June 2006 version

The Da Vinci Code is a best-selling book telling about amazing discoveries about the New Testament, Mary Magdalene, and the nature of Christianity in general. The preface says claims it is only a fictional account, but the author has subsequently said that if he were writing a factual account he would not change a thing. So this should be judged as a factual representation. But critics claim there were things not only sensationalized, but made up out of thin air, and ignoring evidence against the story line. So who is right: to put it nicely, is The Da Vinci Code fundamentally "factually-challenged" or not?

Careful investigation has led me to discover three main problems:

1. The Da Vinci Code was actually plagiarized from an earlier fictional cartoon, based on recently discovered documents in the Vatican.

2. The purported author, Dan Brown, is not actually a man but a woman, and no hospital records can prove this wrong.

3. If you look very closely at "his" photograph in the book, the author was not even a human woman, but actually an alien from Mars!

OK, so these statements are not really serious, but how could you tell? Can you actually disprove that 911 was not caused by Jewish people, Elvis still appears on earth today, or that people never walked on the moon? Actually, critics claim the three preceding claims about The Da Vinci Code are not all that much wilder than what it claims, in the face of a mountain of historical evidence.

Joking aside, how would an objective person, regardless of their religion, be able to decide:

1) If the New Testament books in general have through all these centuries been reliably preserved with their contents free from significant change.

2) If the contents of the gospels are substantially accurate, or if there is reason to consider them all just fiction.

We cannot do scientific experiments on history to prove or disprove a point, whether we are talking about George Washington living in Mt. Vernon, or George Washington chopping down a cherry tree. But we can prove things from a legal perspective, as if in a court of law. However, we do not want to be like a juror in a court case who calls a defendant innocent saying, "the only evidence the prosecutor had was the video of him doing it." It could be a screw tape if it was evidence we were not prepared to accept. So what kind of evidence would do critics say demonstrate for the traditional story of Jesus?

Bible Writers and their testimony should at least count for something, to even the most partial critics.

Stability of Scripture: Were books rapidly brought into and taken out to New Testament, or did it simply all "gel" into the same thing we have today?

Early Bible Manuscripts do not prove the accounts in them are true, but they can prove that the accounts themselves have been preserved without significant error.

Early Christians: Many early Christians wrote about these events, and usually the testimony of two people is believed as credible. However, we have many more than that.

Non-Christians: To look at all the evidence, see what Jews, Romans, Gnostics, and other non-Christians who lived soon after this time wrote about these things too. Some of this is particularly interesting.

In all cases, we need to look at both what is said, teachings and actions (including miracles) that are attested or denied, and the general credibility of who is saying it.

Have I left anything out, or do you agree that this covers the bases on determining how much we can trust the New Testament and the four gospels?

Cr 1 Clement (of Rome) (16 pgs) 97/98 A.D.
Ba Epistle of Barnabas (13 pgs) c.100 A.D.
Ig Ignatius (21 pgs) c.110-117 A.D.
Pa Papias disciple of John (3 pgs) 110-113 A.D.
-Wrote 6 volumes which have been lost
Di Didache (Teach. of 12 Disc.)(5 pgs) c.125 A.D.
Dg (anonymous) to Diognetus (6 pgs) c.130 A.D.
Po Polycarp, disciple of John (4 pgs) c.150 A.D.
JM Justin Martyr (119 pgs) 138-165 A.D.
He Shepherd of Hermas (47 pgs) 160 A.D.
Th Theophilus [Antioch] (33 pgs)168-181/188 A.D.
-his harmony/commentary on the gospels is lost
Ae Athenagoras (34 pgs) c.177 A.D.
Ir Irenaeus (264 pgs) 182-188 A.D.
Mu Caius & Muratorian Canon (3 pgs)190-217 A.D.
Te Tertullian [Rome] (830 pgs) 200-220 A.D.
Te5 5 Books in Reply to Marcion(24 pgs)c.207 A.D.
CA Clement of Alexan. (424 pgs) 193-217/220 A.D.
Hi Hippolytus, (233 pgs) 225-235/6 A.D.
Or Origen (622 pgs) 225-254 A.D.
Nv Novatian (39 pgs) 250-257 A.D.
an Anonymous against Novatian(7 pgs) c.255 A.D.
And Treatise on Rebaptism (11 pgs)
Cp Cyprian and friends (270 pgs) 248-258 A.D.
Not shown are Melito of Sardis (d.177/180) [Mk,Lk,1Cor,1Th,Heb] and Julius Africanus (232-245 A.D.).
W = Books and quotes mentioned by name or by writer
J = Books only mentioned as the words of Jesus / Savior
B = Mentioned as scripture or by the apostle(s).
Q = quote of 1 or more verses. ½ = quote of ½ a verse
A = Allusion. 4G = Mention of 4 gospels, - = no reference

Irenaeus and Clement of Alexandria also mention the preaching of Peter.

We do not know who wrote Hebrews. Irenaeus in fragment 37 indicated Heb 13:15 was by Paul. Tertullian and Origen (de Principiis 3.2.4 p.332) also said it was by Paul; however, the style of Hebrews is different. The writer must have been known to his hearers though, based on Hebrews 13:18-24.

In looking at the numbers in the following table, it is good to understand what is considered a quote or reference. Here are examples.

Allusion: 1 Clement ch.58 p.21 says that God chose us to be a "peculiar people". This unusual phrase is found in Titus 2:14 and 1 Peter 2:9, but this is not counted as a quote; only an allusion.

½ Quote: Romans 12:5 "So in Christ we are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others." 1 Clement ch.46 p.17: " … a height of madness as to forget that ‘we are members one of another’". This counts as ½ a quote of Romans 12:5

Athenagoras’ ½ quote is from both Titus 1:12b and Callimachus.

Quote: 1 Clement ch. 34 p.14: "…For [the Scripture] saith, ‘Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which He hath prepared for them that wait for Him.’"

1 Cor 2:9 says "However, as it is written: ‘No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him.’"

So even though there were a few introductory words, at the beginning, and it is "wait for" instead of "love", this is counted as closer to a full quote than ¾ of a quote.

Each of 1 Clement’s quotes from the gospels is from more than one gospel. 1 Clement’s single quote from Revelation (22:12) is also in Isaiah 40:10 (minus the middle part), and Isaiah 62:11b. So this does not prove that Revelation was written by then.

Reference and Allusion: 1 Clement (written to the Corinthian church) ch.47 p.18: "Take up the epistle of the blessed Apostle Paul. What did he write to you … he wrote to you, concerning himself, and Cephas, and Apollos, because even then parties had been formed among you."

Reference and Quote: "John says, ‘In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God," shows… Then he says, ‘The word was God; all things came into existence through Him, and apart from Him not one thing came into existence.’" Theophilus of Antioch To Autolychus ch.22 p.103.

Question: Did these writers mention any other books written after Christ or not? The answer is that Irenaeus, Hippolytus, Tertullian, and others who wrote against Gnostics mentioned many other teachings and books: as frauds and heresies. Justin Martyr, Clement of Alexandria, Tertullian, Origen, and others mentioned and alluded to many Greek philosophers in their writings (as did Paul), but never as scripture.

Early church writers were not isolated, as later church fathers earlier church fathers positively. Two exceptions are that Tertullian did not think much of the Shepherd of Hermas, and later writers did not like some of Origen’s writings. Irenaeus and Clement of Alexandria also mentioned the preaching of Peter. The Muratorian canon says that some but not all Christians accepted the Apocalypse of Peter.

The Muratorian Canon (last half of the second century) was not an official document, but it is an important one. This describes the books of the New Testament. It mentions four gospels, Luke and John by name, and every book of the New Testament, except for 1 and 2 Peter and a letter of John.

In contrast there are about 70 other books written at that time. The early church wrote a lot against Gnosticism and recognized these other books as forgeries. In the diagram below, only one of the left-most lines can be true.

Some of these numbers are a bit too large because they include some allusions too.

Tatian, a pupil of Justin Martyr, later was a leader of the Encratite Gnostics. He wrote a harmony of the Gospels called The Diatessaron, or "the Four".

Jewish Talmuds refer to Jesus in a number of places. See Evidence That Demands a Verdict volume 1 p.85-87 for quotes from the Babylonian Talmud, Tol'doth Yeshu, Barailu, The Amoa 'Ulla', Yeb. IV 3, and Baraita. See also Tractate Sanhedrin.

Josephus wrote 93/94 A.D., wrote about Jesus and His half-brother James. While the Latin version has some later additions, the Arabic edition still shows Josephus had a positive view of Jesus and James.

Roman Non-Christians

Suetonius, (120 A.D.) the historian wrote "As the Jews were making constant disturbances at the instigation of Chrestus, he expelled them from Rome. Life of Claudius 25.4

Lucian of Samosata, 2nd century satirist, wrote about Christ, "…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 Death/Passing of Peregrinus 11-13)

Cornelius Tacitus (c.55-c.117 A.D.) was a Roman historian who wrote about events in Rome and Great Britain from 15-70 A.D. In Annals 15:44 he wrote of Nero torturing the hated Christians. "Christus" was executed under Pontius Pilate, but this "most mischievous superstition" still broke out, and Christians were killed in cruel ways.

Pliny the Younger was a governor of Bithynia who wrote to Emperor Trajan in 112 A.D. if he should actively seek after Christians to kill them, or simply kill the ones they discovered. He says Christians met before dawn, sang a hymn to Christ as to a god, and promised not to do evil. Epistles 10.96.

Phlegon was a Carian Greek writer and freed slave of Emperor Hadrian. He wrote soon after 137 A.D. that in the 4th year of the 202nd Olympiad [33 A.D.] there was "the greatest eclipse of the sun" and that "it became night in the sixth hour of the day [noon] so that stars even appeared in the heavens. There was a great earthquake in Bithynia, and many things were overturned in Nicea."The Case for Christ p.111

Thales/Thallus was a Palestinian historian referenced by Julius Africanus (writing 232-245 A.D.). He wrote of the darkness at Christ’s death.

Mara Bar-Serapion was a Syrian who wrote his son >73 A.D. to emulate the wise men of history who died for what they believed in, such as Socrates, Pythagoras, and the wise King the Jews executed.

The early Roman persecutors did their best to destroy all the Bible manuscripts, but despite them, these have survived and are in museums today.