The Case for Christ by Lee Strobel
Week 8: Part Two, Chapter 7 — The Identity Evidence
Read Part Two, Chapter 7 of The Case for Christ. Key interview: Dr. Ben Witherington III, New Testament scholar and author.
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Establishing that the Gospels are reliable brings us to the central question: who did Jesus claim to be? This week, Strobel moves from the credibility of the witnesses to the content of their testimony.
Discussion Questions
7 questions1.Dr. Ben Witherington argues that Jesus did, in fact, make extraordinary claims about his own identity during his ministry — that these claims are embedded even in the earliest Gospel material. What are the key claims or actions of Jesus that Witherington points to as evidence of Jesus' self-understanding as divine?
2.Witherington discusses the significance of Jesus forgiving sins — an act that first-century Jews would have recognized as something only God could do. Why is this detail so theologically loaded in its original Jewish context?
3.Jesus frequently used the phrase "Truly, truly I say to you" ("Amen, amen") rather than the prophetic formula "Thus says the LORD." What does Witherington say this distinction reveals about how Jesus positioned himself in relation to God and the Old Testament prophets?
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