Can I trust what I read in the Bible about Jesus? - Midweek Message 16th September 2020

 The reliability of Luke and the New Testament writers

Dear Friends,

Many have undertaken to draw up an account of the things that have been fulfilled among us,  just as they were handed down to us by those who from the first were eye-witnesses and servants of the word.  Therefore, since I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning, it seemed good also to me to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus,  so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught. (Luke 4.1-4)

The way in which Luke opens his gospel is hugely significant and again following on from Sunday past, I wanted to take the opportunity this Midweek Message affords to say a little more about that significance especially with any in mind who sometimes ask themselves or are asked by others: ‘Can I really trust what I am reading about Jesus in the gospels and the New Testament? How can I be sure that Jesus and all that he said and did is real and not just a figment of someone’s vivid imagination?’

In his introduction Luke is revealing his mindset and his methods in the writing of his gospel.  He had not personally been present in Palestine during the time of Jesus’ public ministry. He had neither seen nor heard Jesus, but he was well aware of the accounts of Jesus life that were in circulation and he decided it would be good if he too wrote an orderly account. Therefore, to that end, he went to those who were eye-witnesses of these events – interviewed them, recorded their testimony and put it together in orderly fashion. In his own words he says he carefully investigated everything from the beginning.   He had played the role of the investigative journalist, the self-conscious historian. He was not fabricating truth but recording it.  In that regard the work of academics such as Sir William Ramsey as well as the discoveries of archaeology have confirmed the historical accuracy of Luke, in the face of much scepticism, including that of Ramsay himself before he began his research.

Furthermore in terms of corroborating  evidence external to the New Testament, it’s worth listening to John Dickson, whom among other things is Visiting Academic at the Faculty of Classics at Oxford University & between 2003-17 was a Fellow of Macquarie University, Sydney’s Department of Ancient History. He wrote particularly for anyone who was tempted to consider the life of Jesus ‘a well-documented fairy-tale’:

The broad outline of Jesus life is confirmed by several passing references to him in non-Christian writings of the period: three from Roman authors (once each in Tacitus, Suetonius and Pliny) and four from Jewish pens (twice each in Josephus and the Talmud) If one pieces together all the information contained in those statements one learns when Jesus lived, where he lived, that his mother was named Mary and that his conception was irregular, that he was a renowned teacher, that he did things which both friends and foes thought to be supernatural, that he was given the title Messiah, that he was executed, how, and by whom, that he had a brother who was also executed, that people claimed he was raised from the dead, and that his followers continued to worship him after he was gone. All this without opening a Bible.

Let me also add something further, especially in relation to the supernatural or miraculous things that Luke and the other gospel writers record Jesus as doing or happening to him.  People can be particularly sceptical about these. Can we take seriously stories like Jesus’ healing of the paralysed man we looked at last Sunday (Luke 5.17ff) or his feeding of a crowd of more than 5000 with just five loaves and two (9.12ff)?  Are these credible?

 Many scholars believe Luke wrote his gospel in the AD 60’s and the majority of all scholars believe Luke made use of material from Mark’s gospel which can be dated as early as the mid to late 50’s AD. In that case both these gospels were written within or around 30 or so years of the events they are recording, which is not a long time. I’m sure we can all clearly remember events that took place in our lives 30 years ago. In relation to Mark and Luke that would mean as they published their gospels about Jesus there would still be people who were alive at the time of the events they were recording.  That is particularly significant when it comes to the most miraculous and supernatural event of all concerning Jesus, namely his resurrection, to which of course all the Gospel and New Testament writers testify. Indeed, that reality of living witnesses is something Paul alludes to in what is probably the earliest written testimony to Jesus resurrection from the dead in the New Testament, 1 Corinthians 15.3-8. There he speaks of the resurrected Jesus appearing to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. (1 Cor 15.6). It would make no sense at all to write down spurious and fabricated claims of supernatural events in Jesus life and death and ministry  in the lifetime of people who were around to deny them if they had not in fact taken place. That last point is further reinforced when you remember that to be a Christian, to profess Jesus as the crucified and risen Lord, could seriously damage your health (cf Acts 7.54-60 & 12.2; 2 Corinthians 11.22ff) Why again would you make these things up when to trust and follow Jesus was so costly?

So then for those who are not yet Christians, there are good historical and rational grounds for giving  careful consideration to Luke’s (and the rest of the New Testament’s) recorded testimony to Jesus and for those who are Christians there are equally good grounds for being confident in  the certainty of the things you have been taught

Yours in that confidence,

David