Join us on Sunday at
8:30am, 10:00am & 6:00pm

Are The Gospel Writers Reliable?

Luke 1:1-4

John 20:30-31

1. Were the gospels we have written down close the events?

Firstly, the bible does not describe or mention the actual destruction of the temple

– predicted in the book of Matthew (24:1-3)

Secondly, the gospels or any of the NT books do not include any comment on or mention the three-year siege of Jerusalem

Thirdly …the book of Acts does not record some key points in the life of the early church.

  • Peter died 65 AD.
  • Paul died 63AD
  • James the brother of Jesus died 62 AD.

Fourthly…  the book of Luke was written BEFORE the book of Acts.

One final point … Paul in his writings quotes from Luke’s gospel

2. Is there anything to corroborate their story?

a) Their stories unintentionally fill in each other’s account.

… Jesus is being examined before Caiaphas

… the feeding of the 5000 … Mark 6:30-44… John 6:1-15, Luke 9:10-17, John 1:44

b) The language they use matches

… the names they use for people prominent in the gospel stories matches exactly with the common names used in Palestine in that period of time.

c) They knew detailed location names

… the names of the place the disciples refer to matches, even the small obscure places

d) Independent support

Josephus (AD 37-100) and Tacitus (AD 56 – 117)

e) Archaeological support

…the pool of Bethsaida or the pool of Siloam

Quirinius and Pilate, Erastus the city treasurer (Rom 16:23)

NOTE: there is no detail written by the gospel writers that has opposing evidence.

3) Were they accurate?

Manuscripts

What their students recorded …

John … Ignatius (AD 35 -117) and Polycarp  (AD 69-115)

4) Were they biased?

… what it is that made the disciples bias?