Originally Posted by Steven Carr

Galatians 3:1 'You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? Before your very eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified.'

How did that happen 'before their very eyes'?

Why did the fact that Jesus was crucified need to be demonstrated - unless it was a theological statement about Jesus and not a historical one?

And why would any Christian doubt that Jesus was crucified?

If the crucifixion was a non-extraordinary historical fact about Jesus, as ordinary a statement as that Pilate was the governor at the time, then why did it need to be demonstrated?

After all, we are often told that Paul does not mention more amazing things than the crucifixion, because all those Gospel facts were all background knowledge for his readers that did not need to be made explicit.

So why the struggle over such basic historical elements as crucifixion?

Unless Paul had difficulty demonstrating something which had never happened?