For the next several weeks, during our summer break, we are reviewing one of our previous classes: A Case for the Gospels! This week’s class session focuses on the importance of the transmission of the Gospels. We can take confidence that the narratives have not been changed over time, not only based on eyewitnesses records and the fact that we have multiple, not singular, written testimony in the four Gospels, but also on the multiple chains of custody and translations over time.

Watch this week’s class presentation on this topic:

A Case for the Gospels Session Six: The Reliability of the Gospels – The Transmission

Prayer and Reflection

Prayer cards: Take a minute and write your name on the index card provided, and add any special prayer request you might have. Exchange cards at the end of the class this evening.

At your table groups, answer the following:

Go over the categories and the 27 books found in the New Testament.
Go over the 15 major historical events of the Bible.
Recite the Memory Verse:

The Great Commission

¹⁹ Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

Matthew 28:19-20 (NASB)

How were the Gospels transmitted over time?

Let’s start with evidence that most scholars agree on:

New Testament documents are considered primary eyewitness accounts, not secondary, because they were written in the first century during the time people involved were alive to confirm or dispute the events
The writings of the New Testament were immediately copied and widely dispersed throughout the Roman Empire and beyond (see the book of Acts) thus eliminating time for changes, forgeries, or embellishments
We have over 25,000 early New Testament manuscripts and fragments in five different document families from ancient Christian communities, dating as early as the second century, and most of these documents can be viewed in various libraries, museums, and churches around the world
Scholars find a 5% agreement between these early manuscripts with variations stemming mainly from differences in spelling, grammar, word order, and minor deletions or additions (noted in modern Bible footnotes)—none of which effects any doctrine of the Christian faith

What was the chain of custody? Three main lines from Jesus…

Mark/Apostle Peter AD 50 and his students…

Anianum AD 75 – Avilius AD 95 – Kedron AD 110 – Primus AD 110 – Justus AD 130 – Pantaenus AD 195 -Clement of Alexandria AD 210 (22 books) – Origin AD 250 (27 books) – Pamphilus AD 300 – Eusebius AD 335 (27 books)

Apostle Paul AD 50-60 and his students…

Linus AD 70 – Clement of Rome AD 95 (7 books) – Evaristus AD 100 – Alexander AD 110 – Sixtus AD 120 – Telesphorus AD 130 – Hyginus AD 135 – Pius 1 AD 150 – Justin Martyr AD 160 (5 books) – Tatian AD 175 (20 books)

Apostle John AD 70-90 and his students…

Ignatius AD 110 (7-16 books) – Polycarp AD 110 (14-16 books) – Irenaeus AD 185 (24 books) – Hippolytus AD 220 ( 24 books)

By AD 325 – 397 all 27 books of the New Testament were officially accepted and canonized in we have today!

What about all of those translations?

The Latin Vulgate

Latin replaced Greek as the universal language about the middle of the third century
Jerome, an Italian Hebrew scholar, translated both the Old and New Testaments from the original languages into Latin
The Latin Vulgate became so popular, and so identified with the Church of Rome, that it became blasphemous to have the Bible in any other language

Bible Warriors (many gave their lives as martyrs for the faith and transmission of the Word)

John Wycliffe: 1384 (bones were ground to dust for making an English translation)
Martin Luther: 1522 (excommunicated and went into hiding due to death threats)
William Tyndale: 1530 (burned at the stake)
John Knox and Miles Coverdale: 1560 (exiled – both worked on the Geneva Bible)
King James: 1611 (commissioned some 54 translators – Version still used today)

Chapters and Verses are a modern addition

Chapter divisions of the Bible were created by Stephen Langton, completed around AD 1227
Wycliffe’s Bible, completed in AD 1382 before the printing press, was the first Bible to use Langton’s chapter divisions
The first English Bible to use both chapters and verses was the Geneva Bible published in AD 1560

Can We Trust the Translations today?

YES!

Through the multitude of early manuscripts available for study, we can have confidence that what we have today is based on the original texts, and not changed over time.
The Bible can be studied today by almost anyone of any language, and we don’t have to depend on others to tell us what the Word of God says, we can read it for ourselves.
Most of the modern versions today have only been translated once from the original language, not from other multiple languages (the telephone game accusation is unfounded).
Serious students of the Bible can consult the original languages for accurate meaning in their translation because the original languages are not lost languages!

Study Bibles: Versions and Translations

Translations and versions can be generally categorized as seen in the following example:

Literal Translations: Word for word translations that work closest to the original Hebrew, Greek and Aramaic.

-New American Standard Bible

-King James Version

-New King James Version

-Revised Standard Version

-New Revised Standard Version

-English Standard Version

Dynamic Equivalent Translations: Thought for thought translations with clearest reading and closest meaning possible that finds equivalent concepts in English.

-New International Version

-Christian Standard Bible

-New Living Translation

-New English Version

-Revised English Version

Paraphrases: These have story like qualities and are not recommended for in-depth study.

-Message Bible

-Good News Bible

-Living Bible

-Phillips

-New Century Version

Note: All of the major versions can also be found in topical Bibles. Some are focused on particular groups or subjects. For example, there are student study Bibles, Bibles for men or women, and Bibles that have a specific focus like apologetics, archeology, culture, and life application.

Going Deeper

Video Recommendations from class:

Evidence for the Bible and its Reliability, J. Warner Wallace

Are there contradictions in the Gospels? J. Warner Wallace

HOW DO WE KNOW THE GOSPELS ARE HISTORICALLY RELIABLE?

The Gospels are based on Eyewitness Accounts and the True Nature of Eyewitness Accounts Can Be Determined by Using the Same Rules Used in Our Legal System Today:

Understanding the Apparent Contradiction in the Gospels, based on a list by J. Warner Wallace

Rule #1: Maintain A Fair Attitude
When you begin to read the Bible and examine what it says, it’s important to start off with a fair attitude. When skeptics call out apparent contradictions, take a minute to examine what it says fairly and objectively, don’t get cornered, pause and say let’s check it out.

Rule #2: Examine the Statement in Its Context
Remember, “Any text taken out of context is a pretext (an effort or strategy intended to conceal something or prove a point missing in the text). So never read a single Bible verse; always read the entire chapter and all the other accounts related to the narrative.

Rule #3: Recognize the Perspective of Each Eyewitness
Every witness offers a view of the event from his or her unique perspective, not just geographic or locational perspectives, but also the personal worldview, history, experience, idiosyncrasies and language every witness brings. We must be careful not to confuse differences in perspective with Biblical “error”.

Rule #4: Let the Witness Clarify Their Own Statement
Most modern translations of the Bible include Scripture references in the margin of the Bible to help us make sense of difficult passages. Allow the Bible to explain itself by reading these additional passages.

Rule #5: Differentiate Between Complimentary and Conflicting Accounts
When comparing two eyewitness accounts, detectives expect some degree of resolvable variation in true, reliable eyewitness accounts.

Rule #6: Don’t Confuse “Imprecision” with “Error”
The Bible was written at a time when the culture commonly used general figures or descriptions to discuss more specific issues. This is particularly true when the Bible discusses numbers. As a matter of cultural device, specific numbers are often rounded off.

Rule #7: Identify the Common Details of Parallel Accounts
When interviewing multiple eyewitnesses, detectives listen carefully for common features in their testimony. In every witness observation, common details are often the most important to the account, and detectives expect there to be variation in the ancillary information.

Rule #8: Remember A Description is Different Than An Approval
Sometimes critics of the Bible (or critics of Christianity in general) point to an evil or corrupt situation described in the Bible to argue God (or Christianity) approves of the situation (or is the source of the evil). Remember, just because a Biblical author writes about something, this does not mean God condones it or supports it. A condition described in the lives of Biblical characters isn’t always a condition God would want for those same Biblical figures.

Rule #9: Assess the Opportunity for Collusion
The Gospel authors (and the early Church) had the opportunity to eliminate alleged contradictions, but they refused to do so. As a result, we can have even more confidence in the reliability of these accounts. They display the level of variation expected if they were true, reliable eyewitness descriptions.

Rule #10: Don’t Fret Copyist Variants
None of the variations change the theology or content of the Bible. In addition, the variations existing in the ancient manuscripts can be found in the margins of the modern translations so you can investigate them for yourself (to see how important or unimportant they really are). The vast majority of these variations are single letter or number variations, and the copyists were extremely honest in the way they transmitted these errors down through the ages. As a result, the variations come down to us in complete honesty.

Rule #11: Don’t Treat Every Old Testament Citation as an Old Testament Quote
There are often times when New Testament writers cite a passage from the Old Testament to show a prophecy is being fulfilled. Some of the citations are not perfect “verbatim” quotes from the Old Testament. Our modern translations have added the quotation marks to the New Testament Scriptures. The original manuscripts did not contain the punctuation, paragraph delineations, or chapter divisions. The New Testament authors often paraphrase Old Testament passages without intending them to be verbatim quotes.

Rule #12: Remember Who’s Boss
We must remember the Bible describes the work of God here on planet earth and the history of God’s people. Sometimes we’ll read something in the Old Testament and wonder how God could act in such a way. Sometimes the God of the Old Testament can seem pretty harsh. Critics look at certain passages and argue the judgment seen in God’s nature in the Old Testament contradicts the mercy seen in God’s nature in the New Testament. But we need to read the Scriptures carefully and remember God alone is God. He knows the end from the beginning, and He is the source of all morality. He gets to make decisions over life and death, even when we don’t understand all the details.

These simple principles have been used repeatedly to evaluate alleged contradictions in the Gospels. For example, the number of angels at the tomb of Jesus, the number of women who visited the tomb, the variations in the wording of the sign over Jesus’ cross differences between the genealogies of Jesus.

Book Recommendations:

Encyclopedia of Bible Difficulties, by Gleason L. Archer

Making Sense of Bible Difficulties, by Norman L. Geisler and Thomas Howe

Bible Study

Each week, we are encouraging you to take some dedicated time and spend it in God’s Word. If you’ve been following our class each week, we finished the book of Ruth. Using the method of study that has best worked for you, continue on through the book of 1 Samuel and set a goal of completing that book.

Always remember to pray before you study and ask the Holy Spirit to teach you and lead you into the truth found in God’s Word – pray for protection from the evil one who will try to discourage, distract and deceive us when we commit to growing closer to the LORD.

Join us next week as we continue our review class: “A Case for the Gospels!”

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You will not find this material in the public school curriculum even though it is based on solid evidence and grounded in research. It is ironic that following the evidence to where it leads stops at the door of our public schools as they will not let a “Divine footprint” in! Join us as we examine evidence for Christianity and learn how to become a thoughtful defender and ambassador of your faith.

Click into the resource page of this website to view many of the top Christian thinkers and apologists along with some of their work; connecting to these types of resources is essential in your Christian growth.

Please let me know what you think: Give feedback, ask questions or send concerns in the comment section of the blog.

Teri Dugan

TeriDugan@truthfaithandreason.com

1 Peter 3:15