DID JESUS EXIST AND WAS HE PERFECT?
PART 1
Sakkie Parsons
Someone wrote to me and asked:
I just want to know how to explain that Jesus was and is perfect.
In my experience, when someone has doubts about the perfection, or the reality of Jesus and you get into a conversation, you will recognise that they essentially speculate if Jesus truly exists.
They will then ask if there is any proof other than the Bible that Jesus really lived on earth.
To cover this aspect, I will briefly say something about the outside biblical evidence and confirmation of Jesus’s walk on earth.
You can do a search on the internet regarding these people if you wish:
I could have write about various people that said something about Jesus or the first Christians such as Lucian, Pliny the Younger, Tacitus etc, but I will stick to the following 2 people because I consider them as very credible:
Firstly about the non-Christian Josephus, or – as he wants to be called – Flavious Josephus:
To begin with, he wasn’t a Christian; he was a Jew who believed in the Jewish religion.
Flavius Josephus was a highly acclaimed Historian who lived 37 after Christ. It is uncertain when he died, but general view is that it was around 100 years after Christ. He was, in other words, born about 4 years after Jesus was crucified. He wrote twice about Jesus and once about John the Baptist in his work: “Antiquities of the Jews.”
Flavius Josephus was acknowledged as a very trustworthy historian, who was accurate in his work and was assured that what he wrote was the truth, for as all good historians; he wanted to leave behind a credible legacy.
Many of the people that known Jesus personally were still alive in his lifetime when his work: ‘Antiquities of the Jews’ appeared and could easily proof him wrong as a liar, should his writings were not true facts.
The second person that I want to say something about, was a Christian and his name was Clement, or as known; ‘Clement of Rome’. There are people that reason he was the direct successor of Peter, the first leader of the Christian church, but the Vatican – as far as I know – lists him as the fourth church leader / Pope. He was Head of the church from 76 after Christ until his death in 81 after Christ and he also wrote about Jesus.
Many Christians believe that he is the same person Paul spoke about in FIL 4:3.
FIL 4:3 And I ask you, my true partner, to help these two women, for they worked hard with me in telling others the Good News. They worked along with Clement and the rest of my co-workers, whose names are written in the Book of Life.
I share with you one quote from his letter to the congregation in Corinth – how interesting:
“Let us beg for pardon; nothing is more beautiful than charity; it was shown by Christ when He gave His Flesh for our flesh, His Soul for our souls; by living in this love, we shall be in the number of the saved through Jesus Christ, by Whom is glory to God for ever and ever, Amen”
Remember that this man died in 81 after Christ – about 48 years after Jesus’ crucifixion – and no one questioned – while he was still alive, or thereafter – whether this Jesus that he wrote about, really lived or existed. On the contrary, the Christians have valued him so highly that the Catholic Church declared him holy because of the early Christians’ testimonies. They gave him a saint status.
Eventually, as I always say – you cannot take Jesus as your personal Saviour if you doubt His existence or His Godliness. I say this with great respect – for If He is not part of the Godliness, He cannot by Holy, and if He is not God who became flesh, He cannot be our Saviour.
How very blessed are you and me, and every person that through His loving grace, opened up our hearts to His call and now have a loving relationship with Him – even if we have not seen Him with our physical eyes:
JOHN 20:27 Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and look at my hands. Put your hand into the wound in my side. Don’t be faithless any longer. Believe!”
JOHN 20:28 “My Lord and my God!” Thomas exclaimed.
Please note in the following Script – Jesus does not rebuke Thomas because he named Him “My Lord and my God” but in His response on Thomas’ words, Jesus confirmed that what Thomas said, was the actual truth:
JOHN 20:29 Then Jesus told him, “You believe because you have seen me. Blessed are those who believe without seeing me.”
1PET 1:7-9
7 These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold—though your faith is far more precious than mere gold. So when your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world.
8 You love him even though you have never seen him. Though you do not see him now, you trust him; and you rejoice with a glorious, inexpressible joy.
9 The reward for trusting him will be the salvation of your souls.
In my next writing in this short series of 2, I share with you about Jesus’ Godliness that makes Him Holy/perfect and Godly. For now I leave you with the following out of our Lord’s precious Word:
HEB 11:11 Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see.
HEB 11:6 And it is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that God exists and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him.
Greetings,
Sakkie