Were the Gospels telling ‘the truth’ about Jesus?

I had an interesting conversation with my mum today.  She’s a headstrong atheist, and she has been reading a book called ‘The Case For Christ’, which I gave her a while ago.  (I do recommend!  If you’d like a read, don’t hesitate to ask me…I will definitely have  a copy for you.)  Anyway, when I asked her how she’s going with it, she said that they’re just interviews with so-called ‘experts’ on certain issues concerning the historical Jesus.  ‘We can’t just trust what “the experts” say’, she said.  For her, a virgin birth is simply out-of-the-question ridiculous.  It’s all an elaborate story.  Well, we (kind of unfortunately) headed in the direction of miracles with the conversation, and I tried to point out that a virgin birth is indeed impossible unless there exists a force outside of natural science.  And this prophesised virgin birth as that being of the Son of God certainly posits that assumption.

But it got me thinking.  My mum was right about the experts thing.  We can’t just take expert accounts for granted.  Just because they have a ‘Dr.’ before their name, doesn’t mean that everything they say is ‘the truth’, as my mum said.    How do the Gospels themselves match up to this scrutiny?  You could potentially call Matthew, Mark, Luke and John ‘experts’, since they saw, touched, heard, walked with, talked to Jesus himself in the flesh (1 John 1:1)!  (Haha, I guess that answers that question!)  But not taking that as an assumption, could you show that the Gospels were telling ‘the truth’?  That is, are they consistent, or rather, are extra-biblical sources consistent with the Gospels?  My answer is a resounding ‘yes’ and hopefully over the next few weeks I can look at some of the many, many extra-biblical sources that confirm the accuracy of the accounts given by the Gospels in a bit more detail.  (And hopefully and prayerfully share some with my mum!)

The Wine Vinegar, the Sponge, and the Stick

The Death of Jesus (Matthew 27:45-50; similarly reported in Mark 15):

⁴⁵From the sixth hour until the ninth hour darkness came over all the land. ⁴⁶About the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?”—which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” ⁴⁷When some of those standing there heard this, they said, “He’s calling Elijah.” ⁴⁸Immediately one of them ran and got a sponge. He filled it with wine vinegar, put it on a stick, and offered it to Jesus to drink. ⁴⁹The rest said, “Now leave him alone. Let’s see if Elijah comes to save him.” ⁵⁰And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit.

Luke’s description of a similar moment just before the sixth hour (Luke 23:36-37):

³⁶The soldiers also came up and mocked him. They offered him wine vinegar ³⁷and said, “If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself.”

John’s description of that moment described by Matthew and Mark (John 19:28-30):

²⁸Later, knowing that all was now completed, and so that the Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, “I am thirsty.”²⁹A jar of wine vinegar was there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant, and lifted it to Jesus’ lips. ³⁰When he had received the drink, Jesus said, “It is finished.” With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

We know that the Gospels (the four biographical accounts of Jesus found in the New Testament) are very similar, but also very different, which strengthens their historical authenticity (because three of the five criteria of authenticity of historical documents are: the existence of multiple independent attestations, i.e., different sources that point to the same event (that’s one), the dissimilarity between them (that’s two, because it allows us a more complex picture of the event, not necessarily contradictory alternatives), and the similarity between them (that’s three).).  So while the account in John concerning the wine vinegar, the sponge, and the stick is very different (in that John relates it to the fulfilment of a prophecy which Jesus understood to be fulfilled by him, and that is why he asks for the drink), it does not disqualify the accounts of the other Gospels.  But anyway, this was just something I thought I’d mention in case it seemed like the different accounts are contradictory.

What I found incredible was what Mark Driscoll ‘discovered’ concerning this moment.  And I presume he is referring the the account that Luke gives, where the Roman soldiers give Jesus a drink from the sponge.  Luke is the only one out of the four who describes this moment in a somewhat negative tone.  The other accounts seem to present it as a positive moment of almost compassion for the onlookers of Jesus’ crucifixion.  But I only felt this way after listening to the talk.  I REALLY ENCOURAGE YOU TO LISTEN TO THE LAST SEVEN MINUTES WHERE DRISCOLL EXPLAINS THIS MOMENT.  Though it’s still worthwhile listening to the whole talk, especially if you’re someone sceptical of how the Gospels were written!

The talk is located at: http://www.marshillchurch.org/media/luke/eyewitness-to-jesus.  It’s the one taking up the screen space!

I’d very much love to hear what you think of it!  You might not agree with his understanding of that moment (and I have my doubts), but it really humbled me and reminded me of how sinful we are, but how patient and forgiving and all-together merciful God is…

The Essential Jesus – free download!

I grew up having a lot of presumptions about Jesus, but really not know a lot about him at all. I never wanted to give him a chance to speak for himself, as Luke faithfully tries to do. Why not actually read the account before making up your mind about him? This excellent book comes with an excellent summary of the Christian faith as well!  You can download it for FREE at: http://connect09.sydneyanglicans.net/resources/article/the-essential-jesus/

If you are more of an audio person, you can download the MP3 for free too at: http://www.sydneyanglicans.net/media/audio/the_essential_jesus_audio/

‘Is there actually any ‘real’ evidence for the Resurrection?’

My friend was asking me this question today.  I think what he meant by ‘real’ was extra-biblical evidence.  (Note: historians widely acknowledge that the  biblical accounts by Matthew, Mark, Luke and John are reliable sources of historical accounts for the Resurrection.)  I’m no expert but I’ve found Josh McDowell’s article very clear and helpful.  Hope you will too, whether you’re searching for answers, or just curious, or wanting to talk it out with a friend.  It’s a very easy read as well!  The link to the article is: http://www.leaderu.com/everystudent/easter/articles/josh2.html.  Let me know what you think ok!