Dethroning Jesus: What Popular Culture Says About Jesus – Part 3

[This material is excerpted from our television series, “The Battle to Dethrone Jesus,” with Dr. Darrell Bock and Dr. Daniel Wallace. The entire series is available in our online store.]

Does the Gospel of Judas Reveal an Early Alternate Christianity?

Distinguishing Orthodoxy from Orthopraxy

Dr. John Ankerberg: Some people say that there was a conflict inside the church, and so we had differing views of Christianity right inside the church recorded in the New Testament. What do you say to that?

Dr. Darrell Bock: Well, we do see some evidence in the New Testament of some points of tension. When you bring together a Jewish community that has certain ways of living with a Gentile community that has different ways of living, there was tension as they tried to put these two groups together. But generally, what was being fought over were issues of what we call orthopraxy—how you practice orthodoxy—and not so much orthodoxy itself.

[*Orthodoxy is defined as “authorized or generally accepted theory, doctrine, or practice.”]

Now, there were some Jews who were associating with Jesus who said, “Judaism doesn’t change at all. All you do is add Jesus on top of it.” And the church made a decision after some conflict that that wasn’t the case. What we do have in the book of Galatians is evidence of this tension even between Peter and Paul (Galatians 2:11ff). But at the same time, there is the declaration that the right hand of fellowship existed between the various key players because their theology was the same (Galatians 2:9). They were wrestling with how do we practice this?

Defining the Core of the Christian Faith

Dr. John Ankerberg: Our friend Craig Evans was picked by National Geographic to investigate The Gospel of Judas. He wrote a book, Fabricating Jesus, about this idea that there were different kinds of orthodox belief. He said, the basics—if you didn’t believe that Jesus was the Messiah of Israel; if you didn’t believe that Jesus Christ actually died on the cross and paid for our sins; claimed to be the Son of God; and that He rose from the dead—you were not a Christian. Do you agree with that?

Dr. Daniel Wallace: I would say amen to that, absolutely. That was the core of what they believed. I think there were some other things where they were wrestling with, such as what one must do to come into faith or how to continue on as a Christian. Those were struggles dealing with the fringes of orthodoxy, but Darrell is right that it is also dealing with orthopraxy.

Historical Safeguards in the Early Church

Dr. John Ankerberg: So, Jesus dies, let’s say 30 AD, and in this period in between you’ve got the living apostles that can correct unorthodox belief. They are going around to the churches. And these fellows lived approximately how long, Darrell?

Dr. Darrell Bock: Most of them lived at least to the 60s AD, and then we have evidence of a few of them extending all the way up into the 90s AD.

Dr. John Ankerberg: You have those guys walking around and teaching. You have the creedal statements, which can be dated very early by scholars, going back to the mid-30s. And you have these hymns, Philippians 2 and Colossians and so on, that are loaded with theology. And then you have the sacraments of baptism and the Lord’s Supper. What is the doctrine that comes out of the baptism and the Lord’s Supper that they were practicing?

Dr. Darrell Bock: The doctrine that comes out of baptism is the picture of the new life—the old man dies, and there is also the picture of washing and cleansing. It is the old expression of being “born again.” It represents this reestablished relationship with the living God. And when you come to the Lord’s Supper, what is being portrayed is, “This is the new covenant in my blood” (1 Corinthians 11:25), that Jesus Christ has started a new covenant relationship with His people in which He does a work from the inside out.

The Organic Connection to Christ

Dr. Daniel Wallace: I would like to add that baptism focuses really on the beginning of the Christian life. You are making a commitment to Christ, and He is making a commitment to you by giving the Holy Spirit. And then the Lord’s Supper, or communion, was something of continued fellowship with Him. It’s an organic connection that people have with Christ. “You will eat my flesh, you will drink my blood” (John 6:56). That is part of the portrait we have of early Christianity—an organic connection I have with Christ, who is now the living head of the body of Christ.

Dr. Darrell Bock: I think it is very, very important to appreciate that the gospel is not merely the forgiveness of sins. The gospel is the reestablishment of this broken relationship with the living God. The forgiveness of sins is the means by which that is achieved. But if you simply have a message that the gospel is having your sins forgiven, you have sold short all that God is doing through that forgiveness.

Next up: Part 4 – How did the New Testament authors describe what they wrote?