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04.11. New Testament

6 min read · Chapter 38 of 93
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New Testament Jesus is a miracle and He also performed many miracles. Here is a selected list:

Reminiscent of the way that God worked during the time of Moses, Jesus first performs miracles to convince his disciples. This beginning of His signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and manifested His glory, and His disciples believed in Him. (John 2:11) Jesus performed many miracles to substantiate His claim to be the Messiah and God. As we look at John 10:25-38, we see Jesus claiming to be God

  • "I and the Father are one." (John 10:30)

  • The Jews answered Him, "For a good work we do not stone You, but for blasphemy; and because You, being a man, make Yourself out to be God." (John 10:33)

  • "If I do not do the works of My Father, do not believe Me; but if I do them, though you do not believe Me, believe the works, so that you may know and understand that the Father is in Me, and I in the Father." (John 10:37-38)

There are more verses where Jesus claims to be God:

  • But He answered them, "My Father is working until now, and I Myself am working." For this reason therefore the Jews were seeking all the more to kill Him, because He not only was breaking the Sabbath, but also was calling God His own Father, making Himself equal with God. (John 5:17-18)

  • Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I am." Therefore they picked up stones to throw at Him, but Jesus hid Himself and went out of the temple. (John 8:58-59) The Jews clearly understood what Jesus was saying. Saying “I am” means “I am God”. He was referencing this passage

    • God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM"; and He said, "Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, ’I AM has sent me to you.’" (Exo 3:14)

  • Jesus’ disciples were convinced by His miracles and also performed miracles themselves.

    • Many signs and wonders performed by the apostles. Acts 5:12

    • Many were healed by Peter’s shadow falling on them. Acts 5:15-16

    • Stephen performs great signs and wonders. Acts 6:8

    • Philip performs signs and casts out demons in Samaria. Acts 8:6-7, Acts 8:13

    • Peter heals Aeneas at Lydda. Acts 9:32-34

    • Peter raises Tabitha at Joppa from the dead. Acts 9:36-41

    • Signs and wonders performed by Paul and Barnabas at Iconium. Acts 14:3

    • A man is healed at Lystra by Paul. Acts 14:8-10

    • Paul casts out a fortune telling demon form a slave girl. Acts 16:16-18

    • God was performing extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul, so that handkerchiefs or aprons were even carried from his body to the sick, and the diseases left them and the evil spirits went out. Acts 19:11-12

    • Eutychus raised from the dead at Troas by Paul. Acts 20:9-10

    • Paul heals the father of Publius at Malta Acts 28:8

    • Many others were healed by Paul on the island of Malta. Acts 28:9

    • Paul tells of having performed signs and wonders in the Power of the Spirit. Rom 15:19

  • Norm Geisler writes “There is overwhelming evidence that the New Testament is a reliable record composed by contemporaries and eyewitnesses of the events”34.

  • In chapter 6 of “Evidence that demands a verdict” Josh and Sean McDowell go through the many references to Jesus and Christianity in Biblical, Christian and non-Christian sources. From this we can also see that Jesus was real and that Christianity was growing at this point.

  • Some notable quotes:

    • Josephus (a Jewish historian working for Rome) in “Antiquities of the Jews” book 18:3:3 writes

“Now there was about this time Jesus, a wise man, (if it be lawful to call him a man; for he was a doer of wonderful works, a teacher of such men as receive the truth with pleasure). He drew over to him both many of the Jews and many of the Gentiles. He was (perhaps)[the] Christ. And when Pilate,( at the suggestion of the principal men amongst us,) had condemned him to the cross, those that loved him at the first did not forsake him; for (they reported) he appeared to them alive again (the third day) as the divine prophets had foretold these and ten thousand other wonderful things concerning him. And the tribe of Christians, so named from him, are not extinct at this day.” (See the discussion on this in Habermas page 192)

  • Tacitus (a Roman historian) in book 15 writes:

Therefore, to stifle rumour, Nero made scapegoats of, and marked out for most particular punishment, those whom the masses called Christians, and who were loathed for their abominations. Christus, from whom the name derived, had suffered the death penalty in the reign of Tiberius, by order of the procurator Pontius Pilatus; and the deadly superstition had been temporarily suppressed, only to erupt again not only in Judaea, the home of this evil, but even in Rome, to which all that is dreadful or shameful in the world flows and here is celebrated.

  • Pliney the Younger (a Roman official) in a letter to Trajan, a Roman emperor, talks about the Christians. He discusses:

      • Should they be punished just for being Christians

      • Real Christians would not renounce Christ

      • The issue of worshipping the image of the Roman gods and the emperor

      • The Christians met before daybreak; they recited a hymn among themselves to Christ as though he were a god.

      • their oath was to abstain from theft, robbery, adultery, and from breach of faith, and not to deny trust money placed in their keeping

      • For the contagion of this superstition has spread not only through the free cities, but into the villages and the rural districts, and yet it seems to me that it can be checked and set right. It is beyond doubt that the temples, which have been almost deserted,

  • New Testament Documents

    • Norm Geisler and Frank Turek state that there are about “5800 had written Greek manuscripts of the New Testament”. There are “some 20,000 manuscripts in other languages”

    • Some of the fragments that we have date to around the beginning of the 2nd century AD, which is extremely close to the time that the originals were written.

    • For a more in-depth discussion on the historicity of the New Testament Manuscripts see the section in the “Baker Encyclopedia of Christian Apologetics” also “The Historical Jesus” by Gary Habermas.

    • There are a number of early church fathers that wrote letters. These letters all attest to Jesus, his teachings and the other historical facts from the New Testament documents. They also show the extent to which Christianity had spread.

      • Clement wrote in the 1st century AD

      • Ignatius (apparently a disciple of the apostle John) was martyred around ~107 AD.

      • Polycarp (likely date around the turn of the 1st century AD and apparently was also a disciple of the apostle John.

      • Justin Martyr was an apologist in the beginning to middle of the 2nd century.

      • Irenaeus wrote works against heresies in the second century AD.

      • Clement of Alexandria – late 2nd and early 3rd century AD.

      • Origen – early 3rd century

    • The accurate transmission of the text has been shown by comparing the early copies to each other and our present text. A number of books have been written on the subject. (Some are listed in the Bibliography)

  • New Testament Archaeology

The evidence of this period confirms the accuracy of the accounts in the New Testament.

  • There are several books that provide information on this subject:

  • Archaeology, New Testament35

  • Evidence for the Bible36

  • Biblical Archaeology37,38

  • Unearthing the Bible39

  • An article on the "Historical accuracy of the Book of Acts”40

  • Websites that provide information and videos:

  • Associates for Biblical Research41

  • Digging for Truth episodes42

  • Epic Archaeology43

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