Are the NT Documents Reliable?

Transcription

1 Are the NT Documents Reliable? Dr. Craig Blomberg INTRODUCTION What s happened the last ten years? Dan Brown s comment on the Emperor Constantine and the Council of Nicea Gospel of Judas Discovery Channel Jesus family tomb, that wasn t Gospel of Jesus wife ( Then Jesus said, My wife ) woman So many people are not interested in the truth Present 12 points of truth all but the most liberal agree 1. QUESTION OF THE ANCIENT TEXTS Bart Ehrman (2006) best seller: Misquoting Jesus Book has nothing to do with the title Book is about textual criticism (manuscript corruption) focusing on Mark 16 and John 8 leaves you wondering what other passages in the Bible are suspect. page! 1 of! 10

2 Number of variants in the manuscripts Ehrman s claims about the number of textual variants more than there are words in the New Testament Real number is closer to 200,000 But how many mss are those errors spread over? Including translations, quotations, etc., we are talking over 25,000 mss. If 200,000, that means there are 8 per manuscript. Vast majority are spelling variants (especially those with a final nu). That means there are only about 1,200-1,400 places where the variants actually affect the content of the text. They are shown in the footnotes of our modern Greek texts. Of these, only are of sufficient importance that they show in up the NIV or ESV English translations. Scholars aren t hiding these. Only two dozen affect two verses or more. Only two affect a whole paragraph. Nothing that defines Christianity depends on any disputed text. What does textual criticism prove? Careful not to overstate. We have only four manuscripts of the Gospel of Thomas, three being fragmentary. For the New Testament and out 5,800 manuscripts, we can reconstruct with a high degree of likelihood what writer wrote. Dr. Craig Blomberg page! 2 of! 10

3 2. WHO WROTE THE GOSPELS? 1. Mark 2. Luke 3. Matthew 4. John Reflect on those people If you were making up a fictitious story, who would you attribute them to in order to gain credibility? We actually know the answer based on the stories that were made up in later apocryphal gospels. Gospels are anonymous; authors attributed to them probably when they started being collected together. Tied to next question Dr. Craig Blomberg page! 3 of! 10

4 3. WHEN WERE THE GOSPELS WRITTEN? General agreement that they are first century documents (50 s 90s). Within 60 years of the events narrated, but remember that the ancient culture was not paper-based but oral-based. Example of Alexander s biographers (323 B.C. until the last first and early second century A.C.) 4. WOULD THE GOSPEL WRITERS HAVE WANTED TO PRESERVE ACCURATE HISTORY? Why might there be reasons to be suspicious of the gospel writers? A. They thought Jesus was the unique God-man B. They expected Jesus to return quickly? C. Doesn t theology inherently bias a historian? Dr. Craig Blomberg page! 4 of! 10

5 5. WHY FOUR GOSPELS, WITH THE SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERENCES? Description of a synopsis of the synoptics (Matthew, Mark, and Luke) A. Ancient cultures valued memorization ( guarded tradition ) B. Differences match the patterns of ancient story telling Oral, informal controlled tradition Social memory Dr. Craig Blomberg page! 5 of! 10

6 QUESTION AND ANSWERS 1. What is the impact of different types of translations, specifically paraphrases? 2. Question not understandable (on speaking in tongues), but Craig makes the point that people who have questions sometimes are just repeating what they hear. 3. What about the work of the Holy Spirit and different interpretations of the Bible? 4. How do we synthesize flexible oral tradition and memorizing verbatim? 5. What about the two larger gospel stories that appear to be added after the original writing (John 7:53-8:11; Mark 16:9-20)? 6. How does a flexible translation affect our handling of the precise words of Scripture? 7. Why differences in Matthew s and Luke s genealogy of Jesus? Dr. Craig Blomberg page! 6 of! 10

7 Part II Are there good, positive reasons for believing Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John are reliable? 7. LUKE 1:1-4 Luke gives his purposes for writing, and his purposes give credibility. Don t impose modern standard of history writing 8. HARD SAYINGS OF JESUS Luke 14:26 (Matthew 10:37) Mark 13:32 Conclusion 9. WHAT DOESN T APPEAR IN THE GOSPELS THAT YOU WOULD EXPECT? Missing Sayings Circumcision Speaking in Tongues Errors of the blog world: why only one non-christian historian wrote about Jesus? Dr. Craig Blomberg page! 7 of! 10

8 10. NON-CHRISTIAN TESTIMONY TO JESUS Jewish Greek Roman Conclusion on what we know for sure about Jesus 11. ARCHAEOLOGY Biblical facts proven true Pools of Bethesda and Siloam Pilate Inscription Johanan s crucifixion The Jesus Boat Caiaphas Tomb James ossuary Dr. Craig Blomberg page! 8 of! 10

9 Foundations of a first century home in Nazareth 12. TESTIMONY OF OTHER EARLY CHRISTIAN WRITERS (Before the gospels were written) Various verses 1 Corinthians 15:3-5 Paul s conversion and learning was within 1-2 years of Jesus death. Craig Keener, Miracles: The Credibility of the New Testament Accounts CONCLUSION: THREE WAYS TO BELIEVE 1. Leap of faith despite the evidence 2. Historical evidence is irrelevant 3. Leap propelled by momentum Dr. Craig Blomberg page! 9 of! 10

10 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS 1. Relevance of genealogies to Genesis, and martyrdom of the saints. 2. Is there any other ancient document for which there is so much evidence and yet scholars are skeptical? 3. Reason for the order of the gospels 4. Matthew s genealogy 5. Scriptures in 1 Cor 15 is the Old Testament 6. How credible were the scribes? 7. Evidence of the transformed life? 8. Process of canonization 9. Scanned libraries of original sources Dr. Craig Blomberg page! 10 of! 10