Comments from Pastor Billy about chapter eight of his summer book recommendation - a great read for high school graduates and their parents!
My Professor Keeps Pointing Out Contradictions in the Gospels--Can I Still Trust Them? (Chapter 11)
“Now, as a literary historian, I am perfectly convinced that whatever else the Gospels are they are not legends. I have read a great deal of legend and I am quite clear that they are not the same sort of thing.”
C. S. Lewis, God in the Dock
The Gospels are some of the greatest pieces of literature and history that we have about our Lord Jesus Christ. The Gospels are also some of the most scrutinized texts in all of human history. Michael Kruger wrote, “If you want to undermine Christianity, then you begin with undermining the Gospels. If you lose the Gospels, you lose Jesus. And if you lose Jesus, then there is no Christianity.” This may seem like an overstatement but if you think about it, how would you truly know who Jesus is? What he did? How did he fulfill the laws requirements?
Kruger then spends the remainder of the chapter talking about the dating, authors, reliability, and contradictions in the Gospels. One of the great things about our manuscript tradition is that we have copies of the Gospel accounts from around the time Jesus lived and died. We have evidence that the Gospels were written anywhere from the 50s to the 90s in the first century. Kruger wrote, “that means they were written when people who had witnessed these things were still alive.” We have first hand accounts from people who were around, and since these were written in the time period, many witnesses would have been able to corroborate the accounts. If there were any things written that were false the community would have told people.
As far as the authors are concerned, historically we would want to have people writing who knew Jesus best, and that would be his closest disciples. Two of the best pieces of evidence that we have that these people (Matthew, Mark, John, etc.) wrote gospels are the Church Fathers and the titles of the Gospels. For instance, Iranaeus born sometime around 120 and dying around 200, gives solid evidence that John the son of Zebedee wrote John. Kruger wrote, “Irenaeus’s primary source for much of his knowledge was his own mentor, Polycarp, the bishop of Smyrna. And here’s the amazing thing: Polycarp was mentored by the apostle John himself.” We have a clear line of evidence from John to Iranaeus that the Gospel of John was written by one of Jesus’ own disciples. This provides us some amazing trust in the Gospel and who Jesus is.
Finally, the Gospels sound and include so much evidence of eyewitness testimony. The Gospels include clear language that was used during the time period, and also specific Palestinian places, Jewish names, etc. The names could not have been made up and just inserted into the Gospels, people outside of Jerusalem and Palestine would not have understood the cultural context that well. Kruger makes it clear that “our four canonical Gospels show impressive awareness of the culture and context of the first century--and that is precisely what we would expect if they were written by the people whose names are attached to them.”
We have such a rich evidence of the truth of the Gospels that we need not be afraid when people bring up supposed contradictions. We have real evidence and historical information that prove the Gospel accounts are true. We also, as Christians, have the word confirmed through the Holy Spirit (2 Peter 1:19-21).
19 And we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts, 20 knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. 21 For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.
In Christ,
Billy