The Reliability of the Gospels and Acts. Melissa Cain Travis, M.A. Assistant Professor of Christian Apologetics Houston Baptist University

Transcription

1 The Reliability of the Gospels and Acts Melissa Cain Travis, M.A. Assistant Professor of Christian Apologetics Houston Baptist University

2 the gospels are not reliable accounts of what happened in the history of the real world. All were written long after the death of Jesus, and also after the epistles of Paul, which mention almost none of the alleged facts of Jesus life. Richard Dawkins, PhD The God Delusion (2006)

3 Not only do we not have the originals, we don t have the first copies of the originals. We don t even have copies of the copies of the originals there are more differences among our manuscripts than there are words in the New Testament. Misquoting Jesus p. 10 Bart Ehrman, PhD UNC Chapel Hill

4 The Bible is a product of man, my dear. Not of God. The Bible did not fall magically from the clouds. Man created it and it has evolved through countless translations, additions, and revisions. History has never had a definitive version of the book.

5 Critical Questions: 1. Have the Gospels been reliably transmitted? 2. Are the Gospels historically reliable?

6 The Evidence: 1. Surviving Manuscripts

7 How Many New Testament Manuscripts? Greek: (avg. 450 pages) Latin: 10,000+ Other: 5,000-10,000

8 Time Lapse Between Events and Surviving Manuscripts: Full New Testament: Within 300 years Partial NT: Within 125 years Scraps of NT: Within years

9 Papyrus 66 c AD Nearly complete copy of John s Gospel

10 Papyrus 52 P52 John 18:31-33 John 18: to 150 AD

11 How does this compare to the evidence for other writings of antiquity?

12 Average Classical Greek Writer: less than 20 copies of their manuscript still in existence. Stack them up: 4 feet high

13 New Testament Manuscripts: Stack them up ONE MILE HIGH

14 Author Work Written Earliest MSS Gap Number Homer Illiad 800 BC c. 400 BC 400 1,757 Herodotus History BC 10 th Century AD 1, Sophocles Plays BC 3 rd Century BC Plato Tetralogies 400 BC 895 AD 1, Tacitus Annals 100 AD AD and 31 Multiple New Testament AD AD ,845

15 Historians Must Be Consistent Examples of trusted histories: Biographies of Alexander the Great: Written by Plutarch and Arrian 400 years after Alexander s death. Annals of Tacitus (history of Rome): Extant copies postdate the original by years. Biography of Julius Caesar: Written by Suetonius in 121 AD (Julius Caesar died in 44 BC)

16 When Were the Originals Composed? Mark: AD Matthew: 80 AD Luke: 85 AD John: AD Any evidence for earlier dating?

17 Conspicuous Silence About Major Events: 1. Fall of Jerusalem in 70 AD 2. The Roman-Jewish War AD 3. Severe persecution of Christians by Nero beginning in 64 AD 4. Martyrdoms of James (61/62 AD), Paul (64 AD), and Peter (66 AD)

18 What about copying errors or intentional changes to the text?

19 What Kind of Variants? 75% -- spelling variants or missing articles 24% -- synonyms, different word order = 99% Non-viable Variants < 1% -- viable variants (No cardinal belief is at stake)

20 Our New Testament text is at least 99% pure.

21 1. Surviving Manuscripts 2. Extra-Biblical Evidence Archaeological finds Extra-biblical texts

22 Example 1: Luke 3:1-2 Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod was tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip was tetrarch of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias was tetrarch of Abilene

23 Lysanias Inscription, British Museum

24 For the salvation of the August lords and of [all] their household, Nymphaeus, freedman of Eagle, Lysanias tetrarch established this street and other things. Inscription dated by context to between 14 and 29 AD

25 Example 2: Acts 18:11-12 And he stayed there a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them. But while Gallio was proconsul of Achaia, the Jews with one accord rose up against Paul and brought him before the judgment seat 51 AD

26 Proconsul: Governor over a SENATORIAL province of Rome Legate: Governor over an IMPERIAL province of Rome

27 Achaia Government History: 27 BC to 15 AD Senatorial Province (proconsul) 16 AD to 44 AD Imperial Province (legate) 44 AD onward Senatorial Province (proconsul)

28 Gallio Inscription Delphi, Greece (52 AD)

29 Tacitus (55/56 - c. 118) Roman senator and orator Arguably the best Roman historian

30 The Annals Nero substituted as culprits and punished in the most unusual ways those hated for their shameful acts [those] the crowd called Christians. The founder of this name, Christus, had been executed in the reign of Tiberius by the procurator Pontius Pilate.

31 Flavius Josephus ( AD) Commander in the Jewish revolt Unparalleled historian of 1 st century Judaism

32 Jewish Antiquities Book 20 Ananus called a Sanhedrin of judges and brought into it the brother of Jesus-who-is-called- Messiah James by name, and some others. He made the accusation that they had transgressed the law, and he handed them over to be stoned.

33 Jewish Antiquities Book 18, Chapter 5, Sec. 2 Records the execution of John the Baptist by Herod, corroborating Matthew 14:1-12 and Mark 6:14-29

34 Mara Bar-Serapion "What advantage did the Jews gain from executing their wise King? It was just after that that their kingdom was abolished Nor did the wise King die for good; he lived on in the teaching which he had given. Mara Bar-Serapion Letter to His Son, c. 73 AD-200 AD Housed in the British Museum

35 Lucian of Samosata These deluded creatures, you see, have persuaded themselves that they are immortal and will live forever Moreover, that first lawgiver of theirs persuaded them that they are all brothers the moment they transgress and deny the Greek gods and begin worshiping that crucified sophist and living by his laws. Passing of Peregrinus c AD

36 Non-Christian Sources Corroborating: Names and titles of historical figures Chronology of rulers Names of biblical figures Jesus as the so-called Messiah Crucifixion of Jesus under Pontius Pilate

37 1. Is there good reason to believe the documents have been reliably transmitted? YES 2. Are the documents historically reliable? YES: Originals composed within a generation of the events they record External, non-christian corroboration of details

38 Recommended Resources: Revisiting the Corruption of the New Testament by Daniel B. Wallace The New Testament Documents: Are They Reliable? by F.F. Bruce Bible Archaeology by Alfred Hoerth and John McRay Handbook of Biblical Chronology by Jack Finegan