Can I Trust the Bible?Sample

What Makes Scripture, Scripture? (Part 2: The New Testament)

Like the Old Testament, the 27 books of the New Testament were not so much chosen or voted on as much as they were received, being largely recognized as the writings closest to the community surrounding Jesus. Their authority is established on apostolic authorship, meaning the writers had direct contact with either Jesus or his immediate disciples, and were consistent with Christ’s original teachings.

The Gospels in particular, are unique historical documents. All four (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) date within one hundred years of the life of Jesus and claim to be eye-witness accounts. While each offers a unique perspective on Jesus’ life and ministry, they each report similar narratives, sometimes borrowing from each other, and all reporting the death and resurrection of Jesus, therefore working together to harmonize a comprehensive biography of Jesus.

There are other texts that claim to be gospels, but are commonly referred to as pseudepigraphal, meaning they are writings attributed to those who were not the actual authors. One such example is the Gospel of Thomas. Not only are texts like these structured quite differently than the main four Gospels (Thomas’ Gospel is a collection of 114 obscure sayings, for instance, rather than a narrative of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection), they also report uncommon names and regions, as well as content demonstrably foreign to the accepted teachings of the earliest Christians. In today’s reading from Acts, we are warned of others (even some who claim to follow Christ) who will distort the original Gospel for their own gain. Due to the level of inconsistency with the other authoritative texts, the exclusion of these pseudepigraphal writings from the Bible is hardly controversial.

Even though the Gospel of Thomas claims to speak the words of the living Jesus, it is widely recognized as a much later writing, unassociated with the eye-witnesses of Jesus’ day and offering no direct connection with the historical Jesus.

The same organic reception of texts can be said for the group of writings we call the Epistles. Paul’s letters (written sometime between AD 48 to AD 64) predate even the Gospels and Acts, making them the earliest existing writings about Jesus’ teachings. In today’s reading from 2 Peter 3:16, we get a clear indication that Peter, a prominent leader of the early church, recognized Paul’s writings as belonging to the divinely inspired Word of God that is Scripture.

All of this accounts for good reasons to trust the Bible’s reliability. It also serves to dispel common myths that periodically circulate. For instance, many rumours have popularized the claim that the books of the Bible were chosen and determined much later by Church councils, such as the Council of Nicaea in 325. However, the more accurate reflection is that these councils acknowledged and recognized those books that were already accepted and prominently used by the first Christians. Church councils did not create biblical canons. Rather, they made important decisions based on texts that the majority of Christians already accepted as credible when they met. Further reading from some of the church's earliest voices, such as Clement I, Melito of Sardis, and Eusebius, also affirm this and demonstrate a correspondence between the accepted works of ancient Scripture and what we have today in our modern Bibles.

Today, as you read these verses, reflect on how knowing that the words of Scripture were received naturally, rather than strictly determined, helps you trust the Bible.