Does other evidence confirm what is written in it, like archeological evidence or ancient historical writings by Jews or pagans? Its accounts of Jesus' and others' miracles should not make people automatically skeptical of whether it is true. While it may be true you or I have never seen a miraculous healing or someone raised from the dead, that doesn't prove nobody else ever has. Many important events happen all the time, such as (foreign) earthquakes, coups, floods, elections, and assassinations that many never have witnessed personally, but they still believe others have experienced them. Instead of ruling out in advance the Bible's record of miracles as impossible before examining the evidence, you should think that if other events or places of the New or Old Testaments can be confirmed, then it's sensible to infer the miracles they record also occurred.

How Faith In The Bible Involves An Inference Like A Scientist's

Fundamentally, the process of examining whether the Bible is God's word involves an inference from what parts can be shown to be historically reliable by archeology and other historical writings, and from its fulfilled prophecies, to saying ALL of the Bible is inspired. You cannot prove all Bible's statements independently of the Bible--but then, you can't do this either for any other major ancient historical document. If humanity could figure it all out by reason alone, God really wouldn't need to give us revelation to begin with. Human reason can't tell us the purpose of life, what happens after death, or give us moral guidance besides a few crude basics: Therefore, revelation is necessary.

The intelligent Christian's faith involves an extrapolation very similar to a physical scientist's. The chemist (say) believes that because such and so chemicals interact in a certain way in his or her lab, that therefore all of the same chemicals in the same circumstances throughout the earth (or even universe) will interact in the same way again. But, of course, he or she hasn't checked all the same chemicals throughout the earth to be 100% certain that the same results will always happen long into the future. Similarly, the informed Christian performs a similar inference. He or she says that since the Bible's already fulfilled prophecies could only sensibly have a supernatural origin, and since it has no proven historical mistakes in what parts can be checked, therefore, the whole Bible is inspired. Clearly, faith is still involved, because only a relatively small part of the Bible consists of already fulfilled prophecies and historical statements that can be compared against other records or archeological discoveries. Nevertheless, making this inference is perfectly rational. Belief in the Bible need not be an operation in blind faith, since God has left enough evidence for us to believe "beyond a reasonable doubt," but not so much that any and all challenges by disbelievers can be refuted with 100% certainty. So mankind should seek not 100% certainty in its religious convictions, but enough evidence so they are supported "beyond a reasonable doubt." We should not demand of God more evidence for determining our religious beliefs than we use for other major decisions in life, such as choosing a career or mate.

Applying The External Evidence Test To The Old Testament

Let's consider the external evidence test as applied to the Old Testament. About the Old Testament, higher critics time and again have made skeptical, even dogmatic statements against its historical reliability. Thanks to archeological discoveries over the past two centuries, they have been embarrassed repeatedly, yet they never seem to give up. (Witness the recent series on the Book of Genesis on PBS, in which Bill Moyers intentionally cut out the fundamentalist defenders of Genesis from appearing on it, while allowing all sorts of skeptics to appear. So much for journalistic objectivity!) For example, could have Moses written the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Bible)?

In the nineteenth century, skeptics frequently argued he couldn't have, because writing hadn't been invented yet (c. 1400 b.c.) This claim was the basis for the documentary hypothesis of liberal scholars, which said unknown editors and writers wrote them centuries later. But excavations of cities in Mesopotamia (modern Iraq) have decisively smashed claims that writing developed later. The ancient city of Ebla (found in modern Syria), which first began to be unearthed in 1964, was at the height of its power in 2300 b.c. It was destroyed in 2250 b.c. Some 17,000 clay tablets with writing have been dug up there since 1974. Even this discovery alone proves writing existed around a thousand years before Moses. The world's first civilization was the Sumerians of southern Mesopotamia. Early, primitive fragments of their picture writing are dated 3100 b.c. Plainly, the nineteenth-century higher critics were wrong to deny writing hadn't been invented by the time Moses lived some 1500+ years later.

King Sargon's Existence, Once Doubted, Now Proven

Early nineteenth-century higher critics denied that King Sargon II even existed. Mentioned in Isaiah 20:1 in connection with his attack on the philistine city of Ashdod, he ruled the ancient empire of Assyria in the eighth century b.c. But later archeologists unearthed his palace at Khorsabad (in modern Iraq), along with many inscriptions in stone about his rule. They found his own words about his campaign against Ashdod: "In a sudden rage, I did not (wait to) assemble the full might of my army (or to) prepare the camp(ing equipment), but started out towards Ashdod (only) with those of my warriors who, even in friendly areas, never leave my side. . . . I besieged (and) conquered the cities Ashdod, Gath, Asdudimmu." As the Israeli historian Moshe Pearlman writes in Digging Up the Bible: "Suddenly, sceptics who had doubted the authenticity even of the historical parts of the Old Testament began to revise their views."

The Old Testament Was Right About How Sennacherib's Sons Assassinated Him

The Assyrian King Sennacherib was assassinated by two of his sons, according to the Old Testament (2 Kings 19:36-37). Yet various historians doubted the Bible's account, citing the accounts by two ancient Babylonians who said only one son was involved. The later discovery of a fragment of a stone prism of King Esarhaddon, a son of Sennacherib, however, has confirmed the Bible's account. In part it reads: "A firm determination fell upon my brothers. They forsook the gods and turned to their deeds of violence, plotting evil. . . . To gain the kingship they slew Sennacherib their father." The historian Philip Biberfeld comments in his Universal Jewish History: "It (the Biblical account) was confirmed in all the minor details by the inscription of Esar-haddon and proved to be more accurate regarding this even than the Babylonian sources themselves. This is a fact of utmost importance for the evaluation of even contemporary sources not in accord with Biblical tradition."³²

Evidence For Sodom And Gomorrah Actually Once Existing

Commonly skeptics had questioned the very existence of the wicked cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. Jehovah destroyed them for sinning sexually, mistreating visitors, and failing to help the needy (Genesis 19:4-7, 13-14, 24-25; Ezekiel 16:49-50; Jude 7). While fleeing the city, Lot's wife turned to a pillar of salt after looking back at Sodom illicitly (Genesis 19:26). Their names appeared on some of the tablets unearthed at the city of Ebla. The name of the city of Zoar also was found, which was the town Lot (Abraham's nephew) asked God (through the angels) to spare (Genesis 19:18-22). Although many had believed the southern end of the Dead Sea covered Sodom and Gomorrah, more recent excavations point to these two cities being underneath mounds on dry land in the same area. Having perhaps three million pottery containers and five hundred thousand people buried in some twenty thousand tombs, the site called Bab edh-Dhra is said to be Gomorrah. Seven miles to its south lies a site tentatively identified as Sodom. Ominously, excavations revealed a layer of ash and associated debris some five feet thick. Volcanic action couldn't have produced this, because no volcanoes exist here. Found under the rubble of a fallen defense tower, two human skeletons point to this city suffering a sudden end. Much like skeletons found at the Roman resort of Pompeii, abruptly buried by Mt. Vesuvius in 79 A.D., they had no time to flee. Dotted with salt formations, asphalt pits, and sulfur ("brimstone") deposits, this area geologically is a prime candidate for the location of Sodom and Gomorrah.³³

How A Biblical Reference Enabled An Archeologist To Make A Successful Prediction

One Kings 9:15 reads: "Now this is the account of the forced labor which King Solomon levied to build the house of the Lord, his own house, the Millo, the wall of Jerusalem, Hazor, Megiddo, and Gezer." Dr. Yigael Yadkin, an Israeli archeologist, dug up stables at Hazor like those found at Megiddo. Although Megiddo's stables had been attributed to King Solomon, they actually had been later built by the wicked Israelite king Ahab, whose wife was Jezebel. Visiting back at the Megiddo site, Yadkin carefully wrote down a description of Solomon's gateway there. Figuring that since Solomon built the gateways at both Megiddo and Hazor, they would be similar, he told a few of his workmen exactly what they would find when unearthing the gate at Hazor. To the workmen's total astonishment, they found exactly what Yadkin said they would find: The gateways of the two cities proved to be identical.

As Yadkin himself explains:

When our 'prophecies' proved correct, our prestige went up tremendously, and we were regarded as wizards. . . . When we read them [the workmen] the biblical verse about Solomon's activities in Hazor, Meggido [sic?] and Gezer [1 Kings 9:15], our prestige took a dive, but that of the Bible rose sky-high!³⁴

How Other Ancient Writings Confirm The Old Testament: Shishak's Inscription

One of the best ways to test the reliability of a historical document arises when it describes accurately losses or other embarrassments. It's easy to boast about your victories to future generations--it's quite another to admit your defeats, and accurately record them for posterity. The Old Testament doesn't hesitate at all to describe graphically Israel's defeats at the hands of her enemies. But the converse was not true, for reasons Moshe Pearlman describes:

"This kind of identical 'war reporting' from both sides was unusual in the Middle East of ancient times (and on occasion in modern times too). It occurred only when the countries in conflict were Israel and one of its neighbours, and only when Israel was defeated. When Israel won, no record of failure appeared in the chronicles of the enemy."

Hence, when Israel humbled Egypt during the Exodus, the Egyptian priests made no records of that disaster at that time so far as it is known. But King Sargon of Assyria boasts of when (c. 722/21 b.c.) he took away 27,290 people from the city of Samaria. Two Kings 17:6 records the same disaster that overtook the capital of the northern kingdom of Israel. Similarly, Pharaoh Shishak (reigned c. 945-924 b.c.) commemorated his victory over Judah and Israel on a triumphal relief written on the south wall of the Temple of Amon-Re at Karnak in Thebes. It listed nine Israelite place names, including Megiddo and Gibeon. Excavators at various sites in Israel, including Gezer, have attributed to this pharaoh's raid the evidence of devastation they have found. Rehoboam, Solomon's son, the king of Judah, bought off Pharaoh Shishak by giving him all the treasures in the Temple of Jehovah in Jerusalem (see 2 Chronicles 12:1-12). Hence, the Egyptian inscription reports Shishak's victory over Israel; the Old Testament relates Israel's defeat at his hands.³⁵

The Moabite Stone And Other Records Prove Various Israelite Kings Lived

Consider the remarkable record found on the Moabite stone, discovered at Dibon (now in Jordan) in 1868 by F.A. Klein. On it King Mesha of Moab described how his nation had been oppressed by the Israel for some forty years, starting with King Omri (876-869 b.c.) Compare this to 2 Kings 3:4-5: "Now Mesha king of Moab was a sheep breeder, and used to pay the king of Israel 100,000 lambs and the wool of 100,000 rams. But it came about, when Ahab died, the king of Moab rebelled against the king of Israel." Mesha on the Moabite stone then describes his unsuccessful rebellion (described in the rest of 2 Kings 3), during which Israel, Judah, and Edom crushed Moab's army. Later on, Mesha was successful in shaking off Israelite domination. He took vessels from the Temple of Yahweh (Jehovah), Israel's God, and dedicated them to Chemosh, Moab's god. Since this stone mentioned Omri, it was the first source discovered outside the Bible that mentioned a king of Israel or Judah. Since then the names of eleven other Israelite kings have been found in ancient texts outside the Bible. The most recent one (as of 1993), King Jehoash, was discovered in 1967 in Iraq on an Assyrian inscription. The Assyrian king Shalmaneser's Black Obelisk portrays King Jehu (or one of his emissaries) paying him tribute. Above the engraving on stone it reads: "Yaua (Jehu), son of Humri (Omri); silver, gold, a golden beaker, golden goblets, pitchers of gold, lead, staves for the hand of the king, javelins, I received from him." (Interestingly, this same obelisk mentions King Hazael of Syria, who Elijah anointed as king--1 Kings 19:15). Since higher critics once questioned the existence of some of kings of Judah and Israel, these finds have undermined their claims once again.³⁶

The Account Of Sennacherib, King Of Assyria, Of His First Invasion Of Judah

One extraordinary case of the Old Testament's account being precisely confirmed by archeological evidence concerns Sennacherib's invasions of Judah. During the first time, Sennacherib successfully grabbed the fortified cities of Judah, including Lachish. In response, Hezekiah agreed to pay tribute (2 Kings 18:13): "So the king of Assyria required of Hezekiah king of Judah three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold." On the hexagonal Prism of Sennacherib, unearthed in his palace at Nineveh, he boasts of his victory against Judah:

As to Hezekiah, the Jew, he did not submit to my yoke, I laid siege to 46 of his strong cities. . . . I drove out (of them) 200,150 people. . . . Himself I made a prisoner in Jerusalem, his royal residence, like a bird in a cage. . . . I still increased the tribute and the katru-presents (due) to me (as his) overlord which I imposed (later) upon him beyond the former tribute, to be delivered annually.

The amount of tribute Hezekiah handed over included "thirty talents of gold." This is an exact parallelism between the Old Testament and the pagan Assyrian king's boasts. Sennacherib commemorated his operation and successful capture of the fortified city of Lachish during this invasion of Judah by reliefs in his throne room. On one relief, he declares: "Sennacherib, king of the world, king of Assyria, sat upon a nimedu-throne and passed in review of the booty (taken) from Lachish (La-Ki-su)." Built so his army could move siege engines equipped with battering rams up it, a ramp has been unearthed in recent years there.³⁷

The Book Of Daniel Vindicated About Belshazzar, The Last King Of Babylon

At one time, skeptics claimed the book of Daniel was wrong to say the last king of Babylon was Belshazzar instead of Nabonidus. No known ancient source mentioned him besides the Bible. But thanks to archeological discoveries, piecing the actual truth together proved to be like solving a puzzle step-by-step. In 1861 on a Babylonian text, the name "Belshazzar" first appeared. Then in 1882 the Chronicle of Nabonidus appeared. It stated that Nabonidus lived in Tema while his son stayed in Babylon itself, but failed to name him. Then in 1884, Belshazzar was said to be the son of Nabonidus on one tablet. One inscription first read in 1916 had an oath sworn to both, naming both Nabonidus and Belshazzar. This obviously implied some kind of dual monarchy existed.

Finally, in 1924, on yet another inscription, King Nabonidus declared: "I entrusted kingship on my son Belshazzar." The puzzle parts, when put together, show Nabonidus chose to retire (much like Charles V of Austria did in the sixteenth century, or Queen Wilhelmina of Holland in this century) while leaving actual rulership to his son. This peculiar dual kingship explained why, at his final feast after Daniel interpreted the writing on the wall for him, Belshazzar offered and later gave the Hebrew prophet the position of being "the third ruler in the kingdom" (Daniel 5:16, 29). Yale professor R.P. Dougherty placed the book of Daniel above other ancient writings, explaining: "The Scriptural account may be interpreted as excelling because it employs the name Belshazzar, because it attributes royal power to Belshazzar, and because it recognizes that a dual rulership existed in the kingdom."³⁸ This case shows that when the Bible conflicts with other ancient source(s), it's unwise to automatically assume the Bible is wrong, and the ancient pagan sources right.

Lions In Mesopotamia And Domesticated Camels: The Bible Is Right After All

Skeptics also have declared the Bible wrong for portraying the camel as domesticated in the time of Abraham and Isaac (c. 1820 b.c.) in Genesis 24:10. Werner Keller, in his occasionally skeptical The Bible as History (1964), maintained these "camels" were really donkeys. More recently, Moshe Dayan, the one-eyed Israeli military leader and archeologist, found evidence that camels "served as a means of transport" in patriarchal times: "An eighteenth-century BC relief found at Byblos in Phoenicia [modern Lebanon] depicts a kneeling camel." He also added that: "Camel riders appear on cylinder seals recently discovered in Mesopotamia belonging to the patriarchal period." The higher critics also claimed no lions lived in ancient Mesopotamia. This meant the prophet Nahum's references to them when condemning Assyria and Nineveh were wrong (see Nahum 2:11-12). It is now known lions were imported from Africa into Assyria. Kept in captivity until the king had them released, he hunted them down for sport. After killing them and bringing them back, lions would be offered in the temple as a sacrifice to the gods.³⁹ O, how wrong these higher critics proved to be! Yet how many believed them, thinking their conclusions came from "the assured results of modern science" rather than an anti-God bias? Hasn't it been shown above that the skeptics have been proven time and time again? Judging from their poor track record, doesn't this show people should be wary of trusting them the next time they read about someone claiming the Bible isn't historically accurate? Why be automatically skeptical of the Bible, when the skeptics themselves have been proven wrong so often? Let's be skeptical of the skeptics in the future!

Other Cases In Which Biblical References Have Been Confirmed

Consider other cases in which archeological evidence confirmed Biblical references. After invading Canaan, Joshua built an altar to God on Mount Ebal (Joshua 8:30). Excavations performed on Mount Ebal during 1982-84 uncovered an ancient altar--quite possibly the one built by Joshua. The only city Joshua burned during his conquest of the promised land in the north was Hazor (cf. Josh. 11:11). Only excavations at this site have found this kind of destruction for the time of Joshua's northern campaign. Joab, the army commander for King David, and Abner, the general for King Saul's son, fought with handpicked men near the Pool of Gibeon (2 Samuel 2:13-17). The actual Pool of Gibeon has been discovered, positively identified by a jar handle inscribed with "Gibeon" found in it. The prophet Amos condemned the unrighteous for having the great luxury of ivory in their houses as Israel fell into idolatry, crime, and sin. He especially included the king of Israel in context by implication (Amos 3:15; see also 6:14; 1 Kings 22:39). Interestingly, the king's palace is one of the few places within Israel where artifacts made of ivory have been dug up. Good King Hezekiah of Judah, according to 2 Kings 20:20, "made a pool and the conduit, and brought water into the city [Jerusalem]."

In order to supply Jerusalem with water during a possible future siege by the Assyrians, Hezekiah bored a tunnel 1,750 feet long through solid rock. The American traveler Edward Robinson and a missionary, Eli Smith, accidently discovered the tunnel in 1838. In 1880, a boy noticed an inscription in Hebrew on its wall, which described how the work crews dug the tunnel from each end, meeting in the middle. Hilkiah, the high priest for King Josiah of Judah, found the book of the law in the temple (2 Kings 22:8). In 1984, in the home of an antique collector in Paris, a ring was found with this inscription: "(Belonging) to Hanan, son (of) Hilkiah, the priest." Clay seals (bullae) have been uncovered with such Biblical names as Baruch, the scribe for the prophet Jeremiah, Jerahmeel, the king's son, and Gemariah, the son of Shaphan the scribe (Jeremiah 32:12, 36:12, 26).

Nebuchadnezzar's three assaults against Jerusalem (605 b.c., 598-597 b.c., and 589-586 b.c.) all have evidence from outside the Bible to confirm their occurrence. Especially striking is the tablet where in his seventh year "the Babylonian king" took "the city of Judah," installed a king of his choice [i.e., Zedekiah for Jehoiachin], and received heavy tribute (2 Kings 24:10-18). On the cylinder that bears his name, King Cyrus of Persia had his own words discovered in Babylon in 1887. Corresponding to Isaiah 45:13 for the Jews, he proclaims the policy of allowing those captives dragged into exile by Babylon to return home and to let them rebuild their sanctuaries. Time and again, the Bible's references do check out--so why are so many today so skeptical about it?⁴⁰

The Case History Of Jericho's Dating: How Archeology Isn't Always Reliable

The above doesn't prove that every bit of archeological evidence as presently interpreted by archeologists is in perfect conformity with the Bible. Some controversies remain, mainly over dating. Archeological evidence can be interpreted in more than one way in good faith, since it is inevitably fragmentary and hence limited. As Yohanan Aharoni explained: "When it comes to historical or historio-geographical interpretation, the archaeologist steps out of the realm of the exact sciences, and he must rely upon value judgements and hypotheses to arrive at a comprehensive historical picture." Furthermore, he admits that archeologists aren't infallible when assigning dates, although today they are better than they used to be. For a case history of these kinds of problems, consider the date for the fall of Jericho, the first city Joshua took when Israel invaded the Promised Land. A straightforward interpretation of 1 Kings 6:1, which says Solomon began to build the Temple of Jehovah in Jerusalem 480 years after Israel left Egypt, points to the Exodus occurring about the year 1445 b.c. Since Israel spent forty years wandering in the wilderness in punishment for their sins, they must have taken Jericho about the year 1405 b.c.

Before World War II, professor John Garstang found the city of Jericho had been wiped out and rebuilt numerous times. For one of these times, the walls fell as if an earthquake destroyed them, and fire totally burned up the city. He even found that the walls fell outwards, as Joshua 6:20 implies, which is very unusual for ancient cities, whose walls normally fell inwards, towards their buildings. Garstang believed this event happened around 1400 b.c.--just about the time Joshua invaded Palestine. But later, following her own excavations, the archeologist Kathleen Kenyon maintained Jericho was destroyed about 1325 b.c., after a much earlier destruction in the sixteenth century. She believed no inhabited city occupied the site in the fifteenth century. Was the Bible wrong?

More recently, John J. Brimson re-examined the evidence. He maintains the destruction Kenyon saw as happening in the sixteenth century could well have occurred in the middle of the fifteenth. Furthermore, Garstang's earlier investigation found only one piece of Mycenean (early Greek and Cretan) pottery out of over 150,000 shards at the City IV level of Jericho. Since Mycenean pottery was exported into Palestine soon after 1400 b.c., this level of Jericho had to have been destroyed considerably earlier than approximate 1325 b.c. date Kenyon deduced. Hence, since the evidence concerning the date of Jericho's fall can easily be interpreted to fit the Bible's dating of it, there's no compelling reason to say it is wrong. (Notice the dispute concerns dating, not whether Jericho existed or the walls fell). This case demonstrates an important principle about the relationship of archeological evidence and the Bible: If there are any disagreements, reexamination and reinterpretation of existing evidence or the discovery of new evidence may resolve them. This is hardly a procedure of blind faith, since archeology in the past has so often has vindicated the Bible while abasing its critics (who still never seem to give up!)⁴¹

How The New Testament's General Background Can Be Checked

Although many of the specific events of the New Testament can't be checked out in other historical documents, much of its general background can be, such as place names, customs, governmental procedures, religious rituals, the names of prominent persons, etc. Hence, the Roman government did issue coins with Caesar's head on it called denarii (Matthew 22:17-21), Tiberius was an emperor of Rome (Luke 3:1), the Sanhedrin was the supreme ruling body of the Jews in Judea (Matthew 26:59), footwashing was a lowly task normally done by servants (John 13:12-14), crucifixion was a punishment routinely meted out by the Roman government against non-citizens (Mark 15:24), etc. Archeologists have discovered the pool of Bethesda with five porticoes (John 5:2-4) and the pool of Siloam (John 9:7, 11). The Nazareth stone, discovered in 1878, proves place of Christ's childhood did exist. For many centuries no record of the spot where Jesus was tried before being crucified, "the Pavement," had been discovered. But Albright found that it was the court of the Tower of Antonia. It had been the Roman military headquarters in Jerusalem, but got buried when the Emperor Hadrian (76-138, ruled 117-138 A.D.) rebuilt the city.⁴² So although most of the specific events recorded in the Gospels can't be directly checked in pagan or Jewish historical works, the general cultural background certainly can be.

The Archeological Evidence For Pontius Pilate Versus The Argument From Silence

More specifically, consider the case of Pontius Pilate as bearing on the New Testament's trustworthiness. Some have doubted whether Pontius Pilate even lived, the Roman Empire's Procurator of Judea who had Jesus of Nazareth crucified in 31 A.D. (Matthew 27; John 18-19). But then in 1961 an archeological expedition from Italy overturned a stone used as a stairway for a Roman theater in ancient Caesarea (in modern Israel). The Latin inscription on it said (here put in English): "To the people of Caesarea Tiberium Pontius Pilate Prefect of Judea." As Michael J. Howard remarks: "It was a fatal blow to the doubts about Pilate's existence. . . . For the first time there was contemporary epigraphic [writing in stone] evidence of the life of the man who ordered the crucifixion of Christ.⁴³ This case illustrates a fallacious argument that disbelievers in the Bible use again and again. They argue from silence, and say that because the Bible records something mentioned nowhere else, it can't be true (or certainly true). Archeological discoveries have repeatedly refuted their claims after being made, as shown above in the section dealing with the Old Testament. The New and Old Testaments have shown themselves trustworthy so often in what can be checked, it's proper to infer or extrapolate that the rest of what can't be checked is also reliable. This is not a procedure of blind faith.

Luke's Reliability As A Historian Persuades An Atheist To Become A Believer

What archeological evidence is there for the New Testament's reliability generally, and Luke's in particular? The English archeologist Sir William Ramsay (professor of humanity at Aberdeen University in Scotland, 1886-1911) had been totally skeptical about the accuracy of the New Testament, especially the writings of Luke. Indeed, he was an atheist, raised by parents who were atheists. After going to what is now Turkey, and doing a topographical study, he totally changed his mind. This man, who had studied archeology in order to refute the Bible, instead discovered hundreds of historical facts that confirmed it. Later, he wrote that Luke "should be placed along with the very greatest of historians." He had believed, as per nineteenth-century German higher criticism, that Acts was written in the second century. But he found it must have been written earlier, because it reflected conditions typical of the second half of the first century. He explained why he changed his mind thus:

I may fairly claim to have entered on this investigation without prejudice in favour of the conclusion which I shall now seek to justify to the reader. On the contrary, I began with a mind unfavourable to it, for the ingenuity and apparent completeness of the Tubingen [higher critic] theory had at one time quite convinced me. It did not then lie in my line of life to investigate the subject minutely; but more recently I found myself brought into contact with the Book of Acts as an authority for the topography, antiquities and society of Asia Minor. It was gradually borne upon me that in various details the narrative [of Luke in Acts] showed marvelous truth. In fact, beginning with a fixed idea that the work was essentially a second century composition, and never relying on its evidence as trustworthy for first century conditions, I gradually came to find it a useful ally in some obscure and difficult investigations.

Specific Examples Showing Luke Was Right After His Critics Said He Was Wrong

Let's examine some cases where Luke was called wrong, but later vindicated. For example, Luke was said to imply incorrectly that the cities of Lystra and Derbe were in Lycaonia but Iconium wasn't (Luke 14:6), according to what the Roman politician and orator Cicero (106-43 b.c.) and others had written anciently. But in 1910, Ramsay found a monument that showed Iconium was in Phyrgia, not Lycaonia--a discovery since corroborated by further evidence. When Luke said Lysanias was the Tetrarch of Abilene (Luke 3:1), this was said to be erroneous, since the only Lysanias known to ancient historians had died in 36 b.c. But later an inscription, dated between A.D. 14 and 29, was discovered near Damascus, Syria that said "Freedman of Lysanias the Tetrarch." The textual critic F.J.A. Fort maintained Luke was wrong to use the Greek word meris to mean "district" when referring to Philippi as part of Macedonia. Later archeological discoveries have found that Luke was right--this very word meris was employed to describe this district's divisions.

Luke called Publius of Malta the "first man of the island" (Acts 28:7); inscriptions have been found that refer to him as "first man." Luke wrote of a riot in Ephesus that took place in its theater. Having room for 25,000 people, this theater has been dug up. Paul's preaching here provoked a riot because silversmiths feared their trade in objects related to the Temple of Artemis (one of the Seven Wonders of the ancient world) would collapse if he was believed. Correspondingly, one unearthed inscription said the silver statues of Artemis were to be placed in the "theater during a full session of the Ecclesia [assembly]." Luke once described Paul nearly being killed by a riot provoked by the rumor he had brought a gentile into the Temple (Acts 21:27-31). Helping confirm this account, archeologists have found inscriptions that read in Latin and Greek: "No foreigner may enter within the barrier which surrounds the temple and enclosure. Anyone who is caught doing so will be personally responsible for his ensuing death."⁴⁴ Evidence favoring Luke's reliability as a historian, and thus the New Testament's, could be easily extended.

The Date Of Christ's Birth And The Census By Quirinius

Was Luke wrong to say Jesus was born during a census taken by Quirinius during the rule of King Herod the Great? What caused Jesus to be born in Bethlehem instead of (say) Nazareth was the Roman Emperor Augustus's order for everyone to register for a census in their ancestral home town (see Luke 1:5, 26-35, 2:1-7). Since Herod died in 4 b.c., but the first census conducted by the Roman official Quirinius as recorded by others occurred in A.D. 6-7, skeptics have said Luke was wrong. It must be realized, however, that this is really an argument from silence. Since the Jewish historian Josephus (etc.) didn't mention an earlier census under Quirinius, it claims no census happened, therefore, Luke must be wrong. As shown above, archeological discoveries have repeatedly exploded similar skeptical contentions in the past. Consider the present-day status of arguments such as, "Moses couldn't have written the Pentateuch since writing hadn't been yet invented in his day," or "Belshazzar couldn't have been the last king of Babylon because Herodotus mentions only Nabonidus." Waiting in faith could well solve this problem, especially since Luke has been proven right and his critics wrong on various points in the past. The case of Antipas mentioned above comes to mind, since the record of an earlier man named "Antipas" was judged to prove Luke wrong, until a later discovery proved another man named "Antipas" did live in the early first century A.D.

Evidence For Luke Being Right About The Date Of The Census

Positive but inconclusive evidence that Luke was right has been found. Two inscriptions have been uncovered that potentially indicate that Quirinius did have an earlier governorship in Syria. The Lapis Venetus describes a census ordered by Quirinius for the Syrian city of Apamea which some evidence says was made sometime between 10-6 b.c., although a number of others maintain it refers to the 6 A.D. census. Another inscription, called the Lapis Tiburtinus mentions someone who had earlier been the proconsul of Cyrene (in modern Libya), who later subdued the Homonadensians, and then "again" received the legateship of Syria and Phoenicia (in modern Lebanon). Since Quirinius is known to have suppressed the Homonadensian tribes for Rome, to have fought in the Gaetulian war in North Africa, and was the governor of Syria (or "the one leading" it), it's sensible to say this inscription refers to him. But due to its ill-preserved condition, his name is missing. Admittedly, the word "again" could mean he merely received a legateship a second time, not necessarily in the same locale. Interestingly, scholar E.J. Vardaman maintains he has "micrographic" evidence that conclusively proves this inscription refers to Quirinius which had yet to be published and checked over. Note Luke 2:2's potential implications when mentioning this census: "This was the first census taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria." Using the word "first" may indicate a second was done under his command. (Compare Acts 5:37, when Luke mentions the census, occurring in 6 A.D., in connection with Judas of Galilee's revolt).

Furthermore, Quirinius may have been given some kind of "extraordinary command" or official position in Syria while battling the Homonadensians in Cilcia and elsewhere. But then he would have been kept under the authority of Saturninus, the proconsul of Syria from 9 b.c. to 6 b.c., or Varus, the governor from 7 or 6 b.c. to 4 b.c. Being neither experienced nor especially competent, Varus later earned infamy in Roman history by having three legions destroyed under his command in Germany's Teutoburger forest (9 A.D.) In order to assist Varus, Augustus Caesar (ruled 27 b.c. to 14 A.D.) may have given Quirinius, who had much experience in the region as a general, an ad hoc (temporary) commission to conduct the census over the Jews. Archer maintains that the Greek of Luke 2:2 doesn't actually say Quirinius was the governor, but that he "was leading--in charge of--Syria." So while he was battling the Homonadensian tribes in the mountains of Pisidia between 12 b.c. and 2 b.c., Quirinius may have been put in charge of the earlier census (c. 4 b.c.) under the man who officially was the legate or governor. Since previous censuses had incited Jewish unrest, Herod may have been dragging his feet about it, causing Augustus to intervene. For such a sensitive position, an experienced Mideast hand like Quirinius would be of value. Interestingly, one scholar took a stronger stand on the inscriptions found at Rome and Antioch on this issue: "The scholarly researches of Zumpt (Commentat. epitgraph., II, 86-104: De Syria romana provincia, 97-98) and of Mommesen (Res gestae divi Augusti) place beyond doubt that Quirinius was twice governor of Syria." Based on inscriptional evidence others discount, Ramsay believed Quirinius was a co-governor of Syria in 8-6 b.c.⁴⁵

Why It's Rational To Infer Luke Was Right About The Timing Of This Census

The dictum of the ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle (384-322 b.c.) was that the benefit of the doubt should give given to the author, and not arrogated to the critic himself. Skeptics routinely violate this principle when analyzing the Bible. What justifies Aristotle's principle? Simply put, the modern critic's life is far removed in time from the events the document describes compared to its author's life. The ancient author is, a priori, a better candidate for knowing what really happened than his modern critic, separated by vast gaps in time, space, and/or culture from him.⁴⁶ Because Luke has shown himself reliable in what can be checked, it is the purest poppycock to stamp Luke "WRONG!" just because Josephus (in particular) doesn't mention an earlier census conducted by Quirinius. Therefore, what Luke wrote that can't be fully checked at the present time should be assumed--rather, inferred--to be correct.

Roman Censuses Like That Done In The New Testament Are Not Absurd

Skeptics have heaped scorn on the census recorded in Luke 2:1, saying it's absurd that Augustus ordered an census to be taken throughout the Roman Empire. It's argued that the Romans would not have made millions of people to travel immediately back to their home towns or villages to register to pay a tax. But this analysis is flatly wrong historically. Luke's statement doesn't mean all the provinces right then were enrolled, as Hoehner describes, but that Augustus was the first one in history to order a census or tax assessment of the whole provincial empire. This is further substantiated by the fact that Luke uses the present tense indicated that Augustus ordered censuses to be taken regularly rather than only one time.

The Romans routinely conducted censuses similar to what Luke described. As Davis remarks: "Every five years the Romans enumerated citizens and their property to determine their liabilities. This practice was extended to include the entire Roman Empire in 5 B.C." The enumeration wasn't done to extract from them then a specified small amount in tax, but to assess their future ability to pay taxes in the years to come before the next census, and also for drafting men into the Roman legions. Archeological discoveries have found the Romans enrolled taxpayers and every fourteen years held censuses. Augustus began this practice, with the first taking place in either 23-22 b.c. or 9-8 b.c. An Egyptian document made of papyrus dated to 104 A.D. indicates that the Roman census in Egypt required Egyptians to return to their home city that year. As Nelson's Illustrated Bible Dictionary relates: "This [the census of Luke 2:1-3] was probably a census required of all nations under the rule of Rome. All citizens were required to return to their places of birth for an official registration of their property for tax purposes."⁴⁷

Early Pagan Sources Which Refer To Jesus Besides The New Testament

What non-Christian sources refer to Jesus soon after his death? The Roman historian Tacitus's (c. 56-120 A.D.) statement about Jesus leads among the external evidence outside the New Testament for His life. Showing this couldn't be a pro-Christian monk's inserted interpolation, Tacitus wrote skeptically of Jesus and Christianity:

Therefore, to scotch the rumour, Nero [(r. 54-68 A.D.), who was blamed for the great fire that broke out in Rome under his rule--EVS] substituted as culprits, and punished with the utmost refinements of cruelty, a class of men, loathed for their vices, whom the crowd styled Christians. Christus, the found of the name, had undergone the death penalty in the reign of Tiberius, by sentence of the procurator Pontius Pilate, and the pernicious superstition was checked for a moment, only to break out once more, not merely in Judaea, the home of the disease, but the capital itself, where all things horrible or shameful in the world collect and find a vogue.⁴⁸

Other early incidental mentions of Jesus and/or the Christians by non-Christian writers have survived. The Greek writer and satirist, Lucian of Samosata (c. 120-190 A.D.) once wrote of Jesus as:

the man who was crucified in Palestine because he introduced this new cult into the world. . . . Furthermore, their first lawgiver persuaded them that they were all brothers one of another after they have transgressed once for all by denying the Greek gods and by worshipping that crucified sophist himself and living under his laws.

The Roman historian and biographer Suetonius (c. 69-after 122 A.D.) remarked: "As the Jews were making constant disturbances at the instigation of Chrestus, he [the Emperor Claudius, in 50 A.D.--cf. Acts 18:2, where Luke mentions this event independently] expelled them from Rome." Obviously inaccurate, this statement appears to place Christ personally in Rome, instead of saying teaching about Christ had agitated the Jews into rioting. Still, it does mention Christ's existence. Pliny the Younger, the governor of Bithynia in Asia Minor (112 A.D.), wrote to the Emperor Trajan about how to treat the Christians. He had been putting many to death. He asked whether if all of them should be or just certain ones. He says of them:

They affirmed, however, that the whole of their guilt, or their error, was, that they were in the habit of meeting on a certain fixed day before it was light, when they sang in alternate verse a hymn to Christ as to a god, and bound themselves to a solemn oath, not to any wicked deeds, but never to commit any fraud, theft, adultery, never to falsify their word, not to deny a trust when they should be called upon to deliver it up.

Some other ancient writers, such as Thallus, Phlegon, and Mara Bar-Serapion also wrote of Christ, but their references are preserved only as fragments in the writings of Christians, making their testimony more problematic as independent evidence.⁴⁹

Josephus As Independent Testimony For The New Testament And Jesus' Life

The ancient Jewish historian Josephus (c. 37-100 A.D.) mentioned Jesus twice. Providing independent support for the New Testament's account, Josephus also described John the Baptist, his ministry, and his execution by Herod.⁵⁰ Once he briefly alludes to Jesus in a noncommittal or even hostile manner. This supports its authenticity since a committed Christian is an unlikely candidate to write such an interpolation about his Savior. Ananus, the high priest, "convened the judges of the Sanhedrin and brought before them a man named James, the brother of Jesus who was called the Christ, and certain others. He accused them of having transgressed the law and delivered them up to be stoned."⁵¹ Being a Jew, Josephus correspondingly and significantly is aware that "Christ" was a title, not a surname originally. Christians increasingly treated it as the latter as a standard practice. More problematic is this famous passage:

About this time there lived Jesus, a wise man, if indeed one ought to call him a man. For he was one who wrought surprising feats and was a teacher of such people as accept the truth gladly. He won over many Jews and many of the Greeks. He was the Messiah. When Pilate, upon hearing him accused by men of the highest standing amongst us, had condemned him to be crucified, those who had come to love him did not give up their affection for him. On the third day he appeared to them restored to life, for the prophets of God had prophesied these and countless other marvelous things about him. And the tribe of Christians, so called after him, has still to this day not disappeared.

The Evidence For Josephus' Testimony Having Some Validity

Clearly, Josephus could not have written all of the longer passage, or else he would have been a Christian, since he calls Jesus the Messiah and believes in His resurrection. On the other hand, it shouldn't be seen as an interpolation created whole cloth, since favorable evidence exists for its (partial) authenticity as well. Since all the handwritten manuscript copies of Josephus contain it, there is good textual evidence for it. Eusebius (c. 260-339 A.D.), the Catholic Church historian, cited it as well. As for internal evidence, consider that Josephus called Jesus a "wise man." A committed Christian would not say something so limited, since Jesus is his God and Savior, but it is like what Josephus said of Solomon and Daniel. Calling His miracles "surprising feats" or "astonishing deeds" isn't how a Christian would usually describe Jesus' miracles, but Josephus uses the same language to describe Elisha's miracles. Labeling Christians a "tribe" is never done in early Christian literature, but it fits Josephus's tendency to use this term for the Jews and other national and communal groups. This passage blames Pontius Pilate heavily for the crucifixion, which certainly swam against the prevailing anti-Semitic Christian tides of the second and third centuries. Since Catholic Church father Origen (c. 185-254? A.D.) said that Josephus denied Jesus as the Messiah, he couldn't have known it in this form. Hence, this passage curiously combines Josephus's literary style with some unknown Christian scribe's adulteration of it. Instead of tossing it out completely, conjecturally reconstructing an original text is more justifiable. Consider F.F. Bruce's stab at this, which assumes Josephus displayed a hostile tone towards Christianity:

Now there arose about this time a source of further trouble in one Jesus, a wise man who performed surprising works, a teacher of men who gladly welcome strange things. He led away many Jews, and also many of the Gentiles. He was the so-called Christ. When Pilate, acting on information supplied by the chief men among us, condemned him to the cross, those who had attached themselves to him at first did not cease to cause trouble, and the tribe of Christians, which has taken this name from him, is not extinct even today.⁵²

Even with the self-evident Christian changes to this passage removed, it still attests that Jesus did miracles, that some called Him the Messiah, that Pontius Pilate executed Him, and that His teachings began a religious movement. So more can be known about Jesus outside the New Testament than just His bare existence and crucifixion. Some independent testimony for His life appears in non-Christian sources within a century and a half of his death.

The First Problem With The Argument From Silence

Higher critics repeatedly mistakenly reason that if only the New Testament refers to some event, and no other pagan or Jewish source does, then whatever it mentions is automatically suspect. For example, one higher critic reasoned that since the slaughter of the babes by Herod at Bethlehem or Pilate's custom of pardoning criminals at Passover weren't mentioned elsewhere, therefore the New Testament was wrong. But this argues from silence, which is a logical fallacy. Furthermore, as Louis Gottschalk notes, a document should be considered reliable until, under the burden of proof, its untrustworthiness is displayed. To assume routinely everyone lies is ultimately self-refuting, as the German philosopher Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) observed. When it's presumed everyone lies routinely, then lying becomes needless, for lying only has value when it's assumed everyone normally does tell the truth. Today's society is saturated with a hyper-skeptical attitude about anything spiritual or supernatural which, if it was consistently applied to other facets of life, would make organized society impossible.⁵³

Similarly, the Old Testament mentions many events described nowhere else--does that make it historically false or invalid? No reference to the Exodus has been found among ancient Egyptian records at the time Israel left Egypt (c. 1445 b.c.) Does that mean it never happened? No--this means the Egyptian priests, who wrote with hieroglyphics and kept the basic records, wouldn't want to record any events that humbled them and their gods. They just conveniently overlooked this spectacular event. Much like how the Russian communist dictator Joseph Stalin removed Trotsky or some other Old Bolshevik's picture from one or more published photographs of Russian revolutionary leaders, inconvenient truths get omitted. The idea of writing unbiased history only arose among the Greeks (arguably with Thucydides's history of the Peloponnesian War of 431-404 b.c.). Since then, as an ideal and as actual practice, it has always had an uphill battle ever since in the world. Similarly, would Josephus or some pagan historian record events that prove their worldview wrong? Hardly!

The Logical Problem With The Argument From Silence

To say a historical document is invalid because its contents aren't replicated elsewhere is an argument from a lack of evidence. A sound argument needs to have correct premises with a valid form (organization), which requires that it contains some positive evidence for its assertion. An argument from silence builds upon nonexistent (an absence of) evidence. True, it sometimes has force in some contexts, such as for dating a document concerning BIG events hard to overlook. For example, if a modern European history textbook had its copyright page missing, but was otherwise complete, and it covers the Great Depression, but nothing about WWII or anything afterwards, it's safe to conclude it was published in the 1930s. Still, it's fundamentally invalid; nobody should place his faith in such arguments as a basis for his salvation! But as discussed above, since the Gospels (and Acts) have proven themselves reliable in what can be checked by archeological data and/or ancient non-Christian sources, what can't be checked should be assumed to be true, which is a process of inference, and not blind faith.

An Ancient Jewish Slander Rebutted: Jesus Ben Panthera

Consider the ancient Jewish slander that Jesus was born illegitimately (cf. John 8:41). It claims He had a Roman soldier for a father named Pandera or Panthera. Celsus, an ancient pagan critic of Christianity who wrote a harsh polemic against it also defamed Jesus this way. Celsus willingly beat his opposition with any stick handy, you see! Historian Robin Lane Fox describes how Celsus used a Jew to reel off the claim that Jesus had been born of an adulterous relationship between this Roman soldier and Mary. Later, He was said to practice sorcery and magical arts [which admits obliquely to His ability to perform miracles by the power of God] while begging for a living with His worthless disciples. "Much of this abuse matches the allusions to Jesus which occur in later, written versions of the Jews' 'anti-Gospels.' In the 170s Celsus the Platonist had clearly picked up the Jews' own slanders." How did the name "Panthera" become associated with Jesus? One suggestion says that it came from the Greek word "pentheros," meaning "son-in-law." An even more plausible reconstruction maintains it was a corruption of the Greek word for virgin, "parthenos." This word appears in the Greek Septuagint translation of the Old Testament for Isaiah 7:14, which always has been a battleground messianic text between Christians and Jews. As Klausner states: "The Jews constantly heard that the Christians (the majority of whom spoke Greek from the earliest times) called Jesus by the name 'Son of the Virgin,' . . . and so, in mockery, they called him Ben ha-Pantera, i.e., 'son of the leopard.'" But Jesus could have gained the epithet another way. As verified by first-century inscriptions, this name was hardly rare. After saying it was as common as the names Fox or Wolf today, Rabbi and Professor Morris Goldstein commented:

It is noteworthy that [Catholic Church father] Orig[e]n himself is credited with the tradition that Panther was the appellation of James (Jacob), the father of Joseph, the father of Jesus. . . . So, too, Andrew of Crete, John of Damascus, Epiphanius the Monk, and the author of Andronicus of Constantinople's Dialogue Against the Jews, name Panther as an ancestor of Jesus.

Since one statement in the Babylonian Talmud (Yebamoth 62b) authorizes someone to be called by his grandfather's name, this may explain how Jesus wound up being labeled "Panthera," which non-Messianic Jews perversely twisted into a lurid slander against His virgin birth.⁵⁴ It's very dubious to take an ancient pagan polemic's claims at face value. Those using sources uncritically are marked as poor would-be historians.

Written by: Eric Snow