Reliability of the New Testament Through Critical Analysis

Examining the Reliability Examining the Reliability of the New Testament of the New Testament Christopher Cone, Th.D, Ph.D, Ph.D drcone.com calvary.edu

Three Areas of Biblical Criticism Three Areas of Biblical Criticism Higher Criticism Lower Criticism Content Criticism

Higher Criticism Higher Criticism Authorship and aspects above the text itself Who wrote the books? Were the alleged authors educated enough to write? Is the content consistent with the alleged writer s sphere of knowledge? Is style reflective of single or multiple authors?

Lower Criticism Lower Criticism The reliability of the manuscripts themselves Are there any original manuscripts? How much time elapsed from our earliest copies? Are there copyist errors?

Content Criticism Content Criticism Are the events recorded historically legitimate? Theologically legitimate? Coherent? Authentic?

Two Approaches Two Approaches The liberal approach assumes non-reliability until proven otherwise Based on assumption of naturalism The conservative approach assumes reliability until proven otherwise Based on assumption of theism

For the more I studied, the more I saw that reading a text necessarily involves interpreting a text. I suppose when I started my studies I had a rather unsophisticated view of reading: that the point of reading a text is simply to let the text "speak for itself," to uncover the meaning inherent in its words. Bart Ehrman, Misqouting Jesus, p. 216 Christianity began, of course, with Jesus, who was himself a Jewish rabbi (teacher) who accepted the authority of the Torah, and possibly other sacred Jewish books, and taught his interpretation of those books to his disciples. Bart Ehrman, 20

We know this, for example, from the Gospel of Luke, whose author indicates that in writing his account he consulted "many" predecessors (Luke 1:1), which obviously no longer survive. One of these earlier accounts may have been the source that scholars have designated Q, which was probably a written account, principally of Jesus's sayings, used by both Luke and Matthew for many of their distinctive teachings of Jesus (e.g., the Lord's Prayer and the Beatitudes). Bart Ehrman, 24

Humanism and the NT Humanism and the NT Humanists reject the claim that the Bible is the word of God. They are convinced the book was written solely by humans in an ignorant, superstitious, and cruel age. They believe that because the writers of the Bible lived in an unenlightened era, the book contains many errors and harmful teachings. Joseph Sommer, Some Reasons Why Humanists Reject the Bible American Humanist Association https://americanhumanist.org/what-is-humanism/reasons-humanists-reject-bible/

Finally, the harm that the Bible causes in peoples personal lives should be mentioned as a reason for rejecting the book. It s not uncommon to see media reports about Bible believers committing bizarre, injurious, and sometimes deadly acts. Some people use Bible verses to justify beating children, withholding medical treatment, handling snakes, drinking poison, chopping off body parts, plucking out eyes, driving out demons, withdrawing from the affairs of this world, renouncing the pleasures of life, and expecting the world to end. If the Bible were not viewed as God s word, these acts would occur much less often. Sommer

Context for Criticism Context for Criticism

Context for Criticism Context for Criticism

Context for Criticism Context for Criticism

Humanist Bases for Rejection of NT Humanist Bases for Rejection of NT 1. Contradictions and discrepancies 2. Cruelties 3. Incorrect ideas about the physical world 4. False Prophecies 5. Historical Inaccuracies 6. Harmful

What if God didn't say it? What if the book you take as giving you God's words instead contains human words? What if the Bible doesn't give a foolproof answer to the questions of the modern age abortion, women's rights, gay rights, religious supremacy, Western style democracy, and the like? What if we have to figure out how to live and what to believe on our own, without setting up the Bible as a false idol or an oracle that gives us a direct line of communication with the Almighty? Bart Ehrman, 14

All of these authors are trying to understand the world and their place in it, and all of them have valuable things to teach us. It is important to know what the words of these authors were, so that we can see what they had to say and judge, then, for ourselves what to think and how to live in light of those words. Bart Ehrman, 14

Top 4 Critical Issues Top 4 Critical Issues 1. Contradictions and discrepancies 2. Errors Includes false prophecies 3. No originals and questionable copies Includes Source Theory (JEDP, Q etc.) 4. Canon and Authorship

1. Contradictions and Discrepancies 1. Contradictions and Discrepancies In describing Jesus being led to his execution, John 19:17 recounts that he carried his own cross. But Mark 15:21-23 disagrees by saying a man called Simon carried the cross. Sommer

1. Contradictions and Discrepancies 1. Contradictions and Discrepancies Both genealogies begin with Jesus father, who is identified as Joseph (which is curious, given that Mary was supposedly impregnated by the Holy Ghost). But Matthew says Joseph s father was Jacob, while Luke claims he was Heli. Matthew lists 26 generations between Jesus and King David, whereas Luke records 41. Matthew runs Jesus line of descent through David s son Solomon, while Luke has it going through David s son Nathan. Sommer

1. Contradictions and Discrepancies 1. Contradictions and Discrepancies Concerning the death of Judas, the disloyal disciple, Matthew 27:5 states he took the money he had received for betraying Jesus, threw it down in the temple, and went and hanged himself. To the contrary, Acts 1:18 claims Judas used the money to purchase a field and falling headlong, he burst asunder in the midst, and all his bowels gushed out. Sommer

2 2. Errors (OT Example) . Errors (OT Example) Jeremiah 25:11 predicts the Jews would be captives in Babylon for 70 years, and II Chronicles 36:20-21 views the prophecy as fulfilled. But the Jews were taken into captivity by the Chaldeans when Jerusalem fell in 586 B.C.E. And Cyrus of Persia issued an order in 538 B.C.E. allowing them to return from Babylon to Judah. Thus, the Babylonian captivity lasted about 48 years. Sommer

2 2. Errors . Errors At Matthew 16:28, Jesus tells his disciples: There be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom. The people who were standing there all died eventually, and they never saw Jesus return to establish a kingdom. Sommer

2 2. Errors . Errors At Matthew 12:40 he teaches: For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale s belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. Mark 15:42-45 shows that Jesus died on a Friday afternoon. But Mark 16:9 and Matthew 28:1 tell us he left the tomb sometime on Saturday night or Sunday morning. Either way, the amount of time was less than three nights. Sommer CF Mt 16:21

3. Questionable Copies 3. Questionable Copies Ehrman argues that early Christian copyists were not well qualified, not professional, and made many mistakes (Misquoting, Ch. 2) One of the leading questions that textual critics must deal with is how to get back to the original text the text as the author first wrote it given the circumstance that our manuscripts are so full of mistakes. Ehrman, 57.

3. Questionable Copies 3. Questionable Copies a number of textual critics have started to claim that we may as well suspend any discussion of the "original" text, because it is inaccessible to us. Ehrman, 57. However, consider the verification of the 1stcentury BC Qumran Isaiah scroll in comparison with the 10th century Masoretic copy 95% agreement, the 5% was minor misspellings, and slips of the pen (Archer)

3. Questionable Copies 3. Questionable Copies The Galatians problem (from Paul s comment in 6:11) John 7:53-8:12 Mark 16:9-20

3. Questionable Copies 3. Questionable Copies The overall number of variants (first calculated by John Mill, counting 30k variants in 100 manuscripts in 1709) There are more variations among our manuscripts than there are words in the New Testament. Ehrman, 90

3. Questionable Copies 3. Questionable Copies How many words in the NT? 5,437, occurring 138,612 times However, with roughly 5,700 manuscripts, an average of only 24.3 variants per manuscript. Westcott and Hort suggest that 1/60thof all variants rise above trivialities and can be called substantial variations. In short, the NT is 98.33% pure. (Geisler)

3. Questionable Copies 3. Questionable Copies In fact, most of the changes found in our early Christian manuscripts have nothing to do with theology or ideology. Far and away the most changes are the result of mistakes, pure and simple slips of the pen, accidental omissions, inadvertent additions, misspelled words, blunders of one sort or another. Ehrman, 55

3. Questionable Copies 3. Questionable Copies Richard Simon advocated for Jerome s corrected Latin copies as superior to the Greek manuscripts Although the Scriptures are a sure Rule on which our Faith is founded, yet this Rule is not altogether sufficient of itself; it is necessary to know, besides this, what are the Apostolical Traditions; and we cannot learn them but from the Apostolical Churches, who have preserved the true Sense of Scriptures. Richard Simon, A Critical History of the Text of the New Testament (London, R. Taylor, 1689), 31.

Geislers Example Geisler s Example You have won ten million dollars. Yxo have won ten million dollars. Yxo have w n $10 million.

4. Canon and Authorship Issues 4. Canon and Authorship Issues Councils disputed canon, Catholic Bible includes Apocrypha. Jerome included Apocrypha in the Vulgate, but as an appendix, it was included after that in Catholic Bible On what basis to identify canonicity? Humanistic vs. Christological

Christ on the Canon, Authors Christ on the Canon, Authors Confirms the OT Mt 5:17, 11:13, Lk 11:51, 24:44, Jn 1:45 Commissions and confirms (11) apostles, some of whom were writers of the NT Mt 28:18-20, Jn 14:26, Ac 1:8 Apostles confirm other writers of the NT Mark (2 Tim 4:11), Luke (Phmn 24), James (Ac 12:17, 15:13,22, Gal 2:9), Jude (Ac 1:14, Ju 1), Author of Hebrews?

Summary of Evidence for NT Reliability Summary of Evidence for NT Reliability Higher Criticism Evidence Authors largely identified and confirmed No evidence to contradict traditionally held authors Early historians confirm (e.g., Eusebius)

Summary of Evidence for NT Reliability Summary of Evidence for NT Reliability Lower Criticism Evidence High level of agreement in manuscripts High degree of preservation

Summary of Evidence for NT Reliability Summary of Evidence for NT Reliability Content/Internal Evidence Jesus stamp of approval independently recorded by multiple sources Accuracy in fulfilled prophecy Thematic cogency

Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another Col 3:16.