Reason 7 of 13
The Gospels are rooted in eyewitness testimony
The Gospels read like ancient biographies, full of names, places and awkward details. Their writers say they drew on eyewitnesses, and the earliest testimony about Mark's Gospel connects it to Peter.
What the writers claim
Luke says he investigated everything carefully from the beginning, using those who were eyewitnesses. John's Gospel ends by naming the disciple who testifies to these things. Peter's letter insists the apostles were eyewitnesses of Jesus' majesty.
1Since many have undertaken to set in order a narrative concerning those matters which have been fulfilled among us, 2even as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and servants of the word delivered them to us, 3it seemed good to me also, having traced the course of all things accurately from the first, to write to you in order, most excellent Theophilus; 4that you might know the certainty concerning the things in which you were instructed.
Luke 1:1-4 (WEB) · context
24This is the disciple who testifies about these things, and wrote these things. We know that his witness is true.
John 21:24 (WEB) · context
16For we didn’t follow cunningly devised fables when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty.
2 Peter 1:16 (WEB) · context
Early testimony and embarrassing details
Papias, a church leader writing about AD 100-130 and quoted by Eusebius (Church History 3.39), says Mark recorded what Peter taught. Richard Bauckham argues in Jesus and the Eyewitnesses that the named minor characters in the Gospels point to the people who told the stories.
The Gospels also keep details no one would invent to make a movement look good: the disciples' slowness and cowardice, Peter's denial, Jesus' family thinking He was out of His mind.
21When his friends heard it, they went out to seize him; for they said, “He is insane.”
Mark 3:21 (WEB) · context
66As Peter was in the courtyard below, one of the maids of the high priest came, 67and seeing Peter warming himself, she looked at him and said, “You were also with the Nazarene, Jesus!” 68But he denied it, saying, “I neither know nor understand what you are saying.” He went out on the porch, and the rooster crowed. 69The maid saw him and began again to tell those who stood by, “This is one of them.” 70But he again denied it. After a little while again those who stood by said to Peter, “You truly are one of them, for you are a Galilean, and your speech shows it.” 71But he began to curse and to swear, “I don’t know this man of whom you speak!” 72The rooster crowed the second time. Peter remembered the words that Jesus said to him, “Before the rooster crows twice, you will deny me three times.” When he thought about that, he wept.
Mark 14:66-72 (WEB) · context
The strongest objection, stated fairly
The Gospels were written decades later by unknown authors, so they are not eyewitness accounts.
How it answers
Forty years is well within living memory, and ancient biographies of other figures were often written much later. The Gospels name their sources and preserve embarrassing material, and the four accounts agree on the core while differing in the kind of details independent witnesses usually do.
Where Christians disagree
- The authorship and dates of the Gospels are debated. Many critical scholars date them about AD 65-100 and doubt the traditional authors; others, such as Bauckham, defend a close link to eyewitnesses.
Sources
- Eusebius, Church History 3.39 (quoting Papias)
- Richard Bauckham, Jesus and the Eyewitnesses (Eerdmans, 2006; 2nd edition 2017)
- Craig S. Keener, Christobiography (Eerdmans, 2019)
Why the evidence matters
If Jesus rose, His offer is real
God loves you and gave His Son so that whoever believes in Him should not perish.