Jesus and History

One of the exciting dimensions of New Testament scholarship over the past ten to fifteen years is in the study of Jesus within his historical 1st century context. This study includes research on both biblical and non-biblical literature.

While this historical focus is not new for New Testament research, contemporary biblical scholars such as Craig Evans, Ben Witherington, and N.T. Wright have done excellent work to help us see how New Testament passages that were once thought by some scholars to be embellishments actually have valid historical groundings.

For example, these scholars ask questions such as, "if we could ask a 1st century Jew what the word, 'resurrection,' means, how would that person respond?" Another question would be, "when Jesus spoke of the "kingdom of God," what did people think he meant?"

This historical approach to the New Testament has a huge impact on the interpretation of various scripture passages. What did Jesus mean when he warned people about stars falling from the sky and the desolating sacrilege to come? Many would see this as Jesus referring to the end of the world as we know it. But taking 1st century history into consideration, Jesus could very well have been speaking about a more immediate time in the future when the Roman Empire would destroy Jerusalem and the Temple, an event that actually happened only twenty to thirty years after Jesus was crucified.

This April, I will be attending lectures which will be given by Dr. Craig Evans. One of his lectures is on the topic, "Jesus Outside the Bible" which will provide a wealth of historical information to help us know what Jesus meant by his teachings and why he said them. I'll be posting on the highlights of these lectures here on my "Nikos" blog.

This historical approach to the study of Jesus and the New Testament reminds me that there are no shortcuts in the study of the bible if we want to have a solid interpretation of scripture. Living in the 21st century has many advantages but if we want to understand who Jesus was and is, we need to think like someone who is living in the 1st century. But thankfully, there are some excellent New Testament scholars who are helping us to do just that.