The Rebuttal Evidence

At a glance

Relevant Scripture

"But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him."

1 Corinthians 8:6 KJV

UECF.NET summary

Chapter 6 closes Part 1 by answering the sophisticated skeptic. Gregory Boyd, a theologian who once wrestled with liberal scholarship, confronts movements like the Jesus Seminar that vote on which words of Jesus sound ‘authentic’ to modern ears. UECF.NET’s companion summarises his rebuttal: the divide between a human Jesus and a divine Christ is artificial. The earliest Christian documents we possess — Paul’s epistles — already worship Jesus, attribute creation to him, and base salvation on his resurrection. That is not third-century mythology; it is first-generation faith.

Boyd also explains how legends actually form. In oral cultures, heroic tales accumulate over many generations before they are written. The Gospels break that pattern: they are too early, too tied to eyewitness communities, and too full of counterproductive detail to be late legend. If disciples invented a god-man, why keep the crucifixion — a scandal in Roman and Jewish eyes? Why portray women as the first resurrection witnesses when their testimony was discounted in court?

For study groups, this chapter is the inoculation against cable-documentary Jesus. The Jesus of history and the Jesus of the Gospels are the same person: a first-century Jew who claimed authority over sin, predicted his death and vindication, and was proclaimed Son of God by those who said they met him alive after the tomb was empty.

Main theological themes

• The Jesus Seminar and similar projects as presupposition-driven, not neutral history
• Early Christology in Paul as evidence against a late deification of Jesus
• Legend theories failing to match the timeline and content of the Gospels

Key ideas

• You cannot remove miracles from Jesus and still explain why anyone worshipped him.
• Paul met opponents and checked facts within living memory; he was not writing uncritical myth.
• Colored beads and voting do not determine history; evidence and eyewitnesses do.
• Part 1’s cumulative case prepares the reader for Part 2’s question: who did this man think he was?

Important concepts

• Jesus Seminar — Late-twentieth-century group that voted on authenticity of Gospel sayings — widely criticised by mainstream scholars.
• Christ of faith vs. Jesus of history — A false split when early documents already confess Jesus as divine Lord.
• Legendary accretion — The slow growth of myth over time — does not fit the early, cruciform Gospels.

Related Bible references

• Philippians 2:5–11
• Colossians 1:15–20
• Romans 1:3–4
• John 1:1–14
• Acts 2:36

Practical Christian application

• If you watched a documentary questioning Jesus’ words, list its claims and compare them to 1 Corinthians 15 and Philippians 2.
• Share Boyd’s timeline argument with someone who thinks the divine Jesus was invented centuries later.
• Worship Christ this Sunday consciously as the same Jesus historians place under Pilate.

Questions for study