BY FR. DWIGHT LONGENECKER
While this is understandable from someone who is simply ignorant of the facts, it is amazing that so many Biblical scholars also believe the New Testament is historically unreliable. Most do not take the extreme view that Jesus never existed, but they do believe that many of the stories in the Gospels were exaggerated, elaborated, or simply fabricated to make Jesus seem more like a god.
It is true that the stories of the Gospels were passed down from eye witnesses to the next generation, and it is possible that some details were stressed and others forgotten. It is possible that details were added that helped make the preaching point of the story. We can allow for this process to have happened to a limited extent, but because the Gospel stories were recorded so soon after the events, we can be sure that the essential core of the stories is historically reliable.
DIGGING UP THE EVIDENCE
One of the sources for proving the basic historical reliability of the New Testament is archaeology. Scientific archaeology is a comparatively new discipline, and in the last 50 or 60 years, great advances have been made as archaeologists continue to dig in the Holy Land. Technology, forensics, and accumulated knowledge have all helped archaeology to make a huge leap forward.
As more sites are excavated, the shared body of knowledge about the ancient world increases. Little scraps of information here and little shards of evidence there are all painstakingly compiled and compared to build up an impressive body of knowledge. Technological advances like radar scanning, computer analysis, and new dating techniques have helped archaeologists to pin down evidence that would otherwise have remained hidden. Experts in forensics take seemingly insignificant details of scientific information, putting those details together with other evidence to draw conclusions about the ancient world.
As a result, we have more hard evidence about the existence of Jesus and the historical reliability of the New Testament than ever before. We can affirm that these details are literally written in stone.
NAMES FOREVER
Once Jesus’ enemies told his disciples to keep quiet, and Jesus said, “I tell you, if they keep silent, the stones will cry out” (Luke 19:40). In the ancient inscriptions, the stones do indeed cry out!
When you visit Rome, you see monuments around the city naming the pope who embarked on various projects. The pope’s name on a plaque or a monument not only commemorates his involvement, but it dates the project accurately.
Officials putting their names on plaques and monuments is nothing new, and this custom — going back to antiquity — means that we have proof of the historical existence of a good number of characters mentioned in the New Testament. Of course, we don’t have monuments to Jesus, Mary, Joseph, and the apostles, but we have records in stone of various other officials and prominent personalities.
For many years, skeptical Bible scholars suggested that Pontius Pilate never existed because they could find no mention of him outside of the Gospels. Then in 1962, in a coastal town in Israel, archaeologists uncovered an inscription referring to “Tiberius [the emperor at the time] Pontius Pilate Prefect of Judea.” Other characters whose names have surfaced on inscriptions are Sergius Paulus, the proconsul mentioned in Acts 13:6–12; Gallio, the proconsul of Achaia referred to in Acts 18, and a person named Erastus, a treasurer in Corinth mentioned by St. Paul in Romans 16:23.
Most amazing was the discovery of the family tomb of Caiaphas, the high priest. In 1990 a dump truck crashed through the roof of a burial chamber, and the archaeologists discovered a first-century tomb with an ossuary (a bones box) with the name Caiaphas. All the details match with what we know of the high priest who condemned Jesus to death, and most scholars believe this is, in fact, the family burial site of the high priest and his family. One set of bones in the ossuary were of a man in his 60s, and these may be the bones of Caiaphas himself.
PETER THE ROCK
While there are no formal inscriptions honoring St. Peter, there is some fascinating archaeological evidence for his existence. The Franciscans have been stewards of many of the holy sites for centuries. When they could, they excavated the sites. In the 1920s they discovered the remains of a first-century synagogue in the seaside village of Capernaum — the hometown of Peter, Andrew, James, and John.
In the 1960s they began to excavate further. They found the remains of a row of humble homes in the village, but in the fifth century, an octagonal church had been built over one of the houses. On the walls were inscriptions by pilgrims and worshipers honoring St. Peter. Taking all the evidence together, the house is very likely to be the house of Peter — where Jesus visited and healed Peter’s mother-in-law (see Luke 4, Matthew 8, and Mark 1).
To glimpse the kind of fishing boat Peter would have used, and to picture where Jesus may have been asleep during the storm and woke up to calm the wind and waves (see Mark 4, Matthew 8, and Luke 8), you can visit a museum on the shore of the Sea of Galilee where they have enshrined a very special boat.
In 1986 two fishermen saw some wood sticking up from the mud at the bottom of the Sea of Galilee. It was during a time of drought, and the water levels were very low. They called the archaeologists and began to dig. What they found was a boat from the first century. They dated it not only with carbon dating techniques but also by the coins in the boat that dated from the reign of King Herod.
Called “the Jesus boat,” this artifact connects us visually and powerfully to the stories of Jesus and his fishermen followers from the coast of the Sea of Galilee.
NAZARETH AND MAGDALA
Other exciting finds have been made in Nazareth. For many years, scholars said the village of Nazareth never even existed. Then they began to dig. They found evidence of a long-gone first-century settlement. Out of the mud and dirt emerged an identifiable village well and remains of the simple dwellings of the people of a humble village.
Nearby they discovered the first-century remains of the town of Magdala —where Mary of Magdalene originated, and where the Gospels say Jesus went to preach. Not only that, archaeologists uncovered a synagogue from the first century. It was complete with the remains of frescoes and mosaic floors and the signs of synagogue worship.
Mark’s Gospel says Jesus went throughout this region preaching in the synagogues (see Mark 8:10), and Matthew records that he went into the region of Magdala (see Matthew 15:39). Therefore, scholars believe that this is one of the places where we can say almost with certainty that Jesus stood and preached.
As we discover more and more about the ancient world at the time of Christ, we are able to put together the pieces of the puzzle to affirm the basic historical reliability of the Gospels.
WHO CARES?
You might ask, “Why does it matter? Isn’t the most important thing Jesus’ message of love and forgiveness?” The answer is both yes and no. Of course Jesus’ message of love and forgiveness is important, but if he never existed, then he never preached that message. If Jesus is simply a fictional character, then his gospel of love and forgiveness is not necessarily any better or anymore true than the inspiring message of a mythological or legendary teacher. Furthermore, Jesus’ importance is more than just a message. It is the reality of his death and resurrection that is most important.
One other archaeological find brings us face-to-face with Christ’s passion. In 1968 Israeli archaeologists uncovered a tomb with the remains of a crucified man named Yehohanan. Through his anklebones an iron spike was still embedded and stuck into a piece of wood.
Some skeptics said the crucified were not nailed to the cross, but simply tied there and exposed to the elements. The discovery of Yehohanan’s skeleton was a stark reminder of the crucifixion of Jesus and the fact that the Gospel record of him being nailed to the cross is true. It put into even more stark contrast the story of St. Thomas who asked to put his fingers in the nail prints of Jesus’ hands (see John 20:24–29).
The facts of the Gospel are important because they are the facts of our salvation. The historical reliability of the Gospels, shown through archaeology, reminds us of the words of St. Peter, who insisted that the events of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection were not fairy tales:
We did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we had been eyewitnesses of his majesty. (2 Peter 1:16)