Mystery and suspense, secrecy and conspiracy, and murder.
And it’s fiction, right? I mean, we certainly can’t rely on Dan Brown/Ron
Howard when it comes to third and fourth century history, can we?
Several historical references are made in this novel/movie that are
simply wrong, yet are presented by a “scholar” in what seems like a
scholarly discussion. Which historical documents are used for evidence?
Various gnostic writings like the Gospel of Phillip, the Gospel of Thomas,
and of course, the Gospel of Mary Magdalene.
Most of these gnostic writings were written in the second and third
centuries while all four gospels in the New Testament date from 45-95 AD,
depending on which gospel you are talking about.
While the Da Vinci Code maintains that these gnostic writings
presented a mortal Jesus, the fact is gnostics typically portrayed Jesus
not as a man, but as a phantom-like super-spiritual being. He did
not feel pain, or hunger – he did not have any feelings, or passions,
and he certainly would not have indulged in sexual relations. This
view of Jesus was common and is referred to by scholars as docetism.
Many Christian writers in the second and third centuries argue against
this view.
While the gnostic texts typically over-emphasized the heavenly, or
spiritual nature of Jesus, the early church certainly believed that Jesus
was more than mortal. From Paul’s text which states that “though he was in
his very nature God, he lowered himself and took on the form of a
servant,” to the famous declaration of Thomas to the risen Jesus, “My Lord
and my God.” For those who try to claim that we are misrepresenting these
first century documents, we have Ignatius of Antioch (cir. 107-120 AD),
“There is one Physician who is possessed both of flesh and spirit; both
made and not made; God existing in flesh; true life in death; both of Mary
and of God; first possible and then impossible, even Jesus Christ our
Lord.” (Ephesians 7)
So we have a very early, nonbiblical witness agreeing with the New
Testament.
But how can we trust the New Testament if Constantine had such
political motivations for putting it together? First, there is not one
single historical document that makes this claim – not even the gnostic
writings! We have three ancient writers who tell us about the Council of
Nicaea and none of them report any discussion about the selection of New
Testament documents.
The New Testament was not finalized with a vote, it was not
found in a clay jar like the Dead Sea Scrolls. The documents that became
the New Testament were all written before the end of the first century.
Most were embraced as inspired apostolic writings right away. As early as
the second century we read writers like Justin Martyr, Irenaeus,
Tertullian and Clement of Alexandria quoting most of these apostolic
writings as “the scriptures.” Probably 90-95% of the New Testament can be
reconstructed from the quotations of these four early writers. These
writers do not have 100% agreement on which documents are “inspired,” but
by 250 AD Christian writers are much more in agreement, and by 300 AD the
agreement is almost complete. The agreement on which documents were
included was a dynamic evolution – it was more about “lesser” documents
gradually being dropped than a dogmatic insistence on the “right”
documents. Were documents ever collected and burned to suppress their
influence? Yes, from time to time this happened, but never in the
measured, systematic, and global fashion that it stated in the Da Vinci
Code. The Roman Empire was unable to stamp out Christianity and the
idea that the early Christian Church could systematically stamp out
gnosticism is an overly simplistic and naive notion. Did the winners
write Christian history as Teabing stated? Yes. Did the early
Christian writers expunge all contrary opinion and thus re-write
the history? If they did, there is no clear historical evidence for it –
they did an unbelievably thorough job of it. Even the Nag Hammadi texts
cannot be used to prove this conspiracy theory.
So in the end, what can we believe?
The clear historical evidence is that the New Testament accounts are the
most reliable documents we have concerning the life, death, and
resurrection of the human figure known as Jesus of Nazareth.
Whether or not you believe that Jesus was resurrected from the dead,
ascended into heaven, and declared both Lord and God remains a matter of
faith. It cannot be proven scientifically, but neither can it be proven
false. It can, however, be proven through experience. Millions of
people living in every nation of the world have experienced the reality of
this faith.
You can know the forgiveness of sins.
You can know this resurrected Jesus
R.A. Baker
Ph.D. Ecclesiastical History
Dr. Baker welcomes questions, comments, or challenges. You can e-mail
him at rabstandrews@yahoo.com
The Da Vinci Code:
Fact, Fiction, or Faith?