We find much of this in the Gnostic gospels such as the Gospel of Peter, Gospel of Mary and others; also, the Book of Mormon. When something new about Jesus or the New Testament period is uncovered, the extravagant claims of these texts tend to excite people. But the information contained in these texts often leaves many confused on what the truth really is.
So, here is the important question: Out of all the available texts, how do we know which is the most authentic?
Today’s guest blogger answers that question.
Note: In
Mr. Bowman’s first paragraph, he mentions his lengthier article on this subject . Therefore, after you finish this article, I highly recommend clicking
on that link to read it. It contains more detail.
What Are the Most Reliable Sources about Jesus?
by Robert M. Bowman Jr.
This is a brief summary of a longer, heavily documented article, “What are Good Sources about Jesus?” (Part 2 in the series “The Bottom-Line Guide to Jesus”).
by Robert M. Bowman Jr.
The existence of Jesus of Nazareth, a
Jewish teacher from Galilee executed by crucifixion
However, many people today challenge
their reliability and often tout other writings as superior sources of
information about Jesus. If we are to know the truth about Jesus, we need to
know how reliable the available sources are.
Here are the main writings that people
of various beliefs argue are the best sources of information about Jesus: ·
- The four Gospels in the New Testament
- Ancient apocrypha not in the New Testament, notably the “Gnostic gospels”
- The late medieval Islamic text called the Gospel of Barnabas
- Modern texts such as the Book of Mormon, Life of Saint Issa, and Aquarian Gospel of Jesus the Christ
The
Truth about the Texts
The four New Testament Gospels enjoy extensive ancient textual evidence. We
have multiple fragments of Gospel manuscripts from the second and third
centuries, including a fragment of John copied perhaps 25 years after it was
written. We have complete copies of all four Gospels in their original Greek
language from the mid-300s and thereafter. This manuscript evidence is far
superior to that of all the other books about Jesus. Indeed, it is much better
than the manuscript evidence for virtually all other ancient writings.
By contrast, the ancient textual evidence
is sparse for the ancient apocryphal
gospels. We have no complete copies of any of them in their original Greek
text. For example, there is just one fourth-century copy of the Gospel of
Thomas in Coptic and a few earlier fragments in Greek. And that’s better than
the others. We have no complete copies in any language of the Gospel of Peter
or the Gospel of Mary. At least we have some ancient fragments of these books.
We have no ancient textual evidence
for any of the others. The earliest copy of the Gospel of Barnabas was made
about 1600 in Italian! The earliest known text for the Book of Mormon is the
one Joseph Smith dictated in 1829. Nicolas Notovitch claimed that his 1894 Life of Saint Issa was based on scrolls
read to him by Buddhist monks in Tibet, but investigators determined that no
such scrolls ever existed.
Determining
the Dates
Since Jesus was crucified in either AD
30 or 33, the closer a source is to those dates the better. The scholarly
consensus dates all four Gospels between about AD 50 and 100, within the
lifetimes of at least some of the eyewitnesses who knew Jesus personally. The
Gospels do not name their authors, but Christians in the early second century (about
AD 100 to 125) identified the authors by name.
The ancient apocryphal gospels trumpet
the names of their supposed authors—Thomas, Mary, Peter, etc.—but no scholars
think they were the actual authors. These books were probably written in the
second century, one or two generations too late to be produced by eyewitnesses
or by anyone who knew the eyewitnesses. The other books are hopelessly too late
in this regard. The Gospel of Barnabas was probably written between 1320 and
1348, thirteen centuries after the time of Jesus. Despite efforts by their
defenders to prove otherwise, the Book of Mormon and Life of Saint Issa clearly originated in the nineteenth century.
Biographies
and Other Kinds of Books
The New Testament Gospels are written in
the style of ancient Greco-Roman biographies, just what one would expect if the
Gospels were ancient sources about Jesus. For example, like such ancient
biographies but unlike modern ones, they spend little or no time on Jesus’
youth and focus largely on the most momentous period of his life, which was the
week of his death.
The ancient apocryphal gospels do not
qualify as biographies in any sense. Generally speaking they contain little or
no narrative and don’t even claim to
present historical information about Jesus. The later apocrypha have the
opposite problem: They are fraudulent biographies or histories. The Gospel of
Barnabas is an extremely lengthy “harmony” of the New Testament Gospels,
weaving their contents together along with new material generally reflecting an
Islamic perspective. The Book of Mormon’s narrative about Jesus purports to be
historical but is not a biography of Jesus, since it says almost nothing about
the life of Jesus prior to his resurrection. The Aquarian Gospel of Jesus the Christ looks like a modern biography,
correcting the supposed deficiencies of the New Testament Gospels. Thus, much
of the book tells stories about Jesus’ childhood and about his travels as a
young adult to India, Persia, Assyria, Greece, and Egypt.
How
Historical?
While we cannot “prove” every detail of
the New Testament Gospels, their accounts about Jesus fit extremely well in the
context of his first-century life in Galilee and Judea. The Gospels report
Jesus going to real places, engaging with real people, and teaching on subjects
that were burning issues among the Jews of his day.
The same cannot be said for the other
books, all of which betray their later origins. The Gnostic gospels portray
Jesus spouting statements that owe more to Platonic philosophy than to the Old
Testament. The Gospel of Barnabas weaves material from the New Testament
Gospels together into one long book in which Jesus is quoted presenting common
medieval Islamic arguments against Christianity. The Book of Mormon presents
Jesus quoting almost verbatim the entire Sermon on the Mount as recorded in
Matthew (in the King James Version), including cultural references that would
make no sense to his supposed ancient audience in the Americas, such as roads
leading to gates of walled cities (which didn’t exist in the first-century
ancient Americas).
Conclusion:
The New Testament Gospels Stand Alone
Of all the texts surveyed in this brief
overview, only the New Testament Gospels pass the tests scholars apply to
literary works that claim to be ancient historical or biographical texts. The
following chart summarizes how works from each category measure up to these
common criteria.
NT
Gospels
|
Gospel of Thomas
|
Gospel of Barnabas
|
Book of Mormon
|
Life of Saint Issa
|
|
Text
|
A
|
B
|
D
|
F
|
F
|
Author, Date
|
B
|
C
|
F
|
F
|
F
|
Genre
|
A
|
D
|
C
|
C
|
D
|
Historical
Fit
|
A
|
D
|
D
|
F
|
F
|
FINAL GRADE
|
A-
|
C-
|
D
|
F+
|
F
|
If we want to know the facts about
Jesus, then, we need to go to the New Testament Gospels.
Robert M. Bowman Jr. is the executive director at the Institute
for Religious Research in Cedar Springs, Michigan. The organization’s website
is IRR.org. Rob has lectured on biblical studies, religion, and apologetics at Biola
University, Cornerstone University, and New Orleans Baptist Theological
Seminary. He is the author of over sixty articles and the author or co-author
of thirteen books including Putting Jesus
in His Place: The Case for the Deity of Christ and Faith Has Its Reasons: Integrative Approaches to Defending the
Christian Faith. He holds the M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in biblical studies
from Fuller Theological Seminary and South African Theological Seminary.
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