The Historical Reliability of the New Testament Gospels

The Historical Reliability of the New Testament Gospels

WORKBOOK

The Credo Courses

The Historical Reliability of the New Testament Gospels© 2014 by Credo CoursesAll rights reserved.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

#1 Widely Held Myths About Ancient Sources 7

#2: The Formation of the Canon and the Choice of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John 11

#3: Books Not Included: The Contents of the Apocryphal and Gnostic Gospels 15

#4: The Text of the New Testament, and Especially of the Gospels 19

#5: The Translation of the New Testament, and Especially of the Gospels 23

#6: The Authorship and Dating of the Gospels 27

#7-8: The Reliability of the Oral Tradition 31

#9: The Composition of the Synoptic Gospels 37

#10: The Literary Genre of the Gospels 43

#11: Archaeology for the Gospels 47

#12: Non-Christian Evidence for Jesus 53

#13: The Apocryphal and Gnostic Gospels Further Evaluated 57

#14: The Quests of the Historical Jesus 61

#15: Why Such Diversity Exists and the Criteria of Authenticity 65

#16: The Most Authentic Parts of the Synoptic Tradition 69

#17: The Resulting Identity of Jesus 73

#18: Problems of Harmonization Among the Synoptics 77

#19: Problems of Harmonization between the Synoptics and John 81

#20-21: The Reliability of John 85

#22: A Fourth Quest of the Historical Jesus 91

#23-24: The Knowledge of the Jesus Tradition in the Early Epistles 97

#25-26: The Unique Problem of Miracles 103

#27: The Virginal Conception: Nativity or Naiveté 109

#28: The Resurrection: Fact or Fiction 113

#29: The Jesus We Never Knew 117

#30: Summary and Conclusions 121

TABLE OF CONTENTS (CONT.)

06 CREDO COURSES - HISTORICAL RELIABILITY

07

SESSION #1

Widely Held Myths About Ancient Sources

Perspectives Unrelated to Any Real Historical Evidence

• The claim that Jesus never existed

• Legends in ancient New Testament Apocrypha

• Medievalfiction

• Modern novels (esp. The Da Vinci Code)

THE HISTORICAL RELIABILITYOF THE NT GOSPELS


Notes:

Distortion of “Recently” Discovered Evidence

• Dead Sea Scrolls

– Two kinds of documents

– What the sectarian documents teach us

• Gnostic Literature (much more to come)

– Gospel of Judas

– “Gospel of Jesus’ Wife”

• “Jesus’ Family Tomb”

09SESSION #1: WIDELY HELD MYTHS ABOUT ANCIENT SOURCES

Notes:

Chronological Developments

• Second-Century Evidence

– Use by “Apostolic Fathers”

– Marcion and Gnosticism

– Roman Persecution and the Muratorian Canon

– Irenaeus

SESSION #2

The Formation of the Canon and the Choice of

Matthew, Mark, Luke and JohnTHE HISTORICAL RELIABILITY

OF THE NT GOSPELS


• Third-Century Trends

– Tertullian and a novum testamentum

– Origen and seven disputed books

– Other works occasionally proposed

• Fourth-Century Crystallization

– Athanasius

– Councils of Hippo and Carthage

Notes:

13

Criteria of Canonicity

• Apostolicity

• Orthodoxy

• Catholicity

• Inspiration

Notes:

SESSION #2: THE FORMATION OF THE CANON

15

SESSION #3

Books Not Included: The Contents of the

Apocryphal and Gnostic Gospels

Apocryphal Gospels

• Infancy Supplements

• Infancy Gospel of Thomas

• Protevangelium of James

• Passion Supplements



• Gospel of Peter

• Gospel of Nicodemus

• Various Other Fragmentary Works

Notes:

Gnostic Gospels

• Texts of No Value for Understanding Jesus

- Apocryphon of James

17

- Gospel of Philip

- Gospel of Mary

- Gospel of Truth

- One Possible Exception (Coptic Gospel of Thomas)

Notes:

SESSION #3: BOOKS NOT INCLUDED

19

Textual Criticism of NT

• 200, 300 or even 400,000 variants?

• But > 5700 Gk. texts and 20,000 in other ancient languages, lectionaries, major Church Fathers

• = 8-16 variants per manuscript on average

SESSION #4 The Text of the New

Testament, and Especially of the Gospels



• Sizable majority affect only spelling

• All carefully copied vs. casual scrawls

• Greater frequency before 4th century but not in any increasing trajectory

• About 1400 in standard Gk. NT. edition of UBS

• About 300-400 in most English translations

• Only two dozen affect a verse or more

• Only two involve an entire passage

• Mark 16:9-20

• John 7:53-8:11

• No doctrine depends on any disputed text

21

Notes:

SESSION #4: THE TEXT OF THE NEW TESTAMENT

23

A Brief Overview of English Bible Translations

• Pre-KJV

• KJV and NKJV

• Formal Equivalence: ASV—NASB; RSV—NRSV and ESV

SESSION #5 The Translation of the New Testament, and

Especially of the Gospels



• Dynamic Equivalence: NLT and others

• Optimal Equivalence: NIV and others

Notes:

What Many Don’t Understand About Bible Translations

• The difference between editions and versions

• How similar all translations are

25

• How frequently one translation theory shades into another in a given version

• Thesignificanceof inclusivelanguage

Notes:

SESSION #5: THE TRANSLATION OF THE NT

27

External Evidence

• Matthew

• Mark

• Luke

• John

Notes:

SESSION #6 The Authorship

and Dating of the Gospels



Internal Evidence

• Matthew

• Mark

• Luke

• John

Notes:

29SESSION 6: THE AUTHORSHIP AND DATING OF THE GOSPELS

31

Were the Gospel Writers Interested in Preserving History?

• The effect of belief in an imminent end

- Mark 9:1, Mark 13:30, Matt. 10:23

- Psa. 90:4 in Jewish and Christian thought

- The ethical topics of Jesus

SESSIONS #7 & #8 The Reliability of the

Oral Tradition



- The example of Qumran and the DSS

Notes:

• The effect of an ideological bias

- The example of Holocaust historians vs. revisionists

- The nature of early Christian theological commitment and the role of hostile eyewitnesses

Notes:

33

• The issue of early Christian prophecy

– But see Rev. 2:1, Acts 11:28, 21:10-11

– The principle of 1 Cor. 14:29

– The “missing sayings” (i.e., topics) of Jesus

• E.g., on circumcision

• E.g., on speaking in tongues

Notes:

SESSIONS 7-8: THE RELIABILITY OF THE ORAL TRADITION


Were the Gospel Writers Able to Preserve Reliable History?

• Short period of oral tradition

• Use of note-taking by rabbis

• Tendency to abbreviate

• Existence of center of leadership

• Difficultsayingsof Jesus

• Distinctions as in I Cor. 7:10-12

Notes:

35

• The guarded tradition and the role of memorization in ancient Mediterranean cultures

• Informal,controlledtraditionandflexibilityof transmission withinfixedlimits

• Social memory and its strengths and weaknesses

Notes:

SESSIONS 7-8: THE RELIABILITY OF THE ORAL TRADITION

37

The Synoptic Problem

• Verbatim Parallelism

• In Greek

• Parenthetical comments

• Order of episodes

• Luke 1:1-4

SESSION #9

The Composition of the Synoptic Gospels



Notes:

Markan Priority

• Vividness

• Grammar and Style

• Potentially embarrassing or misleading details

• Shortest Gospel with most detailed passages

• Little not paralleled in Matthew and Luke

• Aramaisms

• What is not in Mark

39

• Resulting theological emphases in Matthew & Luke

Notes:

Q, M, and L?

• Q?

– 235 verses in Matthew and Luke but not Mark

– Mostly “sayings,” a popular genre

– Not as closely parallel or one Gospel consistently “earlier” as if one directly used the other

Notes:

SESSION #9: THE COMPOSITION OF THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS


• M and L?

– Some homogeneity of unparalleled material

– But could be composite of oral and written sources and, for Matthew, memory

Notes:

41SESSION #9: THE COMPOSITION OF THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS

43

Major Proposals for Gospel Genres

• Aretalogies—Greco-Roman lives of divine men

• Comedies or Tragedies (like drama)

• Epic narratives or sagas (like Homer)

• Extended parable or apocalypse

• Midrash

SESSION #10

The Literary Genre of the Gospels



• Sui generis (one of a kind)

• Biographies

Notes:

Characteristics of Ancient Biographies

• Selectivity in narrating portions of a life

• Use of narrative time for indicating importance

• Topical as well as chronological arrangements

• Paraphrase, abbreviation, and explanation of speakers’ words in world without quotation marks

45

• Rewording sources to make them one’s own

• Lessons to be learned

Notes:

SESSION #10: THE LITERARY GENRE OF THE GOSPELS

47

Insights Into Specific Imagery

• Millstones

• Cornerstones

• Immersion pools

• “Moses’ seat” in the synagogue

• Thatched roofs

• Winepresses

SESSION #11

Archaeology for the Gospels



Notes:

Actual Sites of Jesus’ Ministry

• Sidewalks, steps, shops surrounding Temple Mt.

• Magdala (and now Dalmanutha?)

• Khersa/Qursi

• Gethsemane and Mt. of Olives

Notes:

49

Comparatively Recent Finds

• The Pilate inscription

• The Johanan ossuary

• The “Jesus-boat”

• Caiaphas’ tomb

• The ossuary of “James son of Joseph brother of Jesus”

• First-century house in Nazareth

Notes:

SESSION #11: ARCHAEOLOGY FOR THE GOSPELS


Helpful Artifacts

• Corban

• Temple porticoes

• Coins with Caesar’s image

• “for what you are here” on a beaker

• Vineyard with walls, winepress, tower

• Nazareth decree against grave robbing

• Ornate tombs in Kidron Valley

Notes:

51SESSION #11: ARCHAEOLOGY FOR THE GOSPELS

53

Greco-Roman Sources

• Thallus

• Pliny the Younger

• Suetonius

• Tacitus

• Lucian of Samosata

• Mara bar Serapion

SESSION #12

Non-Christian Evidence for Jesus



Notes:

Jewish Sources

• Talmud

– Calling oneself God or Son of Man

– Details of trial of bar Kochba

– A sorcerer who led Israel astray

– Son of Pandera/Panthera

– Hanged on Passover Eve

• Josephus

– Information about John the Baptist

– James, “brother of Jesus, the one-called Christ”

– The Testimonium Flavianum

55

Notes:

SESSION #12: NON-CHRISTIAN EVIDENCE FOR JESUS

57

Evaluating the Non-Canonical Gospels by Twelve Key

Criteria of Historical Reliability

1. Textual Criticism

2. Authorship

3. Dating

4. Ideological Intention

SESSION #13

The Apocryphal and Gnostic Gospels Further

Evaluated



5. State of the Oral Tradition

6. Literary Dependence

7. Genre

8. Hard Sayings: Anti-Semitism and Misogyny

9. The Key Missing Topic: Jesus’ Humanity

10. Non-Christian Testimony

11. Archaeology

12. Other Early Christian Testimony

Notes:

59SESSION #13: THE APOCRYPHAL AND GNOSTIC GOSPELS

61

SESSION #14

The Quests of the Historical Jesus

Center for the Study of New Testament Manuscripts (CSNTM)

• The “Old” Quest (as summarized by Albert Schweitzer)

• Rudolf Bultmann and the Period of “No Quest”

• The New Quest (begun by Ernst Käsemann and James M. Robinson

• The Third Quest of Today



• Problems with This Schematization

Notes:

Contemporary Historical Jesus Portraits

• Prioritizing Jesus’ Deeds

– Eschatological Prophet

– Charismatic Holy Man

– Social Reformer

– Proactive Peacemaker

63

– Failed Zealot

– Marginalized Messiah

• Prioritizing Jesus’ Teachings

– Incarnation of Divine Wisdom

– Sociopolitical Liberator

– Cynic Sage

– Oriental Guru

– Messianic Herald of the Kingdom

Notes:

SESSION #14: THE QUESTS OF THE HISTORICAL JESUS

65

SESSION #15

Why Such Diversity Exists and the Criteria of

Authenticity

Why Such Diversity?

• Many parts of many portraits complementary

• Presuppositions and ideological commitments

• Starting points and central points

• Which portions of Gospel tradition accepted?

• Positions on the burden of proof



• Otherreligiousparallelsandtheirsignificance

Notes:

The Criteria of Authenticity

• Traditional

– Multiple Attestation

– Double Dissimilarity

– Coherence

67

– Palestinian Environment

• Recent Proposals

– A Continuum Approach (Double Similarity)

– Double Dissimilarity and Double Similarity

Notes:

SESSION #15: WHY SUCH DIVERSITY EXISTS

69

SESSION #16

The Most Authentic Parts of the Synoptic

Tradition

The Historical Jesus of the Synoptics

• Interaction with John the Baptist

• Calling Twelve Disciples (as Family!)

• Teachings on the Kingdom (esp. in Parables)

• Exorcisms and Physical Healings

• Table Fellowship with Sinners



• Legal Controversies (esp. about Sabbath)

• Peter’s Declaration of Jesus’ Identity

• Royal Entry into Jerusalem

• Temple Incident

• Last Supper

• Blasphemy and Jesus’ Final “Examination”

• Roman “Examination” and Execution

Notes:

71SESSION #16: THE MOST AUTHENTIC PARTS OF THE SYNOPTIC

73

SESSION #17

The Resulting Identity of Jesus

The Resulting Christology of the Jesus

• Jesus’ Relationships

– Greater than John the Baptist

– Challenging Jewish Leaders about Law

– Creating a new, freed Israel with disciples



• Non-titular Christology

– Kingdom’s arrival implies king’s presence

– Metaphors applied to YHWH in OT

– Responses to Jesus determine eternal state

– Implications of forgiving sins

– Abba and Amen

–Messianicdemonstrationsof finalweek

• Titular Christology

– Son of Man

75

– Other Titles

Notes:

SESSION #17: THE RESULTING IDENTITY OF JESUS

77

SESSION #18

Problems of Harmonization

Among the Synoptics

Kinds of Apparent Contradictions

• ConflictingTheologies?

• The Practice of Paraphrase

–TheologicalClarification

– Representational Changes

– Synecdoche



– Partial Reports

Notes:

• Chronological Problems

• Omissions

• Presupposing what is explicit elsewhere

• Excerpting different parts of a longer original

• Following conventional standards of speech

• Compressing or telescoping a narrative

• Composite Speeches?

79

• Apparent Doublets

• Variations in Names and Numbers

Notes:

SESSION #18: PROBLEMS OF HARMONIZATION

81

SESSION #19

Problems of Harmonization between the Synoptics and John

Problems Between John and the Synoptics

• Omissions and Singly Attested Material

• Theological Differences

– Christology

– Other Themes



• Chronological Problems

– Overall Outline of John

–SpecificDislocations

– Passion Narrative

• Alleged Historical Discrepancies

• Johannine Style

– Extended Discourses

• Kernel Synoptic Sayings

• The Johannine Thunderbolt

83

• Abbreviations with Careful Structure

• Numerous Conceptual Parallels

– Language Indistinguishable Throughout

• Role of Holy Spirit/Paraclete

• John’sYearsof Preaching(influencedby Jesus?)

Notes:

SESSION #19: PROBLEMS OF HARMONIZATION

85

SESSIONS #20 & #21

The Reliability of John

Global Features

– Authorship

– Date

– Audience

– Possible Sources, but Redactional Unity

– Purposes



– Literary Genre

– Two Kinds of Interlocking

• Presupposing Knowledge of “Kerygma”

– John 3:24

– John 11:2

– John 18:24, 28

• Explaining Cryptic Parts of Synoptics

– John 2:19

– John 18:31

– John 1:35-42

87

Notes:

Section by Section

– Jesus and John the Baptist (chaps. 1, 3)

– Water into Wine (chap. 2)

– Jesus and Nicodemus (chap. 3)

– Jesus and the Samaritan Woman (chap. 4)

– Discourse on Father and Son (chap. 5)

SESSIONS #20 & #21: THE RELIABILITY OF JOHN


– Bread of Life Discourse (chap. 6)

– Living Water and Light of the World (chaps. 7-9)

– The Good Shepherd (chap. 10)

– Resurrection of Lazarus (chap. 11)

– Footwashing (chap. 13)

– Farewell Discourse (chaps. 14-16)

– High-Priestly Prayer (chap. 17)

– Passion Narrative Distinctives (chaps. 18-19)

– Resurrection Narrative Distinctives (chaps. 20-21)

89

Notes:

91

SESSION #22

A Fourth Quest of the Historical Jesus

Details in John Often Deemed Historical

• Jesus’ initial association with John the Baptist

• Jesus’firstencounterswithdisciples-to-be

• Jesus’ inaugural temple cleansing

• Overall three-year chronology

• Centrality of Sabbath healings



• Attempted revolt in the wilderness

• Prophetic agency

• Additional details in passion, resurrection stories

Notes:

Jesus the Purifier

• Jesus and John the Baptist

• Six Stone Jars

• Temple Cleansing

93

• Born of Water and the Spirit

• Living Water vs. Well Water

• At the Pool of Bethesda

• Ritually Unclean in the Wilderness

• Rivers of Living Water from Within

• At the Pool of Siloam

• AttheFeastHonoringPurificationof Temple

• TheUltimatePurificationof Lazarus

• Mary’s Anointing

• Footwashing

• Pruning the Vine

SESSION #22: A FOURTH QUEST OF THE HISTORICAL JESUS


• PrayerforSanctification

• Minor Details in Passion, Resurrection Stories

Notes:

97

SESSIONS #23 & #24

The Knowledge of the Jesus Tradition in the

Early Epistles

Paul’s Knowledge of Jesus’ Teachings

• The Clearest References

– 1 Corinthians 11:23-25

– 1 Corinthians 9:14

– 1 Corinthians 7:10



– Romans 12:14, 17-19

– Romans 13:7

– Romans 14:13-14

– Romans 15:1-3

– 1 Thessalonians 2:15-16



• Other Possible Allusions

– 1 Cor. 13:2, 1 Cor. 1-2, 1 Thess. 4:8, Gal. 1:15-16,

1 Cor. 5:1-5, Gal. 5:14, Col. 1:5-6, 2 Cor. 1:17

99

– Flesh vs. Spirit, Christ as Servant

• James and the Sermon on the Mount

Notes:

Paul’s Knowledge of Other Elements in the Gospels

• A Summary of the Key Items

• Other Possible Details

SESSIONS #23 & #24: THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE JESUS


• A Comparison of Key Themes

• JustificationbyFaithandKingdomof God

• The Role of the Law

• Gentile Women

• The Church

• Christology

• Eschatology

Notes:

101

Key Reasons for the Remaining Silence

• Epistolary Audiences

• Absence from Later Letters by Other NT Authors

• Genre of Epistles

• Centrality of Death and Resurrection

• Presuppositions of Letter Writers’ Theology

• Role of Inspiration

• Paul’s Tension with Jerusalem Apostles?

Notes:

103

SESSIONS #25 & #26

The Unique Problem of Miracles

Miracles are Natural if God Exists, but Does He?

• The Ontological Argument

• The Cosmological Argument

• The Teleological Argument

• The Moral Argument

• The Experiential Argument



• A “Science-of-the-Gaps” Response!

• The Issue of Faith

Notes:

Issues With Miracles, if God Exists

• The historical-philosophical argument

• Thescientificissues

• The comparative religions question

– How close are the parallels?

– What is the chronological sequence?

105

• The NT purpose

• Non-Christian testimony

Notes:

Miracles Outside the New Testament

• In the NT apocrypha

• Greek and Roman heroes or gods

– Apollonius of Tyana

– Mithras

– Horus

SESSIONS #25 & #26: THE UNIQUE PROBLEM OF MIRACLES


• Magic and exorcisms

• Jewish backgrounds

Notes:

Support for the NT Miracles

• Multiple attestation

• Multiple literary forms

• Double dissimilarity and double similarity

• Coherence with parables and kingdom of God

• The nature miracles

107

Notes:

SESSIONS #25 & #26: THE UNIQUE PROBLEM OF MIRACLES

109

SESSION #27

The Virginal Conception:Nativity or Naiveté

General Issues

• The comparative religions question

• The illegitimacy of Jesus?

• Is Matthew a midrash?

• Commonalities between Matthew and Luke

Notes:



Specific Problems

• Thespecificsupernaturalphenomenainthenarratives besides the conception

• TheflighttoEgypt

• Nazareth vs. Bethlehem

• Herod’s pogrom

• Quirinius’ census

Notes:

111

Positive Support

• Historical verisimilitude

• Luke 1:1-4 vs. the rest of chapters 1-2

• The restrained nature of the predictions

• Lack of later theological use in NT

• Anti-Christian polemic in 2nd—5th centuries

Notes:

SESSION #27: THE VIRGINAL CONCEPTION: NATIVITY OR NAIVETÉ

113

SESSION #28

The Resurrection: Fact or Fiction

The Inadequacy of Alternate Explanations

• The swoon theory

• Jesus’ disciples stole the body

• The women went to the wrong tomb

• Mass hallucination (subjective visions)

• Legendary or mythological explanations

– The lack of actual parallels

– The uniqueness of the Christian claim



Notes:

Evidence for a Bodily Resurrection

• The testimony of Paul

• Jewish belief

• Change from Sabbath to Sunday worship

• Womenasfirstwitnesses

• Restrained descriptions compared to Apocrypha

• No tomb venerated in early centuries

• Deut. 21:23 “contradicted”

• No Jewish expectation of resurrection before Judgment Day

Notes:

115SESSION #28: THE RESURRECTION: FACT OR FICTION

117

SESSION #29

The Jesus We Never Knew

Timely Lessons For Today’s Evangelicals

• Jesus’ Humanity

– The Gradual Disclosure of the Messiah – Luke 2:52

• Jesus the Jew – Issues • “Badges of National Righteousness” • Legalism, Nomism, and Ethnocentrism



– Hostility • Matt. 8:10-12 • Mark 11:15-19

• Compassion for Social Outcasts • Jesus’ Friends • Jesus’ Enemies

• Money Matters – The Goodness of Possessions – The Dangers of Possessions – The Stewardship of Possessions

• Creating Community – Biblical “Family Values” – The Importance of Unity

119

Notes:

SESSION #29: THE JESUS WE NEVER KNEW

121

SESSION #30

Summary and Conclusions

Key Take-away Points

• Ancient Sources for a Knowledge of Jesus

• The Reliability of the Text of the Gospels

• The Accuracy of Translations of the Gospels

• First-Century, First- or Second-Hand Authors and Dates

• ASufficientlyReliableOralTradition



• The Composition of the Gospels

Notes:

• The Literary Genre of Ancient Biography

• TheSignificanceof Archaeology

• Ancient Non-Christian Testimony to Jesus

• The Diverse Quests of the Historical Jesus

• The Most Authentic Parts of the Gospels

• The Jesus who Emerges from These Parts

• Can the Gospels Be Harmonized?

123

Notes:

• Distinctive Issues with John’s Gospel

• The Jesus Tradition in Paul (and James)

• Good Reasons for Believing the Gospel Miracles

• Unique Issues Surrounding the Virginal Conception and the Resurrection

• A Jesus who Challenges Everyone

Notes:

SESSION #30: SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS

125SESSION #30: SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS


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