A ZEAL FOR GOD NOT ACCORDING TO KNOWLEDGE:
A Refutation of Judaism's Arguments Against Christianity
By Eric V. Snow
TABLE OF CONTENTS IN BRIEF
I. Introduction
11
II. Historicity of the New Testament Defended: The
Bibliographical Test Applied 22
III. How External Evidence Confirms the New
Testament 65
IV. The Internal Evidence Test: Does the New
Testament Contradict Itself? 110
V. Did Paganism Influence Early Christianity? 153
VI. Was Gnosticism the Source of Christian
Doctrine? 230
VII. The Messianic Texts Revisited 261
VIII. How is a Man or Woman Saved?: Judaism versus
Christianity 323
IX. Is the New Testament’s Portrayal of First-
X. Was Jesus God? 382
XI. Appendix: Jewish Versus Christian Tran-
slations of the Messianic Texts 422
XII. Selected Bibliography 425
DETAILED TABLE OF CONTENTS
I. INTRODUCTION 11
Why Does This Debate Still Matter? 11
Methodology and Purposes 12
Christianity Proclaims It Has the Only Way to
Could There Be Only One True Religion? 14
The Grim Record of “Christian” Anti-Semitism 15
The Burden of the Holocaust 16
The Sins of Christians Don’t Prove Jesus Was a False Messiah 17
Why a Critique of Judaism as a Religious System Need
Not Be Anti-Semitic 17
Books That Argue the Case for Judaism against
Christianity 19
Why a Refutation of Judaism’s Claims Remains Relevant
Even Today 20
II. THE HISTORICITY OF THE NEW TESTAMENT DEFENDED:
THE BIBLIOGRAPHICAL TEST APPLIED 22
Three Tests for Historical Reliability 22
The Bibliographical Test 23
Why More Manuscripts Is Better, Not Worse 24
Textual Criticism Can Rule Out Most Variations 25
The New Testament’s Shorter Time Gap 26
Pagan Works Have Longer Time Gaps 27
A Short Time Gap Increases Reliability 28
How Acts Implies the New Testament Was Written
Before C. A.D. 63 30
Major Parts of the New Testament Are in Manuscripts
Older Than C. A.D. 325-350 32
The Early Second-Century Fragment of
John 33
The Battle Between the Received and Critical Texts
of the New Testament 36
The Variations in the New Testament’s Text 37
The New Testament Was Not Subject to Much
Oral
Tradition 39
Oral Transmission in Jewish Culture 40
Problems with Form Criticism 42
The New Testament’s Eyewitness Testimony Undermines
the Form Critics’ Arguments 44
Accurately Preserved Jesus’ Words 46
Ancient People Knew the Difference Between
Truth
and
Fables 47
Further Internal Evidence for Believing in
the New
Testament 48
Why Should This Eyewitness Evidence Be
Believed? 49
How Skepticism About Primary Sources Can Destroy
One’s Own Arguments 50
Could Average People in Judea Have Spoken Greek? 51
The New Testament Was Not Written in a Highly
Scholarly Greek 54
Did the Same Man Write the Gospel of Luke and Acts? 55
How the Semitic Constructions of the Gospels’ Greek
Indicate No Later “Church Father” Wrote Them 56
Why Would the Aramaic- or Hebrew-Speaking Disciples
Quote from a Greek Translation of the Old
Testament? 57
How Can Anyone Be Certain That the Right Books Are
in the New Testament? 58
Did the Catholic Church’s Hierarchy Determine the
Canon from the Top-Down? 61
Persecution Helps Form the Canon 64
III. HOW EXTERNAL EVIDENCE CONFIRMS THE NEW
TESTAMENT 65
Pontius Pilate Versus the Argument from Silence 66
Ramsay Converted by Luke’s Historical Reliability 68
Further External Evidence for Luke’s Reliability 69
The Date of Christ’s Birth and the Census by
Quirinius 70
Major Roman Censuses Did Happen 73
Tacitus’s Reference to Jesus 74
Other Early Pagan References to Christ 75
Pliny the Younger’s Mention of Early Christians 76
Justin Martyr’s Witness to Records about Jesus 77
The Controversy Surrounding Josephus’s Witness 78
How Josephus’s Testimony May Have Originally
Appeared 80
Was Pontius Pilate Out of Character During Jesus’
Trial? 81
The Political Reconstruction of Jesus’ Trial
Reconsidered 82
Jesus Violated Jewish Law, Not Roman 85
Why Did Pilate Charge Jesus with a Crime If He
Believed Jesus Was Innocent? 86
The Romans’ Indifference to Doctrinal Disputes Among
the Jews 87
Did the New Testament Plagiarize from Josephus? 88
Did the New Testament Plagiarize from Old Testament
Incidents? 89
Was Jesus Conceived or Born Illegitimately? 91
An Ancient Slander Examined: Jesus Ben Panthera 91
Was Eusebius a Reliable Historian? 92
Two Reasons for the Basic Reliability of the Church’s
Early Leaders 94
The Philosopher David Hume Versus Miracles 95
Some Basic Arguments against Hume’s Attacks on
Belief in Miracles 97
How Can a Miracle Be “Proven”? 99
What Can Prove a Historical Event Really Happened? 99
Evidence from Hostile Sources that Jesus
Could Do
Miracles 100
The Fundamental Differences Between Pagan and
Christian Miracle Accounts 102
Why Pagan Myths Are Intrinsically Unreliable
Accounts of Miracles 104
One Way to Test Miracle Claims 105
The Difference in Miracle Accounts between the
Gospels and the Pagan Myths 107
The External Evidence of Fulfilled Prophecy 108
IV. THE INTERNAL EVIDENCE TEST APPLIED TO THE NEW
TESTAMENT 110
Does an Addition or Subtraction of Detail Create a
“Contradiction”? 110
“Contradictions” in Court Testimony? 111
Some Supposed “Contradictions” in the New Testament
Examined 112
Rabbinical Judaism V. Stephen: What Is the Verdict? 112
Did Abraham and Jacob Buy the Same Tomb? 113
How Many Died in a Plague? 114
Where Did Jacob Worship? 115
Was John the Baptist the Elijah to Come? 115
Did Matthew Misquote Zechariah? 116
Will There Be Animal Sacrifices in the Millennium? 117
How Did Judas Iscariot Die? 119
Are the Accounts of Paul’s Conversion Experience Contradictory? 121
Was Christ Wrong to Call the Pharisees “Fools”? 121
According to the Jewish Calendar, on What Date Was
Jesus Crucified? 122
Are the Resurrection Accounts Contradictory? 123
The Resurrection Upsets the Old Paradigm 124
Did Mary Magdalene Touch Jesus or Not? 126
Are the Genealogies of Christ in Luke and Matthew Contradictory or False? 127
Foreshortened Genealogies 129
Was God’s Curse Against Jeconiah Lifted? 132
The Great Trilemma—Jesus Christ: Lord, Liar, or
Lunatic? 132
The “Poached Egg” Option Examined 133
Jesus’ Character Defended 134
Do the Sins of the Old Testament’s Heroes Invalidate
It? 136
Was Paul a Deceiver? 137
The Problems of the Empty Tomb and the Resurrection 139
Why Denying the Tomb Was Empty Is Implausible 141
Were the Resurrection Appearances Hallucinations? 142
Did the Disciples Steal the Body? 144
The Swoon Theory Weighed and Found Wanting 145
How Is the Transformed Behavior of the Disciples to
Be Explained Otherwise? 147
Good Evidence for the Apostles Being Given the Option
to Avoid Dying for a Lie 148
Why the Counter-Example of the Mormon prophet Joseph
Smith Proves Nothing 150
Conclusion: Judaism’s Attacks on the New Testament’s
Reliability Faulty 151
V. DID PAGANISM INFLUENCE EARLY CHRISTIANITY? 153
The State of the Scholarly Climate of Opinion on the
Christian/Pagan Tie 154
Fox’s Statement Against Seeing Parallels between
Paganism and Christianity 156
Some Standard Differences Between Most Mystery
Religions and Christianity 157
Ignoring Chronology to “Prove” Christianity’s
Dependence on the Mysteries 159
Surface Similarities Do Not Prove Dependence 160
Maccoby’s General Technique Examined 161
The Need for Specificity when Comparing between
Christianity and Paganism 163
What Meanings Did the First Christians Attribute to
the Two Sacraments? 166
How Frazer’s Thesis and Terminology Forces Parallels
between Christianity and Paganism 168
Frazer’s Bias against Christianity and Judaism 171
Differences Outweigh Similarities 172
Was Mithraism the Origin of Christian Baptism? 173
Is the Eucharist (the Lord’s Supper) Pagan? 174
Did Paul Originate the Eucharist? 175
Did the Eucharist Come from the Cults of Mithra,
Attis, or Demeter? 176
Mere Preexistence Doesn’t Prove Dependence 179
Did the Eucharist Originate in the Orgiastic Rites
of Dionysus? 181
The True Religion as Both “Thick” and “Clear” 182
Was Jesus’ Birth Like Mithra’s or Hercules’s? 182
Did the Pagan “Savior-Gods” Die for the Same Reasons
that Jesus Did? 183
How Dionysus’s and Jesus’ Deaths Differed 190
Was Orphism Like Christianity? 191
Was Osiris a Dying and Rising Savior-God? 193
What Kind of “Salvation” Did Osiris Bring His
Devotees? 195
Egyptian Ritualistic Washings Not a Precedent for
Christian Baptism 196
No Precedent in Initiation Rite for the Hellenistic
Isis Cult 197
Did Firmicus Maternus Describe Gentiles Thinking
Osiris or Attis Was a Savior? 197
Were the Beliefs of Christianity and the Cult of
Attis Alike? 199
Were the Rites of the Hilaria Festival Precedents for
Christian Practices? 201
What Did the Taurobolium Mean to the Attis Cult’s
Devotees? 203
Were Paul’s Body Marks Like the Self-Castration Done
by the Priests of Attis? 205
Was Adonis a Dying and Rising Savior God? 206
Did Initiates Identify Themselves with Their Mystery
Gods’ Fate? 208
Is Calling Jesus “Lord” Pagan? 209
Ignoring Chronology in Order to Say Mithraism
Influenced Early Christianity 211
Some Specific Ways Mithraism Differs from
Christianity 212
Did Mithraism Originate in Persia? 214
Evidence for Mithraism’s Origin from Asia Minor, not
Persia or India 215
More Evidence that Mithraism Was Weak in the First-
Century Roman Empire 215
How Pagan Religions Could Have Borrowed Some from
Christianity 216
Reasons for Faith: Are the Parallels to Paganism
Necessarily so Problematic? 218
Can Paganism Caricaturize the Truth? 220
Primeval Revelation: Another Way Pagan Beliefs Could
Be Like Christianity’s 222
Was Christ Like Krishna or Buddha? 223
Was Jesus’ Birth Like Buddha’s? 225
Is Christianity More Like Judaism or Like Paganism? 227
Christianity Did Not Depend on Pagan Religions for
Its Doctrines: A Summary 228
VI. WAS GNOSTICISM THE SOURCE OF CHRISTIAN TEACHING? 230
Just What Is Gnosticism? 230
Problems with Maccoby’s Definition of Gnosticism 232
Was Plato a Proto-Gnostic? 234
Plato’s Allegory of the Cave and Its Possible
Relationship to Gnosticism 237
Did Plato’s God Make a Good World and
Directly
Create Mankind? 238
Does Gnosticism Successfully Jump the Chronological
Hurdle? 239
Does Maccoby Prove Gnosticism Existed Before A.D.
100? 240
Skepticism about Pre-Christian Gnosticism for
Chronological Reasons 241
Late Sources Typically Used to Prove Pre-Christian
Gnosticism 242
The Fundamental Shakiness of the Evidences for Pre-
Christian Gnosticism 244
Does the Use of Jewish Sources Prove a Pre-Christian
Gnosticism Existed? 245
Did Paul and the Gnostics Use the Same Word with the
Same Meanings? 245
Is the Gospel of John Gnostic and/or un-Jewish in
Its Thought? 247
Did Christianity Take the Concept of Logos from
Hellenistic Philosophy? 249
Are Christian Doctrines Like Gnosticism’s? 251
Was Paul a Moderate Gnostic? 252
Did Paul Teach that the Angels Composed the Law? 254
Does Colossians 2 Attack or Promote Gnosticism? 256
Is It Gnostic to Use Types or Duality to Interpret
Scripture? 258
Christianity’s Dependence on Gnosticism Unproven 260
VII. THE MESSIANIC TEXTS REVISITED 261
What Is the Foundation of Faith in Jesus as the
Messiah? 262
Why the Messianic Texts Aren’t the Sole Proof
Ultimately for Christianity 262
What Types Are, and How They Differ from Direct
Predictive Prophecy 263
The Primary and Secondary Meanings of the Messianic
Texts 265
The Suggestive Type Found in Abraham’s Near Sacrifice
of Isaac 265
Could Have the Old Testament Stood Alone Permanently
as God’s Final Revelation? 266
Even Under the Old Covenant, God Could Accept
Gentiles 268
How the Animal Sacrifices Indicate the Old Testament
Wasn’t a Final Revelation 270
The Duality Principle of Interpreting Scripture
Defended 270
Old Testament Prophets Can Suddenly Change Subjects
and Time Periods Without Warning 272
Does Micah 5:2 Have to Refer to a Family/Clan Instead
of a Specific Place? 274
The Literal and Eternal Preexistence of the Messiah
Shows He Must Be God 275
Did Matthew Quote Hosea 11:1 Out of Context? 276
David as a Type (Forerunner) of Christ in Psalm 22 277
Did the Original Hebrew Have “They Pierced My Hands
and My Feet”? 279
The Psalms Were Reliable in the Septuagint 280
Are Psalms 16 and 69 Typological Only? 281
Is Psalm 68 Messianic? 282
Will Jerusalem’s Inhabitants One Day Look upon the
God They Pierced? 284
Does Deuteronomy 18:15, 18 Refer to One Prophet or
Many? 285
Psalm 110 and David’s Lord Being the Messiah 286
Does Isaiah 7:14 Refer to Jesus’ Birth? 287
What Does the Word Translated “Virgin/Young Woman”
Really Mean? 288
The Use in Hebrew of the Past Tense/Perfect State in
Prophetic Predictions 290
Isaiah 9:6: The Child Is “Mighty God” 292
Zechariah 11:13: Was Jehovah Worth Thirty Shekels? 294
Psalm 2:7-9: Who Is the Son Who Comes to Conquer? 295
The Duality of II Samuel 7:14 296
Jeremiah 31:15-17: When Did Rachel Do Her Weeping? 297
Genesis 3:15: What Was the Seed of the Woman 298
Zechariah 13:7: The Shepherd Who Was Struck Instead
of the Sheep 299
Just Who Is the “Servant” in Isaiah? Jesus or
Israel? 299
The Suffering Servant of Isaiah 52-53 Points to an
Individual, not Israel 301
The Individualistic, Personal Language Describing the
Servant 305
Did the Servant Have Offspring? 307
Did Jews Always Believe Isaiah 52-53 Was about
Israel? 307
Was Jesus Anointed to Be the Messiah? 308
The Mournful and Conquering Messiahs 309
Did Some Jews Believe in Two Messiahs? 311
The Dead Sea Scrolls Reveal Other Jewish
Interpretations of the Messiah 312
Genesis 49:10 and the Timing of the Messiah’s Arrival 313
How and When Did the Scepter Depart from Judah? 314
The Second Temple and the Messiah’s Arrival 315
The Seventy Weeks Prophecy Predicts When the Messiah
Would Come 316
The Inserted Punctuation in Biased Jewish Tran-
Slations of Daniel 9:25 318
The Incorrect Dates Used to Explain Away the Seventy
Weeks Prophecy 320
The Battle Between Two Schools of Prophetic
Interpretation Over Dan. 9:24-27 321
Summary: Jesus of Nazareth Is the Messiah Predicted
by the Old Testament 321
VIII. HOW IS A MAN OR WOMAN SAVED?: JUDAISM VERSUS
CHRISTIANITY 323
The Theory of Atonement: Why Did Jesus Have to Die? 323
Did Jesus Have to Be God in Order to Save Humanity? 325
The Governmental Theory of Atonement 327
The Implications for the Ground of the Atonement in
the Story of Zaleucus 328
The Torah Doesn’t Make Animal Sacrifices Optional
for Sinners 328
Vicarious Atonement Defended 330
Repentance and Sacrifice Are Both Necessary for an
Efficacious Atonement 331
The Torah Never Made Sacrifice Optional for Gaining
Atonement 332
Did Jesus Commit Suicide? 335
How Valuable Are Good Works without a Correct
Relationship with God? 336
Judaism’s Excessive Confidence in Obeying the Law by
Human Self-Effort 337
The Holy Spirit Helps Christians to Obey God’s Law 340
Christian Soteriology Vs. Self-Esteem? 341
Galatians 3:10 and the Curse of the Law 343
Is the Christian God a “Sadist”? 344
Free Will Versus Human Depravity? 346
Did Judaism Believe Man Had an Evil Human
Nature? 349
Did Paul Teach Repentance? 351
Are All Christians Calvinists? 352
Did God Create Moral Evil? 353
Satan Corrupted Himself 355
Does Christianity Provide Cheap Grace? 357
Imputed and Imparted Righteousness Are Both Needed 359
Why Christianity’s Soteriology Is Superior to
Judaism’s 361
IX. IS THE NEW TESTAMENT’S PORTRAYAL OF FIRST-
CENTURY JUDAISM ACCURATE? 363
The Talmud Characterized 364
Were Jews and Gentiles Supposed to Eat Separately
According to Jewish Law? 366
Laws Separating Jew from Gentile in the Talmud 367
What Is to Be the Final Authority? Tradition or
Scripture? 368
Jesus Versus the Pharisees over the Oral Law’s
Authority 370
Legalism Run Amuck: Rabbinical Judaism’s Sabbath
Regulations 371
Did the Oral Law Prohibit Healing on the Sabbath? 373
Why Legalism Is Spiritually Problematic 374
How Old Is the Oral Law? 376
Were the Pharisees Always Good Patriots? 377
Were the Pharisees Self-Righteous? 379
Negative Portrayals of the Pharisees Found Even in
Jewish Writings 380
The New Testament’s Portrayal of First-Century
Judaism Is Accurate 381
X. WAS JESUS GOD? 382
Applying Deductive Theology to Scriptural Evidence
Bearing on Jesus’ Deity 383
Plural Verbs and Participles that Refer to God 383
Genesis 1:26 Remains an Obstacle to Unitarianism 384
Does the Plural of Majesty Render Genesis 1:26
Ambiguous? 384
The Plural of Majesty Is a Hoax! 385
Is Yahweh One yet Plural? 386
Psalms 45:6-7 Implies Unitarianism Is False 387
Yahweh Sends Yahweh 388
Yahweh Delivers Israel by Yahweh? 388
The Shema’s Use of Echad Supports the Christian
Understanding of God 389
Moses Maimonides Uses Yachid in Creed 390
How God is One yet Is More than One Person 390
The Old Testament’s Theophanies Versus Unitarianism 392
When the Messenger of Jehovah Is Jehovah! 393
The Gospel of John Proves Jesus Is God 395
Jehovah’s Witnesses on John 1:1 395
Why Would John Omit the Article in John 1:1’s Third
Clause? 397
Jesus’ Uniquely Close Relationship with the Father 400
Jesus Identifies Himself as Yahweh 402
How to Rationalize the Stones Thrown at Jesus 403
Did Jesus’ Fellow Jews Misunderstand Him? 403
The Apostle Thomas’s Affirmation of Jesus’ Deity 404
Jesus Could Forgive Sins by His Own Authority 405
Jesus Was Worshiped 406
Jesus Was the Creator 408
The Alpha and the Omega 408
Paul Affirms Jesus Is God 408
Sharp’s Rule Versus Unitarianism 409
Messianic Texts and Jesus’ Deity 411
One John 5:20 and Other Texts Likely Supporting
Jesus’ Deity 411
A Doxology Shows “God” Means “God” 412
The Blood of God 413
Does the Word “God” Have More than One Meaning? 415
Does Revelation 3:14 Prove Jesus Was Created? 315
How Was the Father Greater than Jesus? 416
Did Jesus Deny His Deity? 417
Jesus Was “the First-Born of All Creation” 418
Summary: Jesus Is God! 419
The Problems with Judaism’s Case against Chris-
tianity Summarized 420
APPENDIX: JEWISH VERSUS CHRISTIAN TRANSLATIONS OF
THE MESSIANIC TEXTS 422
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY 425