A Testament to Facts

The B-I-B-L-E, yes thats the book for me! This childish ditty reminds Christians of the superiority of the scripture and the necessity of its reliability. When called into question, the New Testament is often criticized as a fraud and doubted because of its supernatural elements. Often, critics are attacking the message of the New Testament and fail to recognize its authenticity and reliability as a basic document. If sections of the New Testament is proven then the whole should also be considered true. Therefore, it is our role as Christians to discover the reliability of the gospels and reveal their historical accuracy. The New Testament contains historical markers that line up with the history of the early first century and is one of the most consistent documents in existence. Most importantly, our faith in the accuracy of the Bible is not groundless and therefore the message of scripture becomes (if possible) even more significant. Christians rely on the scriptures.

 Their reliability strengthens our trust in the words of God. 

Firstly, the historical accuracy of the New Testament is documented through the cohesion of the lives of Paul and the history of the first century. For instance, the figures of King Herod and Jesus Christ have been proven by non-biblical accounts and relate similar lives of each person. Geographical descriptions remain founded and have served to enlighten many in the quest for discovering various ancient places and details. Such as the journey's of Paul, which is not only supported by the writings under Emperor Nero, but the specific geographic details suggest accuracy and eyewitness accounts. Numerous events line up with trusted historical dates and provide a foundation for believing the authority of scripture. Several arguments arise such as "Oral Tradition is Unreliable" or the writers had a specific agenda hold little water when considering the culture of Jerusalem and the background of the Disciples. Firstly, oral tradition is considered a reliable means of relating facts and general meaning and secondly, must of the new testament was written down and then proceeded to copy. The idea of the writers possessing an agenda becomes silly when considering their subsequent torture, imprisonment, and death for the sake of the gospel. Selfishness could not carry men into sacrificing their lives for a personal agenda. Their agenda could not have succeeded due to the numerous eyewitness that observed the teachings of Jesus and could question the writings. Finally, the teachings of Jesus are confusing and if in possession of an agenda, these teachings would have been omitted. Not only do events support the reliability of the gospel, but the arguments prove irrelevant when considering the culture of the Jews. 

The manuscript evidence for the New Testament provides the greatest argument for the reliability of the gospel and Jesus' message. For instance,"There are presently 5,686 Greek manuscripts in existence today for the New Testament.1 If we were to compare the number of New Testament manuscripts to other ancient writings, we find that the New Testament manuscripts far outweigh the others in quantity." Even more so, these manuscripts can be cross-checked for accuracy and consistency between each article. The specific details of the New Testament's comparison to other ancient documents also suggests a bias toward the question of the New Testament (for more information go to carm.org/manuscript-evidence). To compound these details, "the internal consistency of the New Testament documents is about 99.5% textually pure.  That is an amazing accuracy.  In addition there are over 19,000 copies in the Syriac, Latin, Coptic, and Aramaic languages.  The total supporting New Testament manuscript base is over 24,000." A fragment of the gospel of John dates back to 29 years from its original writing and is simply unheard of within ancient documents. The manuscript evidence of the New Testament reveals the unheard accuracy of its ancient story and allows the Christian to trust the authority of scripture.