8. Are the Witnesses Honest? (1)

As we are preparing to discuss the evidence for the claims of Jesus of Nazareth, in this chapter we will further research the quality of the witness’ accounts that the Bible gives us about Jesus. As we will see, these witnesses are the four gospels (including the book of Acts, which we will consider as an integral part of the Gospel of Luke) and Paul’s testimony, relayed to us through his letters.

The Witnesses – Once Again, the Gospels

No other books in the entire Bible have been more studied, memorized, quoted, scrutinized, criticized, questioned, discussed, praised, and rejected as the four gospels in the New Testament, the good news or gospels about Jesus: Matthew's Gospel, Mark's Gospel, Luke's Gospel and John's Gospel. And for good reasons. Not only do these four gospels contain valuable information about the birth, ministry, and teachings of Jesus, but they also record His miracles and His resurrection. These supernatural events proclaim and point to Jesus as part of the Trinity, fully God and fully man.

The Last Supper (Leonardo DaVinci)

In previous chapters, we have already established compelling evidence for the authorship of the four gospels by the names associated with these gospels as well as the date of writing. Due to their importance, we have included an evaluative list of some other general observations about each of the synoptic gospels (Mark, Matthew, Luke) and John's Gospel.

Comparing the Four Gospels
	The Synoptic Gospels
	Matthew	Mark	Luke	John
Author	Disciple	“Peter”	“Paul”	Disciple
Likely date	55-70 AD	50-65 AD	55-70 AD	80-90 AD
Place of writing	Syria , Palestine	Rome	Rome/Greece	Ephesus
For who	Jews	Romans	Greeks	Christians
Theme	Messiah	Redeemer	Perfect man	(Son of) God
Emphasis	Prophecies	Actions	Humanity	Divine
Genealogy	Abraham – Joseph	-	Adam – Mary	The Word = God
Perspective	Historical			Theological
Material	Shared and Unique  (Matthew 25%, Mark 10%, Luke (50%)			Mostly unique (> 90%)
Chronology	Only one Passover mentioned			Three Passovers
Geography	Judea and Galilee ( Galilee more emphasis)			Mostly Judea
Relationship to other gospels	Complementary			Supplementary

Table 16-1 Comparing the Four Gospels

Another Important Witness – Paul 

The evidence for the life, teachings, and resurrection of Jesus is not limited to “only” the four gospels; the other New Testament books are also written by witnesses of Jesus. The large number of Pauline epistles, along with their independent testimony to Christ, makes Paul an important corroborating witness. Most of what we know about Paul comes through Scripture:

☼ Exhibit #19: The Witnesses are Honest and Trustworthy

Writing a historically reliable account does not make the accounts of the witnesses to Jesus also honest and trustworthy. Before we can use the accounts as reliable evidence we need to evaluate whether these testimonies about Jesus are truly honest, and not biased representations or exaggerations, or just made up with good intentions.

In his book, Letters from a Skeptic,[9] Dr. Gregory Boyd suggests a set of criteria that historians apply to ancient documents in order to examine their credibility. They can be divided into two groups: internal and external criteria. The “internal” criteria apply to the content of the documents themselves, the “external” criteria deal with the corroborating evidence from the outside world in order to confirm the accuracy of the texts. In many ways these criteria also make plain common sense. Click the link to read about the analysis of each of the criteria:

Internal criteria	External criteria
(1) Did he know what he was talking about?	(1) Motive for falsification?
(2) Are there specific irrelevant details?	(2) Confirmation from other sources?
(3) Self-damaging information?	(3) Confirmation from archaeology?
(4) Are the document consistent?	(4) Could contemporaries verify the testimonies?
(5) Is there evidence of exaggeration?

At the end of this discussion you will hopefully agree that the gospels, Acts, and Paul’s letters pass all these tests and criteria with remarkable ease and high scores, building a well grounded base for the conclusion that these witnesses indeed are honest and trustworthy.