CHAPTER ONE
The Great Commission
Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you.
Matthew 28:19-20
The Baptism of Jesus
JESUS’ MINISTRY BEGAN WITH HIS BAPTISM. THE RITUAL OF BAPTISM signifies a new beginning, the beginning of a life dedicated to God, and it was fitting that Jesus, as the first of many brethren, should lead by example. In the third chapter of the gospel of Matthew we learn that Jesus was baptised by John.
But who was this John that baptised Jesus? According to the Jewish historian Josephus, there was in the first century, a person called John, who preached baptism. He had a substantial following and was active sometime in the period 34 to 37 CE.13 If we are talking about the same John, and it seems that we are, this reference places Jesus and the origins of Christianity in the first half of the first century, or more precisely in the last years of the reign of the Roman emperor Tiberius.
Fig. 2:The Baptism of Jesus. Fresco art of hidden cave church (Elmali Kilise) of Cappadocia, Turkey. 11th or 12th Century. VPC Travel Photo / Alamy Stock Photo
But Josephus makes no mention of an encounter between John and the greater prophet Jesus. In fact, he never mentions Jesus at all. This is odd because according to Matthew, Jesus was more popular than John.14
Early Christian art depicts a naked Jesus submitting to baptism. A third century text known asThe Apostolic Tradition, has whole families being admitted into the faith on the same occasion—men, women and children—and these catechumens were also baptised naked.15
No good evidence
The problem with the popular hypothesis of Christian origins is that, leaving aside certainreligious documents, there isno good evidence thatany of the stories about Jesus as related in the gospels really transpired.
In fact, it is not until we get to the year 79 that we find unequivocal evidence forthe existence of Christians; that is people who believed that there had been a divine prophet called
