As we share Jesus with others we are sometimes asked questions about the reliability of the New Testament. After all, there are currently many misconceptions about the New Testament that exist and lead people to hold various misbeliefs. These false views can lead them to think that Christianity is not a viable option.
Reliability questions, however, do not just occur in the context of evangelism. Disciples too may ask these questions. There are any number of reasons a disciple may raise them. It could simply be that they have been witnessing to others and now they are being asked these questions but feel unprepared and unequipped to address them. Others may simply want to know more about the New Testament as they seek to grow in their understanding of Scripture and become a more mature disciple of Jesus. Still, others may be wrestling with doubt about the New Testament such that it keeps them from engaging their Bible daily. In this article, I will we will briefly mention thirteen arguments for reliability and their significance for equipping others.
- Textual Evidence for the New Testament: Do we have the right words? Knowing what the original authors wrote is important for New Testament reliability since we cannot evaluate the claims if we do not know what was originally written. When it comes to the New Testament, we have over 5,000 copies which is far more than any other ancient text (e.g., Homer, Plato, Tacitus, etc.) and our earliest manuscript copies come from the second century. This is significant since if the New Testament writings were corrupted, we could identify where among the plethora of copies.
- New Testament Genres and Audience Expectations: Do we have the right genre? What did the audience expect to read when they encountered the Gospels or Paul’s writings? If the Gospels were expected to report historical information, then this would add to the text’s credibility more so than if they were considered, for example, fictitious novels. It is not insignificant, then, that the Gospels are widely considered to be Greco-Roman biographies.
- New Testament Dating: Do we have the right time? Reports that come closer to the events are typically preferred over later reports. When it comes to the New Testament, it is widely believed to have been written within the lifetime of the eyewitnesses. The Gospels have been frequently dated between 60s-90s AD, while Paul’s writings are even earlier.[1] This adds further significance to the biographical genre and the need for accurate reporting because witnesses were still around to confirm or disconfirm reports.
- New Testament Authorship: Do we have the right authors? We prefer sources that were written by eyewitnesses or those associated with eyewitnesses. When it comes to the Gospels, the earliest evidence – which is also unanimous – all point to Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John as being the Gospel authors. Paul’s thirteen writings all come with an introduction and his specific name included. Though skeptics may question these, they nevertheless acknowledge Paul’s authorship of at least seven of them are “undisputed.”[2]
- Creedal Traditions within the New Testament: Do we have information that predates these writings? How do creeds or oral formulas relate to reliability? First, we are not referring to the Nicene Creed, but highly evidential formulas within the New Testament itself. One of the best examples is 1 Corinthians 15:3ff. because Paul introduces the oral formula explicitly by saying “I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received.” “Delivered” and “received” are indicators that Paul is reminding the church of an oral confessional statement he gave to the Corinthians at an earlier date. This creed or oral formula is often dated to the early 30s AD because scholars (whether skeptics or believers) widely agree Paul very likely received this information during his first trip to Jerusalem where he met with Peter and James (Gal. 1:18-19). Thus, this creed, and others like it, are often dated very early and connected to eyewitnesses.[3]
- Applying Historical Criteria to the New Testament: Can we apply historical criteria to the New Testament? What, after all, leads a historian (or a person today) to believe that an event occurred? There are various criteria that we often intuitively use today that, if met, generally add to the historicity of an event occurring. Historians have further developed these criteria and they include things like multiple attestation, embarrassing testimony, enemy attestation, and so on. For example, Jesus’ death by crucifixion is multiply attested by several independent reports (Paul, Gospels, Tacitus, etc.). It is also considered highly embarrassing and, as a result, unlikely to have been invented (1 Cor. 1:23). These two criteria add significant historical weight to the historicity of Jesus’ death on the cross.
- Undesigned Coincidences: Do we have different texts that illuminate one another while reporting the same event? There are, in fact, multiple texts within the New Testament that do just that. For example, John reports that Jesus asked Philip where to buy before the feeding of the 5,000. Earlier in John, we learn that Philip is from Bethsaida. But so what? Well, in Luke, we learn that the feeding of the 5,000 takes place in Bethsaida. So Jesus’ asking Philip makes greater sense because Philip was the local. This is just one of many New Testament examples, while other cases of undesigned can include sources outside the New Testament (e.g., Tacitus).
- Archaeology and the New Testament: Do we have the right physical evidence? Are there artifacts that support or are consistent with the claims of the New Testament? Several discoveries have shed light on the New Testament claims. From the Yehohanan crucifixion victim (with a nail still located in the ankle bone) to the Temple Warning (cf. Acts 21:27-36; Gal. 3:28), there are a variety of finds that support the New Testament.
- Non-Christian Corroboration: Do we have reports from non-Christians? We have some important non-Christian sources that corroborate what the New Testament teaches. Josephus and Tacitus are two early non-Christian writers who both confirm what the New Testament reports about Jesus. They do not report, for example, that Jesus died in Egypt or Greece. Rather, they confirm that Jesus died under Pontius Pilate.
- Noncanonical Christian Corroboration: Do we have writings from the early church that are not in the New Testament? Several. These sources similarly report what we find in the New Testament and can add to the reliability of the New Testament itself. For example, Clement of Rome notes the martyrdoms of both Peter and Paul. This adds significant weight to the fact that Peter and Paul genuinely believed what they were preaching such that they were willing to suffer and ultimately die for their claims.
- The Development of the New Testament Canon: If you were in the early church what sort of books would you think should be part of the New Testament and which ones should be excluded? Hopefully, each of the previous points indicates why the New Testament books were identified as being part of an authoritative canon. Clement, although written early and written by someone who was associated with an apostle (Paul), was ultimately rejected even though it could be considered valuable to read. Other books, like the Gospel of Thomas, were consistently rejected.
- Spiritual and Life Transformations: If the New Testament is true, do we see its effects in the world? This is not a direct argument for reliability but highlights the fact that if the New Testament is reliable, then we should expect to see lives changed as a result. We see not only believers identifying how the Gospel has dramatically impacted their lives but unbelievers have also recognized that the Gospel has changed the lives of people and/or cultures around them. We see, then, that the Gospel has impacted people both directly and indirectly.
- The Minimal Facts Approach (MFA): Perhaps all of the above reasons are completely misguided, what then? The MFA is the most popular approach today for discussing what is of “first importance” (1 Cor. 15:3) for believers: Jesus’ death and resurrection. It does so by using highly evidenced facts and those that are widely accepted by scholars, including those who think the New Testament is unreliable. These facts (Jesus’ death, disciples’ experiences and willingness to suffer, conversion of Paul, etc.) point to Jesus’ resurrection while the major alternative theories fail to account for them.
Cumulatively these considerations make a powerful case, but the significance of them for believers and unbelievers alike is important. Being ready to answer questions is important in the context of evangelism, but it is also relevant to ministering to those who are doubting. Similarly, disciples who are seeking to grow in their faith and understanding of the New Testament or want to better share their faith with others can familiarize themselves with these points.
Notes:
[1] While some may date the Gospels earlier than what is listed here, the point would remain that they were written within the lifetime of the eyewitnesses.
[2] Bart Ehrman is an example as noted in The New Testament: A Historical Introduction to the Early Christian Writings, 2nd ed. (NY: Oxford University Press, 2000), 162. The seven undisputed writings are: Romans, 1 and 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Philippians, 1 Thessalonians, and Philemon.
[3] Other examples of New Testament creeds include Rom. 10:9; Phil. 2:5-11; etc.