Historical Reliability of the Gospels

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Historical Reliability of the Gospels
Pat Zukeran Probe Ministries Probe.org evidenceand
answers.com
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Jesus Seminar
if you read them horizontally and
comparatively, focusing on this or that unit and
comparing it across two, three, or four version,
it is disagreement rather than agreement that
strikes you most forcibly. And those divergences
stem not from the random vagaries of memory and
recall but from the coherent and consistent
theologies of the individual texts. John
Dominic Crossan, Jesus A Revolutionary Biography
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Excerpts from The Da Vinci Code
 The Bible is a product of man, my dear. Not of
God. The Bible did not fall magically from the
clouds. Man created it as a historical record of
tumultuous times, and it has evolved through
countless translations, additions, and revisions.
History has never had a definitive version of
the book. (p. 231)
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Excerpts from The Da Vinci Code
 These are photocopies of the Nag Hammadi and
Dead Sea Scrolls, the earliest Christian
records. Troublingly, they do not match up with
the gospels in the Bible.
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Excerpts from The Da Vinci Code
 Jesus Christ was a historical figure of
staggering influence, perhaps the most enigmatic
and inspirational leader the world has ever
seen.Understandably, His life was recorded by
thousands of followers across the land More
than eighty gospels were considered for the New
Testament, and yet only a relative few were
chosen for inclusion Matthew, Mark, Luke, and
John among them. (p. 231)
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Assertions Made by the Liberal Scholars

• The gospels were recorded well after the lifetime
  of the eyewitnesses and have been embellished
  over time
• The church created a picture of Christ that would
  portray him as the divine Son of God.
• The idea that Christ is divine was not taught
  till the Council of Nicea in the 4th Century AD

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Assertions Made by the Liberal Scholars

• Of the 80 gospels available, the church chose
  only four of the gospels and even these four
  present a distorted portrait of Christ as the
  Divine Son of God.
• The gospels were not transmitted accurately
  through the years so what we have is not accurate
  to the original texts.
• Contradictions in the text confirm the inaccuracy
  of the gospels.

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Reason for Differences

• Differences do not equate to errors.
• The reason for the variations is that each author
  is writing for a different audience and from a
  unique perspective.
• We would expect these differences between four
  independent accounts.
• If they were identical, we would suspect the
  writers of collaboration with one another.
• The four gospels actually give us a fuller and
  richer picture of Jesus

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Date of the Gospels

• Jesus ministry was from AD 27-30.
• Noted New Testament scholar F.F. Bruce gives
  strong evidence that the New Testament was
  completed by AD 100. (F.F. Bruce 14)
• Most writings of the New Testament works were
  completed 20-40 years before this.

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Date of the Gospels

• The gospels are dated traditionally as follows by
  early and conservative Scholars
• Mark AD 60
• Matthew and Luke AD 70
• John AD 90-100

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Gospels
Mark
Q
Matthew and Luke
John
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Date of the GospelsInternal Evidence

• The gospels prophesy the destruction of the
  Temple (occurred in AD 70) but never mention its
  fulfillment.
• Matthew 24, Mark 13, Luke 21.
• Acts
• Luke never mentions the death of Paul and Peter
• Pauls Epistles date AD 48-64.

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Date of the GospelsExternal Evidence

• Over 5000 Greek Manuscripts
• Chester Beatty Papyri contains most of the NT
  writings is dated AD 250.
• The Bodmer Papyri contains most of John and dates
  AD 200.

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Date of the GospelsExternal Evidence

• Rylands Papyri that was found in Egypt,
  containing a fragment of John and dates AD 130.
• Dead Sea Scrolls Cave 7
• Gospel of Mark and dated it to have been written
  in AD 50.
• Fragments of Acts and other epistles and dated
  them to have been written slightly after AD 50

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Testimony of the Church Fathers

• Papias AD 70-163 includes all four gospels
• Shepherd of Hermas (2nd Century)
• Polycarp AD 69-155
• 3 John, James, Hebrews, Jude
• Clement of Rome AD 90
• Justin Martyr AD 100-165
• 2 Peter, 1,2,3 John, James, Hebrews, Jude

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Testimony of the Church Fathers

• Ignatius, Bishop of Antioch writes a letter
  before his martyrdom in Rome in AD 107 quoting
  Gospels and other NT letters.
• Iranaeus AD 130-200
• Philemon, James, 2 Peter, and 3 John
• Clement of Alexandria AD 150-215
• 2 Timothy, and 2 John, 2 Peter and James
• Origen AD 185-254

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Church Fathers

• Church fathers of early second century are
  familiar with the Apostles writings and quote
  them as inspired scripture.

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Date of the GospelsInternal Evidence
70 AD Fall of Temple
Matthew and Luke
Mark
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Importance of Early Dating

• Early dating shows eye witnesses were alive when
  gospels were circulating to attest to their
  accuracy.
• The Apostles often appeal to the witness of the
  hostile crowd pointing to their knowledge of the
  facts as well (Acts 222, 2626).
• Also, the time is too short for legends to
  develop. Historians agree it takes about two
  generations for legendary accounts to establish
  themselves.
• Unlikely that a Q document exists

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Archaeology and the Gospels

• Luke is found to be a very accurate historian
• Luke names 32 countries, 54 cities, and 9 islands
  without error
• Lukes accuracy is seen in the accuracy of titles
  used for government officials, proconsul,
  tetrach, etc although some are strange are found
  to be accurate
• In Luke's announcement of Jesus' public ministry
  (Luke 31), he mentions, "Lysanius tetrarch of
  Abilene."
• In Acts 287, Luke gives Plubius, the chief man
  on the island of Malta, the title, "first man of
  the island."

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Deity of Christ in the Gospels

• Matthew 123, 2818-20
• Mark 25-7 and Isaiah 4325
• Luke 521, 2270
• John 11, 523, 175, 2028

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Deity of Christ in Pauls Epistles

• Philippians 2
• Colossians 115, 29
• Titus 213

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Deity of Christ in the General Epistles

• Hebrews 18
• Jude 25
• Revelation 117-18 and Isaiah 414

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Testimony of the Church Fathers

• Justin Martyr (100-165 AD) "...the Father of the
  universe has a Son who being the logos and
  First-begotten is also God" (First Apology
  6315).
• Irenaeus (130-200 AD) (referencing Jesus) "...in
  order that to Christ Jesus, our Lord, and God,
  and Savior, and King, according to the will of
  the invisible Father, . . ." (Against Heresies I,
  x, 1)

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Testimony of the Church Fathers

• Clement of Alexandria (150-215 AD) "Both as God
  and as man, the Lord renders us every kind of
  help and service. As God He forgives sin, as man
  He educates us to avoid sin completely" (Christ
  the Educator, chapter 3.1). In addition, "Our
  educator, O children, resembles His Father, God,
  whose son He is. He is without sin, without
  blame, without passion of soul, God immaculate in
  form of man accomplishing His Father's will"
  (Christ the Educator Chapter 24).

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Testimony of the Church Fathers

• Hippolytus (170-236 AD) "And the blessed John in
  the testimony of his gospel, gives us an account
  of this economy and acknowledges this word as
  God, when he says, 'In the beginning was the
  Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was
  God.' If then the Word was with God and was also
  God, what follows? Would one say that he speaks
  of two Gods? I shall not indeed speak of two
  Gods, but of one of two persons however, and of
  a third economy, the grace of the Holy Ghost"
  (Against the Heresy of One Noetus. 14).

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Testimony of the Church Fathers

• Tertullian (150-225 AD) "...the only God has
  also a Son, his Word who has proceeded from
  himself, by whom all things were made and without
  whom nothing has been made that this was sent by
  the Father into the virgin and was born of her
  both man and God. Son of Man, Son of God, ..."
  (Against Praxeas, 2).

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Conclusion of the Church Fathers

• All the church fathers before Nicea acknowledged
  the deity of Christ
• The church fathers often defended the deity of
  Christ against the heresies that denied it
• Nicea formalized what the Church already believed
  and was defending.

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Archaeology and the Gospels

• A man whose accuracy can be demonstrated in
  matters where we are able to test it is likely to
  be accurate even where the means for testing him
  are not available. Accuracy is a habit of mind,
  and we know from happy experience that some
  people are habitually accurate just as others can
  be depended upon to be inaccurate. Lukes record
  entitles him to be regarded as a writer of
  habitual accuracy. F.F. Bruce
• Luke is a historian of first rankIn short,
  this author should be placed along with the very
  greatest of historians. William Ramsey

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Archaeology and the Gospels

• Gospel of John
• Pool of Bethesda discovered in north east quarter
  of the Old Town Jerusalem
• In 97 John mentions another long disputed site,
  the Pool of Siloam. However, this pool was also
  discovered in 1897, upholding the accuracy of
  John.

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Jewish Sources

• The Talmud (Completed 300 AD) confirms a
  historical Jesus and attributes Jesus miracles to
  sorcery and magic
• Affirm his death by Roman crucifixion and the
  healing ministry of five apostles named

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Jewish Sources

• Josephus confirms the following facts
• Characters mentioned in the gospels, the Herods,
  emperors Augustus, Tiberius, Claudius and Nero
• High Priestly families of Caiaphas, Ananias, and
  Annas.
• Events in the gospels are corroborated in
  Josephus
• Gamiliels mention Judas the Galileans uprising
  in Acts 537 is mentioned in the Antiquities
  (181)
• Acts 1128 mentions a famine in the days of
  Claudius, mentioned in (Antiquities 17)
• The sudden death of Agrippa in Acts 12 is
  recorded in Antiquities 19, agreeing with Lukes
  outline.
• John the Baptist and his death (Antiquities 18)
• Death account of James the Brother of Jesus in
  Acts (Antiquities 18)

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Roman Sources

• Thallus wrote a work of history of Greece from
  the Trojan War to his present day in 52 AD
• In his third book of his histories states that
  darkness covered the earth during the crucifixion
  of Jesus.

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Roman Sources

• Nero fastened the guilt and inflicted the most
  exquisite tortures on a class hated for their
  abominations called Christians by the populace.
  Christus, from whom the name has its
  origin,suffered the extreme penalty during the
  reign of Tiberius at the hands of the
  procurators, Pontius Pilate, and a most
  mischievous superstition, thus checked for the
  moment, again broke out not only in Judea, the
  first source of evil, but even in Rome.
• Tacitus, a 1st Century Roman historian

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Roman Sources

• They were in the habit of meeting on a certain
  fixed day before it was light, when they sang an
  anthem to Christ as God, and bound themselves by
  a solemn oath not to commit any wicked deed, but
  to abstain from all fraud, theft and adultery,
  never to break their word, or deny a trust when
  called upon to honor it after which it was their
  custom to separate, and then meet again to
  partake of food, but ordinary and innocent kind.
  (Pliny the Younger, From a letter to Emperor
  Trajan, A.D. 112)

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Oral Tradition

• The evidence shows that in oral cultures where
  memory has been trained for generations, oral
  memory can accurately preserve and pass on large
  amounts of information.

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Oral Tradition

• Jewish culture stressed memorizations of the law.
• Deuteronomy 64-9
• It is a well known fact that the rabbis had the
  OT and much of the oral law committed to memory.
  
• The Jews placed a high value on memorizing
  whatever writing reflected inspired scripture and
  the wisdom of God.
• In a culture where this was practiced, their
  memorization skills were far advanced from ours
  today. New Testament scholar Darrell Bock states
  that the Jewish culture was a culture of memory.

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Oral Tradition

• Rainer Reisner presents six key reasons why oral
  tradition accurately preserved Jesus teachings.
• Jesus used the OT prophets practice of
  proclaiming the word of God
• Jesus would reinforce among his followers the
  need to preserve his words accurately.
• 90 of Jesus teachings and sayings use pneumonic
  methods

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Oral Tradition

• Jesus trained his disciples to teach his lessons
  even while he was on earth.
• Jewish boys educated at least till twelve, so
  disciples knew how to read and write.
• Finally, as was done by Jewish and Greek teachers
  who gathered disciples, they trained them to
  carry on the masters teachings.

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Oral Tradition

• The teachings of Jesus and his illustrations are
  easy to memorize.
• We also know that the church preserved the
  teachings of Christ in the forms of hymns which
  were easy to memorize.
• Pauls summary of the gospel in 1 Corinthians 15
  is a good example of this.
• We can have confidence that the oral tradition
  accurately preserved the teachings and the events
  of Jesus life till they were written down just a
  few years later.

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Conclusion

• Early dating shows eye witnesses were alive when
  gospels were circulating to attest to their
  accuracy.
• The historical accuracy of the gospels are
  confirmed by compelling evidence
• Christ was taught to be divine from the very
  beginning
• Also, the time is too short for legends to
  develop. Historians agree it takes about two
  generations for legendary accounts to establish
  themselves.
• Unlikely that a Q document exists

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