centered in man's own authority and philosophical insights. The same judgment could be lodged against even many so-called "Christian" systems, to the degree in which they also teach salvation by works, and interpose some human authority instead of the Lord Jesus Christ as a necessary mediator between man and God.
Selected books for further study:
Anderson, Norman. 1976. The World's Religions. Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. 244 p.
Bavinck, J.H. Introduction to the Science of Missions. Phillipsburg, NJ: Presbyterian and Reformed.
Clarke, Andrew D., and Bruce W. Winter, eds. 1993. One God, One Lord: Christianity in a World of Religions Pluralism. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House. 256 p.
Clendenin, Daniel B. 1995. Many Gods, Many Lords. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House. 176 p.
Gaebelein, Arno C. 1927. Christianity or Religion. New York, NY: Our Hope Publications.
Kretzman, Paul E. 1943. The God of the Bible and Other Gods. St. Louis, MO: Concordia Publishing House. 196 p.
Lewis, C.S. 1948. The Case for Christianity. New York, NY: Macmillan. 56 p.
Lewis, C.S. 1960. Mere Christianity. New York, NY: Macmillan. 190 p.
McDowell, Josh, and Don Stavant. 1983. Handbook of Today's Religions. San Bernardino, CA: Here's Life Publishers. 567 p.
Morris, Henry M. 1988. The God Who is Real. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House. 96 p.
Nash, Ronald H. 1994. Is Jesus the Only Savior? Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House. 176 p.
Sire, James W. 1976. The Universe Next Door. Chicago, IL: Inter-Varsity Press. 238 p.
Zwemer, Samuel M. 1945. The Origin of Religion. New York, NY: Loiseaux Brothers. 256 p.
Chapter III
The Authenticity of the New Testament
Importance of Historicity
As pointed out in the preceding chapter, an important aspect of the uniqueness of Christianity is the fact that it is founded on historical events rather than merely on ethical teachings. It is not surprising, therefore, that non-Christians and skeptics in general have consistently sought to attack and refute the true historicity of these events. If the events surrounding the life of Jesus Christ — His virgin birth, the miracles, the resurrection — did not actually happen, then the whole structure of Christianity collapses. "If Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins" (1 Cor. 15:17).
The same is true concerning the history of the Early Church and the initial establishment and spread of Christianity as recorded in the Book of Acts and the Epistles. Critics have tried to persuade people that the books of the New Testament were written long after the period of the Apostles and that they, therefore, contain much that is legendary and non-historical, especially those parts which describe miracles. A great deal of this destructive criticism has been so successful that it has been adopted in considerable degree by most of the major seminaries, and has been tremendously influential in subverting the faith of multitudes of nominal Christians.
On the other hand, if it can be shown that the New Testament documents are authentic, written by the traditional authors, then the evidence for the truth of Christianity is overwhelming. This is because the writings, when examined carefully, give indisputable evidence of sincerity and accuracy of such high degree that there can remain no reasonable doubt that all the deeds and words of Christ and the Apostles, as recorded therein, really and truly happened.
This inference is not dependent upon the question of whether or not the documents are divinely inspired and verbally infallible. Although we do believe in the fact and importance of plenary verbal inspiration, the genuineness of the person and work of Christ can be established entirely apart from that assumption, provided only that the New Testament documents are accepted as valid and authentic historical writings, of the same sort as other historical documents.
Therefore, it is important to establish, first of all, the general historicity and reliability of the New Testament writings. Once this is done, then the genuineness of the portrait of Christ found in these writings can be established. When He is acknowledged as true God and only Savior, then He himself becomes sufficient authority and proof of all other doctrines.
Authenticity of the Documents
The witness of almost two thousand years of the Christian era, with its tremendous impact upon the history of the world, is itself proof that something of unique power and importance took place to get it started. Effects must have adequate causes.
Whatever men think of the New Testament, there is no doubt at all that this remarkable history of Christianity is intricately related to it. The ultimate explanation of Christian origins can only be understood when the origins of the New Testament are likewise understood. No one now living, of course, nor anyone living in many generations, has actually seen Christ or the Apostles, so that our knowledge of them now must come entirely or largely from the written records of their activities. The same, of course, is true with respect to any other men or events in ancient history.
It is at this point that the tremendous strength of the evidences for Christianity begins to be realized. The written records of Christian origins are in this respect available in far greater variety and antiquity than are those of any other personages or happenings in the whole history of the world prior to the invention of printing! No one, for example, ever doubts for an instant that a man named Julius Caesar once ruled as emperor of Rome. But the manuscript evidence for the New Testament events is incomparably superior to that for the existence of Caesar.
Before the invention of the printing press, books had to be copied by hand. Those that were in much use wore out quickly and required frequent re-copying. The manuscript copies of the New Testament or portions thereof that have actually been preserved to the present day are amazingly numerous. Some of these are on papyrus fragments that were copied before the middle of the second century. Altogether there are probably available today over 5,000 handwritten manuscript copies of portions of the New Testament in Greek and at least 15,000 more in other languages. Nothing remotely comparable to this abundance exists for any other ancient writing.
One of the greatest New Testament scholars of our generation was Sir Frederic G. Kenyon, director of the British Museum. Though not himself a believer in the infallibility of the inspiration and transmission of the Scriptures, Kenyon said after an extensive review of the manuscript evidence:
It is reassuring at the end to find that the general result of all these discoveries and all this study is to strengthen the proof of the authenticity of the Scriptures, and our conviction that we have in our hands, in substantial integrity, the veritable Word of God.[1]
Although there are many individual differences found in the New Testament text as preserved in these 20,000 manuscripts, the very number of them provides a powerful means of checking and tracing the origin of the variant readings and thus of ascertaining the original text. Furthermore, the discrepancies, whether caused by careless copying or by deliberate alterations, are in almost all cases quite trivial,[2] affecting no important fact or doctrine. In particular, the person and work of Jesus Christ as represented are not changed in any respect by the variant readings. Not only do we have such a tremendous accumulation of manuscripts of the New Testament itself, but also
