DO WE HAVE EARLY TESTIMONY ABOUT JESUS? Chapter Nine

DO WE HAVE EARLY TESTIMONY ABOUT JESUS? Chapter Nine

Evidence that the New Testament is historically reliable Early testimony Eyewitness testimony Un-invented (authentic) testimony Eyewitnesses who were not deceived

Non-Christian References to Jesus There are ten known non-christian sources that mention Jesus within 150 years of His life. Jesus is actually mentioned by one more source than the Roman emperor of His time, Tiberius Caesar. If you include Christian sources, the references to Jesus outnumber Tiberius 43 to 10! Some of the non-christian sources could actually be considered anti-christian.

Non-Christian References Confirm Jesus lived during the time of Tiberius Caesar. He lived a virtuous life. He was a wonder-worker. He had a brother named James. He claimed to be the Messiah. He was crucified under Pontius Pilate. He was crucified on the eve of the Jewish Passover.

Non-Christian References Confirm Darkness and an earthquake occurred when He died. His disciples believed He rose from the dead. His disciples were willing to die for their belief. Christianity spread rapidly as far as Rome. His disciples denied the Roman gods and worshiped Jesus as God.

Two Questions to Consider Do we have accurate copies of the original documents that were written down in the first century? Do those documents speak the truth?

Question One Do We Have an Accurate Copy? The New Testament is not one writing, but about 27 writings. It consists of 27 different documents that were written on 27 different scrolls by nine different writers over a 20- to 50- year period. These individual writings have since been collected into one book we now call the Bible. So the New Testament is not just one source, but a collection of sources.

Question One Do We Have an Accurate Copy? None of the original written documents of the New Testament have been discovered. We only have copies of the original writings called manuscripts. All significant literature from the ancient world is reconstructed into its original form by comparing the manuscripts that survive.

Question One Do We Have an Accurate Copy? More manuscripts and earlier manuscripts usually provide more trustworthy testimony and enable a more accurate reconstruction. The New Testament documents have more manuscripts, earlier manuscripts, and more abundantly supported manuscripts than the best 10 pieces of classical literature combined.

More Manuscripts There are nearly 5,700 hand-written Greek manuscripts of the New Testament. There are more than 9,000 manuscripts in other languages. The next closest work is the Iliad by Homer with 643 manuscripts. Most other ancient works survive on fewer than a dozen manuscripts, yet few historians question the accuracy of the events those works describe.

Earlier Manuscripts The earliest undisputed manuscript is a segment of John 18 known as the John Rylands fragment. Scholars date it between AD 117-138, but some say it is even earlier. Nine disputed fragments that date from AD 50 to 70 were found with the Dead Sea Scrolls. The time gap between the original and the first surviving copy of the New Testament is still vastly shorter than anything else from the ancient world.

Earlier Manuscripts The Iliad has the next shortest gap at about 500 years. Most other ancient works are 1,000 years or more from the original. The New Testament gap is about 25 years and maybe less. Complete New Testament books survive from about AD 200. Most of the New Testament, including all of the Gospels, survives from 250. The Codex Vaticanus survives from about 325.

More Abundantly Supported Manuscripts The early church fathers quoted the New Testament so much (36,289 times to be exact) that all but eleven verses of the New Testament can be reconstructed just from their quotations.

How is the Original Reconstructed? The process of comparing the many copies and quotations actually allows for an extremely accurate reconstruction of the original even if errors were made during copying because of the many manuscripts, early manuscripts, and supported manuscripts. If there are copies spread all over the ancient world, there s no way one scribe or priest could alter the Word of God. So, ironically, not having the originals may preserve God s Word better than having them.

How Accurate is the Reconstruction? Critics of the Bible have estimated that there are about 200,000 errors in the New Testament manuscripts. These are not errors but variant readings, the vast majority of which are strictly grammatical (i.e. punctuation and spelling). These readings are spread throughout nearly 5,700 manuscripts, so that a variant spelling of one letter of one word in one verse in 2,000 manuscripts is counted as 2,000 errors.

How Accurate is the Reconstruction? Of the 150,000 variants, only 400 changed the meaning of the passage, only fifty were of real significance, and not even one affected an article of faith or a precept of duty. The Mahabharata of Hinduism is copied with only about 90 percent accuracy and Homer s Iliad with about 95 percent. By comparison, the New Testament is about 99.5 percent accurate. And the 0.5 percent in question does not affect a single doctrine of the Christian faith.

Question 2: Is the New Testament Historically Reliable? Not seeking to discover if the New Testament is without error or is the Word of God. Trying to discover if the basic storyline is fact.

Historical Tests Do we have early testimony? Generally, the earlier the sources, the more accurate the testimony is. Do we have eyewitness testimony? Eyewitness testimony is usually the best means of establishing what really happened. Do we have testimony from multiple, independent, eyewitness sources? Multiple, independent eyewitnesses confirm that the events really occurred (they are not fiction), and provide additional details that a single source might miss. True independent sources normally tell the same basic story but with differing details.

Historical Tests Are the eyewitnesses trustworthy? Do we have corroborating evidence from archaeology or other writers? Do we have any enemy attestation? If opponents of the eyewitnesses admit certain facts the eyewitnesses say are true, then those facts probably are true. Does the testimony contain events or details that are embarrassing to the authors? Since most people do not like to record negative information about themselves, any testimony that makes the author look bad is probably true.

Common Objections to Reliability History Cannot Be Known - this assertion is against all common sense. We can and do know history. While we don t have access to all the facts, we may be able to gather enough of them to be reasonably certain about what happened. To say that Christianity is untrue, the skeptic must know history.

Common Objections to Reliability The New Testament Documents Contain Miracles Skeptics charge that since the New Testament contains miracles, it has to be legend. Since God exists, miracles are possible. The events of the New Testament are in a context where miracles are not only possible but were predicted.

Common Objections to Reliability The New Testament Writers Were Biased while true, it does not mean they lied or exaggerated. Why would the Jews who converted to Christianity risk persecution, death, and perhaps eternal damnation to start something that 1) wasn t true and 2) elevated non-jews into the exclusive relationship they claimed to have with the Creator of the Universe? The New Testament writers had to have witnessed some very strong evidence to turn away from those ancient beliefs and practices.

Common Objections to Reliability Converted People Are Not Objective People can be objective even when they aren t neutral. All books are written for a reason, and most authors believe what they are writing! But that doesn t mean what they write is wrong or has no objective element. While passion may cause some people to exaggerate, it may drive others to be all the more meticulous and accurate so as not to lose credibility and acceptance of the message they wish to communicate.

Test #1: Are the New Testament documents early? All of the New Testament Books were written before AD 100 (about 70 years after the death of Jesus). In letters written between AD 95 and 110, three early church fathers Clement, Ignatius, and Polycarp quoted passages out of 25 of the 27 books in the New Testament.

Test #1: Are the New Testament documents early? Most if not all of these books were written before AD 70 (about 40 years after the death of Jesus). One problem for those who say the New Testament was written after AD 70 is that there is no mention of the destruction of the temple and city of Jerusalem in AD 70. The New Testament documents speak of Jerusalem and the temple or activities associated with them as if they were still intact at the time of the writings.

Test #1: Are the New Testament documents early? Many New Testament Books Were Composed Before AD 62 (About 30 years after the death of Jesus). Acts was written before 62. If Acts was written by 62, then the Gospel of Luke was written before that, because Luke refers to his former book in the first verse of Acts. Realistically Luke would have had to be written in AD 60 or before.

Test #1: Are the New Testament documents early? Some New Testament Books Were Penned in the 40s and 50s AD, with sources from the 30s (only a few years after the death of Jesus). Paul wrote his first letter to the church at Corinth sometime between 55 and 56 AD. I Corinthians contains the earliest and most authenticated testimony of the Resurrection itself. Paul cites fourteen eyewitnesses whose names are known and then references an appearance to more than 500 others at one time. All of Paul s works had to have been written before he died, which was sometime in the mid- 60s.