What is the Christian Faith? (page 2)

Thank you for turning to this page. Here we are going to get to grips with the three main propositions of the Christian faith. We shall be examining the evidence as given us in the written accounts in the Bible by those men who knew Jesus, had heard him speaking and witnessed his actions. If you need further help you can contact us on thebible@coekin.freeserve.co.uk We would only too pleased to help.

(2) Mark (otherwise known as John Mark) who was a younger man - a Jew who lived in Jerusalem,

(3) Luke who was a physician and a Greek-speaking non-Jew, (he also wrote the 5th book of the New Testament 'The Acts of the Apostles' which tells the story of the spread of Christianity after the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ),

The first three written accounts as they appear in the New Testament (Matthew, Mark and Luke) contain a great deal of material in common, and, it is thought, benefited from a common source of eye-witness account. However each author had in mind a particular purpose. Matthew's gospel is especially aimed at Jewish readers. Luke's intention is to be particularly orderly (he says so in the first chapter of his gospel). Mark is terse and urgent and his gospel is the shortest. John's gospel is different again. He adds to selected events in Jesus' life a wide range of insights into what is happening and their meaning. There is no complete account of Jesus' life. As John says in chapter 21 verse 25 ( the last words in his gospel) 'Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written'.

It helps to understand that the gospels are not formalised textbooks. They are personal witness accounts. They are dynamic. As would be the case in any witnessed event, witnesses mention or highlight different aspects of any occurrence. The gospel writers do the same: sometimes they emphasise different aspects of the same event or add detail the others don't. Furthermore, since these writers wrote in the Middle East 2000 years ago, they do not see any need to always record events in chronological order. (They were not so time-bound as we are). They sometimes gather together events that happened at different times because they are all about the same issue. You might like to visit the Frequently Asked Questions page to see further discussion on the question 'Can you trust the Bible?'

For those entirely new to the Bible, it should be explained that you will find the text divided into chapters and verses. These were not in the original documents but were introduced later for easier reference. A particular reference is written like this -

Book name(space)chapter number:verse number: hence for example John 20:31. We refer to a single verse as v.31, two adjacent verses as vs.29,30 or a group of verses as vs.29-31.

In our examination of the three main propositions of the Christian faith (see Enquirers' page 1 section 3) we shall chiefly use the gospel of Mark because of its brevity. It would be most helpful if you had a modern translation of the Bible. We use the NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION ('NIV' for short) here. You can buy a hard-backed copy reasonably cheaply.

Mark's gospel tells us nothing about Jesus' birth, probably because Mark is so keen to show us what Jesus said and did. He wants us to come to a conclusion about who Jesus is. We can begin reading soon after Jesus has chosen his first disciples. They went to a small town called Capernaum and Jesus preached in the local synagogue. This is the response.

Mark 1:22-28 'The people were amazed at his teaching, because he taught them as one who had authority, not as the teachers of the law.'

At this point a man with an evil spirit came to Jesus and challenged him 'What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth?' (that was the town Jesus grew-up in). '"Be quiet" said Jesus sternly. "Come out of him!" The evil spirit shook the man violently and came out of him with a shriek.'

Mark goes on ' The people were so amazed that they asked each other, "What is this? A new teaching - and with authority! He even gives orders to evil spirits and they obey him."'

The people's amazement is not surprising and Mark tells us 'News about him spread quickly over the whole region of Galilee.'

We need not get hooked up on the phenomenon of evil spirits. Reports of them are quite frequent in the gospels. They may not be evident in the developed world today, but they can be real enough in African society, for instance.

v.34 Crowds bring their sick to Jesus and he heals them and casts-out more evil spirits.

v.39 Jesus travelled throughout Galilee, preaching in the synagogues and driving out demons.

It is interesting and significant that from the start people who heard and saw Jesus at work spoke of his 'authority', because this exactly captures what Jesus displays. So far we have seen his authority in teaching, authority over sickness and authority over evil spirits.

Mark chapter 2 begins with the account of Jesus healing a man who was paralysed. This is a famous account for two reasons. First, because there was such a crowd that the man's friends had to break a hole in the flat roof of the house and lower the man down in front of Jesus. And second, because Jesus did not at first say that he would heal the man but that he would forgive his sins! This, understandably, scandalised some teachers of the law who witnessed it.

They said 'Who can forgive sins but God?' They were quite right - who can? Then Jesus knowing what they were objecting said 'But that you may know the the Son of Man [his favourite name for himself] has authority [that word again] on earth to forgive sins ....He said to the paralytic "Take up you mat and go home".' And he did!

The account in Mark 2 goes on to tell how Jesus approached a man called Matthew at his work at the tax-collectors booth and said 'Follow me'. Which remarkably Matthew did immediately, apparently without a moments hesitation. This also speaks of Jesus' authority.

Later (vs.18-20) when Jesus was challenged because he and his disciples weren't fasting, Jesus makes a reference to an Old Testament description of the Messiah (the 'bridegroom') and applies it to himself. Then to close an already remarkable chapter, Mark describes how Jesus claimed authority over the Sabbath... he said, v.28 'So the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.' This is an astonishing claim as it amounts to a claim of divinity, as God gave the Sabbath!

So summing up so far, we have now seen Jesus' authority in teaching, over sickness and evil spirits, to forgive sins, to call someone to follow him, to apply an Old Testament reference to the Messiah to himself, and to be divine Lord of the Sabbath.

Moving on to chapters 3-5 we see further evidence of the same authority. In 3:5 he completely restored a man's withered hand; in 3:10 evil spirits called Jesus 'You are the Son God'; in 3:13-19 he appointed 12 disciples and passed-on to them the power to preach and cast out demons; in 4:35-41Jesus and disciples were caught in a bad storm on the Sea of Galilee - rough enough to swamp the boat.

Jesus 'rebuked the wind and said to the waves "Quiet! Be still!" Then the wind died down and it was completely calm.' This miraculous event shocked the disciples with him ...

They have asked the most important question 'Who is this?' Apparently the authority we have already seen extends to authority over nature. But there is more... In 5:21-43 Mark records two intertwined events. A synagogue ruler came to Jesus and asked him to heal his dying daughter. Jesus agreed to go home with him. On the way a woman with a 12 -yr old illness of bleeding secretly touched his cloak and was healed. Jesus realises what has happened and gently confirms her faith. But by the time they reach the ruler's house his daughter has died. But Jesus raised her to life again. He had authority over death. In chapter 6 Jesus fed 5,000 people from only five loaves and two fish. Authority over the created order again.

They answer 'Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah [an Old Testament prophet] ; and still others, one of the prophets. '

He then asked them 'Who do you say I am?' Peter answered 'You are the Christ.' Matthew, whom we have already met, in his gospel, adds another phrase which no doubt was used at the time '.. the Son of the living God.'

The famous writer Professor C. S. Lewis, who wrote the Chronicles of Narnia - including the best-known of all -'The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe' - wrote of Jesus saying that he forgave sins ...

'In the mouth of any speaker who is not God, these words would imply what I can only regard as a silliness and conceit unrivalled by any other character in history. Yet (and this is the strange, significant thing) even his enemies, when they read the Gospels, do not usually get the impression of silliness and conceit. '

'I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: "I am ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don't accept His claim to be God." That is the one thing we must not say. 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 the level with the man who says he is a poached egg - or else he would be 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 call Him a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronising nonsense about Him being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.'

Both quotations are from 'Mere Christianity' Book 2 What Christians Believe by C. S. Lewis.

Having set out to examine the evidence in the first 8 chapters of Mark's gospel, surely we have to give room to the conclusion that Jesus was God - how else can what he said and did be explained? If we deny this conclusion then the rest of the gospel witness makes no sense at all. But if we accept the evidence then the rest all falls into place and demonstrates that the conclusion is valid. That Jesus is called 'Son of God' is a way of expressing that he came as a unique manifestation of God; an incarnation of God; a man who was truly man and truly God at the same time. The Apostle John, at the beginning of his gospel, spells out the enormous importance of the nature and the coming of Jesus ...

'In the beginning was the Word [Greek 'logos'], and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness but the darkness has not understood it. ... The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.' John 1:1-5,14

John's description of Jesus as the 'Word' holds within it the idea that He was sent by the Father (God) for a purpose and with a message. God has communicated with us by His Son.

Our next task is to find out what that purpose was and what message God communicated to us.

*Understanding the Bible*
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