Which Gospel of Jesus can we trust?

People arrive at different conclusions about the nature and character of Jesus based largely on where they get their information. On page 231 of The Da Vinci Code, the character Teabing states the following:

"The Bible is the product of man, my dear. Not of God. The Bible did not fall magically from the clouds. Man created it as a historical record of tumultuous times, and it has evolved through countless translations, additions, and revisions. History has never had a definitive version of the book."

On the same page the author goes on to write that, “more than eighty gospels were considered for the New Testament.” In summary, the characters of the book state as fact that the Bible was the creation of the fourth Century Roman emperor, Constantine. More on Constantine later, but a brief response to the question of how the Bible was formed.

The 39 books that make up the Old Testament, shared by Jews and Christians, were all written by 400 BC and gathered and organized before 200 BC. There is remarkable agreement by Jews and Christians regarding which books should be included in the Old Testament and how dependable the transmission of the Hebrew text has been. The debates have been over minor words used, and not over major teachings. The Dead Sea Scrolls (dated between 200 BC and 100 AD) gave us originals that were hundreds of years older than what was previously available. They only confirm that very particular care was given to the copying of the books understood to be the Word of God. The followers of Jesus have always accepted the 39 books of the Old Testament as authoritative Scripture.

The content of the New Testament is of greater significance to our current issue of the life of Jesus. It is true that the 27 books of our current New Testament were finalized as a unit in the 4th Century. This is not to say that a group of men sat down in a room with 80 gospels of the life of Jesus and choose only four – Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Allow me to briefly describe the process of gathering the New Testament.

Jesus was a kosher Jew who lived and taught in a Jewish setting. He was crucified around 30 AD. Until the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem in 70 AD, most people would define the followers of Jesus as a sect within Judaism. By the end of the first Century, Christianity broke from Judaism and continued to grow within the Roman world. Persecution of Christians came in waves from the time of Emperor Nero in the mid 60s AD to Emperor Diocletion 302-5 AD. This period of history included heroic accounts of courageous martyrs for the faith as well as important theological discussions defining orthodox Christian beliefs as opposed to heretical beliefs.

Some of the greatest thinkers of Christian history lived in this time, and historians have called them Church Fathers. Much of the church’s understanding of the Trinity and the nature of Jesus (fully man and fully God) were defined in the second and third centuries. Without a central church organization, a number of heretical teachings sprung up in different locations and were then refuted by Church Fathers such as Polycarp (a disciple of Apostle John), Ignatius, Tertullian, Origen, and others. One of the heretical streams of teaching during this time was Gnosticism, which I will discuss at length later.

It is clear that the Church Fathers of the second and third centuries believed that certain books were inspired by God, other books were clearly not inspired, and some books were accepted by some, but not by all. Only seven of the 27 books of the New Testament were questioned by the Church Fathers as worthy of being a part of the Scriptures. These questioned books include Revelations, Hebrews, James, II Peter, II & III John, and Jude. The four gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, were never questioned.

There are some books that were at times seriously considered to be included in the New Testament. The most famous book used by the orthodox church, but not included in the New Testament, was called “Shepherd of Hermas.” It is believed to have been written between 115-40 AD and is an allegory much like “Pilgrims Progress” was to a later generation. Another well known book from this era was the “Didache” (or Teachings of the 12) written between 100-20 AD. In one of my Greek classes in college our professor had us translate this book into English. It was an interesting book about the practices and advice to Christians in the early second century. The Didache and the Shepherd of Hermas would have been read in church services along with books in our New Testament in the era of the Church Fathers. They were not considered to be a part of our New Testament because they were written too late.

There were a number of other books from the early centuries that scholars have labeled as Pseudepigrapha books, meaning books rejected consistently by the early church. By the ninth Century a person named Photius collected 280 such books. These books often were named after a significant person in the life of Jesus and reflect a variety of heretical perspectives. A number of these books were a part of a collection of Gnostic writings which shared a similar style and message. A well know Gnostic writing was “The Gospel of Thomas” believed to be from the first century. The Da Vinci Code makes reference to an obscure book from this genre, “The Gospel of Mary Magdelene” (see page 247). This book was discovered in Egypt in 1945 as a part of the Nag Hammadi Library, which comes from the fourth Century. The English translators of “The Gospel of Mary” believe it to have been written in the second century. This obscure book has portions missing and is not among the most important Gnostic writings of its time.

It should be noted that Biblical scholars have been familiar with these non-canonical writings for many years. There has been a renewed interest in these books since the nineteenth century when archaeologists uncovered a number of finds that included Gnostic writings. There have been many cases throughout history where religious books have been outlawed and destroyed. There are countries of the world today that outlaw and burn Bibles to silence Christianity. It is an irony of history that Emperor Diocletion ordered the burning of Scriptures and the destruction of church buildings at the start of the fourth century. In less than 25 years, Emperor Constantine ordered the printing of 50 copies of the Scriptures, at the expense of the Roman government. The New Testament that Constantine ordered had a question mark beside five of our twenty-seven books.

It was Athanasius’ collection of 27 books in 367 AD that was ratified at the Council of Hippo in 393 AD that ended the discussion of which books should be in the New Testament.

What sets these 27 books apart from all the other books written in the first four Christian centuries? The simplest answer is the connection to apostolic authority. All the books of the New Testament were written or supervised by an apostle of the early church. The 27 books were written over a period of about 50 years by eight or nine writers. The Apostle Paul wrote the greatest number of books and the Apostle John was the longest living Apostle who wrote the latest books in the 80s and 90s AD. There is significant evidence to date the entire New Testament within the first century. The 27 books of the New Testament were widely used from their time of writing until they were pulled together in the fourth century.

One proof of their wide use was that by the end of the second century there had been translations done into Syriac and Latin. The Syriac translation include 22 of our 27 books and the Latin translation include 23 of our books. These collected translations were widely used without “The Gospel of Mary Magdelene” or any other Gnostic writing.

It is clear that the 27 books of the New Testament have been treated as inspired by God from the time of their writing until they were completed as a unit. For this reason their copying and translation has been handled with extreme care to preserve God’s words to humanity. Much more could be written about the process of the canonization of the New Testament and many good books have already been written. An attack on the credibility of the Bible Christians read is a tradition with a long history. That history includes a number of accounts of skeptics attempting to disprove the Bible and becoming converts in the process.

The Bible in its present form has not changed since the fourth century. It is the most read book in history, the best selling book every year, and the book available in the greatest number of languages. There is no Gnostic writing that poses a threat to the continual interest of the Word of God.

Next:

Could Jesus have been a Gnostic Teacher?