New Testament: Most Reliable Documents In History

When thinking about the relationship between the authority of scripture and the historical reliability of the Bible, it is important to understand the definitions of the two key words at hand. According to the Oxford Dictionary, authority is defined as “the power or right to give orders, make decisions, and enforce obedience.” Reliability is stated as “the quality of being trustworthy or of performing constantly well.” From the beginning of our Christian lives, we are taught, or perhaps told, that the Bible is God’s truthful word and that we should not only trust it, but base our lives around serving Him through what is written in it’s pages. As it says in 2 Timothy 3:16-17, “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching,

The development of the established Holy Bible was a long, drawn out process that started with the foundation of the original Jewish scriptures, formerly known as the Torah. Building off of Jewish ideals, theologians and philosophers started compiling scriptures with the ultimate result of the New Testament canon. Typically, many factors were taken into account when distinguishing the credibility or incredibility of a given scripture. For example, apostolic succession, where and when it was written as well as the cohesiveness with the other scriptures (referring to the Old Testament, as well as the documents within what was to become the New Testament). There were various depictions of the New Testament as the universally accepted canon was still developing, some of which contained writings that were certainly questionable. However, there was an initial establishment of the scriptural canon that jump started the process of paving the road towards the Holy Bible as we know it today. It was the absurdity of Marcion’s teachings and that prompted the church to establish an orthodox position on doctrine.

How the Old Testament is known today, it was composed of works from the first-century B.C.E. However, on the other hand the books themselves date back to later dates close to the eleventh centuries or even maybe earlier. [Source]

[1] With all these various locations, facts, perspectives, identities, and languages that compile the Christian biblical text how can Christians know that the 27 books are the right 27 books? Again, the question of the canon, therefore, is at the very center of how biblical authority is established. [2] Even though the Bible has been established and authenticated for several centuries, the Christian community continues to circulate debate on the New Testament canon. In the introduction of the book (pp 15-24) Kruger states there are various reasons why this conversation is still happening. First, modern critical scholarship has continued to raise doubts about the authorship and date of numerous New Testament books, attributing them to later, pseudonymous authors. Throughout the text many of the models date the completed canon to the fourth century. Second, the later century and a half have been filled with sensational discoveries of apocryphal materials that have raised new questions about which books should be included in the canon. The discoveries of apocryphal gospels such as the Gospel of Peter, the Gospel of Thomas, the Secret gospel of Mark, and most recently, the Gospels of Judas have raised questions about the state of

Questions about the authenticity of the Holy Bible have been interrogated since the first circulation of the Word. Nonbelievers dispute the entirety of the actuality of the Holy Bible. While skeptical believers along with some nonbelievers question the accuracy of recorded events within the Holy Bible, specifically the Gospels. Individuals debate the issue if the Gospels are historically reliable, claiming there is no tangible evidence and the books contradict themselves. Mark D. Roberts, in his book, Can we Trust the Gospels? was able to provide reliable evidence and reasons on why people can trust the Gospels. His book gives an overview on the subject of the gospel reliability and trustworthiness.

Many scholars claim the New Testament is not reliable for many reasons. Some claim that the Bible is not reliably transmitted because it's like the telephone game. Others say that the Bible has been copied so many times there is no way it's accurate. When examining documents like the Bible, we can find out it's reliability by asking some fundamental questions. Was the document written close to the events it describes? Is the document able to be corroborated by multiple external sources? Has the document been reliably transmitted or copied? If we answer yes to these questions, we determine the document is reliable.

The historical accuracy of the Bible: The Bible is the most accurate of ancient writings. There are 25,000 archaeological findings that back it up. There are nearly 25,000 manuscripts and portions of manuscripts that attest to its accuracy. There are several writings by scholars, who lived during the times of Jesus but were not followers of Christ supporting the biblical story of Jesus.

Paul explained to the Ephesians that when the fullness of time came, God sent His Son into the world to make known His will for the salvation of humanity. (Ephesians 1: 9-10) However, according to Paul, that plan had extended from the foundation of the world. “According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love.” (Ephesians 1: 4) And, it is mentioned in the very first book of the Bible.

The New Testament, sometimes called the Greek Testament or Greek Scriptures, and sometimes also New Covenant which is the literary translation of the Greek language, is the name given to the final portion of the Christian Bible. It was written by various authors after 45 AD and before 140 AD. Its books were collected into one single volume over a long period of several centuries. The New Testament is more or less the root of the Christian religion, which has played a major role in shaping modern Western morality and culture.

The first question we need to answer is what the definition of reliable is. The short version would be, the reliability means something is trustworthy. However it can also mean that something is consistently good in its quality. When referring to the bible reliability has to do with what it confirms and what it doesn't, such as the history of the geography to the dates stated. If the bible fails in these areas than clearly it is unreliable. I have decided to look into if the old and New Testament are reliable and if they line up with one another. Before we go back to the Old Testament let's look at the and New Testament, there are 27 books. The 4 gospels play an essential role in determining what we know about Jesus which include his birth,

In an interview with Bruce Metzger, PH.D, Dr. Metzger points out many facts and statistics that help prove that the New Testament in existence today is certainly an accurate representation of the original

With the completion of the Old Testament put a stop on the preaching and revelation of the prophets. Prophets were responsible for enlightening the Jews about the realities of life and resolved various issues that they had. The Jews were desperate to know the truth, and the teachings of the God and hence prophets aided these longings of theirs. Religious ritualism, social injustice, and idolatry were the three areas in which the prophets emphasized in their preaching and filled the hearts and minds of their believers with it. Prophets were enlightened and blessed beings that had much knowledge about the religious matters and their teachings are of still very significant and valid.

Around 2,000 years ago, the Christian faith began in Israel, and many people documented the historic uprising of Jesus of Nazareth and the growth of the religion. Before Jesus, the Hebraic Old Testament provided Jews with a guideline for one of the first monotheistic faiths, and Jews believed that God would send a Messiah to save His people. Once Jesus came, confusion surrounded Jesus, but amidst the doubt of the public Jesus taught the world about love and faith. Christian people documented His teachings and four biographies, the Gospels, began the process of the writings of the New Testament. Historians and scholars today question the reliability of the Gospels as many doubts about the reliability of manuscripts copied for 2,000 years.

We know that the New Testament did not emerge as a single collection of texts immediately, but that different groups of early Christians had different collections of sacred books. For not only did different Christians communities have their own perspective collections, but they had different versions of the same books. Looking at the bible from a historical point of view, it has been translated over and

This topic has been studied on for a long period of time already. Thus, resulting to a lot of articles on the internet or in books that prove that the Bible really is reliable. Despite it being about thousands and thousands of years old, it is still consistent and very up to date.