Light shed on the writing of the Gospels

For years scholars have been debating the veracity of the Bible.

For a document written so many years ago –– both sceptics and believers alike have been looking for the truth behind the writings on which Christianity is based.

“Newer evidence from the last 20 years shows that the Gospels are based on high quality eyewitness testimony,” said prominent biblical scholar Dr Peter Williams, who spoke to the Bermuda Sun while he was on the island to give a lecture about the latest evidence from this most recent research that helps shed more light on the accuracy of the writers of the four Gospels –– Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.

Dr Williams, the warden of Tyndale House in Cambridge, UK –– a world-leading centre for biblical research –– recently travelled to Bermuda to share his theories on how these four writers were able to add so many details of the time and place in which the stories of Jesus Christ were written and which now is the foundation of Christian beliefs.

Indirect

Many believe that the information provided to the writers of the Gospel was given fifth, sixth or even nineteenth hand, Dr Williams explained during his lecture, which took place earlier this week at Cathedral Hall in partnership with the Diocesan and Evangelism Committee of the Anglican Church of Bermuda.

This “through the grapevine” passing of stories has led many to believe that the information is inaccurate or has been cleverly made up.

“The essence of my argument is that you only really get this sort of authentic sounding information if you are able to get the data right,” Dr Williams explained in the interview.

And while Dr Williams said he does not intend on proving the work of the Gospels as historical he says there are many reasons to trust that what is presented in the Bible did in fact take place.

“We use our trust all of the time and our rationality. The analogy I use is that it’s like trusting a person –– we commit our lives to a person and we can’t spend our lives not trusting people. But it is very hard to prove that someone loves you. But I can trust what my wife does because on a day to day basis I can corroborate that the things she says are true and I find her trustworthy. Some of the really important things that we tend to live by we can’t necessarily prove.

During the lecture, Dr Williams provided evidence of culturally significant information that is used throughout the Gospels that could only have been known had the writers received high quality eyewitness information.

“The general consensus is that they weren’t written in the land of origin but in places like Rome, Syria and Asia-minor – so how did they get that information? “If you’ve never visited a place how can you write about it intelligently? Even in the information age you can be quite surprised by the landscape of the place when you get there. Back then they didn’t have Wikipedia but the Gospels are remarkably accurate for the writers to have never been there.”

Historical

Dr Williams pointed to the naming of individuals throughout the writings that were in the right proportion and frequency for the time.

Looking to historical evidence taken from items like the Dead Sea Scrolls and ancient scholars such as Josephus, who recorded Jewish history, a list that has only just been discovered over the past 10 years found that names such as Simon and Joseph were some of the most common names in the Israeli region where the Gospel writings were set.

Dr Williams said: “We’re not just finding the right proportion of names but also the right features of names. They could distinguish one Simon from the other. You find that they distinguish them and not the less common names. How can someone who wasn’t in the land be able to make that up? If the Gospels have got the details and the detail is the hardest thing to remember haven’t they got the other things right? “Stories are easy to remember, names are the hardest to remember. Names are those forgettable things that are easy to drop out. We are finding that they are getting the names right. Not finding that this was the fifth or sixth or even nineteenth hand information. It’s not just eyewitness testimony but high quality eyewitness testimony.”

Geographical data taken from the Gospels also proves the information received was from people knowledgeable about the land.

Smaller villages, the proximity of a town to the sea and travelling times, all feature throughout the writings, he says.

“There were so many opportunities for them to go wrong if they are making it up.

“If they are able to get the minor details right aren’t they likely to get the major details right?” 

Dr Peter Williams became the Warden of Tyndale House in 2007. He is also a member of the Translation Oversight Committee of the English Standard Version of the Bible, chairman of the International Greek New Testament Project, honorary senior lecturer in Bible studies at the University of Aberdeen, and affiliated lecturer at the University of Cambridge where he teaches Hebrew.