Can We Trust The New Testament?

1. Can We Trust The New Testament? www.SeanMcDowell.org

2. Scripture reveals the God “who is passionate about His relationship with you” ~ Exodus 34:14

3. Can We Trust the New Testament? • Three Key Tests: • Honesty Test • Telephone Test • Corroboration Test

4. 1. The Honesty Test Does the document claim to be reporting truth?

5. 1. The Honesty Test “The benefit of the doubt is to be given to the document itself, and not arrogated by the critic to himself” ~ Aristotle

6. “Many have undertaken to draw up an account of the things that have been fulfilled among us… ~ Luke 1:1-4

7. …just as they were handed down to us by those who from the first were eyewitnesses and servants of the word..

8. …Therefore, since I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning, it seemed good also to me to write an orderly account…

9. …so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught.” ~ Luke 1:1-4

10. “We did not follow cleverly invented stories when we told you about the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty.” ~ 2 Peter 1:16

11. “What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands...” ~ 1 John 1:1

12. “Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod was tetrach of Galilee, and his brother Philip was tetrarch of the reign of Ituraea…” ~ Luke 3:1

13. 1. The Honesty Test Does the document contain embarrassing material? Peter denies Jesus (Mark 14:70) Jesus calls Peter Satan! (Matt. 16:23) James and John want to reign with Jesus (Mk. 10:32-43) Disciples don’t understand Jesus’ teaching (Mk. 4:1-12) Women discover the empty tomb (John 20)

14. 2. The Telephone Test • The Telephone Test examines if the documents have reached us accurately.

15. Question 1: What is the time gap between the original copies and the copies we have today?

16. 2. The Telephone Test Time: Original

17. 2. The Telephone Test Time: Original Disintegrated

18. 2. The Telephone Test Time: Generation #1

19. 2. The Telephone Test Time: ? Generation #1 Generation #2

20. 2. The Telephone Test Time: ? ? Generation #1 Generation #2 Generation #3

21. 2. The Telephone Test • Pliny the Younger: 750 years • Caesar: 1000 years • Plato: 1200 years

22. 0 400 800 1200 1600 2000

23. Euripides 1500 yrs. Caesar 1000 yrs. Aristotle 1400 yrs. Plato 1200 yrs. Pliny the Younger 750 yrs. Catallus 1600 yrs. Sophocles 1400 yrs. 0 400 800 1200 1600 2000

24. Euripides 1500 yrs. Caesar 1000 yrs. Aristotle 1400 yrs. N.T. 50 yrs. Plato 1200 yrs. Pliny the Younger 750 yrs. Catallus 1600 yrs. Sophocles 1400 yrs. 0 400 800 1200 1600 2000

25. 2. The Telephone Test • John Ryland Papyrus 130 AD • Portions of the Gospel of John

26. 2. The Telephone Test • Chester Beatty Papyri 200 A.D. • Portions of Acts and the four Gospels

27. Complete New Testament Codex Vaticanus 325 A.D.

28. "We have more and earlier manuscript evidence about the person of Jesus Christ than we do anyone else in the ancient world-including Julius Caesar and Alexander the Great." Daniel B. Wallace, Reinventing Jesus

29. 2. The Telephone Test 200 Test #2: How many manuscripts do we have? 10

30. 2. The Telephone Test • Caesar: 10 manuscripts • Plato (Tetralogies): 7 manuscripts • Tacitus (Annals): 20 manuscripts

31. 2. The Telephone Test • The New Testament: • manuscripts 24,633

32. 2. The Telephone Test What is the #2 manuscript authority after the New Testament?

33. 2. The Telephone Test “The Iliad” by Homer 643 manuscripts

34. New Testament – 24,633 Iliad: 643

35. 24, 633 The Number of New Testament Manuscripts Compared to Other Ancient Works 20,000 15,000 10,000 5,000 643 193 49 20 10 7 0 New Testament Iliad Sophocles Aristotle Livy Caesar Plato

36. "The short answer to the question of what theological truths are at stake is none." Daniel B. Wallace, Reinventing Jesus

37. 2nd & 3rd century early Church Fathers Justin Martyr Ireneaus Clement of Alexandria

38. 2nd & 3rd century early Church fathers quote the New Testament 36,289 times

39. Because these early church fathers quoted the New Testament so much, all but eleven versesof the New Testament can be reconstructed just from their quotations.

40. 3. Corroboration Test Do other historical materials confirm or deny the testimony provided by the document themselves?

41. Early Non-Christian Writers • Ninenon-Christian sources mention Jesus within 150 years of his death—42 total • Tiberius Caesar, Roman emperor at the time of Jesus’ ministry and execution, has ten sources mention him within 150 years.

42. Archaeological Evidence • An inscription of Pilate

43. Archaeological Evidence The pool of Bethesda, as recorded in John 5:2

44. Dr. Hewitt, Harvard Theological Review: “There is astonishingly little evidence that the feet of a crucified person were ever pierced by nails.” A Dead Man Speaks • “Yohanan” found in 1968 crucified with 7” nails • His legs were broken, confirming John 19:32

45. “It may be stated categorically that no archaeological discovery has ever contraverted a biblical reference. Scores of archaeological findings have been made which confirm in clear outline or exact detail historical statements in the Bible.” ~ Nelson Glueck