A Lawyer Looks at the Trial of Jesus - World English Bible

1 1 A Lawyer Looks at the Trial of Jesus : A Historical and Philosophical Defense of Jesus s Claims to Divinity. focused on the biblical Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, using a four-column parallel and chronological armony of the World English Bible , translated from the Greek Majority Text (the Robinson-Pierpont reconstruction included), and ordering historical events in the life of Jesus of Nazareth on the historical priority of Matthew over Mark. by Robert M. Sutherland (c) May 9, 2021 2 World English Bible (WEB), 2005, un-copyrighted. Used with thanks. All scriptural quotations in this work are from the World English Bible , unless otherwise stated The Robinson-Pierpont reconstruction of the Majority Text , also known as the Byzantine Text , 2005, un-copyrighted. Used with thanks. All Greek scriptural quotations in this work are from the Robinson-Pierpont reconstruction of the Majority Text, unless otherwise stated.

2 Copyright 2021 Robert M. Sutherland. All rights reserved. This publication, in whole or part, MAY be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the written prior permission of the author, but with an acknowledgment of this author s authorship of whatever material is used. I seek no royalities. If a book publisher wishes to reduce this work to a hard copy form for others, they can charge such profit for their work as they deem appropriate for their work. They just need to know in advance that all other publishers have that same right. And the PDF and Word formatted copies of this book remain available free of charge to all on the internet. The Word formatting has the unique ability when downloaded to allow the student reader to save one copy and make a second copy of their personal development. They can they insert into that second copy commentary between the various formatted sections, or rearrange those sections, or substitute their preferred biblical translation for the WEB text.

3 Freely I received, freely I give. NOTE: BECAUSE THIS BOOK IS BEING PRESENTED AS IT IS BEING WRITTEN AND TWEAKED, THE READER SHOULD CHECK THIS WEBSITE FOR THE LATEST VERSION OF THE WORK WHICH WILL BE INDICATED BY THE DATE ON THE FRONT PAGE. 3 This book is dedicated to my wife Cindy Sutherland. 4 TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION 1. The basic question to be asked and answered 014 2. This book s author 016 3. This book s use of the World English Bible 018 4. This book s use of the Greek Majority Text 018 5. This book s use of the Priority of Matthew over Mark 025 6. Helpful methodologies for the reader 030 7. A proper methodology for understanding truth 030 8. A proper methodology for understanding the natural moral law 039 9. A proper methodology for understanding historical inquiry 043 10. An improper methodology for understanding historical inquiry 065 11. A proper methodology for understanding the Trinitarian-Unitarian controversy 077 A CHRONOLOGICAL PRESENTATION OF THE GOSPEL EVIDENCE 1.

4 Authorial introductions (Matthew 1:1; Mark 1:1; Luke 1:1-4; John 1:1-18) 187 2. Jesus genealogy (Matthew 1:2-17; Luke 3:23-38) 191 3. The angel s revelation to Zechariah and his response (Luke 1:5-25) 195 4. The angel s revelation to Mary and her response (Luke 1:26-56) 196 5. The angel s revelation to Joseph and his response (Matthew 1:18-25) 198 6. The birth of John the Baptist and Zechariah s response (Luke 1:57-80) 199 5 7. Caesar s census and the birth of Jesus (Luke 2:1-7) 201 8. The angel s revelation to the Bethlehem shepherds and their discovery of Jesus (Luke 2:8-20) 201 9. Jesus circumcision in the Temple and Simeon s and Anna s discovery of Jesus (Luke 2:21-39) 203 10. Wise men journey from the east and their discovery of Jesus (Matthew 2:1-12) 204 11. Joseph, Mary and Jesus flee into egypt and return (Matthew 2:13-23) 206 12. Jesus early life in Nazareth (Luke 2:39-40) 207 13.

5 Jesus trip to Jerusalem at age 12 (Luke 2:41-51) 207 14. Jesus early life in Nazareth continued (Luke 2:52) 208 15. John the Baptist baptizes Jesus (Matthew 3:1-17; Mark 1:2-11; Luke 3:1-22; John 1:6-14,19-34) 209 16. Jesus meets his future disciples: Andrew, John, Philip, Nathanael (John 1:35-51) 225 17. Jesus and friends go to a wedding in Cana (John 2:1-11) 227 18. Jesus goes to Capernaum with family and friends (John 2:12) 228 19. Jesus is tempted by the devil in the wilderness (Matthew 4:1-11; Mark 1:12-13; Luke 4:1-13) 228 20. Jesus cleanses the Temple for the first time (John 2:13-25) 231 21. Jesus meets with Nicodemus the Pharisee that night (John 2:23-3:21) 237 22. Jesus instructs his disciples and they baptize (John 3:22-36) 239 6 23. John is arrested and Jesus leave for Galilee (Mt 4:12; Mk 1:14; Lk 4:14; Jn 4:1-3) 240 24. Jesus meets the Samaritan woman at the well (John 4:4-42) 241 25.

6 Jesus arrives in Galilee (Matthew 4:12-17; Mark 1:14-15; Luke 4:14-15; John 4:43-45) 244 26. Jesus heals a royal official s son (John 4:46-54) 247 27. Jesus calls Simon, Andrew, James and John a second time (Matthew 4:18-22; Mark 1:16-20; Luke 5:1-11) 247 28. Jesus delivers a Capernaum sermon (Mark 1:21-28; Luke 4:31-37) 250 29. Jesus delivers the Sermon on the Mount (Mathew 4:23-7:29) 252 30. Jesus heals a leper (Matthew 8:1-4; Mark 1:40-45; Luke 5:12-16) 259 31. Jesus heals a centurion s servant (Matthew 8:5-13; Luke 7:1-10) 261 32. Jesus raises the son of the widow of Nain from the dead (Luke 7:11-17) 263 33. Jesus heals Peter s mother-in-law and others (Matthew 8:14-17; Mark 1:29-34; Luke 4:38-44) 264 34. Jesus crosses the Sea of Galilee, and calms the Sea (Matthew 8:18-27; Mark 4:35-41; Luke 8:22-26) 266 35. Jesus heals two Gergesene/Gadarene demoniacs and their response (Matthew 8:28-9:1; Mark 5:1-20; Luke 8:26-39) 269 36.

7 Jesus heals a paralyzed man on a bed and forgives sin (Matthew 9:1-8; Mark 2:1-12; Luke 5:17-26) 274 37. Jesus meets his future disciple Matthew and dines with sinners (Matthew 9:9-17; Mark 2:13-22; Luke 5:27-39) 276 38. Jesus heals a hemorrhaging woman and raises Jairus s daughter from the dead 7 (Matthew 9:18-26; Mark 5:22-43; Luke 8:40-56) 276 39. Jesus heals two blind men (Matthew 9:27-31) 285 40. Jesus heals a mute demoniac (Matthew 9:32-34) 285 41. Jesus does a Galilean tour (Matthew 9:35-38) 286 42. Jesus chooses 12 disciples for a Jewish ministry (Mt 10:1-42; Mk 3:13-19; 6:6-13; Luke 6:12-16; 8:1-3; 9:1-6) 286 43. Jesus delivers the Sermon on the Plain (Luke 6:17-49) 302 44. John the Baptist, through disciples, questions Jesus about his ministry (Matthew 11:1-30; Luke 7:18-35) 305 45. Jesus dines at the house of Simon the Pharisee (Luke 7:36-50) 309 46. Jesus disciples pluck grain on the Sabbath (Matthew 12:1-8; Mark 2:23-28; Luke 6:1-5) 311 47.

8 Jesus heals a man with a withered hand on the Sabbath (Matthew 12:9-21; Mark 3:1-12; Luke 6:6-11) 313 48. Jesus heals a blind mute demoniac (Matthew 12:22-50; Mark 3:19-35) 316 49. Jesus delivers a series of parables on the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 13:1-53; Mark 4:1-34; Luke 8:4-21) 321 50. Jesus heals and invalid at the pool of Bethesda on the Sabbath (John 5:1-47) 331 51. Jesus delivers a sermon in Nazareth (Matthew 13:54-58; Mark 6:1-6; Luke 4:16-30) 338 52. Herod Antipas's interest in Jesus as John the Baptist returned from the dead (Matthew 14:1-12; Mark 6:14-29; Luke 9:7-9) 342 53. Jesus feeds 5000 and the crowds attempt to make him king (Matthew 14:13-23; Mark 6:30-44; Luke 9:10-17; John 6:1-15) 346 8 54. Jesus crosses the Sea of Galilee by walking on water (Mt 14:24-33; Mk 6:45-52; Jn 6:16-21) 353 55. Jesus heals the sick in Gennesaret (Matthew 14:34-36; Mark 6:53-56) 357 56. Jesus delivers the Bread of Life sermon in Capernaum (John 6:22-7:1) 358 57.

9 Jesus declares the oral and oral ceremonial law obsolete (Matthew 15:1-20; Mark 7:1-23) 361 58. Jesus heals the demoniac child of a Syrophoenician woman (Matthew 15:21-28; Mark 7:24-30) 365 59. Jesus heals the mute, deaf, lame and blind in Decapolis (Matthew 15:29-31; Mark 7:31-37) 366 60. Jesus feeds 4000 (Matthew 15:32-38; Mark 8:1-9) 368 talks about the sign of Jonah and the leaven of the Pharisees (Matthew 15:39-16:12; Mark 8:10-21; John 7:1) 369 62. Jesus heals a blind man (Mark 8:22-26) 372 63. Peter confesses Jesus to be the Messiah (Matthew 16:13-20; Mark 8:27-30: Luke 9:18-21) 373 64. Jesus predicts his death in Jerusalem for the first time (Matthew 16:21-28: Mark 8:30-9:1: Luke 9:22-27) 375 65. Jesus is transfigured (Matthew 17:1-13; Mark 9:2-13; Lk 9:28-36) 378 66. Jesus heals an epileptic demoniac child (Matthew 17:14-21; Mark 9:14-29; Luke 9:37-43) 381 67. Jesus predicts his death in Jerusalem for a second time (Matthew 17:21-23; Mark 9:30-32; Luke 9:43-45) 385 68.

10 Jesus pays the temple tax (Matthew 17:24-27) 386 69. The disciples dispute over who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 18:1-22; Mark 9:33-50; Luke 9:46-50) 387 9 70. Jesus contemplates going to Jerusalem for Tabernacles, leaves Galilee (John 7:1-13) 398 71. Jesus at the Feast of Tabernacles: the political controversy (John 7:14-36) 399 72. Jesus at the Feast of Tabernacles: the water controversy (John 7:37-58) 400 73. Jesus at the Feast of Tabernacles: the woman caught in adultery (John 7:59-8:11) 402 74. Jesus at the Feast of Tabernacles: the light of the World controversy (John 8:12-59) 403 75. Jesus at the Feast of Tabernacles: the man born blind controversy (John 9:1-10:6) 406 76. Jesus goes to Jerusalem for the Feast of Dedication (John 10:7-42) 411 77. Jesus begins his final journey to Jerusalem (Matthew 19:1; Mark 10:1; Luke 9:51-52) 413 78. Jesus in Samaria and reprimands James and John, the sons of thunder (Luke 9:51-62) 413 79.