Fabricating Jesus: How Modern Scholars Distort the Gospels by Craig A. Evans

Author:Craig A. Evans [Evans, Craig A.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Amazon: B00HTJN9JY
Publisher: IVP Books
Published: 2008-10-30T00:00:00+00:00

THE COMING MESSIAH

An important fragmentary scroll from Qumran envisions the appearance of God's Messiah as follows:

[. For the hea]vens and the earth shall listen to his Messiah [and all t] hat is in them shall not turn away from the commandments of the holy ones. Strengthen yourselves, 0 you who seek the Lord, in his service. (vacat Will you not find the Lord in this, all those who hope in their heart? For the Lord seeks the pious and calls the righteous by name. Over the humble his spirit hovers, and he renews the faithful in his strength. For he will honor the pious upon the th[ro]ne of the eternal kingdom, setting prisoners free, opening the eyes of the blind, raising up those who are bo [wed down.] And for [ev]er (?) I (?) shall hold fast [to ]the [ho]peful and pious [. [. shall not be delayed [...] and the Lord shall do glorious things which have not been done, just as he said. For he will heal the injured, he shall make alive the dead, he shall proclaim good news to the afflicted, he shall.. [. the ...], he shall lead the [. and the hungry he shall enrich (?). (4Q521 frags. 2 + 4, col. ii, lines 1-13)

We see then that Jesus' mighty deeds were not only viewed as in fulfillment of prophetic Scripture, they also attested Jesus' messianic identity9 Jesus and his followers were not the only ones who understood them this way; others did too.

JESUS' MIGHTY DEEDS

Through the mighty deeds of Jesus the disciples gained important insight into who their Master was and the nature of the authority that he possessed. To neglect this dimension of Jesus' ministry cannot help but distort his portrait.

It was through his power to heal that Jesus demonstrated to skeptics that he possessed the authority to forgive sin:

And they came, bringing to him a paralytic carried by four men. And when they could not get near him because of the crowd, they removed the roof above him; and when they had made an opening, they let down the pallet on which the paralytic lay. And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, "My son, your sins are forgiven." Now some of the scribes were sitting there, questioning in their hearts, "Why does this man speak thus? It is blasphemy! Who can forgive sins but God alone?" And immediately Jesus, perceiving in his spirit that they thus questioned within themselves, said to them, "Why do you question thus in your hearts? Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, `Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, `Rise, take up your pallet and walk? But that you may know that the Son of man has authority on earth to forgive sins" - he said to the paralytic - "I say to you, rise, take up your pallet and go home." And he rose, and immediately took up the pallet and went out before them all; so that they were

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