{"id":69007,"date":"2019-01-07T18:55:24","date_gmt":"2019-01-08T01:55:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?p=69007"},"modified":"2019-01-07T18:56:26","modified_gmt":"2019-01-08T01:56:26","slug":"question-are-the-new-testament-documents-reliable","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2019\/01\/question-are-the-new-testament-documents-reliable.html","title":{"rendered":"Question: Are the New Testament documents reliable?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"University<\/a>
An enclosure in the reading room of the John Rylands Library at the University of Manchester in the United Kingdom \u00a0 \u00a0(Wikimedia Commons public domain image)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

I published this column in the Deseret News<\/em>\u00a0on 1 September 2016:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

F.F. Bruce (died 1990) spent most of his career as Rylands Professor of Biblical Criticism and Exegesis at England\u2019s University of Manchester. An accomplished scholar of Greek who authored over 40 books, he argued for the historical trustworthiness of the New Testament, which he saw as essential to Christian faith.<\/span><\/p>\n

He published his first book, \u201cThe New Testament Documents: Are They Reliable?\u201d in 1943. It rapidly became something of a classic and has remained influential through multiple editions. (In this column, I draw from the 1994 printing of the fifth revised edition.)<\/span><\/p>\n

In it, Bruce observes that \u201cThe New Testament was complete, or substantially complete, about A.D. 100, the majority of the writings being in existence 20 to 40 years before this.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

For example, he dates 10 of Paul\u2019s epistles to the period between A.D. 48 and A.D. 60. Additionally, he cites a majority of modern scholars as dating the gospel of Matthew to roughly A.D. 85-90, Mark to around A.D. 65, Luke to approximately A.D. 80-85, and John to about A.D. 90-100. Bruce himself favors earlier dates for the three synoptic gospels (Mark, 64-65; Luke, just before 70; Matthew, shortly after 70).<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cBut even with the later dates,\u201d he writes, \u201cthe situation is encouraging from the historian\u2019s point of view, for the first three Gospels were written at a time when many were alive who could remember the things that Jesus said and did, and some at least would still be alive when the fourth Gospel was written.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Moreover, he adds, \u201cIf it could be determined that the writers of the Gospels used sources of information belonging to an earlier date, then the situation would be still more encouraging.\u201d And, in fact, he believes that such information sources are detectable in the Gospels.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe evidence for our New Testament writings is ever so much greater than the evidence for many classical authors, the authenticity of which no one dreams of questioning,\u201d he writes. \u201cAnd if the New Testament were a collection of secular writings, their authenticity would generally be regarded as beyond all doubt.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Specifically citing the surprised reaction of A.N. Sherwin-White, a prominent historian of ancient Rome, to the approach of many biblical scholars, Bruce comments on the \u201ccurious fact that historians have often been much readier to trust the New Testament records than have many theologians.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

He also comments on the state of the New Testament manuscript evidence, which hasn\u2019t changed substantially since he wrote.<\/span><\/p>\n

For Julius Caesar\u2019s \u201cGallic War,\u201d written between 58-50 B.C., nine or 10 decent manuscripts exist, the earliest of which was created nine centuries after Caesar. Of the 14 books of the \u201cHistories\u201d of Tacitus (d. ca. AD 100), only four completely survive \u2014 in just two manuscripts, from the ninth century and the 11th. Beyond a few papyrus scraps from roughly the time of Jesus Christ, the great fifth-century B.C. history of Thucydides is known to us through just eight manuscripts, the earliest of which was created around A.D. 900. The same is true of his great contemporary, Herodotus, often called \u201cthe Father of History.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cYet,\u201d Bruce comments, \u201cno classical scholar would listen to an argument that the authenticity of Herodotus or Thucydides is in doubt because the earliest (manuscripts) of their works which are of any use to us are over 1,300 years later than the originals.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

By contrast, over 5,000 entire or partial manuscripts exist for the New Testament. The Codex Bezae, for instance, contains the Gospels and Acts in both Greek and Latin and was created in the fifth or sixth century. The Codex Alexandrinus was produced in the fifth century. The\u00a0Codex Sinaiticus<\/a>\u00a0and the Codex Vaticanus date to around A.D. 350.<\/span><\/p>\n

But there\u2019s considerable evidence from one or even two centuries earlier still. Portions of the Chester Beatty Biblical Papyri, which contain most of the New Testament, date as far back as the early A.D. 200s. In fact, certain papyrus fragments that may reflect a knowledge of the four Gospels have been dated to no later than A.D. 150. One such fragment, kept in the John Rylands Library at Manchester, has been assigned a date of A.D. 130; it contains verses from John 18. Papyrus Bodmer II, from around A.D. 200, contains the first 14 chapters of John, with only one relatively small gap.<\/span><\/p>\n

Greek and Roman history are routinely discussed and taught on the basis of manuscript evidence that isn\u2019t remotely as solid and secure as this.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 \u00a0 I published this column in the Deseret News\u00a0on 1 September 2016: \u00a0 F.F. Bruce (died 1990) spent most of his career as Rylands Professor of Biblical Criticism and Exegesis at England\u2019s University of Manchester. An accomplished scholar of Greek who authored over 40 books, he argued for the historical trustworthiness of the New […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1019,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-69007","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nQuestion: Are the New Testament documents reliable?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"    I published this column in the Deseret News\u00a0on 1 September 2016:   F.F. 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