This post is going to be a simplistic version of a much more larger post, but I genuinely hope what is shared here encourages you.
After author Dan Brown wrote the Di Vinci Code, it was as if the air was filled with misinformation pertaining to the construction of the New Testament, planting seeds of doubt about the reliability of the Bible. Friends, rest assured…the New Testament was not constructed by a council of Bishops in Nicaea around A.D. 325 (they met to affirm what the Scriptures taught about the Trinity). The 66 books written by approximately 44 men over the course of 1500 years was compiled according to its authority. What does this mean? It’s my hope that the following post will help your heart rest in the trustworthiness of God’s Word…
Christ: Jesus made bold claims that indicated that he believed himself to be the preexistent, creator of the world, Messiah, and only Son of God (Mk 14:21-27; Jn 5:39, 45-47; Jn 8, 14:6). Jesus declared to his disciples that he was the Messiah for which the Old Testament Scriptures had foretold. The word, Christ, is the Greek translation of Messiah. No, Jesus and the Christ as NOT two, separate beings. If you hear this teaching, please know that it is false! The Christ is the role that Jesus came to fulfill. It was a designed plan by the Triune Godhead (God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit) from eternity past as to save a rebellious human creation and reconcile many back to Himself. The Christ is what the whole Bible is about!
Creeds: The crucifixion of Jesus occurred most likely on either A.D. 30 or A.D. 33 as the Passover occurs every three years. After the empty tomb was discovered, Jesus then appears to more then 500 people (1 Co 15). Per Dr. Gary Habermas, the teachings and short songs (“homologia”) which began to circulate throughout the early church taught of 1.) Jesus’s Diety, 2.) Jesus’s human death, and 3.) Jesus’s resurrection. These fundamental teachings of the early church reflect the highest Christology of the church. These teachings reflect Jesus’s teachings during his earthly ministry! There are numerous creeds written in the New Testament…Here are a few: John 3:16, 1 Corinthians 15:3-5, and Romans 10:9-10.
Canon: Per Professor Dr. Michael J. Kruger, “The biblical canon is the collection of scriptural books that God has given His corporate people, which are distinguished by their divine qualities, reception by the collective body, and their apostolic connection, either by authorship or association.” [1] The four gospels are in the New Testament Canon as they were written by either Jesus’s Apostles or an associate of the Apostle. The Apostle’s were eyewitnesses to what was taught by Jesus and therefore wrote the words of Jesus. The books for which author Dan Brown advocates should or could be in the biblical Canon were either not written by any Apostles (or associates, like Mark or Luke) or did not have the correct teaching about Jesus (Christ). The Gnostic Gospels were written after the deaths of the Apostles and often contained teaching contrary to what Jesus had taught. The Gnostic doctrine was contrary to the Christian doctrine and therefore was one of the earliest heresies battled by the Church! Gnosticism in it’s rudimentary form points to creation…physical matter as evil, while only the spiritual is good.
Therefore, to think of God coming down to earth and putting on human flesh was absolutely absurd and ridiculous to a Gnostic! But the body is a part of our humanness. We are created as embodied souls! What God had made is very good! It’s not our bodies or our minds which are the enemy but the sin which has distorted both our view of creation (our minds and bodies) as well as their usage. Jesus was 100% human and 100% God. When He had risen He wasn’t a spirit without a body, and when He returns and makes all things new, we will have new bodies! We won’t be spirits floating upon the clouds but will have brand new, transformed bodies in a brand new earth, with a brand new Heaven. Praise God (Hebrews 12)!! With all of this being shared today, let your mind be renewed with God’s Word and your heart rest in the work He has done on your behalf! His love is not of this world, but it sure did both create it and rescue it!
1 Corinthians 15
Provided by Biblegateway:
Now I would remind you, brothers,[a] of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, 2 and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.
3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. 6 Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. 7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. 8 Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. 9 For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. 10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. 11 Whether then it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed.
The Resurrection of the Dead
12 Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? 13 But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. 14 And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. 15 We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. 16 For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. 17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. 18 Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. 19 If in Christ we have hope[b] in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.
20 But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. 21 For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. 22 For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. 23 But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ. 24 Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power. 25 For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. 26 The last enemy to be destroyed is death. 27 For “God[c] has put all things in subjection under his feet.” But when it says, “all things are put in subjection,” it is plain that he is excepted who put all things in subjection under him. 28 When all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself will also be subjected to him who put all things in subjection under him, that God may be all in all.
29 Otherwise, what do people mean by being baptized on behalf of the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why are people baptized on their behalf? 30 Why are we in danger every hour? 31 I protest, brothers, by my pride in you, which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die every day! 32 What do I gain if, humanly speaking, I fought with beasts at Ephesus? If the dead are not raised, “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.” 33 Do not be deceived: “Bad company ruins good morals.”[d] 34 Wake up from your drunken stupor, as is right, and do not go on sinning. For some have no knowledge of God. I say this to your shame.
The Resurrection Body
35 But someone will ask, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come?” 36 You foolish person! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. 37 And what you sow is not the body that is to be, but a bare kernel, perhaps of wheat or of some other grain. 38 But God gives it a body as he has chosen, and to each kind of seed its own body. 39 For not all flesh is the same, but there is one kind for humans, another for animals, another for birds, and another for fish. 40 There are heavenly bodies and earthly bodies, but the glory of the heavenly is of one kind, and the glory of the earthly is of another. 41 There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for star differs from star in glory.
42 So is it with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable; what is raised is imperishable. 43 It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power. 44 It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. 45 Thus it is written, “The first man Adam became a living being”;[e] the last Adam became a life-giving spirit. 46 But it is not the spiritual that is first but the natural, and then the spiritual. 47 The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven. 48 As was the man of dust, so also are those who are of the dust, and as is the man of heaven, so also are those who are of heaven. 49 Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall[f] also bear the image of the man of heaven.
Mystery and Victory
50 I tell you this, brothers: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. 51 Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. 53 For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. 54 When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written:
“Death is swallowed up in victory.”
55 “O death, where is your victory?
O death, where is your sting?”
56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
58 Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.
References:
[1] https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/essay/the-biblical-canon/
Hold Fast Apologetics 