2 Peter 1:16 16For not by following cleverly devised myths did we make known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but by being eyewitnesses of the majesty of that one.
The Christian belief in Jesus is not a myth or a made-up story because there were eyewitnesses 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. They have argued that the Jesus of history was the wandering itinerant peasant preacher from Nazareth who attracted large crowds and stirred up the officials. He was an outstanding teacher and even a miracle worker. The Jews of the first century who saw him recognized these qualities about him. Some interpreters even argue that the Jesus of history is veiled behind the words recorded in the four Gospels. The Christ of faith is the Lord and Savior about whom the early church preached and wrote in the rest of the New Testament (Acts and the Epistles). The theory of some interpreters is that the early church created the stories and theology about the wandering preacher named Jesus of Nazareth.
The ancient world, like today, had many ideas, some of them becoming religious myths. A myth is a tale or legend that has the connotation of being made up or fictitious. Scholars in the twentieth century, 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, stories and teachings that the early church created in order to help the early Christians come to accept Jesus as the Messiah. This perspective claims that we can see a glimpse of the Jesus of history between the lines of the four Gospels. This approach has also raised questions about the historical accuracy of the Gospel accounts and led to various “Quests for the Historical Jesus.”
Peter makes an important point in this verse that is relevant for believers today. 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 a testimony on the historical reliability of what he and other writers of the New Testament claimed. 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. These experiences were not something humans made up but had divine power behind them. This historical bedrock gives us hope in Jesus’ second coming and the truth claims of the Bible. It also gives us a sure basis for our faith and hope.