IS THE NEW TESTAMENT RELIABLE?
IS THE NEW TESTAMENT RELIABLE?
By: Jack Guyler
If you mean by reliable that the New Testament (NT) you may have on your coffee table or on your phone is exactly what was written nearly 2,000 years ago, then the answer is no. We don’t have the original autographs, but what we have are copies – copies from copies – copies from hundreds or thousands of earlier copies. There are bound to be human errors in making copies. If you mean by reliable that the NT is precise and without error concerning all things including archeology, history and science, then again the answer is no. When the NT was written, they didn’t have the knowledge of science and astronomy we have today. When the original autographs were written, people thought the earth was flat and the sun revolved around the earth. The NT writers did have some misconceptions about their world. They didn’t have the advantage of collecting precise types of historical information we do today. So, yes, there were bound to be some scientific or archeological errors when writing the NT.
But what makes the NT holy scripture, according to the Church, such as the Council at Carthage in AD397 that finalized the 27 books/letters of the NT, is that each was useful for spiritual growth, consistent in their message about Jesus, written either by the apostles or those who knew them, and that the books or letters were inspired by God to teach and awaken the human heart to the grace of God in Jesus Christ (2 Timothy 3:16).
Here are three questions for us to consider:
WHAT IS THE NEW TESTAMENT?
It is a collection of books and letters written by those who knew Jesus or who knew those who knew Jesus. The NT is about the Person of Jesus. All 27 books point to Him as the Son of God who is Lord and Savior of the world.
The NT is not primarily a scientific nor historical account, but rather an account of those who followed Jesus and witnessed what He did. Most of the NT letters and Gospels were written by AD70 and the Gospel of John by around AD90. This might seem like a long time after the life of Jesus, but keep in mind in the ancient world, that most accounting of things was done through oral tradition and sharing stories. But it wasn’t very long, within 20 years after his ascension that accounts of his life were written down and were beginning to be spread around. The NT was actually written in bits and pieces long before most literature in the ancient world was written when recording or documenting events and people’s lives.
Though the NT is not a historical book, the events in it are recorded in time and space – the books and letters in the NT are very much set in a historical context. As you read through the books of the NT, you will quickly come across historical names, cities, places and events that serve as backdrops to the main story – that of telling us about Jesus Christ.
HOW DID WE GET THE BOOKS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT?
Initially the accounts of Jesus were verbally shared around with others, especially with those who didn’t know Him. Over time, they began to be written down by many different sources. These sources were then used by the Gospel writers and were included in their gospel accounts along with their own personal knowledge of Jesus for those who personally knew Him. By AD200, the Gospels and Paul’s letters were passed around frequently and quoted by most of the early Christians. By AD397 at the Council at Carthage, the 27 books in your NT were considered to meet the criteria as holy scripture. Many other books and sources were considered, but none made it into the NT.
CAN WE TRUST THE NEW TESTAMENT?
Now we come to the real question – can we trust the NT as our primary source to know Jesus and for our salvation? I believe we can for two reasons. First, the NT is more than a myth or fairy tale (“living happily ever after”) because it is set in a historical context, which is confirmed by outside and secular sources. Fairy tales are simply made up but not real to life. And the second reason is this, the NT addresses real life and talks about real issues. Here are some examples as to why I think the NT is reliable and can be trusted:
It talks about and addresses human struggles and suffering (John 16:33). We can all relate to struggles, suffering and life not always going our way. The message of the NT doesn’t sugar coat the real life problems we all face, including hardships, suffering, fear, sin and death
Another example that makes the NT real is how it presents the disciples. Some of these were actually the writers of the NT, yet they are presented as prideful, selfish, people of little faith or understanding, and thinking they knew better than Jesus what was needed by Him
Women play a prominent role in the stories of Jesus presented in the Gospels. Women had no status in the ancient world. So for women to be presented in such a prominent way tells me these stories weren’t made up, but actually happened – because no one in the ancient world would have thought to make up the important role women played
Paul’s conversion found in Acts 9. Again, not something you would make up. Paul was a great killer of early Christians who is converted to following Jesus and would go on to write most of the NT and suffer greatly for the cause of Christ
The NT is real in that it doesn’t pretend to have all the answers about life, the universe or God. It states clearly throughout that there are some things we can understand about God, but much of God is a mystery to our finite minds. The NT presents a God much bigger than we can comprehend or figure out
The Resurrection, which is the central event of the NT, is well documented by the NT and one of those things that would have been hard to make up or sell to people back then if not true, because so many people were persecuted or put to death because of embracing this as true
Finally, why was the NT written? I think the writer of the Gospel of John sums it up well:
“Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in His name.”
- John 20:30-31
