Johnny Skeptic

I look forward to reading comments from readers.

Roland

I think it is at least safe to assume that Jesus never said any of the stuff he is reported to have uttered in John's Gospel, otherwise at least SOME of those comments (and they're some of Jesus' best material!) would have found their way into the Synoptic gospels.

Biff the unclean

100% probable, sure thing.

Jesus is, after all, a fictional character who only exists in these stories called “The Gospels.” So the dialogue the character speaks in the story is the dialogue he speaks.
Just as it’s 100% sure thing that “Rick” said, “This could be da start of a beautiful friendship” or Tarzan said “Ungowa!!!”

Doug Shaver

Assuming he was real, I'd say there is no possibility he said all of them.

Figuring out which ones he did say depends on a lot of assumptions in addition to his mere existence. That is why scholars who assume he was real cannot agree on which quotations are authentically his.

gurugeorge

Biff and Doug have covered most of the ground above. I'd also add a third possibility: some of the sayings attributed to "Jesus" might well be things spoken by sundry "Christ" entities seen in sundry "visions" by sundry mystics, starting with Paul and others contemporary with him.

(I suppose this could be counted as a branch of fiction, but it's not fiction in the normal sense - i.e. it wouldn't have been deliberately made up, but would be a delivery of the unconscious, or whatever the correct explanation for such things turns out to be.)

judge

Really? But it is even clear at times in the synoptics that even those close to Jesus miss a lot of what he says and don't even understand what they do hear.

One might argue that only John , and maybe Judas even get much of what is going on at times.

Roland

Do you mean to say that Matthew, Peter (the supposed source for Mark), and the "researcher" Luke ALL missed or couldn't understand the "I am" statements accredited to Jesus in John?

I find that highly incredible. :huh:

A far more plausible explanation is that whoever wrote "John" made up quotes that he felt accurately reflected the Jesus he believed in.

I should probably make it clear at this point that I am merely playing devil's advocate here, since I basically believe that Mark created the fiction and the other three took it from there.

Gracchus

Much of what he is reputed to have said in the synoptics is straight out of the scroll of Pharisaical teachings. Lots of people were saying it. So if Jesus was based on an actual person, as I think likely, he may well have said some of what is attributed to him.

:wave:

judge

Maybe. Maybe the sources were just unaware of this incident. Maybe they didn't understand the signifigance. Maybe they were troubled by it?

Why, what do you think it meant?

Heretic :Cheeky:

That's lucky.