In Defense of our Faith

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In Defense of our Faith
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• Luke 2133 Heaven and earth shall pass away
  but my words shall not pass away

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Bibliographical Test

• How much time passed between when the original
  text was written and when the earliest
  manuscripts that we have were created
• How many early manuscripts exist that we can used
  to compare and contrast in order to validate the
  consistency of the text and to reconstruct the
  original document?

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Time Factor Determining the Date of the NT

• Literary Styles
• Writings from the Church Fathers
• Lack of mention of major historical events

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Conservative Scholars Dating of NT

• Pauls LettersA.D. 50-60
• Matthew.A.D. 50s-60s
• Mark.A.D. 50s-60s
• Luke.A.D. early 60s
• John..A.D. 85-90

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Liberal Scholars Dating of N.T.

• Pauls LettersA.D. 50-60
• Mark.A.D. 70
• Luke.A.D. 70-90
• Matthew.A.D. 80-100
• John..A.D. 90-170

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Dating Early Manuscripts

• Materials used (Parchment, Papyrus)
• Letter size and form (unicial all caps,
  minuscule)
• Punctuation
• Text Divisions
• Ornamentation
• Color of Ink
• Texture and color of parchment

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Famous NT Manuscripts

• John Rylands MS 130 AD Purchased in Egypt in
  1920 but went unnoticed until 1934 when C H
  Roberts of Saint Johns College in Oxford was
  sorting through the papyri at John Rylands
  library in Manchester England. The M.S. was
  recognized to be a very early copy of 5 verses of
  John 18

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Famous NT Manuscripts

• Bodmer Papyrus II (AD 150-200) Purchased in the
  1950s from a dealer in Egypt. Contains large
  portions of John, Luke , Jude and the 2 epistles
  of Peter
• Chester Beatty Papyri (A.D. 200) purchased in
  the 1930s from a dealer in Egypt. Contains a
  major portion of the New Testament

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Famous NT Manuscripts

• Codex Vaticanus (A.D. 325-350) Contains nearly
  all the Bible. Has been in the Vaticans library
  since 1481 but was not made available to scholars
  until the middle of the nineteenth century.
• Codex Sinaiticus (A.D. 350) Discovered by Dr.
  Constantin Von Tischendorf in the Mount Sinai
  Monastery in 1859.

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Gap in Years (see Chart)

• Sir Frederic Kenyon The interval then between
  the dates of original composition and the
  earliest existent evidence becomes so small as to
  be in fact negligible, and the last foundation
  for any doubt that the scriptures have come down
  to us substantially as they were written has now
  been removed. Both the authenticity and the
  general integrity of the books of the New
  Testament may be regarded as finally established.

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Question 2

• How many early manuscripts exist that we can
  used to compare and contrast in order to validate
  the consistency of the text and to rebuild the
  original document?

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How many early Greek Manuscripts are there?

• Uncials.307
• Miniscules..2860
• Lectionaries..2410
• Papryi..109
• Total.5686 (2nd-15th Century)
  

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N.T. Manuscripts in other Languages

• Latin Vulgate.10,000
• Ethiopic.2,000
• Slavic.4101
• Armenian.2587
• Other Languages.596
• TOTAL19,284

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The Verdict

• Dr Norman Geisler (Dean co-founder of Southern
  Evangelical Seminary) The New Testament, then,
  has not only survived in more manuscripts than
  any other book from antiquity, but it has
  survived in a purer form than any other great
  booka form that is 99.5 pure.
• The variations are primarily in punctuation and
  spelling. There are no Church doctrines that are
  in jeopardy due to the variations.

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Different processes for reconstructing the
original text

• Majority Text
• Critical Text

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Critical Vs Received text

• Mark 1419 And they began to be sorrowful, and
  to say unto him one by one, Is it I?, and another
  said, Is it I?
• Mark 1422 And as they did eat, Jesus took
  bread, and blessed, and brake it, and gave to
  them, and said, Take, eat this is my body.

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Internal Evidence Test

• Intent Test
• Ability Test
• Consistency Test
• Bias Test

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Intent Test

• Luke 11-4
• 2 Peter 116
• 1 John 13
• Acts 222
• John 1935
• Luke 31
• Acts 26 24-26

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Ability Test

• What was the authors physical relationship to
  the events
• What was the authors chronological relationship
  to the events. (Was the text written close enough
  in time to the events so that testimony could be
  collaborated or contradicted by eyewitnesses to
  the event).

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Authors Physical Relationship to the Events

• Matthew John (personal eyewitnesses)
• Mark (associate of Peter)
• Luke (personal physician to Paul used
  eyewitness as sources Luke 12)

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Authors Chronological Relationship to the Events

• Even liberal circles put the dating of Mark in
  the 70s, Matthew Luke in the 80s, and John in
  the 90s. These dates still put the Gospels
  within the lives of the actual eyewitnesses to
  the events.

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Support for an earlier Dating of the Gospels

• Acts early 60s (Paul executed in the mid 60s)
• Luke was written before Acts (Acts 11)
• Luke references using other material (Luke 12)
• Places the earliest Gospels within 25-30 years
  from Jesus death (compared to the earliest
  biographies written of Alexander the Great 400
  years after his death)

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Consistency Test

• Four Biographies focusing on different
  perspectives
• Matthew (focuses on Christ as King, written for
  the Jews)
• Mark (focuses on Christ as Servant, written for
  the Romans)
• Luke (focuses on Christ as Man, written for the
  Greeks)
• John (focuses on Christ as God, written for the
  Church)

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Apparent Secondary Discrepancies

• Matthew/Luke Story of the Centurions servant
• Genealogies of Jesus in Matthew and Luke
• Matthew (2 Blind men met Jesus)/Mark Luke (only
  mentions one)

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Bias Test

• Did the authors manipulate or enhance the facts
  to suit there needs
• The New Testament contains many passages that
  could have been excluded had the author not been
  so meticulous about the events

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Before the Resurrection

• Gospel of Mark particular harsh on Peter yet
  John Mark was Peters assistant
• Disciples argue about who will be the greatest in
  the Kingdom of heaven (Mark 933-35)
• James John want places on the right and left
  hand of Jesus (John 2125)

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After the Resurrection

• Paul Rebukes Peter in Galatians 211
• Contention between Paul and Barnabas (Acts 15
  36-40)

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Who would die for a lie

• Peter crucified
• Andrew crucified
• Matthew the sword
• James son of Alphaeus --crucified
• Philip crucified
• Simon crucified
• Thaddaeus killed by arrows
• Thomas spear

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Who would die for a lie

• James, brother of Jesus stoned
• Paul beheaded
• Bartholomew crucified
• James son of Zebedee the sword

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External Evidence

• Other writings that confirm the events in the
  text
• Archeological Evidence

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Josephus

• The Antiquities of the Jews regarding James
  (Referring to the High Priest, Ananias) he
  assembled the Sanhedrin of judges, and brought
  before them the brother of Jesus, who was called
  Christ, whose name was James, and some others,
  and when he had formed an accusation against them
  as breakers of the law, he delivered them to be
  stoned.

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Josephus

• The Antiquities of the Jews Regarding John the
  Baptist
• Now, some of the Jews thought that the
  destruction of Herods army came from God, and
  very justly, as a punishment of what he did
  against John, who was called the Baptist for
  Herod slew him, who was a good man, and commanded
  the Jews to exercise virtue, both as to
  righteousness toward one another and piety
  towards God, and so to come to baptism

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Eusebius Quoting Josephus

• Ecclesiastical History Now there was about
  this time, Jesus, a wise man, if it be lawful to
  call him a man, for he was a doer of wonderful
  works, a teacher of such men as receive the truth
  with pleasure. He drew over to him both many of
  the Jews and many of the Gentiles. He was
  Christ and when Pilate, at the suggestion of
  principal men amoungst us, had condemned him to
  the cross, those that loved him at the first did
  not forsake him. For he appeared to them alive
  again the third day, as the divine prophets had
  foretold

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Tacitus (1st Century Roman Historian)

• (In giving an account of the great fire of Rome
  which some blamed Nero for)
• Consequently, to get rid of the report, Nero
  fastened the guilt and inflicted the most
  exquisite tortures on a class hated for their
  abominations, called Christians by the populace.
  Christus, for whom the the name had its origin,
  suffered the extreme penalty during the reign of
  Tiberius at the hands of one of our procurators,
  Pontius Pilatus, and a most mischievous
  superstition,

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• thus checked for the moment, again broke out not
  only in Judea, the first source of the evil, but
  even in Rome where all things hideous and
  shameful from every part of the world find their
  center become popular

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Pliny the Younger (Roman Author and Administrator)

• Letter to Emperor Trajan A.D 112 They were in
  the habit of meeting on a certain fixed day
  before it was light, and when they sang in
  alternate verses a hymn to Christ, as to a god,
  and bound themselves by a solemn oath, not to do
  any wicked deeds, but never to commit any fraud,
  theft or adultery, never to falsify their word,
  nor deny a trust when they should be called upon
  to deliver it up

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Trajans reply to Plinys letter

• No search should be made for these people, when
  they are denounced and found guilty they must be
  punished, with restriction, however, that when
  the party denies himself to be a Christian and
  shall give proof that he is not (that is , by
  adoring our gods) he shall be pardoned on the
  ground of repentance even though he may have
  formerly incurred suspicion.

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Talmud

• Sanhedrin 43a
• On the eve of Passover, Yeshu was hanged. For
  forty days before the execution took place, a
  herald went forth and cried, He is going forth
  to be stoned because he has practiced sorcery and
  enticed Israel to apostasy. Any one who can say
  anything in his favour let him come forward and
  plead on his behalf. But since nothing was
  brought forward in his favour he was hanged on
  the eve of Passover!

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Lucian (2nd Century Greek Writer)

• The Christians, you know, worship a man to this
  day the distinguished personage who introduced
  their novel rites, and was crucified on that
  account.You see, these misguided creatures start
  with the general conviction that they are
  immortal for all time, which explains the
  contempt of death and voluntary self devotion
  which are so common among them and why it was
  impressed on them by their original lawgiver that
  they are all brothers, from the moment that they
  are converted, and deny the gods of Greece, and
  worship the crucified sage, and live after his
  laws.

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Based on Non-Christian Early Sources

• Jesus was from Nazareth
• He lived a wise and virtuous life
• He was crucified in Palestine under Pontius
  Pilate during the reign of Tiberius Caesar at
  Passover time, being considered a King
• He was believed by his disciples to have been
  raised from the dead three days later

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Based on Non-Christian Early Sources

• His enemies acknowledged that he performed
  unusual feats they called sorcery
• His small band of disciples multiplied rapidly,
  spreading even as far as Rome
• His disciples denied polytheism, lived moral
  lives and worshiped Christ as Devine.

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Archeological Evidence

• Archeology verifying the existence of people,
  places , and events that collaborate with what is
  written

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Pool of Bethesda

• John 5 1-15 gives a detailed account of the Pool
  of Bethesda. In his account John indicates that
  the pool was near the sheep gate in Jerusalem and
  had five porticoes.
• Many scholars felt the pool had a metaphoric
  meaning and that the Gospel was written well
  after 100 A.D. by someone who did have first hand
  knowledge of Jerusalem

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Other Archeological Discoveries from John

• John 97 Pool of Shiloam
• Jacobs Well (John 412)
• Stone Pavement near Jaffa gate where Jesus
  apeared before Pilate (John 1913)

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Pontius Pilate

• Once thought by many to be a mythical figure
• In 1961 an Italian archaeologist found a stone
  believed to used in the foundation for a temple
  used for worship of emperor Tirberius. On the
  stone stone was inscribed the words Tiberium
  Pontius Pilate Prefect chief officer or chief
  magistrate of Judea

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Dr. Luke Sloppy historian?

• Luke 21-4 And it came to pass in those days,
  that there went out a decree from Caesar
  Augustus, that all the world should be taxed.
  (And taxing was first made when Cyrenius was
  governor of Syria.) And all went to be taxed,
  every one into his own city.

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Historical Critics Argued

• There was no Census
• Cyrenius was not governor of Syria at that time.
  Josephus indicates Cyrenius became Governor in
  A.D. 6 (after the reign of Herod).
• No one had to go to there own city.

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Archeological Evidence Favoring Luke

• Romans did have a regular enrollment of taxpayers
  and did hold censuses every 14 years starting
  under the rule of Augustus.
• An inscription was found in Antioch indicating
  that Cyrenius did become Governor in 7 B.C.
  (during the reign of Herod) and it is now thought
  that he may have held the position twice.

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Archeological Evidence Favoring Luke

• A papyrus found in Egypt indicates Because of
  the approaching census it is necessary that all
  those residing for any cause away from their
  homes should at once prepare to return to their
  own governments in order that they may complete
  the family registration of the enrollment and
  that the tilled lands may retain those belonging
  to them.

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Lukes Critics

• Luke 31 refers to Lysanias as being the tetrarch
  of Abilene. Previously historians faulted Luke
  for being inaccurate as other early writings
  indicate that Lysanias was killed in 36 B.C.
• A inscription found near Damascus speaks of
  Lysanias the Tetrarch and is dated between A.D.
  14 and A.D. 29 there were two Lysanias!!

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Lukes Critics

• Acts 176 Luke uses the word politarchs to
  mean rulers of the city
• Historians of ancient Rome claimed that the word
  is not found in any ancient documents and assumed
  that Luke had erred
• An inscription on a first-cenury arch was later
  found that begins, in the time of politarchs

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Lukes Historical Accuracy

• Sir William Ramsay , Luke is a historian of the
  first rank not merely are his statements of fact
  trustworthy.this author should be placed along
  with the very greatest of historiansLukes
  history is unsurpassed in respect of its
  trustworthiness.
• In his two works, Luke names thirty-two
  countries, fifty-four cities and nine islands
  whose names archaeology has supported