This first entry is going to be very broad and kind of a summary. It will deal with a lot of background information to kind set the stage for the rest of my entries. The next entry will outline some the scientific evidence that supports the Bible and the historians who mentioned Jesus.
What are the gospels, when were they written, and by whom?
The gospels are the first 4 books of the New Testament: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Each gospel contains the name of the author. Each gospel seemed to target a different audience. Matthew targeted a Jewish audience, Mark and Luke wrote for a Roman audience. For a reference, Jesus is said to have been crucified in 30 AD.
- Matthew was written between A.D. 70 and 80. The author Matthew was also know as Levi. Matthew was a tax collector (hated even more back then, hard to believe, I know) who became one of the 12 disciples. 1
- Mark is the next book. Mark was close to the Apostle Peter and is mentioned as being close to the events in other stories. The book of Mark had to be written before 70 AD as Mark 13:2 quotes Jesus as saying the temple in Jerusalem will be destroyed. The temple was destroyed in 70 AD when the Romans destroyed Jerusalem.2
- Luke also wrote the book of Acts. This was a 2 part work, with Luke being written first. Luke was a physician and a close friend to Paul. He was not an eyewitness, as he is clear to point out in Luke 1:1,2. You could date this all the way back to 60 AD. 3
- John was written last and seems to have been written to complement the other gospels. He seems to mention events not included in the other gospels on purpose. Probably written around 90AD. 4
How was the Bible written?
The Bible was written over a period of 1,500 years by almost 40 human writers. Genesis 1,2 is said to have been written by Moses about 1405 BC. Revelations 21, 22 is said to have been written by John about AD 95. 5
How were the books of the Bible chosen?
First, they had to be recognized prophets, apostles, or associates of the apostles. Second, they could not disagree with or contradict previous Scriptures. Third, the writing had to have general consensus by the church.
can we be confident in the Authenticity of the Bible?
First, lets say this: their are no surviving originals. But, we do know that more copies of the New Testament exist closer to the date of the events an ANY literary work of that time. The earliest fragment of the New Testament available today originated between 100 and 150 AD. It was discovered and dated by C. H. Roberts of Saint John's College, Oxford. Other paleographers agreed the date was accurate. These included Sir Frederic Kenyon, Sir Harold Bell, Adolf Deissmann, W. H. P. Hatch, Ulrich Wilcken, and others.6
Next, lets talk about the other manuscripts found. 4 types of Greek New Testament manuscripts:7
- Papyrus - these are the earliest manuscripts, which are written on plants. 99 fragments of these have been found. The two major ones are the Beatty Biblical Papyrus which contains all 4 gospels and was written in the 3rd century. Papyrus #2 contains Paul's letters and was written around 200 AD.
- Parchment - 306 manuscripts made of parchment have been found. Parchment is the skin of cattle, sheep, goats and antelope. Most of these are from the 3rd century.
- Minuscule - a new style of writing from roughly 800 AD. These were more cursive in style and 2,856 of these exist.
- Lectionaries - these were the New Testament in the sequence that it was read throughout the year. Used by the early church and 2,403 of these exist.
Using those numbers, over 5,000 Greek Manuscripts exist. On top of that, you have 8,000 to 10,000 Latin Vulgate manuscripts and around 8,000 Ethiopic, Slavic, and Armenian. This brings the total number of manuscripts to 24,000!7
On top of that, the Bible is said to have been written much closer to the date of the events than any other writing from that time.
Using numbers that even the most liberal scholars can agree to, Mark was written around 70 AD, only 40 years after Jesus left the earth. Matthew & Luke were written in around 80 AD and John was written around 90 AD. Using some reasoning skills, you could convincingly argue they were written earlier than that (as close to 30 years after Jesus died). Also, Paul's letters were written even earlier than the gospels, and those mention Jesus' death and resurrection. Now, by today's standards, that is a long time. But at that time, the length between the life of Jesus and the gospels is extremely small. A couple of points:
- 40 years is still within the lifetime of witnesses. If the Bible had been complete lies, you would think that it wouldn't have survived. And you would at least see writings from the day disputing the accuracy of the Bible.
- The 4 gospels are 4 separate accounts. There is enough variation in the stories that those who study the gospels are confident that they are 4 different accounts. Simon Greenleaf of Harvard Law School said "Their is enough discrepancy to show that there could have been no previous concert among them; and at the same time such substantial agreement as to show that they all were independent narrators of the same great transaction."8
- One argument used to try and prove that the gospels can't be accurate is the "telephone" argument. You can't get around a room of people with a message without it being different by the time it makes it around the room. But, think about this way... no paper, television, or mass production writings. Everything was done by word of mouth. Spiritual leaders of the day had the entire Old Testament memorized because they, at most, had one copy. You would take great care in making sure you knew the story. Also, 80 to 90% of Jesus' words were in poetic form, as were many teachings of the day. So, while you can find minor contradictions in the New Testament, the main points of the stories are still the same.
So, a little review… We have 24,000 manuscripts that can date back to as close as 30 to 40 years from Jesus leaving this earth. The earliest manuscripts that we have copies of actually date back to the 2nd century, meaning they are extremely old. Now, lets compare this to other literary works of the time 9 :
| Work | When Written | Earliest Copy | Time Span | No. of copies |
| New Testament | A.D. 40-100 | A.D. 125 | 25 yrs | 24,000 |
| Homer(Illiad) | 900 B.C. | 400 B.C. | 500 yrs | 643 |
| Sophocles | 496-406 B.C | A.D. 1,000 | 1,400 yrs | 193 |
| Aristotle | 384-322 B.C. | A.D. 1,100 | 1,400 yrs | 49 |
| Caesar(Gallic Wars) | 100-44 B.C. | A.D. 900 | 1,000 yrs | 10 |
Homer’s Illiad is 2nd on the list with 643 copies compared to 24,000 for the Bible! Also, Homer’s Illiad has 764 disputed lines, compared to only 43 for the New Testament. Get this: there are no surviving manuscripts of any of William’s Shakespeare’s 37 plays. These were written in the 1600’s. Scholars have been forced to fill in some of the gaps in his work!10 F.F. Bruce says it best:
There is no body of ancient literature in the world which enjoys such a wealth of good textual attestation as the New Testament.11
1. Will reference later.
2. Will reference later.
3. Will reference later.
4. Will reference later.
5. Will reference later.
6. Strobel, Lee. (1998). The Case for Christ. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan. pgs 61-62.
7. Strobel, Lee. (1998). The Documentary Evidence. In: The Case for Christ. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan. pg 55-72.
8. Simon Greenleaf, The Testimony of the Evangelist(Grand Rapids: Baker, 1984), vii.
9. Table extracted from Josh McDowell, A Ready Defense, 1993, pg 45.
10. Norman L. Geisler and William E. Nix, A General Introduction to the Bible, Moody, Chicago, Revised and Expanded 1986, 366-67.
