×

CCF BIBLE COLLEGE

1 Login or create new account.
2 Review your order.
3 Payment & Sign up

If you still have problems, please let us know, by sending an email to info@crossfellowship.com . Thank you!

COLLEGE HOURS

Mon-Fri 9:00AM - 5:00PM
Sat - Closed
Sundays by appointment only!
Mountain Standard Time
QUESTIONS? CALL: 505 990-7291
  • SUPPORT

CCF College

CCF College

Cross Fellowship Bible College is an innovative school to accelerate your learning and application

505 990-7291
Email: biblecollegeshepherdschool@gmail.com

Cross Christian Fellowship
6721 Edith Blvd NE Suite B Albuquerque NM 87113

Open in Google Maps
  • CCF College
  • Features
    • Old School vs New School
  • Individual Classes
    • My CROSS Plan – Biblical Health and Nutrition
    • Life Planning 101
    • Revelation
    • Systematic Theology I
    • Systematic Theology II
    • Women of the Bible
  • Two-Year Programs
    • General Ministry – Everyone
    • Shepherd School – Men Only
      • Local Attendance
  • Podcasts
    • Leadership from the Cross
    • No Other Doctrine
  • Login

Ignoring the Eyewitnesses to the Resurrection

by ccfadmin / Thursday, 07 April 2016 / Published in Apologetics

There are several reasons that place the legend theory in doubt. First of all, it is a concept that runs contrary to the Jewish mindset of that day, yet Jews were the first to accept and spread the belief. Why would such a legend develop if it bucks the expected conventions of the very people who are supposedly falling for it? Secondly, the resurrection accounts themselves appear pretty early after the time the resurrection was said to take place.

There’s another point that I don’t hear much about in these discussions, though. Even before the Gospel accounts were relatively early, there is a source of information that connects the events as they happen to the Gospel writers’ pens. That is the testimony of Jesus’s very closest disciples, known in the Gospels as “the Twelve.”

In his article “The Circle of the Twelve: Did It Exist During Jesus’ Public Ministry?” John P. Meier argues that this circle of twelve people who made up Jesus’s most entrusted followers could not be a later invention or legendary. Meier offers several lines of evidence for his view:

  • Unlike the term apostle (meaning “one who is sent”) that is applied to Paul, Barnabas, and others in the epistles, the use of the term “the Twelve” is very specific and is used by the Gospel writers, especially Mark and John, to very specifically to refer to those disciples who were closest to Jesus.1 This means from a historical standpoint, attestation of the Twelve exists across multiple sources; it has a stronger level of support.
  • The list of names of the Twelve is remarkable consistent across the different gospels, not only are eleven of the twelve names identical, but even the grouping of the names are always displayed in three sets of four. The only name that has some question behind it is Thaddeus who is called Jude of James in Luke’s gospel.2 Meier sees this as evidence for an oral tradition for the Twelve that pre-dates the written accounts of the Gospels.
  • Meier places special emphasis on the Gospel of John’s mention of the Twelve: “The fact that the Twelve are mentioned in John is all the more weighty because John has no special interest in the group called the Twelve. The Johannine tradition names important disciples or supporters of Jesus (e.g., Nathaniel and Lazarus) who are not listed in the Synoptic catalogues of the Twelve; and the anonymous “disciple whom Jesus loved,” the model of all discipleship, does no apparently belong to the Twelve. The few references to the Twelve that occur in John thus have the air of being relics or fossils embedded in primitive Johannine tradition.”3
  • The presence of Judas as Jesus’s betrayer also argues for the existence of the Twelve for how else does one explain his betrayal? Without the existence of the Twelve, Judas’s appearance is out of place, disjointed. But as Meier notes, the fact that Judas was numbered among the Twelve and the fact that he handed Jesus over to the authorities is multiply attested. Further, it’s highly embarrassing for Jesus to be betrayed not simply by a follower, but by one of his own inner circle, the very one with whom he entrusted the ministry finances.4
  • Lastly, emphasis on the Twelve is much more prevalent in the period during Jesus’s earthly ministry than it is in the first generation of Christians after Jesus’s ascension. Meier writes, “In his epistles, Paul alludes to his interaction with or compares himself to other church leaders… What is glaringly absent in Paul’s letters is any mention of the Twelve” with the exception of the 1 Corinthians 15:5, which is a Christian creed formulated within a few years of the resurrection itself.5

It seems that Jesus really did have a circle of Twelve disciples he kept especially close. This inner circle was in a unique position to be the primary source material for the accounts of the Gospels that record their exploits. If the Resurrection accounts are legendary, why would this circle of Twelve develop? How does it fit, especially if the concept of the Twelve is glaringly absent in the other writings of the New Testament authors?

As Richard Bauckham has developed in his book Jesus and the Eyewitnesses, it is the members of the Twelve who provide the link between Jesus, his ministry and resurrection, and the gospel accounts. It is a chain of custody establishing that eyewitness testimony is the thing establishing the resurrection accounts. Because legends cannot explain the existence of the Twelve, they also cannot explain the testimony of the resurrection eyewitnesses.

Original post from

Come Reason Ministries

Tagged under: Apologetics, Empowerment, Faith

Quick Links

  • My Info
  • My Dashboard
  • My Courses
  • Resources
  • My Links
    • Blog

Syllabus

  • Open All · Close All

Search Forums

Forums

  • Ministry
  • Module Discussions
  • Say Hello
  • Technical Support
  • General Chat

Blog Catagories

Apologetics Bible Calling Character Children's Ministry Church Communication Connecting Empowerment Evangelism Faith Family Fasting Finances Flesh. Fight Growth Leadership Legal Life Planning Marriage Missions Planting Prayer Prophecy Relationships resist Sin Small Groups Temptation Time Management

Other

  • Disclaimer
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms and Conditions
  • Statement of Faith
  • Contact
  • FAQ’s
  • Prices

More Information

We would love to email you more information.

GET IN TOUCH

505 990-7291
Email: biblecollegeshepherdschool@gmail.com

Cross Christian Fellowship
6721 Edith Blvd NE Suite B Albuquerque NM 87113

Open in Google Maps

  • GET SOCIAL

© 2016 All rights reserved. CCF College is a ministry of Cross Christian Fellowship.

TOP