Are The Four Gospels Reliable Witnesses?

A Commentary by Pastor Charles Schmitt

On Monday evening, June 26, 2000, ABC aired a Peter Jennings special, "Search for Jesus." Throughout the broadcast both Peter Jennings and the higher critics which he consulted attacked the reliability of the four gospels repeatedly. (Little wonder that Jennings' search proved fruitless and that he never found the Jesus he was searching for. If anyone does not honor God's Holy Word they have no hope of finding Jesus, and consequently no hope of eternal salvation!)

Jennings and the critics spoke of the four gospel witnesses as contradicting each another. I have intensely studied the four gospels for nearly 50 years and I have never been impressed that they contradicted each another; rather, they complement each another. On those rare occasions when we have an evening at home, Dotty and I enjoy watching both the 6:30 and then the 7 P.M. national news - just to see how each commentator presents the same story. On the exact same news item Dan Rather and Peter Jennings usually present things from different slants, but we never quite felt they were contradicting each another; rather we felt that they were presenting the same facts from different points of view . If any four different witnesses to the same event gave exactly the same account of that event in a court of law, they would immediately be suspected of collusion , and their testimonies could eventually be discredited. If Matthew, Mark, Luke and John were identical in their statements, it would probably be considered collusion . And even at that, why then bother to have four gospels; one would be sufficient, if they were to be all identical. Rather we have four different men, of different nationalities, with vastly different personalities and educational backgrounds, writing at four different times in the first century, writing to four different groups of people - all INSPIRED BY THE SAME HOLY SPIRIT, and all accurate from their perspective, with each complementing the other!

At one juncture in his "Search for Jesus," on the Jennings program, it was announced that there was no Luke Chapter 2 census during the reign of Caesar Augustus that could have brought Joseph and Mary from Nazareth to Bethlehem, the city of David. History states, however, that "during the reign of Augustus the Romans reorganized their administration in several parts of the Empire and carried out fresh censuses of the population for purposes of taxation…" (D. Guthrie BD, MTH, PHD). It was also stated that even if there were a census and a taxation there would have been no need for Mary to have come along with Joseph. Historical data, however, states that "In the Roman province in which Palestine was located, women 12 years of age and older were required to pay poll tax and therefore to register" (Lewis Foster). The prophet Micah, writing some 700 years before Jesus Christ was born (and 2,700 years before Peter Jennings and these critics were born) declared of the Messiah: "But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah … out of you will come for Me the one who will be ruler over Israel, whose goings out are from of old, from the days of eternity…." (Micah 5:2)! And NO, Peter Jennings, Mary did not become pregnant by some unknown Roman soldier! Rather, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you [Mary]… so the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God " (Luke 1:35)! Jesus came forth from God, from eternity!

It was further stated that the birth accounts of Jesus in Matthew and Luke contradicted each other. Luke speaks of Jesus "the baby" being born "in a manger" and being visited by the "shepherds of the fields." Matthew speaks of "the Child" Jesus, being found by "the Magi" (the Wisemen) in a "house" in Bethlehem - the house over which the star shone. (That star is believed by many to have been the brilliance of the conjunction of the planets Jupiter and Saturn, which happened at that very time). Obviously anyone can see that two different events are being spoken of - one earlier and one later in the young life of Jesus. We see this from the two words that are used -"baby" (in Luke) and "child" (in Matthew). Obviously, Jesus was born as a baby in a manger because the inn was over-crowded that night, but the holy family then moved to a rented house , where the wise men ("Magi") came to worship the child .

Jennings and his critics also observed that Matthew, Mark and Luke record the institution of the Eucharist, the Table of the Lord, on that night in which Jesus was betrayed, but John does not record that particular event. Jennings and his critics concluded that the eucharistic reference was added later to Matthew, Mark and Luke. (I guess I'd ask the question, why then wasn't it also added later on to John?) Obviously, John (writing at the close of the first century, the last gospel to be written) includes things that the other witnesses did not include (such as the raising of Lazarus) and does not repeat things that the other witnesses have already included (such as the Bethlehem history). Besides, John makes the issue of the Eucharist very much a part of his account, when he quotes Jesus' words: "Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me , and I in him" (John 6:53-56). John is no stranger to the Table of the Lord. The Gospels do not contradict each other; rather they complement each other!

Peter Jennings and his critics are unfortunately a very clear example of Paul's words: "Since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know Him , God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached [the real Jesus and His real atoning death] to save those who believe" (I Cor. 1:21). An earlier T.V. special on the life of Jesus, using those simple claymations was a beautiful unfolding of the true wisdom of God; Jennings' "Search for Jesus," unfortunately, became a deadend. The bottom line in all of this is simple: the four Gospel witnesses are reliable witnesses; their witness is true; and whoever believes their witness will be born into the kingdom of heaven! The four Gospel accounts were indeed "written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in His name"! (John 20:31) Amen!