New Testament Historical Reliability

The historical reliability of the New Testament documents is foundational to the Christian faith (1 Cor 15:13-19), for its authors depict Jesus as a man interacting with real people in real places nearly 2000 years ago. Examining what they wrote, we find the authors support their reliability claims with accurate historical details, and are well supported by other sources. The following document provides a summary of key points regarding the historical reliability of the New Testament, and is meant to be shared with friends to encourage discussion about biblical issues. It should be noted that the Old Testament documents are also considered historically reliable by the same principles.

New Testament Historical Reliability Handout (PDF, 50 kB)

1. New Testament Historical Reliability
1. NT contains record of Jesus' three year ministry on earth, which is reported to be completed and supported by his death and resurrection.
2. The historical reliability of the NT is foundational to the Christian faith (1 Cor 15:13-19), for its authors depict Jesus as a man interacting with real people in real places nearly 2000 years ago. Examining what they wrote, we find the authors support their reliability claims with accurate historical details, and are well supported by other sources.
3. If the NT is not reliable, then we have little confidence that Christ was resurrected; "But if there is no resurrection of the dead, not even Christ has been raised; and if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain, your faith is in vain. ... If we have hoped in Christ in this life only, we are of all men most to be pitied." 1 Cor 15:13, 14, 19
4. If the NT is reliable, then we have what Jesus said and did
5. That helps provide a firm foundation for our faith
2. Summary
1. Internal - the documents claim reliability
2. External - other sources support the document's claims
3. Bibliographic - we have what was originally written
3. Internal Evidence : It claims reliability
1. A reliable source will claim reliability, and will be self-consistent
2. The gospels and its authors claim to be telling the truth
1. Luke 1:3-4
2. John 19:35
3. John 21:24-25
4. 2 Peter 1:16-19
3. The gospels and authors claim to be giving eyewitness accounts
1. John 19:35
2. John 21:24-25
3. 2 Peter 1:16-19
4. 1 John 1:1-5
5. Acts 2:22
4. The authors have a purpose
1. John 20:31
2. Luke 1:1-4
3. Matthew, Mark of similar genre as Luke; expect them to have similar purpose
5. The Creed
1. Most important creed, historically is in 1 Cor 15
2. Given to Paul ~35 AD
3. The creed was formulated and used within the church in 2-5 years after crucifixion.
4. Too little time elapsed for legend development
5. Relates beliefs to Christ chronologically
6. A fair reading of the Gospels, Epistles, Acts reveals that the authors are writing historical narrative; they are convinced of the reality of these events (2 John 7)
7. The authors died because they professed these accounts
1. People will die for things they believe to be true and beneficial: power, ideas, leaders
2. Men do not die to protect a lie they know to be false — you lie to make life easier
3. Peter likely died during Nero-ian persecution
4. Paul suffered & died because of Nero (read 2 Tim 2:8-9)
5. James, brother of Jesus, was stoned by the Sanhedrin 5
4. External Evidence 1 : External sources support it
1. A reliable book is expected to be supported by evidence besides its own text
2. Roman writers
1. Papias, Bishop of Hierapolis (130 AD)
1. His writings contained the writings of apostle John; were preserved by Eusebius
2. He wrote that Mark was interpreter of Peter, and wrote accurately all that Peter mentioned (Gospel of Mark)
3. Affirmed 125 AD that Mark recorded Peter's account ⁸
4. Affirmed Matthew preserved Jesus' teaching well ⁸
2. Irenaeus (church father)
1. Bishop of Lyons 180 AD; student of Polycarp who was in turn a disciple of apostle John
2. "So firm is the ground upon which these Gospels rest, that the very heretics themselves bear witness to them, and, starting from these [documents], each one of them endeavors to establish his own particular doctrine"
3. Confirmed traditional authorship
4. Affirms Luke, follower of Paul, wrote a Gospel
5. Affirms John as author of Gospel
3. Tacitus ⁸ (Roman Historian)
1. Public career of Jesus occurred during reign of Emp. Tiberius (Luke 3:1)
2. Pontius Pilate was Roman governor when Jesus dies (Matt 27:2)
3. Christ was executed as a criminal (Luke 23:2)
4. Christianity broke out after Jesus death (Acts)
5. Nero persecuted Xtians as scapegoats to draw attention away from the suspicions he set fire to Rome
6. Immense multitude convicted and killed for their beliefs
4. Pliny the Younger ⁸
1. Gov. of province of Bithynia ~110 AD; crucified Xtians
2. Wrote to emperor for advice on how to handle Christians in his province
3. Christians honored Jesus as God
4. Christians met for a fixed day of worship to break bread (Acts 2:42, 20:7)
5. They had high moral standards
6. They refused to curse Christ under pain of death
7. This writing shows the rapid spread of the religion
3. Jewish writers
1. Josephus ⁸ (Jewish historian for Romans, 100 AD)
1. Jesus was called the Christ
2. James was brother of Jesus, and was a believer
3. Jesus lived and was considered wise
4. Did remarkable things and was a teacher
5. Accused by Pilate and condemned to be crucified
6. Christianity was a large movement and had large numbers involved in Jerusalem and elsewhere
2. Rabbi Eliezer
1. wrote in ~90 AD
2. Jesus made himself out to be God
3. Jesus said he would "depart and come again at the end"
3. Jewish literature
1. Mentions Jesus sparingly
2. Calls him false messiah, says He practiced magic, and that He was justly condemned to death
3. Negative info confirms key details of Christ's public career
4. Archeology
1. Can't prove, but can and does corroborate the NT
2. Luke is a very accurate historian
1. Archaeological discoveries (including census form from 104 AD) show the Romans had a regular enrollment of taxpayers, and held censuses every 14 years and corroborate the birth narrative (Luke 2:1)
2. Evidence that Quirinius was governor of Syria ~7 BC (Luke 2:2)
3. Lysanias is shown to have been tetrarch of Abliene in 27 AD by an inscription (Luke 3:1)
4. Term "Politarchs" shown to be in usage in Thessalonica by inscription on 1 ^st century arch: "In the time of the politarchs" (Acts 17:6)
3. John is also historically accurate
4. Slaughter at Bethlehem
1. No non-biblical record for Herod's slaughter of babies in Bethlehem. (Matt 2:13-23) Why?
2. Bethlehem was very small town (~60 acres; 500-600 people)
3. Expect <100s of babies
4. Herod the Great killed his own family, and anyone he suspected threatened his power (killing a few babies not a big deal for him)
5. No radio, TV, newspapers (news spread slowly)
6. Much bigger stories for historians to record – not much of a story back then
7. Only when it was tied to Christ by His believers was it of interest
5. Support for Paul
1. In Romans, Paul mentions Erastus, the city treasurer. 1929 excavations of Corinth find engraving saying "Erastus, curator of public buildings, laid this pavement at his own expense" Likely this is the same Erastus
6. Dead Sea Scrolls
1. Reveal the Gospels' use of Messianic language is authentic to Jews of that time
2. Root the Gospels within the Jewish traiditon ⁷
1. Text 4Q246 "The Aramaic Son of God Text"
1. written ~100 BC in Jewish Palestine
2. envisions coming figure, possibly messianic
3. uses terms "Son of God" and "Son of Most High"
2. Text 4Q521
1. Written ~30 BC
2. Has passage that appears to be Is 61
3. Ends with "the dead are raised"
4. Used in context of explaining the wonders the Messiah will do when He return
5. Corroborates/explains Jesus' response to John the Baptist's disciples
7. OT verification lends plausibility to NT reliability
1. King of Sargon 2 (OT example)
1. Isaiah 20:1 - Sargon King of Assyria
2. King list of 2 Kings 15-19 doesn't mention him
3. 100yrs ago this was mocking point of the Bible
4. 13mi NE of Nineveh was found 15 acres of "Sargonville"; the gate was inscribed "I am Sargon who conquered Samaria"
2. Hitites 2 (OT example)
1. Exodus 3:8 refers to the Hitites
2. turn of century only Bible referred to Hitites - a problem
3. Hugo Winkler in present day Turkey finds whole nation of Hitites and a wealth of their literature
5. Bibliographic Evidence 3,8 : The sources we have are excellent
1. A reliable document has been transmitted with no or minimal error to maintain reliability over time. This is verified by comparing the current edition with the original writings. Thus, we need to have what was originally written.
2. Gospel authorship ⁸
1. Gospels are anonymous
2. Matthew, Mark, Luke were uniformly attested by early church as the authors of Gospels
3. Some dispute over apostle John, but substantial majority of evidence points to him as author of the gospel
4. Synoptic Gospels v. John
1. Seems to be a higher Christology in John
2. John more explicit in claims of Christ
3. Many parallels in themes of Godhood
4. No contradiction between them
3. Accurate records
1. Rabbis were famous for memorizing entire OT
2. Oral culture then
3. 80%-90% of Jesus' words were poetic (metered, balanced form, etc.)
4. Disciples could conceivably memorized more than is written in the four gospels
5. Exact memorization not necessary for accuracy then
1. Oral tradition allowed for variation while adhering exactly to certain key points of the narrative
2. Larger community would monitor narratives and correct errors
6. Enough variation between gospels to show independence without compromising integrity or mutual agreement
7. Greek is inflected language (like Russian)
1. Word order not normally critical
2. Word order errors don't corrupt text meaning
8. 200,000 variants (one estimate) throughout manuscripts.
1. Not a big deal
2. No doctrines at issue (multiple examples of key doctrines throughout NT allow full formation even if one verse would be removed)
9. Canon formation
1. Ratified what had been already established through use
2. 3 Criteria
1. Apostolic authority (apostle are follower thereof wrote it)
2. Rule of Faith (congruent with basic Xtian tradition that church recognized as normative)
3. Continuous acceptance & usage by church at large
3. High degree of unanimity by 2 ^nd century
4. Non-canonical documents
1. Many written later (2 ^nd -6 ^th centuries)
2. Generally quite banal
3. Carry names unrelated to their authorship (e.g. Gospel of Peter)
4. Gospel of Thomas not true to the Jesus conveyed in the other gospels
4. Immense manuscript evidence for NT ^3,8
1. No original manuscripts
2. Most manuscripts within one or two generations of original
3. >25000 whole and partial manuscripts [3 62]
1. 5300 whole and partial Greek manuscripts
2. 10000 Latin Vulgate
3. 9300 early versions
4. Multiple translations (Latin, Syriac, Coptic) soon after original writing - Could reconstruct NT from translations
5. Could reconstruct NT from quotations of the early church fathers' writings (sermons, letters, commentaries)
6. Earliest partial manuscript 6,8
1. 5 verses of John found in Egypt
2. Dated ~120 AD, ~ 40 years older than the original writing
3. Shows early authorship, and rapid spread of texts in region
7. Chester Beatty Biblical Papyri
1. ~200 AD has portions of all 4 gospels
2. ~200 AD has portions of 8 letters from Paul and portions of Hebrews
3. ~300 AD has sizeable section of Revelation
8. Found in different archeological sites from Rome, Italy to Alexandria Egypt
9. Best and most important dated around 350 AD
5. Authorship dates
1. Liberal
1. Mark – 70s AD
2. Matthew, Luke – 80s
3. John – 90s
4. Still within lifetime of some eyewitnesses
2. Conservative
1. Mark – late 50s or 60 AD
6. Manuscript evidence far outweighs any other ancient document
1. Iliad
1. Next best attested text
2. Written ~800 BC
3. 643 Greek manuscripts
4. Earliest copies from 2 ^nd & 3 ^rd centuries AD (500 yrs late)
2. History of Alexander the Great
1. Written by Plutarch and Arrian >400 yrs after A's death in 323 BC
2. Legends developed in centuries after bio written
3. Tacitus
1. Roman historian, 116 AD
2. "Annals of Imperial Rome"
3. 1 ^st 6 books exist today in one manuscript copied in 850 AD
4. Books 11-16 are in manuscripts dating to 11 ^th century
5. Books 7-10 are lost
4. Josephus
1. Jewish historian for Romans, 100 AD
2. Recognized as accurate historian by moderns historians
3. "The Jewish War"
4. 9 Greek manuscripts copied in 10 ^th , 11 ^th , 12 ^th centuries
5. Most ancient documents have 6-12 manuscripts
6. Most ancient documents' manuscripts are 500-1000 years newer than original
7. Other religious texts
1. Zoroastrianism
1. Gathas of Zoroaster given 1000 BC
2. Most scriptures not written until 3 ^rd century AD
3. Most popular bio written 1278 AD
2. Buddhism
1. Buddha lived 6 ^th century BC
2. Scriptures not written until after Xtian era
3. 1 ^st bio written in 1 ^st century AD
3. Islam
1. Muhammed lived 570-632 AD
2. Bio not written until 767 AD
8. If you consider NT unreliable, you need to consider ALL ancient documents unreliable (Aristotle, Plato, Caesar, Sophocles)
6. Consideration of Human Nature
1. Death of Apostles
1. They felt the truth was worth dying for
2. They could deny their faith to gain mortal life
3. They could accept horrible death (crucifixion, burn at the stake, killed by lions) to hold onto the eternal life promised by Christ
4. Two key issues
1. They were convinced Jesus had made and supported His claims, as shown by their fatal tenacity
2. He convinced them He offered them something worth dying horrifically for (eternal life) and not just a trivial truth they would trade for life (like a really good goat recipe)
2. Religion formed around an executed man
1. Why would respectable people (Roman tax collector, Doctor, Pharisee) establish a religion worshipping an executed Jewish criminal?
2. This must be explained
3. This man must have offered something tremendous
3. Embellishing the Record
1. Gospel writers didn't leave out difficult things
1. Baptism of Jesus
2. "Why have you forsaken me!" on cross
2. If they could have modified the text to simplify obvious difficulties, but didn't, why would we suspect them of then adding other things?
4. Opposition arguments
1. Jewish opponents never refute Jesus doing miracles. Rather, call him an evil sorcerer.
2. They do not dispute they claim of Jesus' disappearance after death. Rather, they say his BODY onLoad="preloadImages('../../blank.gif','../../arrow.gif')" was stolen.
5. Good history used to support strong ideology
1. Does the apostles' purposeful ideology hinder their historical accuracy?
2. Holocaust museum
1. Clear purpose: prevent horror of another holocaust through education
2. Created by Jews (most biased group possible)
3. Strong concern and motivation compel them to present what is recognized as a accurate history
3. The apostles with a Messiah in the here and now, were compelled by their passion to tell the story accurately
7. Old Testament Historical Reliability (a few comments)
1. Passes same tests as the NT
2. Jesus treats it as a historical document
1. Matthew 4:4, 7, 10 : temptation
2. Matthew 22:23-32 : Sadducees question marriage in heaven
3. Matthew 5:17-18 : nothing shall pass away from the Law
8. Bibliography
1. Evidence That Demands a Verdict, Josh McDowell, Campus Crusade for Christ, 1972 pp63-65
2. Walter Kaiser; "Archaeology of the Bible; Authority of Scripture Seminar", International Council on Biblical Inerrancy; PO Box 13261, Oakland, CA 94661
3. Evidence That Demands a Verdict, Josh McDowell, Campus Crusade for Christ, 1972, pp. 39-62
4. [Removed]
5. Who Moved the Stone?, Frank Morison, Lamplighter Books, Zondervan Publishing House, 1976, p126
6. The New Testament Documents: Are They Reliable?, F. F. Bruce, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1992, pp. 12-18
7. "The War of the Scrolls", Kevin D. Miller, Christianity Today, Oct. 6, 1997, pp. 39-43
8. The Case for Christ, Lee Strobel, Zondervan Publishing House, Grand Rapids, MI, 1998
9. Other Recommended books
1. The Canon of Scripture, F. F. Bruce, IVP 1990
2. Evidence That Demands a Verdict, Josh McDowell, Campus Crusade for Christ, 1972
3. Give Me an Answer, Cliffe Knectle, IVP 1987
4. The Historical Reliability of the Gospels, Craig Blomberg, IVP, 1987
5. Is the New Testament Reliable?, a Look at the Historical Evidence, Paul Barnett, IVP 1986
6. The New Testament Documents: Are They Reliable?, F. F. Bruce, Eerdmans, 1943
7. A Survey of Old Testament Introduction, Gleason L. Archer, Jr. Moody Press 1964