The Bible:
A Relic or Reliable Revelation?
(This is the second part of The Bible: A Relic or Reliable Revelation? I've broken the whole talk up into smaller sections, the rest of which can be found through the links on the Bible Section page. For online reading I recommend reading the shorter sections successively. To view the document with the whole talk in it Click Here. To view the rest of the parts of the talk Click Here. It does not contain numbered endnotes but you can find a list of references used at the end.)
The Oral Tradition is historically accurate
First, let's clear up the misconceptions about how the information concerning Jesus' life, death and post-resurrection appearances was transmitted orally before being written down—the so called Oral Tradition. You will hear claims that the New Testament documents, like the Gospels, were written hundreds of years after Jesus died in 33 AD. The information was passed down for generations by word of mouth. And over that amount of time so many legends and myths and distortions would have developed that we can't know what really happened—like in the telephone game.
Most people don't realize that this is actually a very outdated view not held by any contemporary scholar worth their degree. All but the most radical of liberal scholars agree with conservative scholars that all the books of the NT were written before 100 AD. This means the books of the NT were written between only 30 to 70 years after Jesus' death. This is important because historians have determined this is not enough time for myths and legends to develop. It means the books of the NT were written either by eyewitnesses or by people like Luke who carefully reported eyewitness testimonies. Furthermore, this was done in the presence of other eyewitnesses who could correct them on the accuracy of their accounts. Second, we must understand the true nature of the oral tradition. This was far from the unreliable telephone game. In fact, as you know, the purpose of the game is to have fun so you have a lot of incentive to distort the message you received and pass that distortion on to the next person.
In the ancient world, however, passing information on by word of mouth was far from a game. Memorization was a major means of education. It had to be. An education that included reading and writing was only available to the wealthy minority. But that doesn't mean those without formal educations were not intelligent and informed. The Jews would memorize whole books of the OT just by listening to it being read to them. They were taught to memorize everything they heard from their teachers. They were taught to memorize it word for word and then check it for accuracy. In a world where few people could be taught to read or write, accurate memorization was important and strictly enforced.
The teachers even used special techniques to help their hearers memorize what they said. And we can see how Jesus employed many of these techniques himself. One popular means of ensuring accuracy in the passing on of information was to formalize it into creeds and songs. You know how a song helps you learn. After all a song taught you your ABCs, didn't it? We know that the apostles' claim that Jesus rose from the dead was put into creeds and songs almost immediately after Jesus' death, even before any of the gospels were written.
The third way we know the news of Jesus' resurrection was accurately passed on is that so many Christians died for what they believed was the truth. If they were not certain that the claim about Jesus' resurrection was historically accurate they would not have chosen to die for it. Since the communists took over China they have alternated between periods of tolerance and intolerance toward Christians. When they become very tolerant all kinds of cults and heretical doctrines arise which are false versions of Christianity. But as soon as the government starts to persecute Christians the false Christians denounce their beliefs while only the true and doctrinally pure Christians suffer persecution. This cycle has been repeated many times. The early Christian martyrs may not have been able to read or write like we can but they weren't dumb. They believed they were dying for the truth, not a lie or a hoax.
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Copyright 2005. Gary C. Burger and New Media Ministries. This article may be reproduced and distributed freely as long as it is done so in its entirety. If quoted it must be properly cited as a reference.
