Can we Trust the Gospels?

Lorraine Stone
NT 401-FA13-B: Life of Christ
(Fall 2013 Online-Section 2)
Instructor - Dr. Mark Owens

Roberts, Mark D. Can We Trust the Gospels? Investigating the Reliability of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John: Crossway Books 2007. Pp.202

Taking exception to the words of Christ could only be in blatant disagreement with Jesus the Christ himself, a spirit of anti-Christ. Is this an over statement as to the importance of the words of Christ? The answer to this question is found in how you respond to another question: How can the words of Jesus ever be down played as anything other than the most important words ever placed into the air of this world – directly from Immanuel, “God With Us” – (Isaiah 7:14) necessary for the spiritual safety of His children as both a beckoning and a warning to those endeavoring to see Him for whom He is? These words are more than the simple passing commentary of a good teacher from days gone by. These words contain the full gambit of direction from God who walked among us for all believers and the world. The words of Christ are like the label attached to a potently healing, yet imminently dangerous, prescription drug that must be taken in absolute correctness in order to bring health to your being - versus the possible adverse affects should direction be ignored. Jesus is the standard of all that is taught in New Testament Scripture. It is the life of Christ that demonstrates to us the ability to please the Father with whom He is one. John 17:22, in the words of Jesus, puts it this way: “And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one:” Can we trust the Gospels? By Mark D. Roberts is a concise overview of the topic matter and questions on the dependability of the Gospels. Roberts presents the standards for evaluating the reliability of gospel manuscripts I quote: “1) antiquity; 2) multiplicity; 3) trustworthy scholarly methodology; and 4) quality and quantity of textually ambiguous passages. Roberts breaks down each of these standards and shows that the gospels pass the test very well.” The synoptic books may well be some of the most important passages of Scripture for the believer to digest. They are action passages bursting of action words that, for full effect, demand our response in return. Continually, the questions of life come. However, in the knowledge of this, Jesus sees to it that the answers are here for us to discover. We are often confused because we begin our walk with Christ in the understanding that our salvation comes from the simple acceptance of Jesus and His sacrifice for our sins freely in grace, knowing that we cannot earn our way to salvation. Ephesians 2:8-9 says, “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.”
Yet, Jesus begins to teach us through his chosen writers His words, that for us to maintain this great gift from the Father, we have a responsibility as well. The gospel writers instruct us that our responsibility is through our actions toward Him. Jesus communicates this to us using words like “abide”, “bear”, “remain”, “keep”, and by “obeying” His commands. Roberts goes on to discuss these sources of the gospels as first hand results closely resembling Hellenistic biographies. The words of Jesus are found in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. The first three Gospels bring some of the limited known history of Jesus, his birth and personal life, while focusing on a year of His ministry. There is the sense that Jesus wanted to pack the most essential instruction into this concise space of time knowing His own earthly ministry was quickly coming to a close. Jesus has spent three years with these twelve men. They have witnessed every kind of miracle the world could possibly imagine. They witnessed healings of every kind, raising the dead, walking on water, calming of storms, feeding of thousands with nearly nothing, and literally countless other experiences that we are not privy to. In fact, consider the final verse of the Book of John: “And there are also many other things that Jesus did which if they were written one by one, suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that would be written. The multiple topics Christ touches upon are of supreme importance for His children. This Gospel Scriptures are an overview in brief to critical answers of many questions as to the “whys” believers stumble upon in the lifelong Christian journey. “Whys” like: “Why am I being treated this way by the world?” Or, “How can I know I am in God’s will?” Or, “Where has my joy gone and how do I get it back?” The words of Christ are the teaching words echoed by all other inspired writers of the New Testament. In these chapters of John, Jesus shares insight as only He can that impacts our everyday lives with divine guidance, giving believers a clear roadmap to living a life pleasing to God for a safe passage home. Jesus touches on central themes He deems important as these four gospels also contain the revelation of uniquely prophetic words from Christ that simply must be paid attention to! John 16:4 gives us the key as to why the prophetic words of Jesus are so important: “But these things I have told you, that when the time comes, you may remember that I told you of them.” Jesus is preparing us for critical days to come our way. In our day and age, there is a line of reasoning often used in an effort to disqualify the authority of Scripture. The argument sounds something like, “… Paul wrote most of the New Testament. Men expressing their opinion are the ones who wrote the Bible. Who are they to tell me how to live?” This has become the mantra of modern day critical thinkers in an effort to somehow make Scripture anything but the divinely inspired message from God the Father to mankind with the authority of the Creator. They are preaching a concept that Scripture is somehow the meager personal opinion of men. No one can say, in reading John 15 – 17, “these are the mere words of John, or another author, offering their own personal opinion.” Rather, these are the words of Jesus the Christ, the Son of God, who is Himself – God! Believers clearly understand this to be a lie; that on the contrary, “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 equipped for every good work.” (2 Timothy 3:16, 17) The book as a whole does a good job of answering the question delivered to us in the title. As read and quoted here:” that because the book is intended for a wide popular, as opposed to a scholarly or academic, readership, and because it is published by Crossway Books, a well-known conservative evangelical publishing house, it is imperative that the issues and problems raised regarding reliability of the Gospels be dealt with clearly and accurately.” (Master’s Seminary Journal). Mark died in Alexandria, Egypt after being dragged by horses through the streets until he was dead. Matthew suffered martyrdom in Ethiopia, killed by a sword wound. Luke was hanged in Greece as a result of his tremendous preaching to the lost. John faced martyrdom, when he was boiled in a huge basin of boiling oil during a wave of persecution in Rome. However; he was miraculously delivered from death. John was then sentenced to the mines on the prison island of Patmos. He wrote his prophetic Book of Revelation on Patmos. The apostle John was later freed and returned to serve as bishop of Edessa in modern Turkey. He died as an old man, the only apostle to die peacefully. No record exists that any of the Apostles recanted their profession of what happened in their journeys and during the life of Jesus. Can we trust the gospels? I agree with Mark D. Roberts as he’s covered an enormous amount of subject matter in a concise and reviewable way. The gospels we have in the New Testament today can be trusted as accurate and reliable, after all it is in “God We Trust”.!