Is the Jesus Story Plagiarism?

Tough Question #31—Made Up By Satan
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This is a common question, but that just means it needs to be answered. AZ claims that there are a number of characteristics of Jesus that are also characteristics of mythical figures in the ancient world, written down hundreds of years before the gospels. Among these characteristics is birth at the winter solstice, attacked by tyrants, grew up to perform miracles, death by violent means and raising from the dead. Thus, AZ asks, is the story of Jesus embellished by these details, or simply invented completely? (The “made by Satan” part comes in the church father’s response to why these similarities existed. Their supposed answer is that they were “made by Satan” before Jesus was born to deceive the world.)

First of all, most of the similar characteristics exist in the birth narrative, not in heart of Jesus’ life. Let’s talk about those first. If God wanted to communicate that one baby in particular was special, to a limited and select group of people, why wouldn’t He use cultural ideas that already existed? It is simply a matter of communication, even as Genesis 1 and other portions of Scripture are similar to previously written texts. Just because a form is similar and it borrows characteristics, that doesn’t make it untrue.

Secondly, most of the things about Jesus’ life is unique. There are few in ancient history who is a miracle worker on the level of Jesus. Perhaps Elijah and Elisha, but apart from pagan gods, you don’t see people walking around doing miracles, including Heracles, or other ancient humans. And even so, Jesus is the only one making rules for how his miracles work or why he was doing them. Jesus’ miracles isn’t about “Wow, aren’t I great?”, but about helping those in need and following God’s will.

Another unique aspect about Jesus is his death. Not the fact that he died a violent death, which, as AZ says, is pretty common among ancient heroes. His death is unique because the one thing that was emphasized is that his death is not simply punishment, but it was a. punishment for a crime he was innocent of and b. it emphasizes his rejection by the nation. This rejection is what is most unique. Jesus was an outcast, which made him uniquely UN-qualified to be a savior. And yet Jesus’ teaching and NT theology continually claim that this DISqualification is, in fact, the true qualification. This is thinking outside the box in the ancient world.

And another unique feature is Jesus’ resurrection. Life after death isn’t really amazing. In the ancient world, everyone assumed there was life after death—that people’s empty spirits went to Hades to live. Not only did Jesus return from Hades, but he returned to his own body, which was restored, better than before. This is the unique aspect that most people who look at ancient myths don’t understand. You see, Osiris, Hermes, etc, all were already eternal. They were in their spiritual bodies—the interesting part of the story is that they escaped from Hades. Heracles became divine. But Jesus’ restoration is different—He is still perpetually human in an eternally human body. Resurrection in this manner—life after life after death—was a unique concept. It was talked about in Daniel and hinted at in Isaiah and Psalm 22, but Jesus’ story is the only one that actually talked about it actually happen.

So AZ and others can deny the historicity of Jesus’ life if they wanted to, but it can’t be done on the basis of Jesus’ similarity to others’ lives in myth. Jesus’ situation was completely unique, unparalleled by other myths unless you squint so much that they all look the same in that blurry fashion.