JAMAL’S DEBATE
ANDREA HAD BEEN wrestling with her beliefs about Christ. She couldn’t believe that both Nick and Jessica had fully devoted themselves to Jesus this past year. She didn’t struggle so much with His virgin birth, deity, or resurrection. It was just so hard to believe He was the only way to salvation. What about all those children who die without hearing the gospel? It seemed so wrong to think of them in hell because they never knew about Jesus.
She had turned to the atheist club thinking they would be intellectually honest, but they had their struggles and inconsistencies too. More recently her favorite professor, Dr. William Peterson, had retired from full-time teaching and now seemed more open to Christianity. She was curious about his response to Jamal’s views and hoped he would ask Jamal some good questions at tonight’s forum with Drs. Hitzfield and Gouffran.
Andrea was running late and couldn’t find parking anywhere close to Wesley Auditorium. By the time she finally arrived—forty-five minutes into the program—she found every seat taken. “Unbelievable,” she muttered. From where she stood in the back she could see Nick, Mina, and Jessica seated in the front row, and her friends Brett, Lauren, and Scott right behind them. She rolled her eyes.
On stage, Dr. Peterson was shaking hands with one of the presenters and taking the microphone. “Thank you, Dr. Hitzfield. I’d now like to invite Mr. Jamal Washington to the lectern. Mr. Washington, you have fifteen minutes to respond to Dr. Hitzfield’s argument against the historical reliability of the testimony about Christ.”
Jamal stepped up to the microphone wearing a black suit and stylish glasses. With his athletic build and scholarly bearing, he brought natural authority to the platform. No wonder my friends all flirt with him, thought Andrea.
After a few introductory remarks and greetings, Jamal dove right in. “Dr. Hitzfield, we can’t neglect the historical fact that you admitted to about the persecution of the early Christians for their public reports that Jesus had lived, died, rose from the dead, and appeared to many after His resurrection. These early Christians had nothing to gain and everything to lose for their testimony that these things had actually happened. For this reason their accounts are highly significant historical sources.”
Jamal then turned to the audience. “Pay close attention to what I am about to say. This is an argument you don’t want to miss. Recorded in the pages of the New Testament, biblical scholars have identified what they believe are at least portions of early Christian creedal confessions that were formulated and passed on verbally years before they were recorded in the books of the New Testament. As Dr. Gary Habermas explains, these affirmations ‘preserve some of the earliest reports concerning Jesus from about AD 30–50. Therefore, in a real sense, the creeds preserve pre-New Testament material, and are our earliest sources for the life of Jesus.’32 In other words, these sayings were memorized and passed down orally.”
Jamal flipped the page of his notebook and only briefly looked down. “Examples of these creedal affirmations embedded in the New Testament and identified by leading scholars from Oxford, Cambridge, and Princeton would include Luke 24:34, Romans 1:3–4, Romans 4:24–25, Romans 10:9–10, 1 Timothy 3:16, Philippians 2:6–11, 2 Timothy 2:8, 1 Peter 3:18, 1 John 4:2, and 1 Corinthians 11:23–26.”
Jamal continued, “Ninety percent of all scholars who have published on the resurrection in the last thirty years, including the most liberal scholars at Ivy League institutions, admit the early dating of 1 Corinthians, between AD 53 and 57, and they also acknowledge that the apostle Paul is the real author. Dr. Gary Habermas, who earned his PhD from Michigan State, pointed out that when Paul speaks of the Lord’s supper in 1 Corinthians,33 he presents a fixed tradition that is probably based on material independent of the sources for the synoptic gospels. Jeremias notes that Paul’s words received and delivered are not Paul’s typical terms, but ‘represent the rabbinical technical terms’ for passing on tradition. In fact, Jeremias asserts that this material was formulated ‘in the very earliest period; at any rate before Paul … a pre-Pauline formula.’ Paul is actually pointing out that ‘the chain of tradition goes back unbroken to Jesus himself.’34
“From just a historical perspective, scholars know that Paul is using pre-existing material, some of which are called ‘creedal confessions’ that pre-date the writing of his letter. Now, let’s turn our attention to one of the creedal confessions in 1 Corinthians. ‘For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that He appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve.’”35
Jamal looked up at Dr. Peterson and then back to Drs. Hitzfield and Gouffran before continuing. “The evidence that suggests this material existed before Paul’s conversion is clinched in verse 11, where Paul remarks that he has stated what was the common proclamation of the apostles. ‘Whether then it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed.’36
“Ladies and gentlemen, the narrative of this piece, along with the book of Mark that I mentioned in my opening remarks, lacks the legendary embellishment of the miracles recorded by Homer and the other ancient poets. After citing the creed, Paul goes on to reference specific names of eyewitnesses—including James, the brother of Christ, who wasn’t a believer until after he had seen the resurrected Christ. Why was James converted? Because of what he saw. Then Paul adds that Christ appeared to over 500 of the brethren, ‘Most of them are alive, though some have fallen asleep.’ Now, don’t miss this. Paul gives the creed, defends it, talks about eyewitness accounts, and then reminds them that most of the eyewitnesses are still alive. What is he doing here? He is putting his entire reputation on the line by saying, ‘if you don’t believe me, check it out with the 500 eyewitnesses. They will tell you they saw the resurrected Christ.’ Take note of this. Paul wasn’t calling his followers to a blind faith, but to a faith based on a historical event—the resurrection of Christ.
“And now my time is up.”
Dr. William Peterson was silent as he listened to Jamal. As the moderator, he was determined not to reveal any emotion, but in his heart, he felt pleased with Jamal’s lecture. Dr. Peterson had rejected the resurrection for over thirty-five years, but privately he had recently become persuaded of its foundational truth. The early data Jamal cited had awakened his convictions several months earlier, and his own research affirmed that the resurrection of Christ could not be explained away. All the false claims of ‘Christ never died on the cross,’ ‘the disciples had hallucinations,’ ‘the disciples stole the body,’ and ‘Christ was never buried’ failed to convince him intellectually. The only person who was aware of Dr. Peterson’s recent conversion was his wife, Susan. He also planned to share it with his students when the time was right, for he felt ashamed in his heart for deceiving so many impressionable students over the years and turning them away from Christ.