Introduction — The Most Important Question
Jesus once asked his disciples a question that still stands in front of every one of us: “Who do you say that I am?” What we conclude about the identity of Jesus is the most important decision we’ll ever make. Our answer shapes how we live now and where we’ll spend eternity.
Josh McDowell and his son Sean start where any fair investigation should start, with history. The vast majority of scholars today, from a wide range of views, agree that Jesus was at least a real person who lived and died in the first century. Even Bart Ehrman, an agnostic New Testament scholar, wrote a whole book defending that point. So the real question isn’t whether Jesus lived. It’s who he was. The McDowells take it one step at a time: what history tells us, who Jesus claimed to be, what makes him unique, whether he was copied from older myths, how he fulfills the Old Testament, and whether he really rose from the dead.
Chapter 1 — Can We Use the Bible for Historical Evidence of Jesus?
The first place to look for evidence about Jesus is the New Testament. But a common challenge is that its writers were biased, so their accounts can’t be trusted. Accusations of bias cut both ways, though. Holocaust survivors are biased about what happened to them, but that’s no reason to throw out their testimony.
Bart Ehrman doubts the miracles, but after studying the Gospels and the traditions behind them, he concluded that those traditions are so many, so widespread, and so independent of one another that “at the very least one must say that he existed.”
Paul’s letters matter most here, because they’re likely the earliest Christian writings we have. Even critical scholars agree Paul wrote seven of the letters with his name on them. From those letters alone we learn that Jesus was a Jew descended from David. He had a brother named James and many disciples. He was betrayed, crucified, buried, and raised three days later.
Chapter 2 — Is There Evidence for Jesus Outside the Bible?
Christians weren’t the only ones who wrote about Jesus. The two most important outside sources are a Roman historian named Tacitus and a Jewish historian named Josephus.
Tacitus, a great Roman historian, tells how a terrible fire swept through Rome in AD 64, and people blamed the emperor Nero. To stop the talk, Nero blamed the Christians and had them tortured. Tacitus explains where their name came from: “Christus, from whom the name had its origin, suffered the extreme penalty during the reign of Tiberius at the hands of one of our procurators, Pontius Pilatus.”
Could a Christian have slipped that line in later? It’s very unlikely. Tacitus clearly despises Christians, and a Christian editor wouldn’t have been so insulting. The passage doesn’t mention the resurrection, which a Christian would’ve been eager to add. And the writing shows no sign of editing.
Josephus is considered the most important Jewish historian of ancient times. He describes how the high priest brought before the court “the brother of Jesus, who was called Christ, whose name was James,” and had him stoned. Tacitus and Josephus alone are enough to show that Jesus was a real person in history.
Chapter 3 — Are There Christian Sources for Jesus Outside the Bible?
Some of the earliest Christians outside the New Testament also wrote about Jesus, and several of them knew the apostles personally. Clement of Rome, who likely knew Peter and Paul, wrote that the apostles went out preaching after being “fully assured through the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Ignatius, the bishop of Antioch, was condemned to death in Rome early in the second century. In one of his letters he insists that Jesus “was truly born and ate and drank, was truly persecuted under Pontius Pilate, was truly crucified and died,” and “was truly raised from the dead.”
Polycarp was a student of the apostle John. And a church leader named Papias passed along an early report that Mark was Peter’s interpreter, who wrote down carefully what he remembered Peter teaching. Together these writers form a chain of witnesses that runs back to the people who knew Jesus.
Chapter 4 — Is the New Testament Reliable?
Knowing that Jesus existed is one thing. Knowing whether the New Testament tells his story accurately is another. The fair way to find out is to run the three tests historians use on any ancient document.
The first asks whether the text we have today matches what was first written. No original copy of any ancient book survives, so historians look at how many copies we have and how early they are. No other work of antiquity has more and earlier copies than the New Testament. The Greek manuscripts alone number in the thousands.
The second test asks what the documents say about themselves. The writers insist they’re reporting eyewitness testimony. Many apparent contradictions go away with a little research. Matthew says Judas hanged himself. Acts says he fell headlong into a field and burst open. How can both be true? Easy. He hanged himself, then the branch or the rope broke, and his body fell. And the writers left in embarrassing details. Jesus’s own family thought he was out of his mind. The disciples come across as doubtful, slow, and cowardly. Why include those details unless they were true?
The third test asks whether other sources back up the story. As we’ve seen, Tacitus and Josephus confirm key facts, like the crucifixion and Jesus’s brother James. The New Testament passes all three tests.
Chapter 5 — Did Jesus Claim to Be God?
If the New Testament is reliable, the next question is what it says about who Jesus is. Moses didn’t claim to be God. Neither did Krishna, Muhammad, or Buddha. Among all the great religious leaders, Jesus alone claimed to be God in human flesh.
At his trial the high priest asked him, “Are You the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?” Jesus answered, “I am. And you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Power, and coming with the clouds of heaven.” Those words came from a vision in the book of Daniel, where one “coming with the clouds of heaven” is given an everlasting kingdom over all peoples. The scholars in that room knew exactly what he was claiming, and he was condemned to death.
It wasn’t the only time. When Jesus said, “I and the Father are one,” the crowd picked up stones. “You, being a man, make yourself God,” they said. When he said, “Before Abraham was, I AM,” they picked up stones again. They knew that at the burning bush, God had called himself “I AM.”
In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus quoted the law of Moses and then said, “But I say to you.” The prophets said, “Thus says the Lord.” Jesus put his own words above theirs. And he accepted worship. His disciples and the angels refused it. Jesus never corrected anyone who worshiped him.
Chapter 6 — What Did the Followers of Jesus Think About His Identity?
Think about it. If Jesus was just a nice guy, why torture him to death? Jesus was put to death not for what he did but for who he claimed to be. And the people who knew him best believed that claim.
Paul, who made a point of preaching the same gospel as Peter, wrote that Jesus was “in very nature God,” yet humbled himself and died on a cross. Both Paul and Peter called Jesus “our God and Savior,” a phrase Jews of that time used for God himself. When Thomas saw the risen Jesus, he said, “My Lord and my God!” And John opened his Gospel this way: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” His first followers believed it so deeply that they suffered and died for it.
Chapter 7 — Is There Circumstantial Evidence That Jesus Is God?
Jesus didn’t only claim to be God. He acted like it. When friends brought a paralyzed man to him, Jesus said, “Son, your sins are forgiven.” The religious teachers were shocked. “Who can forgive sins but God alone?” So, to show he had that authority, Jesus told the man to pick up his bed and go home. And he did.
The New Testament also says Jesus existed before he was born. He spoke of the glory he had with the Father “before the world was.” And its writers gave Jesus titles the Old Testament used only for God, like Creator, Savior, and the First and the Last. Put it together. Jesus forgave sins, accepted worship, and called himself by names that belong only to God.
Chapter 8 — Was Jesus Merely a Prophet or a Good Person?
Many people are happy to call Jesus a great moral teacher, but not God. C. S. Lewis argued that this option isn’t open to us. A man who said what Jesus said “would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic … or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice.”
So Jesus was lying, crazy, or telling the truth. If he was lying, he was also a fool, because his claims got him crucified. And people lie for a reason. It wasn’t money. Jesus never had wealth and gained nothing from his healing. It wasn’t sex. Many women followed him, some from vulnerable situations, and he showed them the highest respect. It wasn’t power. He washed his disciples’ feet and taught that the greatest is the one who serves.
Was he crazy? The Gospels show a man of great wisdom and compassion, who outwitted everyone who tried to trap him and spoke some of the most profound words ever spoken. That leaves the third option, the one Peter chose when Jesus asked, “Who do you say that I am?” Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
Chapter 9 — What Is Unique About Jesus’s Life and Teachings?
Jesus stands apart from every other religious figure. The Gospels say he had no earthly father. Many religious leaders have died for their beliefs, but Jesus is the only one reported to have risen from the dead. Other prophets pointed the way to God, but Jesus said, “I am the way.” No one else had his life foretold in such detail, hundreds of years in advance. And the first Christians all agreed he was without sin. Jesus even challenged his enemies, “Can any of you prove me guilty of sin?” They couldn’t.
And no one has had a bigger impact on history. He arrived when Rome’s roads, common language, and long peace let his message spread fast. None of this proves Jesus is God. But it fits what we might expect if God came into history as a man.
Chapter 10 — What Is Unique About Jesus’s Miracles?
His miracles set him apart too, and you can’t take them out of Christianity. As C. S. Lewis put it, Christianity “is precisely the story of a great Miracle.”
Most scholars accept that Jesus was known as a healer and exorcist. Even his opponents didn’t deny it. They said his power came from the devil. Josephus called him “a worker of amazing deeds.” Miracles have been reported all through history, but usually as isolated events. What made Jesus unique was his reputation for doing them again and again. And he never did them to show off. His miracles went hand in hand with his message that the kingdom of God had arrived in him.
Chapter 11 — Is Jesus Really the Only Way?
If Jesus is who he said he was, one of his hardest claims follows. He said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” His followers said the same thing. Peter told the Jewish council, “There is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.”
The obvious objection is that this isn’t fair. What about people who never heard the gospel? The Bible says God has made himself known through creation, and that everyone has a sense of right and wrong “written on their hearts.” And Jesus promised, “Seek and you will find.” No one can say they truly sought God and he didn’t show himself.
So Christianity is exclusive, because Jesus is the only way. But it’s also inclusive, because that way is open to anyone. God “wants all people to be saved.” Some will call this intolerant. What matters is whether it’s true. Jesus is the only way to God because he is God.
Chapter 12 — Was Jesus Really Born of a Virgin?
Then there’s the way Jesus came into the world. A virgin birth isn’t biologically possible. But if it were, it wouldn’t be a miracle. People in the first century knew virgins didn’t give birth. That’s exactly why it worked as a sign. And if God created the laws of nature, it’s no problem for him to step in and enter history this way.
Matthew and Luke both tell the story of Jesus’s birth, but their accounts don’t share a single passage, so it’s all but certain neither copied the other. Yet they agree on a long list of facts. Mary was a virgin, engaged to Joseph, when she became pregnant. An angel announced the birth and said to name the child Jesus. He was descended from David, born in Bethlehem while Herod was king, and raised in Nazareth. Two independent writers tell the same story in their own words.
Chapter 13 — What Are the Features of Mystery Religions?
Other skeptics go further. They say Jesus is a myth, a blend of older pagan gods who died and rose again. They point to the gods of the ancient mystery religions, like Osiris from Egypt and Mithras from Persia. These religions were secretive, so there’s a lot we don’t know about them. But we do know they were shaped by the yearly cycle of crops that die off and grow back. Their gods acted out that cycle. They were always understood as pictures of the growing season, not as real people who lived in a real place and time.
Chapter 14 — How Does Christianity Differ from the Mystery Religions?
That’s the first big difference. The Bible presents Jesus as a real person in history. Luke dates the start of John the Baptist’s ministry to “the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea.” Real names and dates are the marks of history, not mythology. Peter wrote, “We did not follow cunningly devised fables.” And Christianity wasn’t secret. Baptism, the Lord’s Supper, and prayer were done in public. Yes, Christianity shares some things with the mystery religions. All religions do. But beneath those surface similarities, it’s very different.
Chapter 15 — Can We Reject the Copycat Theory?
Have you heard about the huge British ship that hit an iceberg in April and sank on its first voyage? You probably think of the Titanic. But this was the Titan, from a novel written in 1898, fourteen years before the Titanic sank. The parallels are real, but no one decides the Titanic never happened.
Parallels alone prove nothing. To show that one religion borrowed from another, you have to prove a real connection. And if there’s any connection between Christianity and the mystery religions, Christianity influenced them, not the other way around.
Chapter 16 — Does Archaeology Confirm the Existence of Jesus?
Archaeology offers another kind of evidence. We shouldn’t expect it for every person in the Gospels, since they lived two thousand years ago. But every name archaeology confirms adds to the case. In 1961 a stone carved with the name of Pontius Pilate turned up at Caesarea. In 1990 a burial box inscribed “Joseph, son of Caiaphas,” the high priest who questioned Jesus, was found in Jerusalem.
The places check out too. John says the pool of Bethesda, where Jesus healed a lame man, had five covered porches. When archaeologists found it in 1888, it had five porches.
Critics once argued that crucified criminals were never buried. Then in 1968, the bones of a crucified man named Jehohanan were found in a tomb, with a 7-inch nail still through his ankle. Some crucified men were buried after all, just as the Gospels say Jesus was.
Chapter 17 — What Is the Importance of Old Testament Messianic Prophecy?
Archaeology shows that the Gospels fit their world. Prophecy shows that Jesus fits a story that started centuries before he was born. The details in the Old Testament that match his life are like threads in a tapestry. Little by little, they weave together to reveal him as the Messiah.
Jesus pointed to these prophecies himself. After his resurrection, he walked with two grieving followers on the road to Emmaus and, “beginning at Moses and all the Prophets,” explained everything the Scriptures said about him.
Chapter 18 — Does the Old Testament Foreshadow Jesus? Part 1
The Old Testament is also full of what are called types. A type is a person, event, or image that foreshadows Christ. It works a lot like a prophecy.
The clearest is the Passover lamb. On the night of the last plague in Egypt, each Israelite family killed a lamb and put its blood on the doorposts, and death passed over that house. The New Testament calls Jesus our Passover lamb. The lamb had to be without defect, and none of its bones could be broken. Jesus was without sin, and none of his bones were broken. And he died at Passover.
When God tested Abraham by asking him to sacrifice his son Isaac, Isaac carried the wood for the offering, just as Jesus carried his cross. Abraham told him God would provide the lamb. At the last moment God provided a ram instead. The promised lamb was still to come.
And when poisonous snakes struck the Israelites in the wilderness, God told Moses to lift up a bronze snake on a pole. Anyone bitten could look at it and live. Jesus said that, in the same way, he must be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.
Chapter 19 — Does the Old Testament Foreshadow Jesus? Part 2
The Old Testament also makes direct predictions, and Jesus fits them. Isaiah describes a servant of God who would be “despised and rejected by men.” He’d be pierced for the sins of others, led like a lamb to the slaughter, and silent before his accusers. He’d be condemned and killed though he’d done nothing wrong, and then raised by God. Through his suffering, many would be made right with God.
Other prophecies narrow the field. The Messiah would be Jewish, from the family of David, and born in Bethlehem. Though his own people would reject him, he’d bring people from every nation to the God of Israel. Only Jesus of Nazareth has done that.
Psalm 22 reads like a picture of a crucifixion. “They have pierced my hands and feet,” it says. “They divide my garments among them.”
Then there’s the timing. Daniel says the Messiah would be “cut off,” and after that, the city and the temple would be destroyed. The Romans destroyed the temple in AD 70, and it’s never been rebuilt. So either the Messiah had already come, or the prophecy was false.
Chapter 20 — What Are the Objections to Messianic Prophecy?
Skeptics raise three main objections. The first is that the Gospel writers shaped their stories to make Jesus fit the prophecies. But some fulfillments can be checked, like his birth in Bethlehem and the fall of the temple. And the writers had nothing to gain and everything to lose. Christians were being crucified, burned alive, and fed to wild animals.
The second objection is that the types are stretched. But the close fit between Jesus’s life and so many Old Testament details has only two explanations. Either someone made it up, or God arranged it. Since the writers risked their lives to record real history, the evidence leans toward God.
The third objection is that the writers took verses out of context. Matthew quotes Hosea, “Out of Egypt I called My son,” though in Hosea the son is the nation of Israel. But Matthew isn’t making a mistake. He’s showing that Jesus is the true Israel. Israel was tested in the wilderness for forty years, and Jesus was tested there for forty days. Matthew is drawing a parallel between Israel’s story and the Messiah’s.
Chapter 21 — Are Miracles Possible?
That brings us to the heart of the case. Everything rests on the resurrection. As Paul made clear, if Jesus hasn’t risen, Christianity is false. End of story. But first, a question. Are miracles even possible?
Here’s the simple point. If God possibly exists, then miracles are possible. If God created the world and its laws, the rule that dead people stay dead can’t stop him from raising his Son. To rule out miracles, a skeptic would have to prove that God doesn’t exist, and that’s never been done.
It’s true we can’t test miracles in a lab, because God doesn’t act on command. But since miracles happen in history, we can investigate them like any other event in the past. And miracles aren’t logically impossible. God can’t make a square circle, because that’s a contradiction. But walking on water isn’t a contradiction. It’s only physically impossible, and God can do it if he wants.
Chapter 22 — What Are the Facts of the Resurrection?
So what are the facts? Start with the death. Every source says Jesus was crucified, and a medical article in the Journal of the American Medical Association agrees that what he went through would have killed him. Even Bart Ehrman writes, “I take it absolutely for granted that Jesus was crucified under Pontius Pilate.” And no one starting a new religion would invent a founder who died the most shameful death there was.
Next, the empty tomb. The first witnesses were women, and in Jesus’s day a woman’s testimony wasn’t taken as seriously as a man’s. If the disciples were making up the story, why have women find the tomb? And the Jewish leaders accused the disciples of stealing the body. You don’t accuse someone of stealing something that isn’t missing.
Last, the appearances. In at least twelve separate cases, Jesus appeared to people after his death, including Mary Magdalene, Peter, and five hundred believers at once. He even appeared to two skeptics: his brother James, and Paul, an enemy of the church.
Chapter 23 — Two Alternative Explanations for the Resurrection
Skeptics have offered other ways to explain these facts. Some theories explain a few of them. None explains them all.
The first is the swoon theory, which says Jesus only seemed to die. But he was whipped, beaten, and crowned with thorns before he was ever crucified. When a soldier pierced his side, blood and water came out, a sign he was already dead. Trained executioners confirmed his death. Then he was wrapped in about 100 pounds of cloth and spices and sealed in a tomb. And a half-dead man limping out of a tomb wouldn’t have convinced anyone that he’d conquered death.
The second is the theft theory, which says the disciples stole the body. But the disciples had run away when Jesus was arrested, and Peter had denied him three times. These weren’t men ready to take on soldiers guarding a tomb. And when they heard the tomb was empty, they didn’t expect a resurrection. Mary thought the gardener had moved the body, and the men called the women’s report nonsense. Something dramatic had to change their minds. And they spent the rest of their lives preaching the resurrection and died for it.
Chapter 24 — Three More Alternative Explanations for the Resurrection
The third theory is that the disciples had hallucinations. But many people saw Jesus, alone and in groups, many times. They didn’t only see him. They touched him, talked with him, and ate with him. There’s no scientific evidence for group hallucinations. And a hallucination can’t explain an empty tomb.
The fourth is the wrong tomb theory, which says the women went to the wrong grave and found it empty. But the empty tomb convinced almost no one. Paul and James believed because they saw Jesus, not an empty grave. And everyone knew where the tomb was. It belonged to Joseph of Arimathea, a well-known man.
The fifth is the family tomb theory, which says Jesus’s body was moved to a family grave. Its supporters point to a burial box inscribed “Jesus, son of Joseph.” But the archaeologists who found it dismissed it, because those names were very common. Some experts say it doesn’t even read “Jesus.” And Jesus’s family was from Galilee, so he’d likely have been buried there.
Every one of these theories shares the same failure. It can’t account for all the facts. So the debate isn’t really about the facts. It’s about worldview. If there’s no God, there has to be a natural explanation. But if we’re open to the supernatural, the resurrection becomes a much more reasonable explanation.
Chapter 25 — Were the Apostles Martyred for Belief in the Resurrection?
One more piece of evidence is how the apostles died. They were crucified, stoned, stabbed, dragged, skinned, and burned. And every one of them proclaimed the resurrection until their dying breath. Their deaths don’t prove it happened. But they show the apostles weren’t lying. They truly believed Jesus had appeared to them.
The evidence is strong. Clement of Rome, writing in the first century, tells of the martyrdoms of Peter and Paul. And Josephus, a Jewish historian with no reason to help Christians, records that James, the brother of Jesus, was stoned to death in AD 62. For each of these men, the testimony is early, consistent, and unanimous.
Chapter 26 — Was Jesus’s Resurrection Physical or Spiritual?
If Jesus rose, what kind of resurrection was it? The Bible tells of others who came back to life, like Jesus’s friend Lazarus. But they all died again. They were revived, not resurrected. Jesus rose to a new kind of body. He could appear and disappear, and he rose to heaven in it.
Some point to Paul, who wrote that the body is buried “natural” and raised “spiritual.” Doesn’t that mean the resurrection wasn’t physical? Not at all. By “spiritual,” Paul doesn’t mean “without a body.” He means “filled with the Spirit.” Our bodies now run on food and water. Our resurrection bodies will run on the Spirit. Both are real bodies. That’s why the risen Jesus could say he had “flesh and bones.”
Chapter 27 — Did Jesus Claim He Would Rise from the Dead?
Why does it matter that Jesus predicted his resurrection? Because the Old Testament gave a test for prophets. If a prophet’s words don’t come true, God didn’t send him. When Jesus predicted he would rise, and then did, it confirmed he was who he claimed to be.
And he predicted it often. He said that as Jonah was three days in the belly of the fish, the Son of Man would be three days in the heart of the earth. He told his disciples again and again that he’d be killed in Jerusalem and raised on the third day. After he rose, they remembered what he’d said, and they believed.
Chapter 28 — Does the Resurrection Relate to Jesus’s Deity?
As Jesus hung on the cross, the chief priests mocked him. “He saved others. Himself He cannot save.” Without meaning to, they admitted he was known for saving others. So why didn’t he save himself? Because he came to die. He said he came “to give His life a ransom for many.” His death wasn’t a myth added later or an accident of history. It fulfilled the Old Testament teaching that forgiveness requires a sacrifice. As an act of love, Jesus chose to die.
Chapter 29 — Why Does the Resurrection Matter?
The resurrection isn’t just another miracle. It’s the central miracle of the Christian faith. It guarantees our salvation, gives us strength and hope, and promises that we’ll be raised too. It means Jesus is alive and still with us. No matter what you’re going through, you’re never alone. And if you follow Christ, the same power that raised Jesus from the dead lives in you.
Chapter 30 — Final Words of Encouragement
Questions aren’t only okay. They’re a good part of the Christian life. Jesus calls us to love God with our minds. Josh and Sean have both learned that if we’re willing to do our homework, there are good answers to the toughest challenges to the faith. If you have nagging doubts, you’re not alone.
So keep asking. Come back to the question Jesus asked at the start: “Who do you say that I am?” And hold on to his promise: “Seek, and you will find.”