Jesus on Trial: A Lawyer Affirms the Truth of the Gospel by David Limbaugh

Author:David Limbaugh [Limbaugh, David]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
ISBN: 9781621572770
Publisher: Regnery Publishing
Published: 2014-09-07T16:00:00+00:00

STEALING FROM THE GREEKS?

In a somewhat similar attack, some liberal critics claim that early Christianity was heavily influenced by Platonism, Stoicism, pagan mystery religions, or other ideas prevalent during New Testament times. If this is true, the conviction that the New Testament is inspired by God would likely be dealt a serious blow. It would be hard to square the notion that the New Testament was inspired by God with the idea that the New Testament writers derived their essential beliefs from paganism.

Ronald Nash devotes an entire book to this subject, The Gospel and the Greeks: Did the New Testament Borrow from Pagan Thought? Nash answers the question, unequivocally, in the negative. Although most Bible scholars and classical studies experts now regard this as a dead issue, Nash wrote a book about it anyway because the theory is still touted by scholars of history and philosophy. Additionally, there has been a renewed interest in ancient Gnosticism, and some New Testament critics believe they’ve caught a second wind with their theory that Christianity is a syncretic mix of other religions and belief systems.16

Nash systematically refutes one of the critics’ core arguments—that Paul strongly borrowed from the traditions of Platonic dualism and the Hellenistic philosophy of Stoicism. “Does Paul quoting a Stoic writer in Acts 17:28 demonstrate anything more than a passing acquaintance with Stoicism?” asks Nash. “It must be remembered that Paul was an educated man speaking to Stoics. What better way to gain their attention than to show that he had some acquaintance with their writers and could quote them with appreciation?”17 Critics claim other New Testament writers such as Peter also borrowed from Stoicism, but Nash concludes that such references only show “that Christian writers utilized language and imagery of their time in a new and qualitatively different way. They do not prove that the New Testament appropriated any Stoic ideas.”18 Nash also rejects the popular theory that John borrowed the concept of logos, prominently featured in his gospel, from Hellenistic thought.

There’s no question that as the New Testament was written in Greek, it uses words found in pagan writings. But, says Gordon Clark, “the point in question is not the use of words but the occurrence of ideas. . . . One cannot forbid Christian writers to use common words on pain of becoming pagans.”19 Nor does the existence of some parallels between the New Testament and pagan literature prove dependence. The New Testament writers were not living in a vacuum, but that doesn’t mean Christianity was some artificial construct created from other sources. Indeed, a cursory knowledge of Christian doctrine will tell you just how unique Christianity is.

British scholar T. W. Manson argues that the early Church did not first develop its doctrine of Christ and then later look around for some historical events to which it could be pegged. Rather, the early Christians’ ideas about Christ’s deity, incarnation, atonement, and resurrection began with their own experience—their own history. “The Church,” says Manson, “began with the picture

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.