Reliability of the New Testament

Debunking myths

Early Christian literature contains proof that the New Testament is trustworthy and regarded as authoritative. I will present various internal and external sources of evidence to demonstrate the reliability of the gospels.

Internal evidence:

Some historians claim that the Gospel of Mark was the first documented account of Jesus' life. Since it is the shortest, Matthew and Luke might have drawn their inspiration from Mark. John arrived later from an independent source.

Oral narrative parallels that we found doesnt necessarily mean the shorter version is older. It may be the result of practical constraits.~ Specialist Albert Lord

Some claim that because the gentile audience did not comprehend the Jewish context of the fulfilled prophecies, the gospel of Matthew could have been written first —was condensed for their benefit.

There are a lot of non-theological languages that would only be significant if they were written with that audience in mind. Since papyrus was expensive and the size of Mark's gospel would require at least two denarii to purchase, it would have been simpler for later forgers to obliterate these parts. It would have taken a lot of time, effort, and extra money to hire a scribe(if one didn’t know how to write). However, the copyist made sure to preserve these portions even though they could have no importance to the later generation. They could have been replaced by problems that the early Christians had, such as circumcision (Acts 15), by inventing verses that claimed to be from Jesus.

The book of Hebrews could have been named after notable disciples, just as the gospels could have been titled after famous disciples like Thomas, Philip, and Andrew instead they were titled after those who had never encountered Jesus during His ministry.

The first to have witnessed the empty tomb were women.

"As a historian we are obliged to comment that if these stories had been madeup 5 years later, let alone 30,40 or 50 years later they would have never had Mary Magdalene in this role. To put Mary there is, from the pointof view of Christian apologists wanting to explain to a skeptical audience that Jesus really did rise from the dead, like shooting themselves in the foot. But to us as historians this kind of thing is gold dust. The early Christians would never, never have made this up.” ~ NT Wright, There is a God Pg 207

External evidence:

The gospel of Matthew was written by the apostle Matthew.

The gospel of Mark was written by Mark, the interpreter of Peter.

The gospel of Luke- Luke, companion of Paul.

The gospel of John- John

Writing in North Africa (200 AD)- the documents of the gospel were written by the Apostles Matthew and John and the apostolic men Luke and Mark.” ~ Tertullian

Clement of Alexandria- Writing in Alexandria (180 AD):

♣The gospel with genealogies came first

♣Mark was written by request of Peter’s preaching in Rome.

John came last by the urging of friends- Adumbrationes in Epistolas Canonical on 1 Peter 5:13

This, too the elder used to say: Mark who had been Peter’s interpreter, wrote down carefully but not heard the Lord or been one of his followers but later as I said one of Peter’s. Peter used to adapt hi teaching to the occasion without making a systematic arrangement of the Lord’s saying’s, so that Mark was quite justified in writing down some things just as he remembered them. For he had one purpose only to leave out nothing that he had heard and to make no mistatement about it.” ~ Papias writing in Hierapolis (125 AD), Ecclesiatical history 3. 39.15-16

If you plot all four church fathers on a map, the seemingly wide attestation of the authorss of the gospels from all over the ancient world. Where did they have their conspiracy meetings? ~ Tim McGrew

We can see how much more credible the New Testament is when we contrast it with other ancient literature when we examine the external evidence for the gospels.

Papias even testifies that there were living eyewitnesses in his day(Aristion and John the elder). ~ Ecclesiastical History 3.39.3-4.

None of the gospels directly mention the destruction of the temple in 70 AD. Whenever Judas is first time mentioned they all convey that “he was a traitor.”( Matt 10:4, Mark 3:19, Luke 6:16, John 6:71), Jesus’ resurrection (John 2:19-22; Matthew 16:21; 20:18-19; Mark 9:31, Peter’s denial (Matthew 26:34; Luke 22:54-62) fulfilled in Luke 22:54-62, Coming famine (Acts 11:28).

All of them point to the fact that the gospels' references to things that were prophesied in the past and had already come to pass by the time they were written. However, when Jesus foretold the temple, as reported in Matthew 24:1-2, Mark 13:1-2, and Luke 21:5–6, they merely indicate that Jesus foretold this, without foretelling that it had already occurred. This doesn't seem to fit with the way they write. The Jews were the intended audience for Matthew's gospel, but once Jerusalem fell in 70 AD, the Jews were massacred and dispersed, so to who was Matthew actually writing? The location where Judas was hanged is one example of a detail he makes that the gentile audience would not find important ( Matthew 27:8).

“Some of the apologetic, eg: the account of the suicide of Judas and the guard at the tomb seems of no great theological significance, yet of particular interest to those who frequented Jerusalem.”~ John Wenham, Redating Matthew, Mark and Luke Pg 95

Luke mentions that Acts of the Apostle was his second book(Acts 1:1), so the gospel of Luke could have been earlier than that (before 62 AD).

7 sources outside the New Testament confirm the existence of Jesus.

-Josephus, Lucian, Mara bar- Serapion, Pling, Seutonius, Tacitus and the Talmud.

Rome suffered a great fire in 64 AD and many blame emperor Nero. To get rid of the rumour Tacitus says:

“Hence to suppress the rumor, he falsely charged with the guilt and punished with most exquisite tortures, the person commonly called Christians, who were hated for their enormities. Christus, the founder of the name, was put to death by Pontius Pilate, procurator of Judea in the region of Tiberius.” ~Tacitus (100 AD) Annals 15.44.

Tacitus testifies factors that align with the NT:

-Jesus existed

-Under Pontius Pilate

-Ruling in Judea

-Under Tiberius

Josephus confirms:

-Jesus existed

-He was a good and moral teacher.

-Many people followed Him.

-He was put to death by Pilate.

-Crucified

-Disciples claimed He was alive.

-Continued to preach His message

-James was the brother of Jesus.

-John the Baptist was killed by Herod Antipas.

(Quoted in Agapious ‘Kitab-al-Unwan’ (Book of the Title, “ 10th century)

“There is now almost unanimous agreement among Jesus questers that the historical Jesus performed mighty works.”~Graham Twelftree The face of New Testament Studies: A Survey of recent research pg 206.

Archaeological evidence:

♠Herod the Great: Ancient Jewish coins of Herod.

♠Herod Antipas- Science Daily, “Ancient Tiberias reveals more of its beauty.

♠Gallio the Proconsul (Acts 18)- The Gallio Inscription.

♠Erastus the treasurer at Corinth- Romans 16:23

♠In Hierapolis archaeologists found the missing tomb of the Apostle Philip.

♠Family team of Caiaphas was discovered.

♠Bethlehem and Nazareth as they were small towns.

♠Capernum is discovered and a Roman presence as the gospel records- Luke 7:1-10

♠In Jerusalem archaeological evidence of the pool of Bethesda.

♠A Galilean fishing boat from the 1st century.

♠Jesus’ trial site in Jerusalem.

Coherence with ancient history:

The first-century Israelite culture was well-known to the gospel authors at that time, especially before the devastation in 70 AD. Peter and Jesus are given two drachmas in Matthew 17:24–27. 4 drachmas are equal to one shekel. Matthew makes a note of the proper currency exchange. Imagine how difficult it would have been for forgers, even in the absence of technology, to know the currencies of some states without knowing how to handle them, had they written later, particularly after 70 AD.

Facts Luke gets correct:

•Proper names of port

•Proper lines of boundaries

•Slang terminology

•Proper titles for regional and local officials.

•Specific landmark

Oral Tradition:

Ancient Jews were able to memorise long passages of scripture that had been recited repeatedly by a sizable population. The others were there to remedy faults if one made them. In the past, teachers would frequently have their students repeat their teachings back to them numerous times.

“Josephus recorded Jews could recite their laws easier than their own names.” ~David M Carr

By the age of 14, many Jews would have memorized the entire Old Testament. This is the same culture Jesus and the disciples grew and they could easily retain large amounts of His teachings that would have been repeated to different audiences, thus improving memory.

Techniques of enhancing memories:

Stories

Parables

Visual representation- Fig tree, sower, rich man, mustard seed, banquet etc

Wordplay- Matthew 23:24

Parallelismus membrorum- Luke 11:9, Matthew 7:17

Scholars agree that the creed included in 1 Corinthians 15:3–7, which affirms Jesus' death, burial, and divinity, dates from 54–57 AD.

Here, I've hardly begun to scratch the surface. Numerous facts support the New Testament's status as a really extraordinary source. All praise be to God!

References:

Inspiring Philosophy series on the reliability of the New Testament, Science daily and the Bible.

Shalom!