I was on a flight to Philadelphia to speak at a conference on the reliability of the Bible. I had a great conversation with the lady sitting next to me. Monica was her name. She had abandoned her confidence in the Bible some twenty years ago. And now at the age of 40, she was full of doubts about its reliability. And yes, I do think God arranges some divine appointments for me on my flights!
One of the objections Monica raised regarding the reliability of the Bible concerned the supposed late authorship of the Gospels. She told me one of the reasons she doubted the Gospels was because, “The Gospels were written down 300 years after Jesus lived!”
Now, I’ve heard this before, as you probably have. Critics raise this objection to suggest that the Gospels could not possibly be trustworthy if they were written that long after Jesus lived.
Well, what should we do when someone makes a claim like this? I like to keep the burden of proof on the person making the claim. So, that’s what I did with Monica. I started by asking her a question, “Who told you that?” (In other words, “How did you come to that conclusion?”)
Is that a perfectly fair question? Yes.
Her response? “Weren’t they?”
She went from sounding like an authority on the matter, to someone completely unsure of what she just boldly proclaimed, all in response to a friendly question (“Who told you that?”). She didn’t know why she even believed what she had just stated.
And this is very common. Critics make all kinds of claims about Jesus and the Bible that they are completely unprepared to back up with any kind of evidence.
Friends, there’s no evidence any of the New Testament books were written down three hundred years after Jesus. Not even liberal scholars believe that! And not only is there an absence of evidence for a late authorship of the Gospels, there is good evidence that most of the New Testament was written down before AD 70. What evidence?
1. The Scriptures are silent regarding the destruction of the Jewish temple in A.D. 70.
Look at Mark 13.
Mark 13:1-2
Then as He [speaking of Jesus] went out of the temple, one of His disciples said to Him, “Teacher, see what manner of stones and what buildings are here!” And Jesus answered and said to him, “Do you see these great buildings? Not one stone shall be left upon another, that shall not be thrown down.”
Jesus prophesied here and in other places in the New Testament that the temple, as well as the city of Jerusalem, would be destroyed (Matt. 23:35-36, 38; 24:1-2; Luke 21:5-6, and 21:20-24).
In Matthew 23:36 and v. 38, Jesus said that the judgment would even come upon the generation that was alive at that time. And it is a well-established historical fact that these things did happen in A.D. 70. [1] In fact, it was the most significant judgment God had ever brought upon Israel. God’s people, after that event, were scattered from their homeland for 1900 years. The huge Jewish temple, with the massive stones that Jesus’ disciples were so impressed with (Matt. 24:1ff), was utterly destroyed by the Romans, and literally burned to the ground! Flavius Josephus tells us in his War of the Jews that 97,000 people were taken prisoner and that 1,100,000 died during the siege (War of the Jews, Book 6, Chapter 9:3). And although the authors of Gospels and the other New Testament epistles consistently hi-lighted fulfilled prophecy to establish the identity of Jesus as the Messiah, none of the New Testament writings mention the fact that this prophecy was fulfilled. That’s interesting.
And not only are the Scriptures silent regarding the temple’s destruction, but the New Testament refers to a temple that was still standing. The Book of Hebrews, as well as 2 Thessalonians (2:4), speak of the Jewish temple and the activities associated with it as though it were still standing. (See: Heb. 5:1-3; 7:23,27; 8:3-5; 9:25; 10:1,3-4, 11; 13:10-11; 2 Thess. 2:4; Rev. 11:1-2). As you may remember, the book of Hebrews is an exhortation to discouraged Hebrews, Jews, who had received Christ but were tempted to go back to Judaism, its sacrificial system, and worship in the temple. That clearly implies that the temple was still standing, for you can’t go back to the sacrificial system and worship in the temple if there is no temple.
So, this silence regarding the destruction of the temple, as well as the references that imply that the temple was still standing, are best explained by the fact that the New Testament was largely finished by A.D. 70. [2]
2. The silence of the Scriptures regarding the great persecution of A.D. 64.
History tells us that July 19, AD 64, marked a real turning point for the early church. On that night, in the heart of Rome, a fire broke out among the shops surrounding the Circus Maximus—the great chariot stadium that could hold well over 150,000 spectators. Strong winds quickly drove the flames through the dense, wooden neighborhoods of the city. The fire burned for six days before it was brought under control, only to break out again and rage for several more days. When it was finally over, ten of Rome’s fourteen districts had been damaged or destroyed. Temples, public buildings, and thousands of homes lay in ruins. Countless people were left homeless.
Rumors quickly spread that Emperor Nero himself was responsible [3]. The Roman historian Tacitus, writing in his Annals (15.38–44), reports that some believed Nero had ordered the fire so he could clear land for a grander Rome and a magnificent new palace. Tacitus himself remains cautious, noting that ancient writers disagreed on whether the fire was accidental or deliberately set. What is clear is that public suspicion fell heavily on the emperor.
To divert attention from himself, Nero looked for a scapegoat. He found one in a small, already unpopular religious group. Strange rumors had been circulating about Christians—that they met in private homes and practiced a kind of cannibalism by “eating the body and drinking the blood” of their leader. They were also viewed as narrow-minded for insisting there was only one true God. Nero seized the opportunity. Christians were blamed for the fire, arrested, and subjected to horrific public punishments.
Tacitus describes the cruelty in chilling detail. Some were covered in animal skins and torn apart by dogs. Others were crucified. Still others were smeared with pitch, set on fire, and used as human torches to light Nero’s gardens at night. The persecution was concentrated in Rome, but the suffering was severe and left a lasting mark on the memory of the early church.
And yet the New Testament writers—who freely mention rulers such as Herod, Caiaphas, and Pontius Pilate—are completely silent about Nero and this dark chapter. The Scriptures speak of persecution in general terms, but nowhere do they mention Nero’s persecution following the fire of AD 64.
This silence is significant. It strongly suggests that the Gospels, the Book of Acts, and the letters of Paul were completed before that catastrophe struck. Had these books been written afterward, it is difficult to imagine that such a defining and traumatic event in the life of the Roman church would have gone entirely unmentioned.
Now, let me build even a stronger case for you if I may. You’ll recall that when Luke wraps up the Book of Acts in Chapter 28, the apostle Paul was still alive. He was under house arrest in Rome. Clement of Rome, writing near the end of the first century, confirms that Paul was martyred. Ancient Christian tradition places both Paul’s and Peter’s deaths during Nero’s persecution in the mid-60s A.D., most likely shortly after the Great Fire of Rome in A.D. 64.[4] If that’s true, then it is safe to say that the Book of Acts was probably done in the late fifties or early sixties, while Paul was still alive.
Well, turn over to Acts Chapter 1.
Acts 1:1-2
“The former account I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach, until the day in which He was taken up, after He through the Holy Spirit had given commandments to the apostles whom He had chosen…”
We see here that Luke originally wrote the book of Acts to a man by the name of Theophilus. Well, here’s what’s amazing. Luke refers Theophilus in verse one back to his “former account” of all that Jesus began to do and teach. That former account was the Gospel of Luke (Luke 1:1-4 indicates that that Gospel was also written for Theophilus).
If the book of Acts was completed while Paul was still alive in the late fifties or early sixties and Acts was Luke’s second account, what does that tell us about the dating of the Gospel of Luke? It tells us that it was written even earlier than Acts!
3. Paul was martyred in the early 60s; but he was still alive at the end of the Book of Acts, Luke’s second writing.
It is safe to date the authorship of Luke’s Gospel to some time within the first 25 years of Jesus’ life. And what’s amazing about this is that most scholars (conservative and liberal) believe that Luke referred to Matthew and Mark’s Gospel as reliable sources to help build his Gospel. And there are some good reasons why they think that.[5] If that was the case, that would mean that Matthew and Mark’s Gospels were written prior to Luke’s, even earlier than the late 50’s/early 60’s date we’ve demonstrated.
4. Paul quotes Luke’s Gospel and refers to it as Scripture in 1 Timothy 5:18.
Turn with me to 1 Timothy, chapter 5. Notice it says there in verse eighteen…
1 Timothy 5:18
For the Scripture says, “You shall not muzzle an ox while it treads out the grain,” and, “The laborer is worthy of his wages.”
When Paul quotes the Scripture that says, “The laborer is worthy of his wages,” we know Paul was quoting the gospel of Luke. Why? Because this passage is something that only Luke records for us. This statement is found nowhere else in the Bible, Old Testament or New. Why is this significant in establishing that the New Testament was completed early in the first century?
When did Paul die? Approximately A.D. 64.
This means that Luke’s Gospel must have been done and in wide enough circulation for both Paul and Timothy to know its contents and regard it as scripture prior to Paul’s death!
We also see Peter (in 2 Peter 3:16) referring to Paul’s letters as scripture. Peter died around A.D. 65. That means that Paul’s letters were completed within 31 or 32 years after Jesus’ death.
5. The internal evidence within the Gospels themselves.
There are many seemingly insignificant details within the Gospels themselves that point to an early rather than late authorship. One of my favorite examples is found in John 5. John writes…
John 5:1-3
“After this there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, which is called in Hebrew, Bethesda, having five porches. In these lay a great multitude of sick people, blind, lame, paralyzed, waiting for the moving of the water.”
There at the Pool of Bethesda, as you probably recall, Jesus healed the man who had been lame for 38 years.
But let’s look at this again. There’s something you may not have noticed…
John 5:1-2
“After this there was…
(Notice that John is speaking in the past tense)
John 5:1-2
…a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now there is…
(Notice, John switches tenses, and now speaks in the present tense, saying in effect, ‘Right now, there is, at the time I, John, write this.’)
John 5:1-2
…in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, which is called in Hebrew, Bethesda, having five porches.”
The Pool of Bethesda that John refers to here was present at the time that he was writing this Gospel. Why is this significant? This pool, the pool of Bethesda, was destroyed in A.D. 70 with the destruction of the temple and was completely buried. This helps again to establish that the Gospel of John was probably written before A.D. 70.
This is just one example of what appears to be an insignificant detail within the Gospel text itself that points to an early completion date.
By the way, archaeologists discovered the pool of Bethesda in 1888.[6] How many porches did they discover? Five, just like John said in verse two. I’ve been there and seen the ruins with my own eyes. This was an amazing discovery.
CONCLUSION:
In conclusion, listen to what these experts had to say about the whole issue of New Testament dating:
F.F. Bruce, the well-known professor at the University of Manchester in England, said:
The amount of evidence available to establish a first-century date for the completion of the New Testament is so great that it cannot be reasonably denied. [7]
William F. Albright, who was formerly a liberal critic of the New Testament, said this in his book, Recent Discoveries in the Bible Lands:
We can already say emphatically that there is no longer any solid basis for dating any book of the New Testament after about A.D. 80, two full generations before the date between 130 and 150 given by the more radical New Testament critics of today. [8]
John A. T. Robinson, once known for his role in launching the “Death of God” movement, wrote a revolutionary book titled Redating the New Testament. In this book, he suggests dates for the New Testament books that place them earlier than the most conservative scholars ever held. Robinson places:
• Matthew’s completion date at 40 to after 60
• Mark’s completion at about 45 to 60
• Luke’s completion at before 57 to after 60
• and John’s at from before 40 to after 65.
This would mean that one or two of the Gospels could have been written as early as seven years after the crucifixion. At the latest, the Gospels were all composed within the lifetimes of eyewitnesses and contemporaries of the events. Assuming the basic integrity and reasonable accuracy of the writers, this would place the reliability of the New Testament documents beyond reasonable doubt. [9]
Two additional questions…
A. Why weren’t the Gospels written down within a year after Jesus’ death?
• We don’t know that they weren’t. Maybe they were.
• There’s no need to write down gospels for a future generation if you believe there will not be a future generation who would need them. The disciples, as you can see in the New Testament, were hoping that Jesus was coming back in their lifetime. It may be that as Jesus tarried and the disciples were advancing in years, that they saw the need to write down His words so that you and I might benefit.
B. How could the gospel writers have accurately remembered all that Jesus said and did?
• The supernatural aid of the Holy Spirit. On the eve of Jesus’ crucifixion, Jesus told His disciples:
John 14:25-26
“These things I have spoken to you while being present with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance [what?] all things that I said to you.”
So, even if the Gospels had been written very late in the first century, there would be no problem with the time span because of the ability, not of the disciples, but of the Holy Spirit, who would help them. Jesus promised that the Holy Spirit would help them by bringing to their remembrance all the things that He told them.
• It’s reasonable to assume that the disciples may have taken detailed notes. (Matthew, being a tax collector, would have even been skilled in shorthand.)
• Jewish students in the first century were amazingly committed to memorizing lengthy portions of Scripture. Rabbis were famous for having the entire Old Testament committed to memory. [10]
• One doesn’t easily forget the miracles or words of One he is convinced is God in human flesh.
NOTES
1. For example, see Flavius Josephus, The Wars of the Jews.
2. See our resources on Preterism at AlwaysBeReady.com for more on the dating of the Book of Revelation.
3. See The International Bible Encyclopedia for good details on this.
4. 1 Clement 5:5–7; Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History 2.25; F. F. Bruce, Paul: Apostle of the Heart Set Free, 443–46.
5. For some reasons why, see J. P. Moreland, Scaling the Secular City, 152.
6. See the entry “Bethesda” in the New Unger’s Bible Dictionary.
7. F.F. Bruce, The New Testament Manuscripts—Are They Reliable, 15.
8. Quoted by Norman Geisler in Baker’s Encyclopedia of Christian Apologetics, 529. Original appears in Recent Discoveries in the Bible Lands, 136.
9. This information was found in Baker’s Encyclopedia of Christian Apologetics, Norman Geisler, 529.
10. See Lee Strobel, The Case for Christ, 43.
CHARLIE H. CAMPBELL
is the founder of ABR and the author of several books . . .
THEOLOGY & APOLOGETICS
• Evidence for the Bible: How Archaeology, Prophecy, and History Confirm the Word of God
• One-Minute Answers to Skeptics
• One-Minute Answers For World Religions and Cults
• One-Minute Answers About the End Times
• Evidence for God
• Evolution—Following the Evidence
• Archaeological Evidence for the Bible
• Jesus: Concise Answers to Skeptics' Objections
• If God is Loving, Why is there Evil and Suffering?
• Apologetics Quotes
• Islam: A Christian Perspective and Response
• Heaven: 10 Wonderful Truths About Our Eternal Home
• The End Times & Beyond: A Concise Chronological Overview of End-Time Bible Prophecies
• Teaching and Preaching God's Word
• Big Truths for Little Hearts
MILITARY, ESPIONAGE + ROMANCE THRILLERS
—with apologetics and the gospel woven in
• The Tehran Extraction
• Silent Night Siege
• The Spy in Dubai
• The Sky Between Us
• Saving Blake Dryden
• Mission to Mars
• Nighthawk: The Search for Everly Lark
• The Island and the Flame
• Love on the Run
• Beneath the Burning Sky
• The Spy and the Preacher
ROMANTIC COMEDIES
• Dating the President's Daughter
• Twenty Dates Later
• Twenty Dates, And I'm Doomed
For Teens/Young Adults
• Dakota Knox and the Archaeology Thief (Book 1)
• Dakota Knox: London, Love, and Terror (Book 2)
• Dakota Knox: Nightmare at the Museum (Book 3)
• Dakota Knox: Seconds to Meltdown (Book 4)
• Dakota Knox: The Spy Academy (Book 5)
• Saving Air Force One
• Staring Down Dragons
• Treachery
• Behind Enemy Lines
• The Howling Dawn
• The Spy in Waikiki
• The Da Vinci Heist (Finn Archer Adventures, Book 1)
• The Cyrus Secret (Finn Archer Adventures, Book 2)
For Middle Graders (ages 8–12)
• Hijack On Planet Draxen
• The Night Everything Changed (The Phoenix Time-Travel Chronicles, Book 1)
• The Day Hope Returned (The Phoenix Time-Travel Chronicles, Book 2)
• Saving A Pirate
For Younger Kids (ages 5–10)
• Big Truths for Little Hearts
• The Christmas Tree Thief
• Lost In The Jungle
• Dad, Does God Exist?
• Dad, Why Do We Believe the Bible?
PASTORS: WOULD YOU LIKE CHARLIE TO SPEAK AT YOUR CHURCH?
Charlie Campbell regularly speaks at churches throughout North America. If you're a pastor and would like him to speak at your church, please contact ABR here.
• Endorsements/Feedback
• Some churches where Charlie has taught
• Available topics
• Sample teaching below.