A good description is given by Crossan, The wandering Cynic philosophers are in some way analogous to the earliest Christian wandering charismatics. They too seem to have led a vagabond existence and also to have renounced home, families, and possessions. The Cynics, it will be recalled, were itinerant preachers of a philosophy of freedom from every constraint and a life lived with minimal requirements "according to nature." Flouting social convention, they derived their name (kynikoi,"dog-like") from an epithet applied to one of their founders, "the Dog" Diogenes (of Sinope, 4th-cent. BCE), who went about Athens doing in public everything that a dog might do, all the while hurling insults on his contemporaries.”[4]  It seems that once we read what the Jesus Seminars’ Jesus say’s then we find the Jesus that they started with – an unmiraculous vagabond who challenges societal norms. 

Evaluation

Now that we have looked at what the Jesus Seminar concluded, some evaluations are in order.  We will first note the positive contributions.

First, the various quests for the “Historical Jesus” and the Jesus Seminar in particular, force all Christians to focus on Jesus.    Paul says emphatically to the Corinthians “For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.”[5]  But often in the American church today we focus on everything except Christ.  The Jesus Seminar helps correct the emphasis the church has placed on man, and his self-image, and place the emphasis back on Jesus. 

Secondly, the Jesus Seminar looks to an “Un-marbleized” Jesus.  Too often in churches today the Jesus that is presented would seem quite out of place on the dusty streets of Nazareth.  In an effort to protect a high view of Christ we have inadvertently created a kind of practical Docetism that must be guarded against. 

And finally, the work of the Jesus Seminar forces Christians to know “Why” they believe what they do.  Once, a gentleman was visiting my churches Sunday school for Easter.  With many allusions to “Biblical Scholars” and “Factual contradictions in the gospel account of the resurrection” this man had many members of the class sputtering and confused.  The Jesus seminar and its myriad press releases and talk show visitations have forced the twenty first century Christian to know not only “What”, but “Why” we believe what we hold about Jesus. As Christians we must search the scriptures and prepare a logical response to these unorthodox pictures.  This study cannot help but have positive effects in the life of a believer.  And, as the media responds to the Jesus Seminar’s press releases and spotlights Jesus, this opens opportunities for evangelism and dialogue with folks who otherwise might be closed to any religious discussion.

Charles Spurgeon said “When a man wants to beat a dog, he can soon find a stick”[6]

However, I think the shortcomings with the Jesus Seminar’s conclusions are glaring, and we need a look at the significant problems the Jesus Seminar presents to a modern believer is in order.

First, I think it is fairly obvious that the presuppositions of the scholars color the conclusions that they come to in their work. Birger A. Pearson brings this out when he points out that “some ninety years ago a man named Albert Schweitzer addressed this very issue in an important book entitled The Quest For the Historical Jesus. In this book Schweitzer convincingly demonstrated that those who set out to “discover” a historical Jesus “behind” the (supposedly) mythological Gospels of the Bible invariably ended up creating a Jesus in their own image. In other words, critical scholars tend to “discover” the Jesus they want to “discover.” This same criticism, I maintain, can be levied against much of the liberal New Testament scholarship being covered by the media today.”[7] This prejudice was highlighted by Crossan in a debate with William Lang Craig, a contributor to Jesus under Fire.  Crossan made the following analogy :

“Let’s go to Aesop-Aesop’s fables-and imagine a three-way argument.  One person says, “Did you know that animals could talk in ancient Greece?”

      “A second person says “No, no, no.  They couldn’t, but there was a stupid Greek who thought they could.”

      “And of course, the third person says, “Wait a minute.  You’re both wrong.  Aesop told a certain type of story- a genre called fable.  Animals are allowed to talk to make a basic moral principle evident.”

      “Now how could I today prove that animals could or couldn’t speak in ancient Greece?  I’d hate to have Johnnie Cochran coming after me in court on that one.”

      “Were you there, Dr. Crossan?”

      “No, I was not”

      “Have you checked out all the animals?

      “Well, no, I haven’t”

      “Then how dare you say what could or could not happen in ancient Greece!”

      “Well, animals don’t usually talk.”

      “That’s a prejudice, Dr. Crossan, that’s a presupposition.”

      “Well, yeah, I guess.”[8]

One can see that since miraculous things do not occur now (In Dr. Crossan’s estimation) then they could not have occurred then, and thus the stories that include elements of the miraculous must be allegorical.  This presupposition colors every aspect of Jesus’ deeds and teachings.  Thus, we can see that the fellows of the Jesus Seminar do not start as neutral observers but rather with a broad philosophical slant that must effect the conclusions that they reach.

Secondly, it seems that the The Five Gospels is out of touch even with mainline scholarship. For example, two of the major contributors to “The Third Quest” for the historical Jesus, James Charlesworth of Princeton and E. P. Sanders of Duke, agree that "the dominant view today seems to be that we can know pretty well what Jesus was out to accomplish, that we can know a lot about what he said, and that those two things make sense within the world of first-century Judaism.”[9]

Thirdly, after reading The Five Gospels, one is left with the question, “Why Crucify this guy?”  Or as leading Catholic scholar John Meier puts it in his recent work on the historical Jesus, "A tweedy poetaster who spent his time spinning out parables and Japanese koans, a literary aesthete who toyed with 1st-century deconstructionism, or a bland Jesus who simply told people to look at the lilies of the field -- such a Jesus would threaten no one, just as the university professors who create him threaten no one.”[10]  The crucifixion, which even the Jesus Seminar Fellows agree occurred, just doesn’t make sense if Jesus is just a traveling bard.

Conclusion

Time does not allow one to speak to the problems one has with the removal of all of Jesus’ prophetic sayings, the Time/Date issues, the lack of scholarly ascent to the voracity of the Gospel of Thomas, the Gnostic flavor of the Jesus Seminar’s Jesus, or the idea that Jesus never spoke to the Law.  I do, however, wish to focus my final concern on the denial of the resurrection.  Does the resurrection really matter?  Well, Paul felt that it mattered more than anything.  “And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain.”[11]  According to Strong’s Concordance the word that is translated as “Raised” is the Greek word egeiro which can be interpreted to mean.  .  . RAISED![12]  .  If Jesus was tossed into a common grave to be eaten by dogs then our faith is in a lie and worthless.  Paul goes on to suggest that if Christ be not raised then “let us eat and drink for tomorrow we die”[13]  However, transformed lives throughout the centuries speaks more loudly to an empty grave than scholarship ever could.  It is this faith in Jesus; it is this transformation that I have known in my own life that makes the other pieces of the puzzle fit for me.  I know this Jesus intimately.  He is my companion, savior and Lord. Or, in the words of Alfred H. Ackley “You ask me how I know He lives:  He Lives within my heart.”[14] 

---

[1] Funk et al, 138.

[2] Funk et al, 214.

[3] Funk et al, Jacket.

[4] John Dominic Crossan. Jesus a revolutionary biography (San Francisco:  Harper, 1994), 127.

[5] I Cor 2:2 ESV

[6] Charles H. Spurgeon. John Ploughman’s Talk.  (New York: 1898), 20.

[7]  Pearson 32.

[8] Paul Copan.  Will The Real Jesus Please Stand Up?  (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 1998), 36.

[9] E. P. Sanders, Jesus and Judaism (London: SCM, 1985), 2; quoted by James H. Charlesworth, Jesus within Judaism(New York: Doubleday, 1988), 205.

[10] John P. Meier, A Marginal Jew: Rethinking the Historical Jesus, vol. 1 (New York: Doubleday, 1991), 177.

[11] I Cor 15:14 ESV

[12] James Strong.  Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance. (Nashville:  Thomas Nelson, 1995) , 25.

[13] I Cor 15: ESV

[14]  Alfred Ackley Baptist Hymnal .ed by Walter Sims (Nashville:  Convention Press, 1956), 279.