Ἰησοῦν ἐσταυρωμένον - What is the Evidence?
Posted: Fri Apr 21, 2017 2:07 pm
As many of us know, the idea that 'Jesus' and 'Christ' were two different entities, two different 'persons' is quite old - as old if not older than our oldest explicit identification of them as properly referencing the same person. So I asked myself after I looked at 1 Corinthians - what's the oldest evidence for a specific historical statement that Jesus RATHER THAN CHRIST was actually crucified? 1 Corinthians starts with the formula that 'Christ' was crucified (1 Cor 1:23) and then in our edition of the text 'Jesus Christ' follows (1 Cor 2:2). But how certain can we be that the man on the cross was Jesus?
There is some instability in the citations in Patristic literature. Clement's MS (undoubtedly corrected by a later hand) has 'Jesus Christ' at 1 Cor 1:23. Tertullian writing against the Marcionites says:
Given the emphasis that those who argue that the crucifixion is a historical certainty it is worth identifying what is the earliest evidence that a man named Jesus specifically was crucified under Pilate or crucified at at?
There is some instability in the citations in Patristic literature. Clement's MS (undoubtedly corrected by a later hand) has 'Jesus Christ' at 1 Cor 1:23. Tertullian writing against the Marcionites says:
But what are we to make of this? Is Tertullian emphasizing a point the Marcionites would deny (i.e. that Jesus specifically was crucified) or that they would accept (i.e. that the Marcionite text specifically had 'Jesus' rather than 'Christ' in 1 Cor 1:23)?Falsely did Paul determine to know nothing amongst us but Jesus and Him crucified; falsely has he impressed upon us that He was buried; falsely inculcated that He rose again. False, therefore, is our faith also. And all that we hope for from Christ will be a phantom.
Given the emphasis that those who argue that the crucifixion is a historical certainty it is worth identifying what is the earliest evidence that a man named Jesus specifically was crucified under Pilate or crucified at at?