Jesus
The Gospels refer to this common name almost six hundred times.
Only four times do they refer to “Jesus Christ” (Mk 1.1; Mt 1.1; Jn 1.17; 17.3). My attention was drawn to this fact by William Barclay in Jesus as They Saw Him.
Pick up a Greek Old Testament (aka The Septuagint), and you will notice something more. The sixth book, commonly titled “Joshua” in English Bibles, carries the name Ἰησοῦς (translated “Jesus” in the NT). In the Greek, the name appears over and over throughout the OT book. If you’re thinking, “Not so fast!” link over to the Septuagint book list in Wikipedia to see for yourself.
Barclay observed, “The name Jesus underlines the real humanity of our Lord.” Would we say the same about the name “Jesus” today?
“Jesus died.”
The statement is a historical fact verifiable by the five senses (for the people who were there).
“Jesus died for our sins.”
This statement introduces a theological and spiritual element that is not verifiable by the five senses. We can verify that Jesus died. We can also verify that people commit exploitative acts toward one another characterized by the term sin.
But the relation between Jesus’ death and humanity’s offenses cannot be verified by the five senses.
Today’s investigators seek physical evidence measurable by the five senses. Forensic tools extend the capabilities of the senses to penetrate into the physical world telescoping or microscoping objects into view.
Analogy provides another tool investigators use to extend beyond repeatable experience accessible to the five senses. For one-time events, analogies to other prior provide frameworks against which to compare bodies of evidence and “visualize” results.
Missing links, however, manifest the vastness of human experience across space and time. Present sensory investigation may re-assemble the puzzle pieces. But there always seems to be pieces that will not fit or pieces that are just missing.
Sensory experience can not and will not conceive of any new pieces outside of existing discoveries.
Indeed, the introduction of new pieces changes the puzzle in a way that exacerbates measurement and control. Spiritual perception does not come with its own bounds.