The Reliability of the New Testament Documents

Part One: Did the New Testament Authors Tell the Truth?

Study The Great Books is committed to creating curricula and educational resources which operate consistently and faithfully within a robust biblical Christian perspective. Our great hope, in Christ, is to equip a generation of great thinkers who are conversant with the Great Tradition of thought, from Homer to our own day, while being thoroughly grounded in the Christian Scriptures as the final arbiter of truth, goodness, and beauty. In addition to our studies in great works of history and literature we are working to develop curricula in classical writing (the progymnasmata), Logic, and Classical Rhetoric. One of the elements which you will see woven into all of our curriculum is Christian apologetics. We want to equip students with the ability to articulate and defend Christian truth amid a world desperately in need of it.

In light of this goal STGB is involved in an annual Apologetics Conference called Give Them An Answer. The following series of posts are in conjunction with the material to be presented this year at that conference. Here is an out line of what will be covered in the first talk on the question, “Did the New Testament Author’s Tell the Truth?” In the posts that follow we will consider each line of evidence individually and demonstrate how it supports the claim that the N.T. authors did, in fact, tell the truth about the things they recorded. Here’s what you can expect to learn about in the coming days:

The Five E’s and Three C’s of New Testament Reliability

Early Testimony: The amount of time that elapsed between the historical events reported in the Gospels and their being recorded is very small.

Eye-Witness Testimony: The New Testament was written by eye-witnesses or close associates thereof.

Enemy Testimony: Many details of the New Testament are confirmed by those outside of (and often hostile towards) Christianity.

Embarrassing Testimony: The New Testament authors recorded embarrassing details which underscore the fact they were telling it like it is (not how they might prefer it to be).

Excruciating Testimony: Most (if not all) of those who wrote the New Testament paid with their life, but they never recanted their claims.

Consistent Testimony: Despite being written by numerous different authors, at different times and in different places, the New Testament presents a consistent view of the facts.

Coincidental Testimony: The New Testament Documents contain coincidental details (impossible to intentionally orchestrate) which confirm the truthfulness of the writers.

Confirmable Testimony: The New Testament authors wrote about real places, real people, and real events that are investigable.