JESUS' AMAZING MIRACLES: THE EVIDENCE

The amazing array of miracles that Jesus performed is one of the many amazing confirmations that Jesus was the Messiah prophesied in the Old Testament (and therefore the God of Israel--the only true God and Creator of the Universe--come in the flesh).

In prophesying about the coming of God's kingdom, Isaiah said:

Strengthen the feeble hands,
steady the knees that give way;
say to those with fearful hearts,
“Be strong, do not fear;
your God will come,
he will come with vengeance;
with divine retribution
he will come to save you.”
Then will the eyes of the blind be opened
and the ears of the deaf unstopped.
Then will the lame leap like a deer,
and the mute tongue shout for joy.
(Isaiah 35:3-6a)

When John the Baptist was in jail and was having his doubts about Jesus, John sent his disciples to ask Jesus: "Are you the one who is to come [that is, the Messiah], or should we expect someone else?" Jesus responded: "Go back and report to John what you hear and see: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the poor...." (See Matthew 11:2-5. For Jesus healing the blind, see Matthew 9:27-31, etc. For Jesus healing the deaf and mute, see Matthew 9:32-33, Mark 7:32-37, and Mark 9:17-27. For Jesus healing the lame, see Matthew 9:1-8. For Jesus healing lepers--or someone with a skin disease, see Matthew 8:2-4. For Jesus raising the dead, see Matthew 9:18-26, Luke 7:11-15; and John 11:1-44.)

Many who saw Jesus working so many miracles asked: “When the Messiah comes, will he perform more signs than this man?” (John 7:31)

So the prophets foretold that miracles would accompany the coming of the Messiah, and First Century Jews saw his many miracles as a sign that he was the Messiah. But Jesus himself consistently pointed to his miracles as a sign testifying to his messiahship: 

“Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you I do not speak on my own authority. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the works themselves.” (John 14:10-11; Also see: John 5:36; 10:25; 10:37-38; 15:24; Matthew 11:20-24.)

And his apostles reiterated this, as we see with Peter at the very first public proclamation of Jesus' resurrection on the day of Pentecost: "Fellow Israelites, listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know.” (Acts 2:22)


So This Is the Claim, But Why Should We Believe It?
Is there good reason to believe these claims about Jesus' miracles? This is a valid question. And the answer is: Yes. In fact, there are many good reasons to believe the accounts of Jesus' miracles: 

1. The reliability of the Gospels themselves: The Gospels are shown to be historically reliable documents in all that they attest to and this is established by many factors including....
2. Archaeology: My class "Digging Up The New Testament"--which is listed first among the resources on my blog page "Archaeological Confirmation of the New Testament"--gives a good overview of how archaeology shows that the Gospels are historically reliable.
3. Ancient Extrabiblical Documents: See the section below for Extrabiblical documents that directly confirm that Jesus worked miracles.
4. Undesigned Coincidences: My class on "Undesigned Coincidences" (that is listed first among the resources on the "Undesigned Coincidences" blog page) is particularly relevant as it focuses on the undesigned coincidences for one of Jesus' many miracles: the feeding of the 5000.
5. The Intense Persecution of the Early Church (and especially the apostles): My class "The Apostles: Dying to Tell the World" (which is listed first among the resources on my blog page "The Intense Persecution of the Early Church....") gives a good overview of how their willingness to suffer hardship confirms the truth of the major points of the Gospels--especially Jesus' miracles and his resurrection. (Note: There is a lot on that page, so you will need to scroll down a ways before you get to the "Resources.")

We can add a sixth evidence of the reliability of the Gospels (and much more if I had time): The Gospels all record eyewitness testimony and were all written well within the lifetime of many other eyewitnesses. If the miracle accounts were greatly exaggerated, there would have been plenty of people to discredit them and the Christian movement as a whole. 

Two of the Gospels are indeed eyewitness accounts, written by the apostles whose names they bear: Matthew and John (see John 19:35 & 21:24; also see points 3 & 4 of my article on Papias). Very early testimony by those who knew the apostles (e.g., Papias, see point 2 of my article on Papias) attests that Mark recorded the testimony of the apostle Peter. And Luke states explicitly in his prologue (1:1-4) that his Gospel is the result of a thorough investigation of eyewitness accounts.

Furthermore, Luke was written before 55 AD and Matthew and Mark were written before Luke (see my article: "Why 1 Timothy Was Written No Later Than 55 AD & Why That Matters"; and I am working on an article to provide much more evidence for this dating for Luke that I hope to publish within the next few weeks). And in 55 AD, Paul says that Jesus "appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at the same time, most of whom are still living...." (1 Corinthians 15:6).  So....this means that after the Gospels were written and circulated, there were still hundreds of witnesses who had seen Jesus risen from the dead. Also, the apostles Peter, John, Paul and James the brother of Jesus (four of the most important witnesses to Jesus were still alive then and probably most of the other apostles. In fact, the only apostle known to be dead before 55 AD would have been James, the brother of John and the son of Zebedee (Acts 12:2).

Finally, three of the apostolic fathers bear strong witness to the Gospel's miracle claims long after the Gospels were written. (See my article on the importance of the apostolic fathers.):

PAPIAS, BISHOP OF HIERAPOLIS & DISCIPLE OF THE APOSTLE JOHN, WHO WROTE A 5-VOLUME WORK ON JESUS (written c. 115-130 AD):

"As for those who were raised from the dead by Christ, he [Papias] states that they survived until the time of Hadrian [who reigned 117-138 AD]." (from Fragment 5, Philip of Side's 5th Century Church History, p.572-73 of The Apostolic Fathers: Greek Texts and English Translations, edited and revised by Michael W. Holmes)

QUADRATUS OF ATHENS (wrote c. 125 AD):  

"But the works of our Saviour were always present, for they were genuine: those that were healed, and those that were raised from the dead, who were seen not only when they were healed and when they were raised, but were also always present; and not merely while the Saviour was on earth, but also after his death, they were alive for quite a while, so that some of them lived even to our day." [Eusebius (lived c.260-339) quoted this from Quadratus' Apology in his Church History 4.2.1-3 (c. 325 AD).]

IRENAEUS, A DISCIPLE OF POLYCARP (died 155 AD) WHO WAS A DISCIPLE OF THE APOSTLE JOHN (died 100 AD):

"For I have a more vivid recollection of what occurred at that time than of recent events (inasmuch as the experiences of childhood, keeping pace with the growth of the soul, become incorporated with it); so that I can even describe the place where the blessed Polycarp used to sit and discourse — his going out, too, and his coming in — his general mode of life and personal appearance, together with the discourses which he delivered to the people; also how he would speak of his familiar intercourse with John, and with the rest of those who had seen the Lord; and how he would call their words to remembrance. Whatsoever things he had heard from them respecting the Lord, both with regard to His miracles and His teaching, Polycarp having thus received [information] from the eye-witnesses of the Word of life, would recount them all in harmony with the Scriptures. These things, through, God's mercy which was upon me, I then listened to attentively, and treasured them up not on paper, but in my heart; and I am continually, by God's grace, revolving these things accurately in my mind." (written c. 175-185 AD; see Fragment 3 of the lost works of Irenaeus as found in The Ante-Nicene Fathers by Roberts and Donaldson)

In fact, not many scholars deny that Jesus worked miracles. Not only are Jesus' miracles widely attested throughout all of the Gospels and Acts and by the apostolic fathers. But they are also universally attested to by non-Christians:

PONTIUS PILATE (wrote c.33 AD) as cited by JUSTIN MARTYR (wrote c.155 AD; lived c. 100-165 AD):

"And that it was predicted that our Christ should heal all diseases and raise the dead, hear what was said. There are these words: At His coming the lame shall leap as an hart, and the tongue of the stammerer shall be clear speaking: the blind shall see, and the lepers shall be cleansed; and the dead shall rise, and walk about. Isaiah 35:6 And that He did those things, you can learn from the Acts of Pontius Pilate." (The First Apology of Justin Martyr, chapter 48)

*NOTE: Some scholars think Justin merely assumed the record existed. Other scholars think that he had knowledge of some forged document (though the only one we know of was written long after Justin's time). I personally think that it is more likely that this learned man were more careful than that. Certainly, it seems unlikely that Justin would present this as evidence to the Emperor Antoninus unless he knew for sure that it was true. The Emperor could easily check this for himself--so that would be a careless move in his apology and would throw doubt on the whole thing.

FLAVIUS JOSEPHUS (wrote c. 93 AD; lived 37-100 AD):

"Accordingly, he was perhaps the Messiah, concerning whom the prophets have reported wonders [that is, miracles]...." (Josephus' Antiquities 18:63) For more on this passage from Josephus see this excellent article by Dr. Paul Maier, a professor of history and an expert on ancient history who published a commentary on The New Complete Works of Josephus and also his own translation in Josephus: The Essential Works)

THE BABYLONIAN TALMUD (written c. 70 – 200 AD):

"On the eve of the Passover Yeshu (Jesus) was hanged. For forty days before the execution took place, a herald went forth and cried, 'He is going forth to be stoned because he has practiced sorcery and enticed Israel to apostasy. Any one who can say anything in his favor, let him come forward and plead on his behalf.' But since nothing was brought forward in his favor he was hanged on the eve of the Passover." [See The Babylonian Talmud, translated by I. Epstein (London: Soncino, 1935), vol. III, Sanhedrin 43a, p. 281, as cited in Habermas, GaryThe Historical Jesus, p. 203.]

*NOTE: Similar to what we find in the Gospels (see Matthew 9:34; 12:24-27; Mark 3:22; Luke 11:15), the Jews did not deny in the Talmud that Jesus did miracles but rather said that his miracles were works of sorcery. 

CELSUS (wrote c. 175-180 AD):

"For he [Celsus] represents the Jew disputing with Jesus, and confuting Him, as he thinks, on many points; and in the first place, he accuses Him of having invented his birth from a virgin, and upbraids Him with being born in a certain Jewish village, of a poor woman of the country, who gained her subsistence by spinning, and who was turned out of doors by her husband, a carpenter by trade, because she was convicted of adultery; that after being driven away by her husband, and wandering about for a time, she disgracefully gave birth to Jesus, an illegitimate child, who having hired himself out as a servant in Egypt on account of his poverty, and having there acquired some miraculous powers, on which the Egyptians greatly pride themselves, returned to his own country, highly elated on account of them, and by means of these proclaimed himself a God." (Origen's Against Celsus, Book 1, chapter 28)

*NOTE: Again, the claim is not that Jesus did not do miracles, but rather that he they were pagan miracles or that he learned to fake them.

RESOURCES: 
*For more on the non-Christian references to Jesus' miracles, see "Evidence for Jesus' Miracles Outside the Bible."
*For more on extrabiblical evidence for Jesus, see my blog article: "Ancient Documents (Besides the New Testament) That Mention Jesus."


So Could Jesus Have Faked His Miracles?
Master Illusionist Andre Kole (inventor of over 1000 illusions including about 100 of David Copperfield's illusions) approached Jesus' Miracles as a skeptic before becoming a believer. He concluded with certainty that Jesus could not have faked his miracles. See this 6-minute video:

The Range of Jesus' Miracles Is Amazing
The Gospels give accounts of more than 50 different miracles that Jesus did. They ranged from healing the blind and the lame to raising the dead, from walking on water to feeding tens of thousands by multiplying five loaves of bread and two fish, from casting out demons to raising himself from the dead. (For a helpful list of these miracles see: "The Miracles of Jesus.") And the Gospels all make it clear that these are not the only miracles that Jesus did:

"Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people. News about him spread all over Syria, and people brought to him all who were ill with various diseases, those suffering severe pain, the demon-possessed, those having seizures, and the paralyzed; and he healed them." (Matthew 4:23-24)

"They ran throughout that whole region and carried the sick on mats to wherever they heard he was. And wherever he went—into villages, towns or countryside—they placed the sick in the marketplaces. They begged him to let them touch even the edge of his cloak, and all who touched it were healed." (Mark 6:55-56)

"A large crowd of his disciples was there and a great number of people from all over Judea, from Jerusalem, and from the coastal region around Tyre and Sidon, who had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases. Those troubled by impure spirits were cured, and the people all tried to touch him, because power was coming from him and healing them all." (Luke 6:17b-19)

"Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name." (John 20:30-31)

"This is the disciple who testifies to these things and who wrote them down. We know that his testimony is true. Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written." (John 21:24-25)

No One In History Performed Miracles Like Jesus
We have the army of modern skeptics to thank for sifting through the records of history desperately seeking to find someone like Jesus, so that they can say: "See, Jesus is not the only one who performed miracles!" And the three best parallels that they can come up with are:

HONI, THE CIRCLE DRAWER (prayed for rain c. 65 BC)

Honi is credited as doing one miracle: he prayed for rain during a drought and it rained. That's it. That is hardly a parallel to Jesus. There are far greater parallels to Jesus in the Old Testament. Moses is the closest parallel and with good reason: because Jesus is the "prophet like Moses" that was prophesied to come (Deuteronomy 18:15-19). Not only does Honi's single miracle pale compared to the miracles of Jesus, but the only two records of Honi are from at least 135 years later (not by eyewitnesses nor during the lifetime of eyewitnesses nor even the lifetime of those who knew eyewitnesses and no comparison to the less than 20 years' distance of the Gospel accounts of Jesus).

APOLLONIUS OF TYANA (lived c.15-100 AD)

Appolonius is indeed credited with a wide variety of miracles, but the nature of them still is unlike those performed by Jesus. More imporantly, the record of Apollonius that we have (Life of Apollonius of Tyana) was written c.220 AD, long past the time of eyewitnesses and those who knew eyewitnesses--and also at a time and place in which it was likely intended to be some kind of parallel to Jesus (though it fails miserably). Besides, it does not read anything like history but rather reads like a very silly legend--or as David Marshall says: like a Saturday Night Live skit! [See p.199, 204-206 of Marshall, David. Jesus Is No Myth! (self-pubished: 2016). See p.199-222 for a more detailed refutation of Apollonius as a parallel to Jesus.]

BAAL SHEM TOV (lived 1698-1760)

Rabbi Israel Baal Shem Tov (aka, the Besht) was an 18th Century Jewish rabbi and mystic and the founder of the Jewish Hasidic movement. It is claimed that he performed miracles in a little known work entitled In Praise of Baal Shem Tov. The work itself is written in 1814 (54 years after his death and nearly a century after the earlier accounts). The author of this work is not extremely clear about the source of his stories, but at one point he relates that he heard them from a rabbi, who heard it from another rabbi--and it is unclear whether this rabbi was actually an eyewitness: 

"I heard these tales from the rabbi, the famous great light, Rabbi Gedaliah. God bless his memory, who said that he heard them from the famous Hasid, our teacher Schmersl, God bless his memory, the preacher of the holy community of Zwierzchowka." [as quoted on p.267 of Marshall, David. Jesus Is No Myth! (self-pubished: 2016)].

So the accounts of Baal Shem Tov's miracles are not first even second-hand accounts nor were they written down within the lifetime of eyewitnesses for most of them. In fact, there were no eyewitnesses for many of them, as they were not public miracles but things like private visions or a letter purported to have been written privately by the Baal Shem Tov 16 years earlier, etc. 

If you go to the collection of stories housed on a website of the Hasidic movement, you will find this claim: "No sage since Biblical times is more known than Rabbi Israel Baal Shem Tov as an incredible miracle worker. Read some amazing stories about the feats of the founder of the chassidic movement." But when you actually read the stories, you do not find miracle claims that rival those of Jesus. I invite you to go and read the stories they have chosen for yourself. 

David Marshall reflects on the "miracles" reported for Baal Shem Tov: "As with Apollonius, the reason Ehrman cites Baal Shem Tov in the first place...is that the man supposedly did miracles. But did he?....The Besht can make himself invisible. He intuits the thoughts of others. He talks with animals....[and then there is] the reincarnated frog who claimed to have been a scholar who had lived 500 years previously" (p.274-275 of Jesus Is No Myth!). In another story, Satan transforms himself into a sorcerer and then into a werewolf who attacks children who are with the Besht. The Besht clobbers the werewolf with a club and the next day locals find the body of a "gentile sorcerer." (p.266) In yet another story, the dog of one of his disciples jumps into a river and drowns. The disciple then eats a fish that is caught and exclaims: "It's taste is like life itself!" The conclusion of the story is that both the dog and the fish were the disciple's father reincarnated to bring the disciple this "blessing" (p.266). 

So far I fail to see any parallel to Jesus' very public ministry of miracles. How about you?:

• Where is the man born blind who receives his sight? (John 9:1-7) 
• Where are the ten lepers who are healed on their way to have the priest confirm their healing? (Luke 11:17-19) 
• Where are those who are raised from the dead and still alive to testify about it many decades later? (See Papias and Quadratus above. The Gospels record no less than 3 people that Jesus raised from the dead.) 
• Where are the crowds of people who bring their sick and they are all healed? (See above: Matthew 4:23-24; Mark 6:55-56; Luke 6:17-19) 
• Where is the crazed demoniac who cannot be bound by chains but suddenly finds himself at peace and in his right mind? (Mark 5:1-20) 
• Where is the man who had been an invalid for 38 years who immediately gets up and takes his mat and walks? (John 5:1-9) 
• Where is the account of Baal Shem Tov being raised from the dead?

Again, despite the outlandish false claims of Bart Ehrman (see p.263-264 of Marshall's Jesus Is No Myth! and Ehrman's blog article on Baal Shem Tov), the evidence for these miracles is not by any means the same as for the miracles of Jesus.

They do not meet any of the six criteria I laid out above for the reliability of the Gospels (nor do they meet the 50 criteria that Marshall lays out in Jesus Is No Myth!, The Truth Behind the New Atheism, and Why the Jesus Seminar Can't Find Jesus, and Grandma Marshall Could...nor the many criteria which I have been documenting over the past couple of years but have yet to publish)...nor are they attested to decades later by those who saw those whom Baal Shem Tov had healed...nor are they attested by those outside of Hasidic Judaism. For a more detailed refutation of Baal Shem Tov as a parallel to Jesus, see p.261-279 of Marshall, David. Jesus Is No Myth! (self-pubished: 2016).

In conclusion, the historical evidence for Jesus' miracles is rock solid. Furthermore, no one in history has ever been claimed to work the kinds of miracles that Jesus did. And yet, if it was possible to get away with making up such claims and providing multiple eyewitnesses and significant evidence for such an array of public miracles, one would think that we would be able to find many examples. Certainly, there have been many who would like to claim that kind of power for themselves or for their sage heroes. Yet none are found.

The deep divide between Honi, Appolonius and the Besht only serves to prove the very thing that the skeptics have sought to disprove: that there is no one like Jesus. As Marshall writes: "If after ransacking your house for weapons, you challenge a thief with a butter knife, that probably means no more potent hardware lies hidden in your closet" (p.204 of Jesus Is No Myth!).

Resource: Marshall, David. Jesus Is No Myth! (self-pubished: 2016). See my review of Dr. Marshall's book here.


*SCRIPTURE QUOTATIONS ARE FROM THE NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION



RESOURCES FOR DIGGING DEEPER

My Class: "Jesus' Amazing Miracles"
*MP3 Audio 
*PowerPoint Slideshow: When you click on this link, you will note the option at the top to "Open with Google Slides" or you may open with MS PowerPoint or OpenOffice Impress (which is free).
*Class Handout
*I recommend opening the audio and using the PowerPoint Slideshow as you listen (and/or the handout).
*The entire 16-week course may be found here: "HOW TO HAVE CONFIDENCE IN CHRIST THAT CHANGES THE WORLD (Apologetics 101: A Cumulative Case)"


Articles
*Cooper, Brad: "Miracles: Resources for Study"
*Stewart, Don. "Why Should Anyone Believe in the Miracles of Jesus?"
*Biblical Archaeological Society. A collection of articles on "The Miracles of Jesus"

Books
*Habermas, Gary. The Uniqueness of Jesus Christ Among the Major World Religions (a FREE! 50-page ebook)

*Twelftree, Graham (editor), The Nature Miracles of Jesus: Problems, Perspectives, and Prospects
*Beth, Karl. The Miracles of Jesus (FREE! to read online)

THE CROSS: Foolish to Some, Beauty & Genius to Those Who Will See

How great the love of God is!
While we here on earth
destroy his creation in a million ways--sometimes in big chunks,
sometimes little by little....
while we are
more interested in entertainment,
personal comforts
and pleasures
than in knowing and loving
the One who created us
and made it all possible....
he left the untouched majesty of heaven
with innumerable servants
doing his will and
singing his praise,
to become one of us
and to live in the midst
of the pain
we have caused....
more than that,
to die
an earth-blackening death
by which the suffering of the Eternal One
became the payment
for the sins of mortals
who enter into the New Covenant
by his blood.
A mystery in a mystery
in the mystery
of his all-surpassing love!

~~~~~

"You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.  Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!"

Romans 5:6‭-‬10 NIV

~~~~~

There is some sense in which the Gospel itself is an apologetic. On the one hand, "it is foolishness to those who are perishing" (1 Corinthians 1:18), yet on the other hand, there is a beauty and genius to it that surpasses every futile religious attempt in the entire history of humankind.

HOW JESUS IS UNIQUE FROM ALL OTHER RELIGIOUS LEADERS....And Why That Matters

Someone in one of the groups I am a part of asked: "Why are you a Christian (i.e., why do you believe that Christianity is true when compared to all other religious truth claims)?"

There were a lot of solid answers to that question. Here is my answer:
"So many reasons.....and many of them have been said well already. But the thing that I keep coming back to again and again lately is how unique Jesus is from all the other religious leaders/founders in history. And he is unique in ways that confirm that he is from God and that he is God. Only Jesus fulfills dozens of ancient prophecies that pinpoint him as the promised Messiah. Only Jesus claimed to be the one and only true God. No one ever taught like Jesus and no one's teaching has ever impacted the world like Jesus has. No one ever performed the range of miracles that Jesus did revealing his sovereignty over everything. No one else ever lived a sinless life and then took our sin, dying as an atoning sacrifice. And what seals the deal on all of these is that no one else ever rose again from the dead never to die again--and he did so with many witnesses willing to suffer and even die for their testimony that he did." I should have added that Jesus is not simply unique, but he is far superior to all the other religious leaders....and to all other people.

I invite you to ponder the greatness of Jesus Christ. He alone has given reason to follow him and trust him and serve him. That is why I have dedicated my life to following him and I hope you will, too.

Let's look at some of these ways in which Jesus is like no one else in history:

1. Jesus claimed to be the only true God of Israel and thus Creator of everything.
And this claim was verified by all of the things in this list--but especially the way in which he fulfilled the ancient prophecies of the Old Testament, his miracles, and his resurrection from the dead. See my blog article titled "The Deity of Jesus: An Article & Resources."

*How can we verify this?: This is verified by the other things on this list--especially #2, 7 & 9.

2. Jesus fulfills dozens of specific ancient prophecies. 

*How can we verify this?: This is verified first by establishing the eyewitness nature of the Gospels and their reliability. See my blog article titled "Jesus' Historicity: Resources for Study." (And I have been working on a much more in depth analysis of the eyewitness nature of the Gospels which I hope to publish soon.) Next we must compare the Old Testament prophecies with the many ways in which Jesus fulfilled them. And for some of the prophecies, Jesus is the only one in history who could have fulfilled them. See my blog article titled "Messianic Prophecy: Resoures for Study"

3. Jesus was born of a virgin. 
No one else in history was born of a virgin. All the parallels proposed by skeptics are either completely false (no substance at all) or just not parallel (maybe unusual births but not of a virgin). See my blog article titled "Pagan Parallels to Jesus?: Resources for Study." 

*How can we verify this?: I cannot imagine any way that this can be verified historically. But it was prophesied and is verified by the verifying of all the other things on this list. Also see: the podcast "The Historicity of the Virgin Birth" by Rob Bowman and the book The Virgin Birth of Christ: A Classic Defense of the Supernatural Birth of Our Lord by J. Gresham Machen (or the FREE PDF file of the book here).

4. Jesus taught like no one else.
It can be argued that Jesus taught with a unique authority, with a moral sense that rose above all those who came before him, and a penetrating wisdom that transcends the ages. The impact of Jesus' teaching on history has already been noted above as part of his legacy.

World religions expert Stephen Neill writes:

"For, if we take the Gospels seriously (and at the same time as critically as you will), Jesus is not the least like anyone else who has ever lived. The things that he says about God are not the same as the sayings of any other religious teacher. The claims that he makes for himself are not the same as those that have been made by any other religious teacher. . . . The demands he makes on men are more searching than those put forward by any other religious teacher." (p.233, Christian Faith and Other Faiths by Stephen Neill; as cited on p.49 of The Uniqueness of Jesus Christ Among the Major World Religions by Gary Habermas)

Indeed some of those who first heard him had this reaction:

• John 7:46: “'No one ever spoke the way this man does,' the guards replied."
• Matthew 7:28-29: "When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching, because he taught as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the law."

*How can we verify this?: This point is more subjective than the others but my experience has been that the more that I read both ancient and modern works of literature, I realize that it is true. And so have many with much more experience than myself.

5. Jesus lived a sinless life like no one else.
His sinlessness and the beauty of his moral character was reported by people who had lived with him for 3 years (John and Peter, two of his inner circle of 3: 1 John 3:5; 1 Peter 2:22; also see 2 Corinthians 5:21). 

See The Person of Christ by Philip Schaff (1819-1893). Available for FREE in ebook or audiobook. The full title is The Person of Christ: The Miracle of History. With a Reply to Strauss and Renan, and a Collection of Testimonies of Unbelievers. In my opinion, this great little book has received far too little attention. Schaff is one of the great scholars of the 19th Century. You can find his biography here. 

Also, see "The Moral Glory of Jesus Christ a Proof of Inspiration" by William G. Moorehead. (This is an essay from the classic volumes known as the Fundamentals: Volume II, Chapter III, p.61-79 in the 1917 edition, that I have on my shelves).

Also, from Philip Schaff's bibliography in the Person of Christ:

*Dr. James Waddell Alexander (of New York, died 1859):—The Character of Jesus: An Argument for the Divine Origin of Christianity. Published in the Lectures on the Evidences of Christianity delivered at the University of Virginia. New York: 1852. pp. 193-211.

*John Young:—The Christ of History: An Argument grounded in the Facts of his Life on Earth. London: Republished in New York, 1858.

*Dr. Horace Bushnell (of Hartford):—The Character of Jesus forbidding His Classification with Men. New York: 1861. (Originally the tenth chapter of his very able and interesting work, Nature and the Supernatural, as together constituting the one System of God. New York: 1858. pp. 276-299.)

*Peter Bayne (M. A., of Scotland):—The Testimony of Christ to Christianity. Republished in Boston, 1862.

*Dr. Isaac Dorner (Professor of Theology at Berlin):—On the Sinless Perfection of Jesus (Ueber Jesu 21sündlose Vollkommenheit), in the Annals of German Theology. Gotha, vol. vii. 1862, pp. 49-106; and in pamphlet form. Also translated into French for the Revue Chrétienne, and into English by Prof. Dr. Henry B. Smith for the American Presbyterian Review. New York: 1863.

*How can we verify this?: This is much harder to verify, but the fact that Peter and John and others concluded this after knowing him well is convincing to me. They spent years with him. Spend a couple of weeks with me (or anyone else) and you will quickly realize we are all far from sinless. Rather as Romans 3:23 declares: We have all sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

6. Jesus has left a legacy unlike anyone else in history. 
His teaching, his Gospel and his Church have transformed the world for the better in a way completely unmatched by any other religious figure. 

*How can we verify this?: David Marshall has researched and written on this extensively. One of his blog articles catalogs 124 books that document this. You will find a link to that and a lot more at my blog article titled "Christianity and the Ending of the Roman Games: An Article with Resources."

7. Jesus performed an array of miracles unlike anyone else.
Moses and Elijah came close but fell short. His miracles were of a more profound nature than those claimed for others. And his miracles are verifiable by historical records in a way unmatched by those claimed for other figures of history. Furthermore, they continued to be done in his name by his immediate disciples and the Church through the ages. 

Here are some responses to Jesus' miracles as recorded in the Gospels:

• John 9:32: "Nobody has ever heard of opening the eyes of a man born blind."
• Matthew 8:27: "The men were amazed and asked, 'What kind of man is this? Even the winds and the waves obey him!'”
• Mark 1:27: "The people were all so amazed that they asked each other, 'What is this? A new teaching—and with authority! He even gives orders to impure spirits and they obey him.'”

*How can we verify this?: See my blog article titled "Jesus' Amazing Miracles."

8. Jesus claimed that he would die as an atoning sacrifice for sins.
*See Mark 10:26-27; 10:45; 14:22-25; 

*How can we verify this?: See The Uniqueness of Jesus Christ Among the Major World Religions by Gary Habermas.

9. Finally, and most emphatically, Jesus rose again from the dead never to die again. 

*How can we verify this?: See my blog article titled "Jesus' Resurrection: Resources for Study."

HOW DO I KNOW THERE IS NO ONE ELSE LIKE JESUS?
How do I know that Jesus is unique in all of these ways? Because angry and passionate atheists have scoured the records of history seeking to find parallels; and when their best attempts are examined, they are laughable. David Marshall has done a great job of showing this in his book Jesus Is No Myth!--where he says: "If after ransacking your house for weapons, you challenge a thief with a butter knife, that probably means no more potent hardware lies hidden in your closet.” (p.204)

CONCLUSION
The uniqueness of Jesus should not simply make you sit up and take notice....though it should certainly do that! Each one of these unique qualities should cause you to recognize that Jesus is no ordinary person. They are given by God as signs of his approval of Jesus, that God was working through him and more than that: in him, God had come in the flesh.



HIGHLY RECOMMENDED READING....
*Too Good to Be False by Tom Gilson

*The Uniqueness of Jesus Christ Among the Major World Religions by Gary Habermas. FREE 50-page ebook.
*"The Crucial Missing Piece In Our Witness for Christ Today" by Tom Gilson
*A Man Without Equal by Bill Bright
*Jesus Is No Myth by David Marshall. David carefully examines the many alleged historical parallels to Jesus suggested by popular skeptics like Richard Carrier, Bart Ehrman, etc. who have scoured ancient literature to try and show that Jesus is not unique. The skeptics' vain attempts only serve to reassure us that Jesus is indeed unique. See my review of his book at Amazon or on my blog.

*VIDEO: "What Are We to Make of Jesus Christ?" 

an audio version of an essay by C.S. Lewis (12 minutes)