The Cradle, the Cross, and the Crown (43 page)

¹²³
B. M. Metzger,
Reminiscences of an Octogenarian
(Peabody: Hendrickson, 1997), 128–32; B. D. Ehrman,
Lost Christianities: The Battles for Scripture and the Faiths We Never Knew
(Oxford: University Press, 2003), 67–89.

¹²⁴
H. Koester, “History and Development of Mark's Gospel (From Mark to
Secret Mark
and “Canonical” Mark),” in
Colloquy on New Testament Studies: A Time for Reappraisal and Fresh Approaches
, ed. B. Corley (Macon: Mercer Univ. Press, 1983); Crossan,
Four Other Gospels
, 61–83.

¹²⁵
S. C. Carlson,
The Gospel Hoax: Morton Smith's Invention of Secret Mark
(Waco: Baylor Univ. Press, 2005). S. Brown attempted to challenge Carlson's claims by arguing that Smith did not have a reasonable motive for the hoax. See S. Brown, “The Question of Motive in the Case Against Morton Smith,”
JBL
125 (2006): 351–83; id.,
Mark's Other Gospel: Rethinking Morton Smith's Controversial Discovery
, Studies in Christianity and Judaism (Waterloo, Ontario: Wilfrid Laurier University, 2005).

¹²⁶
M. Smith,
Tannaitic Parallels to the Gospels
, SBLMS 6 (Philadelphia: SBL, 1951), 155–56.

¹²⁷
M. Smith, “Comments on Taylor's Commentary on Mark,”
HTR
48 (1955): 26.

¹²⁸
Smith,
Secret Gospel
, ix.

¹²⁹
Ibid., 148.

¹³⁰
Cover of Carlson,
Gospel Hoax
.

¹³¹
Carlson,
Gospel Hoax
, xii.

¹³²
See R. Bauckham,
Jesus and the Eyewitnesses: The Gospels as Eyewitness Testimony
(Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2006).

¹³³
Josephus,
Ant.
17.6.5–6 and 17.8.1 §§ 167–81, 188–92.

¹³⁴
H. Hoehner, “Chronology,”
Dictionary of Jesus and the Gospels
, 118–22.

¹³⁵
W. E. Filmer, “The Chronology of the Reign of Herod the Great,”
JTS
17 (1966): 283–98; E. L. Martin, “The Nativity and Herod's Death,” in
Chronos, Kairos, Christos: Nativity and Chronological Studies Presented to Jack Finegan
, ed. J. Vardaman and E. Yamauchi (Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns, 1989), 85–92.

¹³⁶
See T. D. Barnes, “The Date of Herod's Death,”
JTS
19 (1968): 204–9; D. Johnson, “And They Went Eight Stades Toward the Herodeion,” in
Chronos, Kairos, Christos
, 93–99; H. Hoehner, “The Date of the Death of Herod the Great,” in
Chronos, Kairos, Christos
, 101–11; P. L. Maier, “The Date of the Nativity and the Chronology of Jesus' Life,” in
Chronos, Kairos, Christos
, 113–30; R. E. Brown,
The Birth of the Messiah: A Commentary on the Infancy Narratives in Matthew and Luke
(New York: Doubleday, 1979), 166–67.

¹³⁷
Some scholars, such as R. Brown (
Birth of the Messiah
, 547–55), are convinced that Luke was mistaken in his mention of both a census and the role of Quirinius in Syria during the reign of Herod the Great.

¹³⁸
Denials of the historical accuracy of Luke may be based on misinterpretations of Luke's statement. Luke's statement does not require Quirinius to have been governor of Syria during Herod's reign. Quirinius may have simply been the administrator of the census (see D. J. Hayles, “The Roman Census and Jesus' Birth: Was Luke Correct? Part 2: Quirinius' Career and a Census in Herod's Day,”
Buried History
10 [1974]: 16–31, especially 29) or the census may have begun under another governor and concluded during the tenure of Quirinius (see D. L. Bock,
Luke 1:1–9:50
, BECNT [Grand Rapids: Baker, 1994], 909). Although English translations typically render Luke 2:2b “while Quirinius was governor of Syria,” the Greek verb
hēgemoneuō
does not necessarily refer to filling the office of governor but could speak of virtually any administrative post (
BDAG
, s.v. “ἡγεµovεύω,” gives the meaning as “to exercise an administrative position”).

¹³⁹
See the helpful collection of data in J. Finegan,
Handbook of Biblical Chronology
, rev. ed. (Peabody: Hendrickson, 1998), 320–28. Compare with O. Cullmann (
Der Ursprung des Weihnachtsfestes
[Zürich/Stuttgart: Zwingli, 1960]), who pointed to the uncertainty regarding the date of Jesus' birth in the first three centuries of the Christian era. He claimed that the traditional date was chosen by the church sometime in the fourth century (Cullmann specifies 325–54 as the most likely range, p. 24). According to Cullmann, Christmas served as the Christian equivalent to the Roman holiday of
sol invictus
(“the invincible sun god”), celebrated at the time of winter solstice, in the conviction that Jesus was Christians' true invincible “sun.”

¹⁴⁰
This is affirmed by, among others, P. Maier, “Date of the Nativity,” whose essay is the most authoritative on the subject.

¹⁴¹
For bibliographic references, see A. J. Köstenberger,
John
, BECNT (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2004), 55–56, n. 2. Ancient sources regarding the date of Augustus's death are listed in H. W. Hoehner,
Chronological Aspects of the Life of Christ
(Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1978), 32, n. 13.

¹⁴²
For an excellent introduction to the various chronological options, see Finegan,
Handbook of Biblical Chronology
, 329–44; cf. Hoehner,
Chronological Aspects
, 29–38.

¹⁴³
Hoehner,
Chronological Aspects
, 38.

¹⁴⁴
F. J. Badcock suggested the translation, “This temple (or sanctuary) was built (before you were born) forty and six years ago.” See Badcock, “A Note on St. John ii.20,”
ExpTim
47 (1935): 40–41. John's use of the aorist verb “was built” is probably a “consummative aorist,” which implies that the construction of the temple was completed, i.e. “this sanctuary was built.” This tense would have been very odd if the temple were still under construction as most translations imply (in which case the imperfect tense would have been better suited). A more difficult question arises related to John's use of the dative “years.” The only other use of the dative with “year” (
etos
) in the NT is Acts 13:20 where it clearly refers to an extent of time and thus supports the conventional translation. However, in the LXX, the dative form of “year”
(etos)
without a preposition almost always refers to a point in time. See the discussion in D. Wallace,
Greek Grammar Beyond the Basics: An Exegetical Syntax of the New Testament
(Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1996), 559–61, especially nn. 15, 17, and 20. The most compelling argument for Badcock's translation is the meaning of “sanctuary” (
naos
, “temple building,” rather than “temple area”) in the Gospel of John. For a good answer to the objection that Badcock's translation does not fit this context, see Köstenberger,
John
, 109–10.

¹⁴⁵
Josephus,
Ant.
15.11.1 §380; 15.10.3 §354.

¹⁴⁶
Dio Cassius 54.7.4–6.

¹⁴⁷
Hoehner (
Chronological Aspects
, 40–41) demonstrated that Josephus maintained the common distinction between
hieron
and
naos
. John's Gospel also maintains this distinction. John used
hieron
in his Gospel 11 times to refer to the entire temple complex (John 2:14,15; 5:14; 7:14,28; 8:2,20,59; 10:23; 11:56; 18:20). He used
naos
three times and only in this pericope. G. Theissen and A. Merz (
Historical Jesus
, 151–61, especially 156) agreed that Herod's eighteenth year fell in 20/19 BC. However, they apparently calculated the date of the first Passover of Jesus' ministry from the beginning of the construction of the
naos
rather than its completion and dated the Passover to the spring of 27 or 28.

¹⁴⁸
This date should be viewed as only an approximation. Josephus may have calculated Herod's eighteenth year using either an inclusive or conclusive system. The inclusive system included any portion of reign leading up to the beginning of the calendar year as a full year. This is the system assumed by Hoehner. However, the conclusive system counted full years from the beginning of the reign. This would push the dates for Herod's eighteenth year a few months later. The chronology of Jesus' ministry is complicated by the fact that Josephus proposed another date for the beginning of temple construction in another of his works (
Jewish War
1.21.1 §401), which dated the beginning of temple construction to Herod's fifteenth year rather than the eighteenth, that is, in 23/22 BC rather than 20/19 BC. This alternative date (which would yield an AD 26 date for Jesus' first Passover) may be the result of a scribal error or reflect Josephus's uncertainty as to the beginning date of construction.

¹⁴⁹
See the chart on the chronology of Jesus' ministry in John's Gospel in Köstenberger,
John
, 11–13.

¹⁵⁰
Hoehner,
Chronological Aspects
, 56–63.

¹⁵¹
See the discussion of the possible chronological significance of Mark 2:23; 6 :39 and John 6:4, 10 in Meier,
A Marginal Jew
, 1:413–14; cf. the chronological chart in Köstenberger,
John
, 11–12.

¹⁵²
See D. A. Carson and D. J. Moo,
An Introduction to the New Testament
, 2d ed. (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2005), 125–26, especially n. 129 (with further bibliographic references).

¹⁵³
Some suggest that John's account of Jesus' clearing of the temple at the beginning of his ministry is unhistorical, which would potentially reduce the span of Jesus' ministry according to John by one year. But see the discussion in Köstenberger,
John
, 111.

¹⁵⁴
See
TDNT
2:949–50.

¹⁵⁵
See the NIV rendering of John 19:14: “It was the day of Preparation of Passover Week.”

¹⁵⁶
C. J. Humphreys and W. G. Waddington, “Dating the Crucifixion,”
Nature
306 (1983): 743–46.

¹⁵⁷
R. W. Funk, R. W. Hoover, and the Jesus Seminar,
The Five Gospels: The Search for the Authentic Words of Jesus
(New York: Polebridge, 1993).

¹⁵⁸
H. Van der Loos,
The Miracles of Jesus
(Leiden: Brill, 1965), 6–7.

¹⁵⁹
Lucian of Samosata,
The Love of Lies
, §16 cited in G. Twelftree,
Jesus the Miracle Worker: A Historical and Theological Study
(Downers Grove: InterVarsity, 1999), 48.

¹⁶⁰
B. de Spinoza, “
Tractatus Theologico-Politicus
(1670),” in R. H. M. Elwes,
The Chief Works of Benedict de Spinoza
, 2 vols. (London: George Bell & Son, 1883, 1884), 1:81–97.

¹⁶¹
M. Tindal,
Christianity as Old as the Creation
(n.p., 1730; repr. Stuttgart-Bad Cannstatt: F. Frommann, 1967). For a brief summary of the work, see W. Baird,
From Deism to Tübingen
, vol. 1 of
History of New Testament Research
(Minneapolis: Fortress, 1992), 41–43. For the deists' views of Jesus' resurrection, see W. L. Craig,
The Historical Argument for the Resurrection of Jesus during the Deist Controversy
(Lewiston: Mellen, 1985), 71–352.

¹⁶²
Baird,
From Deism to Tübingen
, 56–57.

¹⁶³
Ibid.

¹⁶⁴
D. Hume,
Enquiries Concerning the Human Understanding and Concerning the Principles of Morals
, ed. L. A. Selby-Bigge, 2d ed. (Oxford: Clarendon, 1884), 308–14. For brief surveys and responses, see W. L. Craig, “The Problem of Miracles: A Historical and Philosophical Perspective,” in
The Miracles of Jesus
, vol. 6 of
Gospel Perspectives
, ed. D. Wenham and C. L. Blomberg (Sheffield: JSOT, 1986), 17–19, 22–27, 37–43; and Twelftree,
Jesus the Miracle Worker
, 40–43.

¹⁶⁵
F. Schleiermacher,
The Christian Faith
, trans. H. R. Mackintosh and J. S. Stewart (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1976), 52.

¹⁶⁶
W. Dembski,
Intelligent Design: The Bridge Between Science and Theology
(Downers Grove: InterVarsity, 1999), 66. The entire chapter titled “The Critique of Miracles” (pp. 49–69) is a helpful introduction and response to the arguments of Spinoza and Schleiermacher.

¹⁶⁷
R. Bultmann, “New Testament and Mythology,” in
Kerygma and Myth
, ed. H. W. Bartsch (London: SPCK, 1953), 4.

¹⁶⁸
R. Bultmann,
Faith and Understanding
(Philadelphia: Fortress, 1987), 248.

¹⁶⁹
Bultmann, “New Testament and Mythology,” 5.

¹⁷⁰
Ibid., 39.

¹⁷¹
R. Bultmann,
Jesus and the Word
(New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1958), 8. S. Porter has rightly questioned whether Bultmann's outlook on the possibility of recovering accurate information about Jesus from the Gospels was actually as grim as this quote implies. See S. E. Porter,
The Criteria for Authenticity in Historical-Jesus Research: Previous Discussion and New Proposals
, JSNTSup 191 (Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 2000), 45–47.

¹⁷²
See W. L. Craig,
The Existence of God and the Beginning of the Universe
(San Bernardino: Here's Life, 1979); Dembski,
Intelligent Design
; J. P. Moreland and K. Nielsen, eds.,
Does God Exist? The Great Debate
(Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1990); A. Plantinga,
God and Other Minds: A Study of the Rational Justification of Belief in God
(Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press, 1990); R. Swinburne,
Is There a God?
(Oxford: University Press, 1996). On the possibility of miracles, see N. L. Geisler,
Miracles and the Modern Mind: A Defense of Biblical Miracles
(Grand Rapids: Baker, 1992); R. D. Geivett and G. R. Habermas, eds.,
In Defense of Miracles: A Comprehensive Case for God's Action in History
(Downers Grove: InterVarsity, 1997); and C. Brown,
Miracles and the Critical Mind
(Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1984).