Question:
I have heard that the New Testament accounts of the life of Christ are not reliable since they were written
long after his death. Answer: This is one way men have tried to avoid the supernatural character and staggering claims of Christ. These things, they say, were invented by His followers many years later. This attempt at escaping the Christ of Scripture, though, cannot stand in the light of historical investigation. The evidence that the biographies of Christ were written within the lifetime of His contemporaries is now so strong that even the late William F. Albright (the foremost American biblical archaeologist until his death in 1971) was brought to the opinion that "every book of the New Testament was written by a baptized Jew between the forties and the eighties of the first century A.D. (very probably sometime between about 50 and 75 A.D.)." Moreover, the portrait of Christ given in the New Testament is entirely beyond the scope of human invention. He simply stands too high above anyone who could have possibly produced Him. It would have taken someone equal to the Christ presented in Scripture to have invented such a perfectly human and divine character. Certainly the early apostles were psychologically, morally, and religiously incapable of such a task. Furthermore, they would hardly have given their lives (which most of them did) for something they knew they had conjured up out of their own imaginations. The only explanation that makes sense is the obvious one: that the New Testament contains just what it claims; firsthand, eyewitness accounts of the most amazing Person that ever walked this earth. One who was, in fact, God incarnate. As the Apostle Peter put it, "We did not follow cunningly devised fables when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of His majesty" (2 Peter 1:16). It is important to remember that not only the accounts of the life of Christ, but the entire Bible, is inspired by the Holy Spirit. Yes, the writers of the New Testament were contemporaries of Christ, so the argument that the accounts were written "long after His death" holds little weight. But the fact that the accounts were "Godbreathed" is a more important and convincing rebuttal for such questioning of the Scriptures. We read in 2 Timothy 3:16-17, "All Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly furnished unto all good works." This confirmation leaves no room to doubt the validity of the accounts of the life of Christ, or any other part of Scripture. If you really want to use your mind, why not read the New Testament itself, being as honest as you can with what you read? In the Gospel of John, which is a good place to start reading, the Lord said, "My doctrine is not Mine, but His that sent Me. If any man will do His will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak from Myself" (John 7:16-17). If you are truly willing to obey God, you can know that the things you are reading are true. |
