Are The New Testament Writers Reliable?

These New Testament writers were men of integrety. For these men taught the highest standards of ethics including the obligation to always tell the truth."You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor"(Exodus 20:16). "Therefore,each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to his neighbor."(Ephesians 4:25). The person who"loves and practices falsehood" will be excluded from heaven according to (Revelation 22:15). Absolute truthfulness was extoled as a cardninal Christian virtue.

The biblical writers not only taught the highest ethic but they exemplified it in their lives,and were willing to die for their beliefs.


Of the four Gospels writers,Matthew,Mark,and John were diffinately eyewitnesses of the events they reported. Luke was a contemporary and careful historian(Luke 1:1-4).

Indeed, every book of the New Testament was written by a contemporary or eyewitness of Christ. Rather than hear say evidence,the apostles not only claimed to be eyewitnesses to what Jesus said and did,but they boldly dared their readers to check them out.

Listen to Peter: "We did not follow cleverly invented stories when we told you about the power and coming of our Lord Jesus,but we were eyewitnesses of his Majesty(2 Peter 1:16). "We were all eyewitnesses of the fact(resurrection)"(Acts 2:32).

Hear what John said:"That which was from the begininng,which we have heard,which we have seen with our eyes,which we have heard,which we have looked at and our hands have touched this we proclaim concerning the Word of life(Jesus). The life appeared and we have seen it and we testify to it,and we proclaim eternal life,which was with the Father and has appeared to us(1 John 1:1-3).

Listen to Paul: Paul was appearing before King Agrippa and sharing his testimony. Governor Festus challenged Paul on his conclusions,so Paul threw the challenge back at them. He told them that the events of Chrisianity,including the resurrection,were "not done in a corner" and had not "escaped(the king's)notice"(Acts 26:24-28).

Luke said he investigated eyewitnesses before he wrote his gospel:"Many have undertaken to draw up an account of the things that have been fulfilled among us,just as they were handed down to us by those who from the first were eyewitnesses and servants of the word"(Luke 1:1-2).

One of the key evidence that supports that these writers were eyewitnesses,is that they all died for their story. If they had made it up the story of the resurrection,they certainly would have recanted before being crucified(Peter),stoned(James),or beheaded(Paul). But no one did. Eleven of the twelve were maryed for their faith(John was exiled to the Greek island of Patmos). Why would anyone die for a lie?

Chuck Colson,former aide to President Nixon,went to prison over the watergate scandal. He said that it took two weeks for someone to "crack" and turn against the president and none of Nixon's aides was facing torture or execution. But none of the eleven cracked or made a deal with the authorities.

Supreme Court Justice Anthony Scalia said in a speech delivered at Mississippi College School of Law that since the New Testament writers had nothing to gain and everything to lose,we ought to believe what they said about the resurrection. "It is not irrational to accept the testimony of eyewitnesses who had nothing to gain...The (worldly)wise do not believe in the resurrection of the dead. So everything from Easter morning to the Ascension had to be made up by groveling enthuiasts as part of their plan to get themselves martyred.

While many people(such as Muslim terrorists) will die for a lie they think is truth, no right-thinking person will die for what he or she knows is a lie.

In my last blog, I mentioned the overwhelming external evidence for the New Testament manuscripts. In my next blog, I will share more internal evidence for the reliability of the New Testament writers. God Bless!