The Accuracy of The Gospels

Some people maintain, including the sources for Wikipedia, that the four Gospels in the New Testament were written between AD 66-AD 110; long after the time of Jesus. Many also believed these accounts were not written by eyewitnesses – further questioning the Gospels’ account. This conclusion cannot be further from the truth.

 The book of Acts was written after the Gospel of Luke. We know this because, in Acts 1:1, Luke said “In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach” referring to the Gospel of Luke. The book of Acts ended with Paul in Rome proclaiming the kingdom of God with all boldness and without hindrance (Acts 28:31), so we know that the book of Acts was written before the apostle’s trial and death. The trial happened around  AD 62 and Luke has been building the story for eight chapters, but did not write about the trial because it has not happened yet when the book ended. Acts also does not mention the death of James (AD 62), the great fire of Rome (AD 64), the Jewish revolt in AD 66, or the fall of the temple in AD 70. Thus, we know that the book of Acts was written in AD 61 or 62 and the gospel of Luke was written in the late 50s or AD 60.

 All scholars say the Gospel of Luke was not the first Gospel, rather Mark was the first gospel, and possibly Matthew. This means there are two other accounts written within two decades after the death of Christ circulating about the life of Christ from eyewitness accounts attested by people who lived in the same generation as Jesus.

 Many also believed that the King James Bible is the 18th or 19th iteration Bible from the original manuscripts, and King James picked that translation as his preferred one and destroyed the others. This deduction is also a misunderstanding of how translating works. The translation goes from Greek into English from the original manuscripts. This means we have one iteration from KJV, NIV, NASB, and ESV to what was written then.

 If these accounts are accurate, then what Jesus did in the Gospels, claimed that He is God, provided the only way of salvation, the only way sin can be forgiven, raised the dead, healed the sick, cast out demons, predicted His own death and resurrection, and was then raised from the dead and seen by many eyewitnesses, is true. No other accounts about other gods withstand the same historical scrutiny as the New Testament’s gospel accounts. If what Jesus said is right and people reject Him, then there will be a consequence for unbelief when unbelievers stand before God to give an account for their lives and will be judged for their sins against God according to Matthew 7:21-23.

Angga
02/14/2023