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How do we know that the books of the New Testament were written at an early time?

Summary Point

Subpoints

Most of the New Testament is quoted by church fathers in late 1st or early 2nd century and there are certain historical events that the New Testament writers would likely have included if they were written later than the 1st century.

  1. Early church fathers referenced the NT books.

    • Three early church fathers, Clement, Ignatius and Polycarp wrote letters dated between A.D. 95-115 that quoted passages from 25 of 27 New Testament books. The only two books not quoted are short letters: Jude and 2 John.1

  2. The destruction of Jerusalem and the temple as well as the deaths of Peter, Paul and James (the brother of Jesus) were not mentioned and likely would have been if written at a later date.

    • Jerusalem and the temple were destroyed in A.D. 70.2

      • The destruction was an incredible event with significant magnitude to the Jewish nation, so it likely would have been mentioned by NT writers. Acclaimed NT scholar, F.F. Bruce, considers this to be a very important point.

        • Per F.F. Bruce, “One criterion which has special weight with me is the relation which these writings appear to bear to the destruction of the city and temple of Jerusalem by the Romans in AD 70.”3

      • Moreover, Jesus predicted the destruction of the temple (see below). Since Jesus predicted this event, wouldn't the fulfillment of the prophecy have been mentioned as well?2 The best explanation is the Jesus made this prediction and it was written before the actual event occurred.

        • As He was going out of the temple complex, one of His disciples said to Him, "Teacher, look! What massive stones! What impressive buildings!" Jesus said to him, "Do you see these great buildings? Not one stone will be left here on another that will not be thrown down!" (Mark 13:1-2 CSB)

    • Luke does not record the deaths of Paul or James in the book of Acts (history of the early church) even though they were influential in his research.4

      • “We know from Clement of Rome, writing in the late first century, and from other early church fathers, that Paul was executed sometime during the reign of Nero, which ended in A.D. 68. And we know from Josephus that James was killed in 62. So we can conclude, beyond a reasonable doubt, that the book of Acts was written before 62.”4

Links to external resources on this topic:

Anchor 1

Context:

  • The dates when the New Testament books were written is clearly important. If written in the middle to end of the 1st century A.D., then it is plausible that the New Testament authors were apostles or able to be in direct contact with the apostles. According to two New Testament scholars cited below, the New Testament was written in the 1st century.

  • William Albright, dean of American biblical archaeologists:

    • “In my opinion, every book of the New Testament was written by a baptized Jew between the forties and the eighties of the first century A.D. (very probably between about 50 and 75 A.D.”5

  • F.F. Bruce, Biblical scholar, provides the following dates for certain New Testament books (AD):3

    • Mark (64 or 65), Luke (shortly before 70), Matthew (shortly after 70), Galatians (48), 1 and 2 Thessalonian (50), 1 and 2 Corinthians (54-56), Romans (57), Philippians, Colossians, Philemon and Ephesians (~60), Pastoral Epistles (63-65)

  • How do we know that the books of New Testament were written in the 1st century – not centuries later?

Anchor 2

Sources (complete reference information provided on SOURCE PAGE):

  1. Geisler & Turek, I Don’t Have Enough Faith to be an Atheist, pp.235-236.

  2. Geisler & Turek, I Don’t Have Enough Faith to be an Atheist, pp.237-238.

  3. Bruce, The New Testament Documents, pp.7-8.

  4. Geisler & Turek, I Don’t Have Enough Faith to be an Atheist, pp.239-240.

  5. Geisler, Baker Encyclopedia of Christian Apologetics, p.15 quotes William F. Albright, Toward a More Conservative View, p.359.

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