Chapter 3 "Long, Long Ago and Far, Far Away?" Paul and the Historical Jesus

Legends normally revolve around events or people in the past. So we say, "Once upon a time; long, long ago and far, far away." But the accounts of Jesus arose quickly in the same area that He lived. Jesus died in 33 AD, and the gospels were written between 70 and 100 AD. The writings of the Apostle Paul were written between 50-60 AD, as early as 20 years after Jesus's life. In Paul's writings he describes people worshipping Jesus as God, praying to Jesus, and proclaiming that He died and rose from the dead. Scholars feel that much of what Paul wrote to the church were creeds. So it was material that was being circulated among the churches before he even wrote it down. So there was very little time for a legend to develop. Very soon after the time of Jesus, there were many Jews and Gentiles who believed that He was God. They said they were convinced by His miracles and resurrection from the dead. If their beliefs were erroneous, there should have been plenty of people still alive who knew Jesus to show them that they were wrong. But that did not happen.