The Gospels are Historically Reliable: 6 Reasons

Historical reliability must be properly defined in view of the conventions of ancient historiography. Mike Licona defines what it means to say an ancient historical work is "historically reliable" then provides 6 criteria that must be met in order for that work to be regarded in that sense.

#gospelsreliable

[Deflate]

Thank you, Mike, for this very helpful talk. If you want, copy these chapters below into your video description and YouTube will divide up the video timeline accordingly, which makes it easier for people to navigate your presentation.

0:00 Intro
1:06 The genre of biography (ancient & modern)
4:55 Definition of "historical reliability"
6:08 Reason 1: The authors' intention
12:51 Reason 2: The sources
15:58 Reason 3: Responsible use of sources
17:15 Reason 4: Accurate recalling of stories
31:06 Reason 5: Verification
33:35 Reason 6: Few possible errors
36:37 Summary

[hhstark]

This is my summary of video.

Historical reliability = an accurate gist of a historical document where the document can have some errors and skewed by excluding inconvenient or embarrassing facts.

Reasons why the gospels are historically reliable:
1. Author intended to write an accurate account, since the gospels are biographical in the genre of history (not poetry or theology) with emphasis on main character and ancestry and deeds.
The gospels are NOT fictional ancient novels, since the gospels do NOT include a romance plot and do mention actual historical figures. Both Luke and John and Mark´s gospel explicitly mention that they are recording events.

2. The authors chose the sources judicially.

3. The author used resources responsible.

4. The authors were capable of recalling stories accurately.

5. We can verify numerous reported items.

6. Only a very small percentage of reported items have a reasonable chance of being errors, namely the death of Judas (in gospel of Matthew) and the census of Augustus (in the gospel of Luke).

About the Judas-contradiction, either way we know that he committed suicide and died. :)

[TruthBeTold]

Thanks Dr. Licona. I listened to this whole playlist and learned a lot. I also took notes. You didn't mention these books, but I recommend "The Historical Reliability of the Gospels, " by Blomberg; and "The Historical Reliability of John's Gospel, " by Blomberg.

[WayneVA]

Dr. Mike Licona, that was awesome. You touched on several points that I have noticed from the Gospels & the Epistles over the years in light of the errors of Form Criticism (the Creative Church Community) of the 20th & 21st Centuries.


Timeline 26:10 Itinerant preacher, Rabbi Jesus & repetition, over & over & over & over … fixing the experiences into their memories. Also, the frequent repetition of eyewitnesses' reports to neighbors & during church testimonies times.


Timeline 28:35 Some of Jesus’ disciples, Matthew & John, took notes while they were following Jesus. The “Q” sources.


Timeline 29:05 Adjusting the parables & teachings for the Gentile audiences.


I would only add one other point of consideration. In John 14:26 Jesus promised that the Holy Spirit would bring to their recall everything that Jesus said & did.


Mike, that was very clever. May the Lord richly bless you in your Gospel ministry.
Jesus of Nazareth is the focus. 📖✝😇🎓⚔⚖👑

[Yeoman]

Thank you Dr. Licona for your lectures on line. It really has blessed me. I want to save up and buy your book on the differences in the gospels. I learned quite a bit from the late Dr. Walter Martin. I’m sure before your time. You have been blessing me through your teaching, especially through lectures. I listen to you and I am going through a book called Tactics written by my wife’s friend. These resources better equip me to deal with gospel objections. As a retired man who now has a lot of time I am blessed by you and Greg’s book. Thank you again. Praying for you. Thomas Hanscom

[Abraham-bsbo]

"Very truly I tell you, whoever obeys my word will never see death.” (John 8:51)

[rolandovelasquez]

God bless you Mike. Very clear. Very concise. Yes
The "over and over and over and over ..." part is so good. Repetition, in mnemonics, the most effective and powerful aid to memory.

[philochristos]

Mike, I've been reading a lot of stuff lately about the genre of the gospels, and a question occurred to me that so far nobody I've read has addressed. Do you think any of the apocryphal gospels fit the genre of Greco-Roman biography? To me, it seems like they are. The only difference is that they are later, more fanciful, and less reliable. With that being the case, it makes me question how reliable we can assume a document is merely by identifying its genre as Greco-Roman biography. But maybe there is some reason to think the second or third century gospels are NOT Greco-Roman biography, so I thought I'd ask.

[questioneveryclaim]

Is an "accurate gist" really sufficient enough to say a historical event occurred for which we have no verifiable examples can occur?

[terancejude]

Thank you mike....awesome.... god bless you...

[AnHebrewChild]

where did this talk take place? the stage looks like a Calvary chapel...

[cvanhaelst]

This explanation makes one wonder if any of the authors were inspired by God. Seems like they all just copied or thought plagiarized one another. Are the names given to the gospels in the Bible actually written by the people whose names appear as the authors. Were they actually written by them ?

[richardpaulhall]

How can you say Scripture is reliable? Where are theoriginaldocuments? The supporting evidence?

[johnmacdonald]

Dan Brown's historical fiction novels describe setting elements in painstaking detail too. I don't think pursuing this line of argument is going to result in the fruit you think it will.

[Iamwrongbut]

To his first point, just because the NT manuscripts are the best ancient manuscripts doesn’t mean they’re accurate.

The best of a group of bad things does not imply goodness. It just implies that it is not as bad as the terrible things. Meaning, the NT manuscripts aren’t necessarily reliable, they’re just MORE reliable than other ancient documents, which are extremely unreliable.

[sethsuleiman]

A historical data can be reliable if (1) the transmission of the data is reliable; ie. its chain and trustworthiness of narrators is known and (2) God who said it.

[matheussalespinheiro]

Can i be a christian and accept that the bible have errors or sayings that are no from jesus : ?

[hiddendragon]

I'm waiting for these apologists to refute Dennis R MacDonald's "Mythologizing Jesus" or "Luke and Vergil".

[DDDSSDDDSSDDDSS]

Original gospels were not written in Greek. So who knows what has changed.

[edgarmorales]

Just as Jesus discarded the teachings of Judaism, Jesus would also discard the teachings in the Bible. Too much of the Bible has been distorted, misunderstood and incorrectly reported; why put new wine into old wineskins.