2 Peter 1:16 For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty.
The Christian faith in Jesus is not a myth because there were eye witnesses to the events. History confirms the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. Some interpreters through the years have tried to separate the Jesus of history from the Christ of faith. The Jesus of history was the wandering itinerant peasant preacher from Nazareth who attracted large crowds and stirred up the officials. He was a teacher and miracle worker. The Jews of Jesus’ day recognized this about him. The Christ of faith is the Lord and Savior about whom the early church preached and wrote in the rest of the New Testament (the letters). The theory of some interpreters is that the early church created stories and theology about the wandering preacher named Jesus of Nazareth.
Scholars like Rudolf Bultmann attempted to separate the Jesus of history from the Christ of faith through a method called “demythologizing”: removing the myths about Jesus seen through the lens of the New Testament Gospels that the early church created in order to determine what Jesus actually taught. This perspective claims that we can see a glimpse of the Jesus of history through the lines of the four New Testament Gospels, although how much of this is historically accurate is debated by some scholars. For the most part, the “Quest for the History Jesus” is a debate of former generations. There are still radical scholars who follow Bultmann’s agenda.
Why is this issue even important for the average Christian? The Christian faith must be based on actual historical events otherwise it is just a myth created by a group of people who lived in the first century. If Christianity cannot stand on history, it cannot stand at all. Peter provides us in this verse a form of testimony on the historical reliability of what he and other writers of the New Testament claim. Part of this testimony is based on the power of Jesus. The early church experienced the power of Jesus’ name through miracles and the abiding presence of the Holy Spirit. This was not something humans made up but had divine power behind it. This historical bedrock gives us hope in Jesus’ second coming and the truth claims of the Bible. It gives us a sure footing for our faith and hope.
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