Who wrote the New Testament, and how do we know for sure what they wrote is factually and historically true?

Question

I was under the impression, the authors did not live during the same time period as Jesus. I'm not trying to incite anything here, i think it is a valid question. Please don't start off by calling me an unbeliever. (even though I know some people will)

Answer 1

The author's did in fact live during the same time period of Jesus. The books of the new testament were written by only a handful of people. Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Peter, Paul, and Jude

Matthew - One of the 12 apostles that ministered with Jesus
Mark - One of the early followers that was ministering with Peter, one of the 12 apostles. The belief is that this is Peter's Account written by Mark
Luke - Gathered accounts from people who were close with Jesus(namely Peter and Mary Magdelene)
John - One of the 12 apostles that ministered with Jesus
Peter - One of the 12 apostles that ministered with Jesus
Paul - One of the early followers of the church
Jude - the half brother of Jesus

The books of the New Testament were written from around 60-90 AD, and there is a lot of written and verbal agreement from late first century and early second century pointing to authorship belonging to this people.

I know that this explanation is brief, but this is a basic start if you wanted to look into this further

Answer 2

Whole books have been written on this subject. All you will get here is an overview.

The books of the New Testament were all written BEFORE A.D. 100. They are not in chronological order. Some of Paul's letters were the first to be written. The last was the Gospel of St. John, after he returned form exile on the Isle of Patmos. There are no extant manuscripts; all we have are copies of copies.

Detractors would have us believe that the Church selected what should be included and what should be excluded. Actually, what the Church did was just rubber stamped what was already widely accepted and rejecting others based on the fact that they did not meet the criteria that the others met.

Answer 3

There were several writers. Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Paul, Peter, Timothy, James, Jude.

Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, James and Peter followed Jesus personally. So yes they lived at the same time.

Paul, Timothy and Jude may not have followed Jesus around, but they lived in the same generation that the 12 apostles did because Paul talks about going and seeing Peter in one for sure, maybe even a few occasions.

Answer 4

The earliest of the Gospels is often said to be "Mark," and probably dates to no earlier than 68 CE. The latest is "John," who wrote around the turn of the second century. (I put the names in quotes because there are really no grounds for accepting the traditional attributions on anything other than faith.)

Nor are there any means of establishing whether the events the Gospels record are "factually and historically" accurate. In point of fact, there are many glaring anomalies - e.g. Matthew's account of Herod's "Massacre of the Innocents," a circumstance which one might assume would've provoked comment; and yet history is absolutely silent on it outside of Matthew.

People who come on here and categorically claim that "Mark wrote Mark, Luke wrote Luke," etc, "under the influence of the Holy Spirit," and "everything they say is 100% accurate and true," are basing their opinions on sheer faith and nothing more. Not that they don't have a right to do so; but they ought to at least be honest enough to admit that there isn't a shred of actual evidence to back up these contentions.

Answer 5

The Gospels are each named for the Apostle/Disciple that penned them. The epistles, mostly by Paul, however, those that have a name were most probably penned by that Apostle/Disciple. Revelation by John.

As to the time period - Biblical scholars set most to have been penned within 40 years of Jesus' death, although there is debate in some circles.

As to factually and historical accuracy, once again it is debated; however, many non-Christian manuscripts from the time period do back up the historical references.

How do we know? As a Christian, I believe that God is all powerful and that while He used men to pen the Bible, it is the true and inerrant Word of God (I use a computer to convey my message - the words are not the computer's words, they are mine. God used men in the same way). I believe that God is all powerful and as such is quite capable to retain His meaning and message throughout the ages.

Answer 6

The question is quite valid of course. However your impression appears to be incorrect. Almost all, if not ALL of the New Testament was written by eye-witnesses of the events. Some people dispute the Book of Hebrews, avering it was written by Apollos, who was a student of Paul.

Some scholars used to accept very late dates for some of the New Testament books (as late as the 5th century), however we find the Church Fathers quoting all but 4 or 5 verses of the New Testament by A.D. 150; and quoting them as old and venerable writings. With the discovery of the Gospel of Matthew dated to A.D. 62-65, those 'late date' theories were put to rest for good.

I hope that was helpful. PM me any time.

Answer 7

For those who would say the Bible is not the Word of God, or that the Bible contains numerous errors I would say this: Paul could say in 2nd Timothy 3:16, "All Scripture is given by inspiration of God." That's the Greek word, "theopneustos" meaning "God-Breathed." Every single word was given from God to 40 different men, and 2nd Peter 1:21 adds: "for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God." Now that was the Old Testament. The New Testament wasn't in existence when Paul used these verses. He was telling the churches in his letters what had happened in the past, but in John 16:12-13, Jesus talked about the coming of the New Testament. He says, "I have many more things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. But when He, the Spirit of Truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come."
That's the New Testamant. And we can say with John 17:17, "Your Word is Truth." Today, we have 66 books written by 40 different individuals on 3 continents covering a period of 1,500 years and there's not one mistake, regardless of what some of the critics say. They haven't studied God's Word enough to know the truth. Among the writers we had kings, poets, philosophers, prophets, scholars and fisherman. And I want you to know we have all of the Word of God today. Someone says, "Yes, but we don't have the original manuscripts" Who said so?
We have copies totalling 24,800. Now, how do we know that they're right? Well, if you take 20 items and you compare them and 19 state one thing and one doesn't, then the one is in error. We've got 24,800 manuscripts that exist today to compare one against another and we have another 80,000 quotations from the church fathers, enough to put the entire Bible together with the exception of 11 verses. Take the 80,000 quotations from the church fathers and the 24,800 manuscripts for a total of 104,800 and you have all of God's Word dozens and hundreds of times. This is so because God's Word is literally flawless. After computers have compared millions, or even billions, of letters in analyzing the 104,800 manuscripts the texts are basically flawless. So, don't listen to the critics. The Bible is God's Word.

Answer 8

Some of the authors of the new testament did interact with Jesus during his life and resurrection; Matthew and Peter, for instance. The New Testament goes in harmony with the prophesies of the Old Testament. The New Testament, however contains prophesies still to be fulfilled.

Answer 9

Almost all of those authors DIED RATHER THAN RECANT THEIR TESTIMONY WE HAVE RECORDED.

The claim that the gospels were composed after the deaths of the Twelve is baseless. There is a manuscript fragment of John which dates within 50 years of John's death. How can the document have been written almost 300 years later? It couldn't...

The testimony of Matthew, who is said by Papias (110-140 AD) to have transcribed Jesus' teachings during his ministry, and John were first-hand information. Mark is said by ancient sources to reflect (be based on) the teachings of Peter transcribed by Mark during Peter's lifetime. Luke describes his work as a "research project" based on eyewitness information, which is borne out by internal evidence.

NUMEROUS first and second century writers indicate familiarity with the gospels and quote from them in their writings. Papias, Justin Martyr, (156) and Clement (80-140) just to name a few. These are available at http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/ .

OK, the gospel writers mostly died because of their work, something one would not expect were they fabrications. They were all quoted by other writers within less than 50 years of the apostles' lifetimes. Is there enough evidence to question those who say the gospels were 4th century fabrications?

Answer 10

Most of the New Testament was written between 40 and 80 AD. By eye witnesses and those who were trained by eye witnesses of Jesus in the flesh. When the books were canonized that was the main requirement. Apostolic authority.

I find it comical that people will just deny this. There is a ton of documentation that this is historical fact from a number of sources.