Case Study: The Gospel Authors

Is the Bible Trustworthy?

Teabing smiled. “And everything you need to know about the Bible can be summed up by the great canon doctor Martyn Percy.” Teabing cleared his throat and declared, “The Bible did not arrive by fax from heaven."

“I beg your pardon?” 

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

Da Vinci Code

“Fortunately for historians,” Teabing said, “some of the gospels that Constantine attempted to eradicate managed to survive. The Dead Sea Scrolls were found in the 1950’s hidden in a cave near Qumran in the Judean desert. And, of course, the Coptic Scrolls in 1945 at Nag Hammadi. In addition to telling the true Grail story, these documents speak of Christ’s ministry in very human terms. Of course, the Vatican, in keeping with their tradition of misinformation, tried very hard to suppress the release of these scrolls, And why wouldn’t they? The scrolls highlight glaring historical discrepancies and fabrications, clearly confirming that the modern Bible was compiled and edited by men, who possessed a political agenda—to promote the divinity of the man Jesus Christ and use His influence to solidify their own power base.”    (The Da Vinci Code 234)

Da Vinci Code

“What I mean,” Teabing countered, “is that almost everything our fathers taught us about Christ is false.”    (The Da Vinci Code 235)

Da Vinci Code

For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty (2 Pet 1.16)

Peter

Deity of ChristLordLiarLunatic

Apostolic WitnessDeceiversDupesDirect witnesses

Two Trilemmas

Were the Gospel authors trying to write history?Luke 1.1–4

Compare Luke 1.1–4; Acts 1.1–3 with Josephus’ Against Apion 1.1; 2.1

John 20.31The style of writing

Sober and responsibleAccurate detailsNo blatant mythologizing

The Authors’ Intentions

“As a literary historian, I am perfectly convinced that whatever else the Gospels are they are not legends. I have read a great deal of legend, and I am quite clear that they are not the same sort of things.”

—C.S. Lewis, God in the Dock

The Authors’ Intentions

Were they able to do what they intended?Thirty or more years after the factOral teaching and memorizationMemorization was more flexible then

Incidental details were allowed to change (10–40%)Fixed points that made the story what it was were

unalterableDifferences between Matthew, Mark and Luke

range between 10 and 40 percent

The Authors’ Ability

Are the Gospel authors trustworthy?Nothing to indicate otherwise

The Authors’ Character

“Every document, apparently ancient, coming from the proper repository or custody, and bearing on it face no evident marks of forgery, the law presumes to be genuine, and devolves on the opposing party the burden of proving it to be otherwise.

“In the absence of circumstances which generate suspicion, every witness is to be presumed credible, until the contrary is shown; the burden of impeaching his credibility lying on the objector.” (Simon Greenleaf, The Testimony of the Evangelists)

The Authors’ Character

Are the Gospel authors trustworthy?Nothing to indicate otherwiseReporting the words of a man who taught

integrityLived out their beliefs—to death

The Authors’ Character

Weren’t the Gospels’ Authors prejudiced in regard to what they wrote?Seeking to honor someone does not indicate

lyingNothing to gain by lying

The Authors’ Bias

Did the authors hide any details that they should have left in?Hard sayings of Jesus (e.g., Bread of Life

discourse)Surprising sayings of Jesus (e.g., Mark 6.5;

13.2)The Apostles themselvesWomen at the resurrection

The Authors’ Openness

Do the contemporaries of the Gospels cry foul?They had every reason to do so if they could

Enemies of Jesus didn’t deny His miraclesLeaders of the Jews didn’t deny the empty tomb

There are no attacks on the Gospels for being falsehoods or distortions at the time of their writing

The Authors’ Enemies

“When evaluated by the same criteria critical historians typically use to evaluate ancient documents, the Gospels give us many reasons to conclude that the image of Jesus they present is historically reliable.”

—Boyd and Eddy, Lord or Legend

Conclusion