Restoring Apostolic Faith

Why Every Serious Theologian Must Confront This Question

It’s a question most churchgoers simply scoff at.

They rarely give it a moment’s thought, assuming it’s too basic to warrant doubt.

But at some point in the journey, every honest theologian must stare this question dead in the eye:

Did Jesus really exist — and can we trust the stories about Him?

Not the felt-board Jesus.

Not the sentimentalized Western Jesus.

The real, historical, dusty-feet Jewish teacher who was crucified under Rome and worshiped as God almost immediately afterward.

If you’re going to do theology with integrity — especially a project like Restoring Apostolic Faith — this question is unavoidable.

I asked it years ago.

Now it’s time I show my work.

1. Did Jesus (the historical figure) exist?

Yes — and this is the least debated fact in ancient history.

Non-Christian Sources

These writers had no interest in helping Christianity. If anything, they were irritated by it.

Tacitus (c. 116 CE)

“Christus… suffered the extreme penalty during the reign of Tiberius at the hands of one of our procurators, Pontius Pilate.”

Annals 15.44.

Josephus (c. 90 CE)

Even stripping away later Christian interpolations, the core reference remains:

“Jesus… a wise man… was condemned by Pilate to be crucified.”

Antiquities 18.63–64 (minimalist scholarly reconstruction, confirmed even by agnostic and Jewish historians)

Pliny the Younger (c. 112 CE)

Christians “were in the habit of meeting on a fixed day before dawn and singing a hymn to Christ as to a god.”

Letters 10.96.

These independent sources give us a solid historical skeleton:

a real Jesus, a real execution, and a real movement built around Him and directed worship toward Him.

No credible historian today argues Jesus never existed.

That debate died a long time ago.

2. What about the miracles?

Could they have grown into legend?

Under normal circumstances, miracle legends grow slowly — over generations.

But the Jesus tradition doesn’t behave like myth.

It behaves like memory.

A. Paul’s Letters — written 15–25 years after the crucifixion

Paul assumes his readers already accept:

• Jesus performed miracles

• Signs and wonders continued among believers (Gal. 3:5; Rom. 15:19)

• Jesus was raised bodily (1 Cor. 15)

• Eyewitnesses were alive and could confirm or deny the appearances (1 Cor. 15:6)

These letters predate all four Gospels.

If miracle claims were late embellishments, Paul wouldn’t know about them — but he does.

B. The earliest Christian creed — dated 35–38 CE

Paul quotes a tradition he received:

“…that Christ died for our sins… that He was buried… that He was raised on the third day… and appeared…”

1 Corinthians 15:3–5.

Most scholars date this creed to within a few years of the crucifixion (James D. G. Dunn, Larry Hurtado, Richard Bauckham).

That puts resurrection belief at ground zero, not at the end of a legendary timeline.

C. The Gospels don’t read like legend-building

Legends polish their heroes.

The Gospels don’t.

• The disciples are foolish, confused, and cowardly

• Jesus gets tired, hungry, frustrated

• Women are the first witnesses (a terrible strategy for invented propaganda)

• Topography, politics, and cultural details align with archaeology

C. H. Dodd famously called this “a wealth of uncontrived detail.”

This is the texture of eyewitness memory, not mythmaking.

3. Why the “Son of God” claim is undeniably early

No first-century Jew casually upgrades a rabbi into YHWH embodied.

And yet the earliest Christians — devout monotheists — did exactly that.

Apostolic-era Evidence

Philippians 2:6–11

A pre-Pauline hymn portraying Jesus as preexistent, divine, and worthy of universal worship.

1 Corinthians 8:6

Paul rewrites the Shema — Israel’s core monotheistic confession — and places Jesus inside it.

Pliny the Younger (112 CE)

Christians worship Jesus “as a god,” meaning this devotion started much earlier.

This is not slow doctrinal evolution.

This is ignition.

4. The Early Christians Didn’t Hesitate — They Doubled Down

The earliest post-apostolic writers confirm that belief in the divine, miracle-working Jesus was not a later medieval inflation.

It was the apostolic faith.

Ignatius of Antioch (c. 107 CE)

“There is one Physician… both flesh and spirit… God existing in flesh… Jesus Christ our Lord.”

Ephesians 7.

Ignatius died within living memory of the apostles.

Polycarp (c. 110–140 CE)

“Our Lord Jesus Christ… Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree… whom God raised from the dead.”

Philippians 2.

Polycarp personally knew the apostle John.

Justin Martyr (c. 150 CE)

“[Jesus] healed the lame, blind, and paralytic… and raised the dead.”

Dialogue with Trypho 69.

Irenaeus (c. 180 CE)

“He raised the dead, healed the sick… and manifested Himself as God.”

Against Heresies 2.32.4.

If the miracle tradition were late, these writers would show development or uncertainty.

Instead, they show continuity.

5. Why “legend creep” fails historically

For miracle stories to be invented, several conditions must be present:

• Eyewitnesses must be gone

• Physical distance between events and storytellers must be wide

• Social conditions must reward embellishment

• Opponents must be unable to challenge the claims

But Christianity began:

• While eyewitnesses (friendly and hostile) were alive

• In the exact city where Jesus was publicly crucified

• Under persecution (which discourages fabrication)

• With immediate hostile scrutiny (Acts 4–6)

That is the wrong environment for myth.

It is the perfect environment for testimony.

6. So… did Jesus really exist as the miracle-working Son of God?

Historically?

• Jesus existed — independently attested

• He was executed under Pilate

• His followers worshiped Him as divine almost instantly

• Miracle claims appear extremely early

• The movement exploded far too fast for myth-making

Theologically?

• Early creeds affirm resurrection

• Earliest Christians prayed to Jesus

• Apostolic Fathers defend His divinity

• Early opponents accuse Him of sorcery — not fakery — implying something happened

You can debate interpretation.

You can wrestle with theology.

But you cannot historically defend the idea that Jesus was merely a wise moral teacher.

The evidence doesn’t bend that far.

Conclusion: Why This Question Matters for RAF

A restored apostolic faith must stand on bedrock.

Not vibes.

Not inherited assumptions.

Not cultural echo.

Examined faith is durable faith.

Christianity didn’t slowly decorate a simple rabbi with myth.

Christianity erupted because something happened in Jerusalem in the early 30s — something eyewitnesses refused to shut up about, even when threatened, beaten, exiled, or killed.

This isn’t blind belief.

This is tested belief.

And every serious theologian must walk through that fire at least once.

This is me showing that I have — as many before me have done, and as many after me will do.

Primary sources cited: Tacitus, Josephus, Pliny, 1 Corinthians 15 creed, Ignatius, Polycarp, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus.