do not begin with the Qur’an, not only because it was written almost 600 years later than the New Testament Gospels, but because it really is not a historical narrative or a biography. There may well be historical and biographical data within it, the kind of data that historians can utilize, but the Qur’an as a whole is obviously not a historical work. Later in our book we shall look at what the Qur’an and other early Islamic sources have to say about Jesus.
In this chapter, we will treat two important questions that relate to the Gospels as potentially accurate and useful biographical histories concerning the life, teaching and activities of Jesus. The first question asks how close the New Testament Gospels are to the time of Jesus. The second question asks if the information in the Gospels is based on the testimony of eyewitnesses.
How Close Are the New Testament Gospels to the Time of Jesus?
When it comes to comparing the Qur’an and the New Testament Gospels as potential historical sources, chronology and temporal proximity are very important. By temporal proximity we mean how close the written record is to the persons and events that the written record describes. Most historians agree that an account written within the lifetime of the participants and eyewitnesses is to be preferred to an account written centuries later. This is how historians think. They know, of course, that proximity is not the only criterion for evaluating the potential value a document has for historical research, but it is a very important criterion.
So when was the Qur’an written and when were the New Testament Gospels written? Muslims believe that Muhammad received the revelations that are in the Qur’an over a period of about 23 years, from AD 610 to 632, the year that he died. After Muhammad’s death, written materials were gathered, and memorized material was committed to writing.2 Within 20 to 70 years or so from the death of Muhammad, something pretty close to today’s Qur’an (“recitation”) had emerged. Most of the variant versions were gathered up and destroyed.3 Given the close proximity of the Qur’an to the lifetime of Muhammad, it is reasonable to assume that this book contains some of what Muhammad taught, or at least something pretty close, though there are difficult historical issues involved.
Jesus of Nazareth was born shortly before the death of Herod the Great, the Idumean prince whom Rome appointed as king over the Jewish people in 39 or 40 BC. After defeating the last native Jewish ruler, in 36 or 37, Herod became king in fact. He died in either 4 BC or 1 BC, which means Jesus was born in either 4/5 BC or 2 BC.4 Jesus began his public preaching and activities when he was about 30 (Luke 3:23). On the assumption that the death of Jesus took place in AD 30, it is likely that his ministry began in AD 28/29 and ran for about two years.5
Jesus was confessed by his followers as Israel’s Messiah and as God’s Son (e.g., Mark 8:29; Matt 16:16; Luke 9:20; John 1:49; 6:68–69). They and others regularly called Jesus rabbi and teacher. His closest followers were called disciples, which in Hebrew and in Greek means “learners.” This is important to remember: Jesus was known as a teacher (which is also what “rabbi” more or less meant in the first century; see John 1:38) and his closest followers were learners. And what did they learn? They learned Jesus’ teaching.
Judging by the length of the Gospels, the body of Jesus’ teaching was not extensive, especially when we remember that there is a great deal of overlap among the first three Gospels: Matthew, Mark and Luke. It was not difficult for a devoted follower to commit to memory most or all of Jesus’ teaching.6 It is also believed that much of this teaching was committed to writing and would later be drawn upon by the authors of Matthew and Luke.7
Most scholars think Mark was the first Gospel to be written and circulated. According to Papias (c. AD 125)8 the Gospel of Mark was composed by John Mark (Acts 12:12), who in the 50s and 60s AD assisted Peter, the lead disciple and apostle. Whereas the Gospel of Mark itself may have been penned in the mid- to late-60s, near the end of Nero’s rule (AD 54–68), the reminiscences of Peter may well have circulated for many years earlier. Of course, Peter himself would have preached and taught everywhere he went until he was imprisoned and executed c. AD 65. We have reason to believe that a collection of Jesus’ teachings also circulated perhaps as early as the 30s or 40s. Not too many years after the publication of Mark, the Gospels of Matthew and Luke were published and began to circulate. Later still, perhaps in the 90s (though some scholars argue for an earlier date), the Gospel of John was published.
Oldest Synoptic Gospels Papyri
That the teaching of Jesus circulated and was known well before the Gospels were written is demonstrated by the appearance of his teaching and aspects of his life and death in earlier writings, such as the letters of Paul, the earliest of which were penned in the late 40s. Paul often alludes to Jesus’ teaching, though sometimes he explicitly cites a “word” from the “Lord.” We see an example of the latter when Paul charges the people in the church at Corinth not to seek divorce: “To the married I give charge, not I but the Lord, that the wife should not separate from her husband…and that the husband should not divorce his wife” (1 Cor 7:10–11). It is the Lord, Paul says, who has given command that divorce should be avoided. Paul has appealed to Jesus’ teaching, which he gave in response to a question put to him concerning the divorce regulations in the Law of Moses (Matt 19:3–9; Mark 10:2–9). After quoting parts of Genesis 1:27 (“male and female he created them”) and 2:24 (“they become one flesh”), Jesus asserts, “What therefore God has joined together, let not man put asunder” (Mark 10:6–9).
Another obvious Jesus tradition in one of Paul’s letters is the citation of the Words of Institution, that is, the words Jesus spoke at the Last Supper (Matt 26:26–29 = Mark 14:22–25 = Luke 22:17–20). Paul finds it necessary to instruct the church at Corinth, reminding them of what Jesus did and said on that solemn occasion:
For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way also the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” (1 Cor 11:23–25)
Paul’s wording matches the form of the story in Luke very closely, which probably should not occasion surprise, for Luke the physician traveled with Paul on some of his missionary journeys.9
Of even greater significance is the appearance in Paul’s letters of allusions to Jesus’ teaching. When the apostle commands, “Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them” (Rom 12:14), he has echoed the words of Jesus: “Love your enemies…bless those who curse you” (Luke 6:27–28); “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you” (Matt 5:44). When Paul speaks of mountain-moving faith, saying “if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains” (1 Cor 13:2), he has alluded to Jesus’ famous teaching: “if you have faith…you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move” (Matt 17:20). When Paul warns the Christians of Thessalonica that “the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night” (1 Thess 5:2), he has alluded to the warning Jesus gave his disciples: “if the householder had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have watched” (Matt 24:43). Paul’s admonition that the Thessalonian Christians “be at peace among” themselves (1 Thess 5:13) echoes Jesus’ word to his disciples that they “be at peace with one another” (Mark 9:50).10
Paul is not the only New Testament writer to show familiarity with the teaching and stories of Jesus; the letter of James is filled with allusions to the teaching of Jesus.11 There are important allusions in Hebrews and 1 and 2 Peter also. All of this shows that the teaching of Jesus was in circulation long before the Gospels were written, and even when the three
