Timeless Answers for Tough Questions about Christ
Josh McDowell
The historical and philosophical case for Christ — arguments that hold up under honest scrutiny.
There are over 5,800 Greek manuscripts of the New Testament — compared to fewer than 10 for most classical authors we accept without question. The McDowells compile manuscript evidence, extra-biblical sources, and philosophical arguments showing the case for Jesus is remarkably strong.
Everything McDowell wants you to walk away with
Over 5,800 Greek manuscripts, 10,000 Latin manuscripts, and 9,300 in other languages. Compare that to Homer's Iliad (643 copies) or Caesar's Gallic Wars (fewer than 10). If we reject the New Testament on manuscript grounds, we must reject all of ancient history.
The gap between the original writings and the earliest copies is far smaller than for any other ancient document. Some fragments date to within a generation of the events. This proximity dramatically reduces the possibility of legendary development.
The empty tomb, the post-death appearances, and the radical transformation of the disciples are historical data points that demand explanation. The disciples' willingness to die for their testimony is powerful evidence — people don't die for what they know is a lie.
Josephus, Tacitus, Pliny the Younger, and the Jewish Talmud all reference Jesus or early Christians. These sources weren't trying to promote Christianity — they were documenting what they observed. Hostile witnesses are the strongest kind of evidence.
Jesus claimed to be God. If that's false and he knew it, he was a liar. If it's false and he believed it, he was a lunatic. If it's true, he's Lord. What he can't be is merely a great moral teacher — his claims don't allow that option.
Four witnesses to a car accident will describe it differently — that doesn't mean the accident didn't happen. The Gospel writers selected and arranged material for different audiences. Variation in detail actually strengthens rather than weakens credibility.
They gained nothing but suffering, persecution, and death. They didn't become wealthy or powerful. If the resurrection was a hoax, they perpetuated it all the way to their own executions — which is psychologically implausible.
The Bible never asks for blind faith. It invites investigation. Luke wrote so that his reader 'may know the certainty' of what he'd been taught. Christianity is the only major religion whose founder staked everything on a historically verifiable event.
Within decades, Christianity spread across the Roman Empire despite intense persecution. This doesn't happen because of a good moral philosophy — it happens because the people spreading it had encountered something real.
McDowell began as a skeptic trying to disprove Christianity and was converted by the evidence. The invitation isn't to stop thinking but to think more carefully. The case for Jesus is stronger than for virtually any other figure of the ancient world.
These notes are inspired by direct excerpts and woven together into a readable guide you can follow from start to finish.
By Josh McDowell and Sean McDowell
What you conclude about the identity of Jesus is the most important decision you will ever make. This is why Jesus asked, “Who do you say that I am?” (Mark 8:29). Your answer to this question has implications for how you live your life and for your eternal destiny.
The vast majority of scholars today—across a wide range of perspectives and disciplines—collectively believe Jesus was at least a historical figure who lived and died in the first century AD. Even the agnostic New Testament scholar Bart Ehrman has written a book defending the existence of Jesus: Did Jesus Exist? The Historical Argument for Jesus of Nazareth.
One of the most common challenges to the reliability of the New Testament is that its documents are biased and therefore unreliable. But accusations of bias can cut both ways. Consider the example of Holocaust survivors: such individuals would undoubtedly be biased, but this does not in itself provide good reason to discount their testimony.
Bias does not automatically invalidate testimony. A witness can be both biased and truthful. The question is whether the testimony holds up under scrutiny—not whether the witness has a personal stake.
Bart Ehrman is deeply skeptical about the supernatural accounts surrounding Jesus’s life, yet this does not lead him to deny the existence of Jesus. After examining the Gospels and the traditions from which they arose, Ehrman concluded that the vast network of these traditions—numerically significant, widely dispersed, and largely independent of one another—makes it almost certain that whatever one wants to say about Jesus, at the very least one must say that he existed.
Paul’s writings are especially important because they are likely the earliest Christian documents and the earliest writings we have concerning Jesus as a historical person. Even critical scholars accept that Paul wrote seven of the letters attributed to him: Galatians, 1 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians, Romans, Philemon, Philippians, and 1 Thessalonians. Paul clearly based many arguments on the assumption that Jesus did exist, and his letters reveal a surprising amount of detail about Jesus’s life:
Two ancient non-Christian sources stand out as the most important evidence for the historical Jesus: Cornelius Tacitus and Flavius Josephus.
Tacitus was a Roman historian who lived approximately AD 56 to 120. Many scholars consider him the greatest Roman historian, and his Annals is regarded as our best source of information for the time surrounding the life of Jesus. In AD 64, a devastating fire broke out for which many believed Emperor Nero was responsible. To deflect blame, Nero targeted the Christians. Tacitus explains that Nero fastened guilt on a group hated for their abominations, called Christians. He notes that “Christus” suffered the extreme penalty during the reign of Tiberius at the hands of one of Rome’s procurators, Pontius Pilatus, and that a “mischievous superstition” broke out not only in Judaea but even in Rome.
Could Tacitus’s text be a forgery? This is highly unlikely for three reasons: (1) Tacitus clearly despises Christians—a Christian editor would not have been so offensive; (2) the passage does not mention the resurrection, which a Christian editor would have been eager to include; and (3) the style of the text is seamless, with no evidence of editorial tampering.
While we don’t know Tacitus’s exact source for his information about Jesus, we know he considered it reliable enough to include in his writings. Thus, it should be part of the larger case for the existence of Jesus.
Josephus was a Jewish politician, soldier, and historian who lived around AD 37 to 100 and is considered the most important Jewish historian of ancient times. He wrote Antiquities of the Jews to explain the Jewish people and their beliefs to Romans in order to reduce anti-Jewish bigotry. Two passages in Antiquities are especially important. In one, Josephus writes about the death of Jesus’s brother James at the instigation of the high priest Ananus: he assembled the Sanhedrin of judges and brought before them “the brother of Jesus, who was called Christ, whose name was James,” and delivered them to be stoned.
There are other non-Christian sources of information about Jesus, such as Suetonius, Celsus, and Thallus, but Tacitus and Josephus alone suffice to establish Jesus’s historicity.
Several early Christian writers who lived close to the time of the apostles provide additional testimony to the historical Jesus.
This letter was written to the church at Corinth in the late first or early second century from the church at Rome. It is widely believed that Clement knew the apostles, including Peter and Paul, and may even be the man mentioned in Philippians 4:3. First Clement states that the apostles received the gospel from the Lord Jesus Christ, that Jesus Christ was sent forth from God, and that having been fully assured through the resurrection, the apostles went forth preaching everywhere, appointing bishops and deacons as they went.
Ignatius was the bishop of Antioch and was condemned to death in Rome in the early second century. His letters contain several historical references to Jesus. In his letter To the Trallians, Ignatius affirms that Jesus was of the race of David, was the Son of Mary, 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 by his Father. Ehrman sees Ignatius as a significant independent witness to the life of Jesus, noting that Ignatius cannot be shown to have relied on the Gospels and that he was bishop in Antioch—the city where both Peter and Paul spent considerable time—so his views can trace a lineage straight back to apostolic times.
Polycarp was a student of the apostle John and knew other apostles, as his own student Irenaeus testifies. Irenaeus writes that Polycarp was not only instructed by apostles and conversed with many who had seen Christ, but was also appointed bishop of the Church in Smyrna by apostles in Asia. He tarried on earth a very long time and, when a very old man, gloriously and most nobly suffered martyrdom, having always taught the things which he had learned from the apostles.
Papias also provides information that some believe confirms the authorship of the Gospels. According to a presbyter, Mark became Peter’s interpreter and wrote down accurately, though not in order, whatever he remembered of the things said or done by Christ. Concerning Matthew, Papias writes that Matthew composed the oracles in the Hebrew language, and everyone interpreted them as he was able.
The New Testament can be tested by the same criteria applied to other ancient documents: (1) the bibliographical test, which examines the manuscript tradition to determine if the text has been accurately transmitted; (2) the internal evidence test, which evaluates whether the writers claimed to be truthful and whether their accounts contain signs of reliability; and (3) the external evidence test, which looks at whether other historical sources corroborate the content.
Without question, the New Testament boasts the best attested manuscript transmission when compared with any other ancient document. The sheer number of manuscripts across languages confirms that the text has been accurately transmitted through the centuries.
Estimated Dates for the Gospels and Acts
| Book | Early Date (AD) | Late Date (AD) |
|---|---|---|
| Matthew | 50–75 | 75–120 |
| Mark | 45–65 | 65–80 |
| Luke | 60–80 | 80–110 |
| John | 65–90 | 90–140 |
| Acts | 62–80 | 80–130 |
New Testament Manuscripts by Language
| Language | Earliest MS | Number of MSS |
|---|---|---|
| Greek | AD 130 (or earlier) | 5,856 |
| Armenian | AD 862 | 2,000+ |
| Coptic | Late 3rd c. AD | Around 975 |
| Gothic | 5th or 6th c. AD | 6 |
| Ethiopian | 6th c. AD | 600+ |
| Latin (Old Latin & Vulgate) | 4th c. AD | 10,000+ |
| Syriac | Late 4th or Early 5th c. AD | 350+ |
| Georgian | 5th c. AD | 89 |
| Slavic | 10th c. AD | 4,000+ |
Total Biblical Manuscript Evidences
| Category | Count |
|---|---|
| New Testament Greek manuscripts | 5,856 |
| New Testament early translations | 18,130 |
| Old Testament scrolls, codices | 42,300 |
There is no other work of antiquity that has more and earlier copies than the New Testament.
A common objection to the reliability of the Bible is that it is full of contradictions. While some statements may appear contradictory, many apparent contradictions can be resolved with just a little research. For example, the Gospels and Acts provide what seem like conflicting accounts of the death of Judas Iscariot: Matthew relates that Judas died by hanging himself, while Acts says that he fell headlong into a field and burst open. The explanation is straightforward: Judas hung himself, but the branch or the rope broke and his body fell from some height. When a living person falls, he does not generally burst open—but a body already dead would behave this way. This explanation is suggested by the text itself.
Luke wants his readers to know they are reading true, reliable accounts. The New Testament writers consistently claim to be reporting reliable testimony to the events they describe (2 Peter 1:16; 1 John 1:3; Acts 2:32; John 19:35).
If you were writing a story about your life, would you include embarrassing details? Probably not. But the New Testament includes many things that could be considered harmful to the leaders of the Christian movement: Jesus’s family thought he was crazy (Mark 3:21; John 7:5), the disciples are repeatedly portrayed as doubtful (Matthew 28:17), dim-witted (Mark 8:14–21), cowardly (John 20:19), and even deniers of Jesus (John 18:25–26). Why include these details if they weren’t true?
As explored in Chapter 2, extrabiblical writings corroborate key events in Jesus’s life, such as his crucifixion by the Romans and James being his brother. The New Testament passes all three tests for the reliability of historical documents.
Jesus is the eternal creator who took on human flesh. No other religious figure has made such an audacious claim. Moses didn’t. Krishna didn’t. Muhammad didn’t. Buddha didn’t. Among all the great religious leaders, Jesus uniquely claimed to be God in human flesh.
During Jesus’s trial, the high priest asked him, “Are You the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?” Jesus responded, “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” (Mark 14:62). This infuriated the high priest, and Jesus was condemned to death. What made his response so explosive was the allusion to Daniel’s vision of one “coming with the clouds of heaven” and given an everlasting kingdom over all peoples, nations, and languages (Daniel 7:13–14). On trial for his life, Jesus was addressing Jewish scholars who would instantly recognize this electrifying claim.
Jesus’s claim to oneness with the Father provoked attempts to stone him. When he said, “I and the Father are one” (John 10:30), the Jewish leaders picked up stones, and when challenged on why, they answered plainly: “It is not for a good work that we are going to stone you but for blasphemy, because you, being a man, make yourself God” (John 10:33). Similarly, when Jesus said, “My Father has been working until now, and I have been working” (John 5:17), the Jewish leaders sought to kill him because he “said that God was His Father, making Himself equal with God.”
In John 8:58, Jesus declared, “Before Abraham was, I AM.” The phrase “I AM” is broadly understood to refer to the God of the Old Testament—in Exodus 3:14, God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” Jesus’s Jewish audience understood his statement immediately as a claim to deity; their response—picking up stones to throw at him—indicates they recognized that such a statement by a mere man would be blasphemy deserving death.
Jesus also claimed exclusive knowledge of and relationship with the Father. He said, “All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him” (Matthew 11:27). When Philip asked Jesus to show them the Father, Jesus replied, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father” (John 14:9). He also taught that all should honor the Son just as they honor the Father, and that whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him (John 5:22–23).
In his Sermon on the Mount, Jesus repeatedly cited the Old Testament law and then asserted his own authority as supreme. Instead of repeating the prophets’ words by saying, “Thus saith the Lord,” Jesus elevated his own authority above theirs. On at least six occasions (the antitheses), he used the formula, “You have heard that it was said … but I say to you” (Matthew 5:21–22). This was extraordinary in a Jewish culture that revered its prophets and patriarchs as sacred.
Another way Jesus claimed to be God is by receiving worship. Jesus himself taught, “You shall worship the LORD your God, and Him only you shall serve” (Matthew 4:10). Yet he accepted worship on multiple occasions (Matthew 14:33; John 9:38; Matthew 28:9; Luke 24:52) and never corrected people for worshiping him. In contrast to his disciples and angels—who refused worship—Jesus readily accepted 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.
Before examining specific examples, note that Paul emphasized strongly that he preached the same gospel as the other apostles. He portrayed himself as being on the same team as Peter and Apollos (1 Corinthians 1:12–13), and he confirmed that his gospel message was the same as that of the apostles when he visited Jerusalem (Galatians 2:6).
[Jesus,] who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Peter echoes the expression Paul uses in Titus 2:13, calling Jesus “our God and Savior”—a common first-century religious expression referring to Yahweh. This title affirms that both Paul and Peter believed Jesus was God.
The other New Testament writers shared this conviction. Thomas, upon seeing the risen Jesus, exclaimed, “My Lord and my God!” (John 20:28). The author of Hebrews wrote that Jesus “is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature” (Hebrews 1:3). John opened his Gospel declaring, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God … And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:1, 14). And in his first epistle, John states, “He is the true God and eternal life” (1 John 5:20).
Jesus’s closest friends and first followers referred to him as the Son of God and “God over all,” and they worshiped him as divine. They believed this so deeply that they suffered and died for it.
Jesus claimed authority that belongs to God alone. When he said to a paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven,” some scribes questioned in their hearts, “Who can forgive sins but God alone?” (Mark 2:5–7). Jesus responded by healing the paralytic on the spot: “That you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins,” he told the man to rise, pick up his bed, and go home—and the man did, before the astonished crowd (Mark 2:9–12).
The New Testament also claims that Jesus existed before his life on earth. He prayed, “Glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was” (John 17:5), and taught, “I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me” (John 6:38). Similar statements appear throughout the Gospels and Epistles (Philippians 2:6–11; Romans 8:3; 1 John 1:2; Galatians 4:4).
The New Testament authors ascribed to Jesus many of the titles used for God in the Old Testament, demonstrating their belief that Jesus was the very same God of the Old Testament:
Titles Shared Between Jehovah (OT) and Jesus (NT)
| Title or Act | Said of Jehovah (OT) | Said of Jesus (NT) |
|---|---|---|
| Creator | Gen. 1:1–3; Ps. 102:25; Isa. 44:24 | John 1:3; Heb. 1:2 |
| Savior | Isa. 45:15, 21–22; 43:11 | John 4:42 |
| Raising the Dead | Deut. 32:39; 1 Sam. 2:6 | John 5:28, 29 |
| Judge | Ps. 62:12; Joel 3:12 | Matt. 25:31–46; John 5:22 |
| Light | Isa. 60:19–20 | John 8:12 |
| I Am | Ex. 3:14 | John 8:58 |
| Shepherd | Ps. 23:1 | John 10:11 |
| Glory of God | Isa. 42:8; cf. 48:11 | John 17:1, 5 |
| First and Last | Isa. 41:4; 44:6; 48:12 | Rev. 1:7–8, 17–18; 2:8; 22:12–13 |
| Redeemer | Hos. 13:14 | Rev. 5:9 |
| Bridegroom | Isa. 62:5; Hos. 2:16 | Rev. 21:2 |
| Rock | Ps. 18:2 | 1 Cor. 10:4 |
| Forgiver of Sins | Ex. 34:6–7; Jer. 31:34 | Mark 2:7–10; Acts 5:31 |
| Worshiped by Angels | Ps. 97:7; 148:2 | Heb. 1:6 |
| Addressed in Prayer | Joel 2:32; throughout OT | Acts 7:59–60; Rom. 10:12–13 |
| Creator of Angels | Ps. 148:2–5 | Col. 1:16 |
| Confessed as Lord (Jehovah) | Isa. 45:23 | Phil. 2:9–11 |
Jesus forgave sins and accepted worship. He claimed a special relationship with the Father and referred to himself using titles explicitly reserved for God.
Jesus asked his disciples, “Who do you say that I am?” Peter responded, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Matthew 16:15–16). This exchange gets to the heart of the issue: you cannot treat Jesus as merely a good moral teacher while ignoring his claims about himself.
As C. S. Lewis articulated: A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic—on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg—or else the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon, or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us.
If Jesus had been lying, he would also have been a fool, because his claims to deity led to his crucifixion. Consider the possible motives for lying:
Financial greed. Jesus is never described as a man of financial wealth. He taught his disciples to give their possessions to the needy and not to store up treasure in this life (Luke 12:32–34). He told the rich young ruler to sell what he had and give to the poor (Matthew 19:21). Jesus gained nothing financially from his ministry.
Sexual or relational desire. No evidence suggests Jesus was motivated by lust or relationships. Many women followed Jesus (Luke 8:1–3), many from vulnerable situations. He could have taken advantage of them, but by all accounts he showed women the highest respect, even in countercultural ways (Luke 8:42–48; John 4:1–45).
The pursuit of power. Rather than gaining power for himself, Jesus modeled serving others (John 13:1–16; 15:13) and giving without expectation of return, even to the wicked and ungrateful (Luke 6:35–36). In a dispute over who would be greatest, he taught that the greatest is the one who serves (Luke 22:24–27).
Reading the Gospels, you encounter a man of great wisdom, compassion, and wonder. Jesus constantly outwitted the religious leaders when they sought to entrap him. He loved and served even the most marginalized people of his time. He amazed people with his teachings and authority. He also had incredible insight into the human mind and heart. He spoke some of the most profound words ever spoken and told some of the most memorable stories ever told. His instructions have liberated countless people in mental bondage. There is no reason to believe Jesus was crazy.
Jesus had a unique entrance into human history. The Gospels tell us that he had no earthly father but was conceived of the Holy Spirit (Matthew 1:20, 22–23; Luke 1:35). While many religious leaders and their followers have been martyred for their beliefs, Jesus is the only religious figure reported to have risen from the dead. And while other prophets pointed the way to God, Jesus did not simply point the way—he said he is the way (John 14:6). Christianity was founded by Jesus of Nazareth, who uniquely claimed to be God in the flesh.
Many religious figures, such as Joseph Smith, were viewed as prophets or had aspects of their lives prophesied by those who preceded them. Yet the degree to which Jesus’s birth, ministry, and death were foretold hundreds of years before his coming is unparalleled.
The consistent testimony of first-century Christians to the character of Jesus was that he was without sin, perfect in holiness and righteousness. There are no dissenting statements from Christians in the first century or the second century. In a hostile encounter with the Pharisees, Jesus laid down the challenge, “Can any of you prove me guilty of sin?” (John 8:46). They could not. Even his enemies recognized he was a uniquely moral man of impeccable character.
Jesus is featured prominently not only in Christianity but in many other world religions as well. Islam, for example, acknowledges many facts about Jesus (“Isa”), including that he was born of a virgin, was a wise teacher, a prophet, and a miracle worker.
Jesus arrived at a remarkable time for his message to be spread. Rome controlled much of the territory surrounding the Middle East, a common language and transportation system were in place, and the Pax Romana allowed Jews to peacefully live and worship in Roman cities. Moreover, no other person in history has been the subject of or inspiration for more music, movies, and artwork across all styles and genres than Jesus. This doesn’t prove that Jesus is God, but it fits with what you might expect if God were to enter history as a human being.
Jesus is unique—unlike any other religious figure—in his birth, death and resurrection, claim to deity, fulfillment of prophecy, and sinless life. No other person has had a greater impact on human history.
Removing the miracles from Christianity is not an option. As C. S. Lewis put it, all the essentials of Hinduism would remain unimpaired if you subtracted the miraculous, and the same is almost true of Islam. But you cannot do that with Christianity—it is precisely the story of a great Miracle. A naturalistic Christianity leaves out all that is specifically Christian.
There is a general scholarly consensus that Jesus was a miracle worker. Ancient Jewish opponents of Jesus and of early Christianity did not deny that he performed miracles; instead, they characterized them as sorcery or the work of the devil. The scribes said, “He is possessed by Beelzebul,” and “by the prince of demons he casts out the demons” (Mark 3:22). Toward the end of the first century, the Jewish historian Josephus described Jesus as “a worker of amazing deeds.”
Miraculous or supernatural acts have been reported throughout history, but with rare exceptions these were isolated incidents. What made Jesus unique was his well-deserved reputation as a successful miracle worker. He never performed miracles to show off or to gain anything for himself. His miracles were intimately bound up with his message that the kingdom of God was at hand and that it had arrived in his own person.
When Jesus began his ministry, his message was summed up by the announcement of the kingdom: “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel” (Mark 1:15). He went throughout Galilee, “teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction among the people” (Matthew 4:23). The best explanation for the unique way Jesus performed miracles is that he understood them to be expressions of the power of God in him (Luke 5:17).
The clearest example of Jesus claiming to be the only way to God is John 14:6: “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” Several chapters earlier, Jesus told a group of Jewish leaders who denied his messiahship, “If you do not believe that I am He, you will die in your sins” (John 8:24). And he told his followers, “Whoever rejects me rejects him who sent me” (Luke 10:16).
In John 10, Jesus uses pastoral imagery: the sheep represent God’s people, and the sheep pen symbolizes the kingdom of God. Jesus states that he is the shepherd who guides, protects, and lays down his life for the sheep—but he also says he is the gate by which the sheep may enter. Just as no one can come to the Father except through him, no one can enter the sheep pen except through the gate. He concludes with the statement, “I and My Father are one” (John 10:30).
Jesus also uses gate imagery to describe the exclusive nature of his message: the road that leads to destruction is wide, while the gate is small and the road that leads to life is narrow, “and only a few find it” (Matthew 7:13–14).
The early apostles echoed this exclusivity. When Peter and John were brought before the Sanhedrin, Peter proclaimed that “salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). When the Philippian jailer asked Paul and Silas what he must do to be saved, they replied simply: “Believe in the Lord Jesus” (Acts 16:31). Paul also tells us that “there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus” (1 Timothy 2:5).
The obvious objection is that this isn’t fair—what about people who sincerely believe in another religion, or those in remote locations who never heard the gospel? Scripture addresses this directly. Romans 1:18–20 says that God has made himself known through creation, so “people are without excuse.” Romans 2:14–15 teaches that everyone has a general sense of right and wrong “written on their hearts.” Psalm 19:1 says, “The heavens declare the glory of God.” The Bible makes clear that everyone has sufficient evidence to know that God exists.
In Acts 17, Paul pointed to the innate religiousness of the Athenians, who had an altar to “AN UNKNOWN GOD.” He proclaimed that the one they were looking for is the Christian God, who proved his sovereignty by raising Jesus from the dead. All people have an innate knowledge of something beyond us and a desire to worship.
God has placed people in certain times and places so that they would seek him. Paul told the Athenians, “He marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him” (Acts 17:26–27). And Jesus promised, “Seek, and you will find” (Matthew 7:7). No one can say they genuinely sought God and God did not reveal himself.
Christianity may be exclusive in that Jesus is the only way to salvation, but it is also inclusive, because salvation is available to anyone. In the Old Testament, God accepted “outsiders” like Ruth, Melchizedek, and Rahab. In the New Testament, God “wants all people to be saved” (1 Timothy 2:4) and “everyone to come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9). The Great Commission sends disciples to “all nations” (Matthew 28:19), and Revelation 5:9 says Jesus’s blood “purchased for God persons from every tribe and language and people and nation.”
If you are a Christian, this should inspire you to go out and reach the unevangelized. While people may call this claim intolerant, what matters is whether it is true. If Jesus claimed to be God, if he stands apart as a unique person in history, and if he performed great wonders to confirm that he is God in the flesh, then you must accept his teachings and commands as well. Jesus is the only way to God because he is God.
A virgin birth is not biologically possible. But does that mean the story is false? No. If the virgin birth were biologically possible, then it wouldn’t be a miracle. Even in the first century, people knew that virgins didn’t give birth. That was exactly why God chose to enter history this way—as a divine sign. For miracles to work as authenticating signs, which is how they function in the Bible, they must stand out from the normal course of nature. If God exists, then miracles are possible. If God created the universe, including all life and the laws of nature, then it is no problem for him to miraculously intervene and enter human history through a virgin birth.
The two Gospel narratives of Jesus’s birth—Matthew’s and Luke’s—don’t share a single passage or unit of material in common. This complete lack of parallel material in the infancy narratives makes it all but certain that neither gospel writer drew on the other’s account. Yet despite reading so differently, the two narratives share a remarkable number of agreements:
Two independent accounts with no shared source material yet this many points of agreement strongly suggest they are drawing on real historical events.
Jesus is sometimes dismissed as a mythical figure—a blend of various pagan dying and rising gods. The cults most often compared with Christianity are the cults of Demeter and Dionysus from Greece, the cults of Cybele and Attis from Phrygia (Asia Minor), the cults of Isis and Osiris from Egypt, the cult of Adonis from Syria and Palestine, and the cult of Mithras from Persia (modern Iran).
Mystery religions are secretive by nature, and much about them remains unknown. What we do know is that they were heavily influenced by the annual vegetation cycle of the “death” and “rebirth” of crops. The deities of the cults personified this dying and rising motif, which some argue inspired the story of the death and resurrection of Jesus. But it is important to remember that mystery religion deities were always viewed as metaphors for the vegetation cycle.
The Bible depicts Jesus as a real historical person. Consider Luke 3:1–3, which provides an abundance of historical detail in just three verses: real-life names, dates, and geographical locations—naming Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate, Herod, Philip, Lysanias, Annas, and Caiaphas. These are the hallmarks of true history, not mythology. Luke wanted his readers to know that he carefully researched his gospel.
Likewise, Paul wanted his readers to know that Jesus’s resurrection was a historical fact. He wrote, “If Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty and your faith is also empty … if the dead do not rise, then Christ is not risen. And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins!” (1 Corinthians 15:14–17).
While the early Christians practiced certain rituals like baptism, the Eucharist, and prayers, these were not performed solely in secret but were proclaimed in public. Peter declared: “We did not follow cunningly devised fables when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of His majesty” (2 Peter 1:16). Christianity, unlike mystery religions, grounded itself in eyewitness testimony and public events.
If Christianity has similarities to mystery religions, it is only because all religions share certain surface features—holy books, places of worship, ceremonies, and teachings about salvation, redemption, and life after death. When you dig beneath these surface similarities, Christianity is significantly different from mystery religions.
Have you ever heard about the massive British ship carrying thousands of people that struck an iceberg in April and sank on its maiden voyage in the North Atlantic? You may recognize this as the Titanic—but it’s actually the Titan, the fictional ship from Morgan Robertson’s 1898 book The Wreck of the Titan; or, Futility, written fourteen years before the sinking of the Titanic. The parallels are eerie, but no one would claim the Titanic never sank because a fictional ship sank first.
The same logic applies here. Fictional accounts of dying and rising gods do not undermine the historical reality of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. The presence of parallels alone proves nothing about Christianity allegedly borrowing from mystery religions. If you want to show that one religion influenced the other, you must prove a causal connection between the two.
In fact, if there is any connection between Christianity and mystery religions, it is that Christianity influenced mystery religions, not the other way around.
While we should not expect to find archaeological evidence for every person named in the Gospels—they lived nearly two thousand years ago—every bit of corroboration we find lends credibility to the fact that Jesus of Nazareth is a true historical figure. Archaeological discoveries confirm people, places, and cultural details described in the New Testament.
In Luke 3:1, Luke mentions that Lysanias was tetrarch of Abilene during the time of Tiberius Caesar when the ministry of Jesus began. Two Greek inscriptions have been discovered with the name Lysanias, one of which identifies him as tetrarch of Abila, supporting Luke’s claim.
In 1961, a stone inscribed with the name of Pontius Pilate—the man who sentenced Jesus to crucifixion—was discovered in Caesarea, confirming he was prefect (governor) of Judea during the time of Jesus’s ministry. More recently, a ring was discovered that almost certainly refers to Pontius Pilate.
Joseph Caiaphas was the high priest of Judaism in Jerusalem from about AD 18 to 36 (Matthew 26:57–67). In 1990, an ornate ossuary was discovered in Jerusalem with the inscription “Joseph, son of Caiaphas.”
Six Herods are referenced in the Bible, and archaeological evidence exists for at least three. Herod the Great, who sought to kill the infant Jesus (Matthew 2), was a Roman client king of Judea for roughly thirty-seven years; a sarcophagus likely belonging to him was discovered at Herodium. Herod Antipas, son of Herod the Great, is the tetrarch of Galilee mentioned in Luke 3:1 who imprisoned and executed John the Baptist at the fortress palace of Machaerus, whose ruins remain to this day. King Herod Agrippa, grandson of Herod the Great, had Peter arrested and was struck down by an angel (Acts 12); many ancient coins have been discovered bearing the inscription “Agrippa King.”
The Gospels report that Jesus was born in Bethlehem (Matthew 2:1–6; Luke 2:4–7; John 7:41–42). Archaeological discoveries confirm that Bethlehem was occupied as a town during this time. Church writers of the second and third centuries reported that Jesus was born in a cave in Bethlehem. In AD 135, Emperor Hadrian had a shrine for Adonis built over the traditional location of the cave, suggesting that Roman authorities were aware of the significance of the site for Christians.
Some scholars doubted that Nazareth existed during Jesus’s time due to the lack of early sources outside the New Testament. Yet recent archaeological discoveries have confirmed a village existed at Nazareth during the first century AD. A tomb inscription indicates the use of Aramaic, and a first-century house has been discovered that was occupied by a family who very likely observed the law of Moses.
A fourth- or fifth-century synagogue made of limestone stands over the foundation of a first-century basalt synagogue, which may have been where Jesus preached (John 6:35–59). Nearby, beneath a fifth-century church, lies an earlier octagonal church converted from a first-century house. Evidence suggests this house was used as a house church for early Christians, and many scholars believe it may have been the house of the apostle Peter.
In John 5, Jesus heals a lame man on the Sabbath by the pool of Bethesda. In 1888, archaeologists discovered the remains of the pool near St. Anne’s Church in Jerusalem. Investigations confirmed that the pool has five porticoes, as John described.
In John 9, Jesus heals a blind man and tells him to wash in the pool of Siloam. Coins and pottery from the first century, along with careful excavation, have confirmed the discovery of this pool in southern Jerusalem.
In 2016, a cave was discovered in Galilee that was used as an ancient workshop for crafting stone pots and jars—just a mile from the biblical town of Cana. Many similar ritual stone jars and cups have been found throughout first-century Judea and Galilee, clearly indicating Jewish worship since they were used for ritual purposes.
In 1986, an ancient boat was discovered in the Sea of Galilee, dating from around 50 BC to AD 50. This vessel provides insight into the types of boats Jesus and his disciples used.
Some skeptics doubted that leprosy existed in the Middle East during Jesus’s time. But carbon dating and DNA testing on first-century skeletal remains have confirmed the existence of leprosy during Jesus’s lifetime.
Many scholars doubted that synagogues existed until after the temple was destroyed in AD 70. However, the remains of multiple synagogues dating before AD 70 have been discovered in Israel, confirming their existence and prominence in Jesus’s day. In particular, two synagogues have been discovered in Magdala, the birthplace of Mary Magdalene.
In the nineteenth century, an inscription of an “edict of Caesar” turned up in Nazareth, in which the emperor (perhaps Claudius) ordered that anyone robbing or disturbing tombs be put to death. It dates between the first century BC and the first century AD. The edict warns against stealing a body with “wicked intent” from a rock tomb sealed with a stone. Because of the location and content, some scholars have suggested the Romans issued it in response to the Christian claims that Jesus had risen from the dead.
Some critics argued that crucified criminals were not buried but were either left on the cross or tossed into a shallow pit. But in 1968, the bones of a young man named Jehohanan were discovered in a tomb. The ankle was pierced with a seven-inch nail containing traces of olive wood. Forensic evidence showed that the man had been crucified in the first century, proving that some crucified criminals were indeed allowed to be buried. More recently, remains of a crucified man with a nail through his heel bone were discovered in England.
End of Part 1
Sections 5–7 (Chapters 17–30) continue in Part 2.