Dethroning Jesus: What Popular Culture Says About Jesus – Part 4

[This material is excerpted from our television series, “The Battle to Dethrone Jesus,” with Dr. Darrell Bock and Dr. Daniel Wallace. The entire series is available in our online store.]

How Did the New Testament Authors Describe What They Wrote?

The Preached Message as the "Word of God"

Dr. John Ankerberg: About 30 AD Jesus dies, passes off the scene. In this time you have the apostles living, talking, and teaching. You have the hymns and the creedal statements—like Peter saying, “You killed Him, God raised Him” [Acts 3:14-15]. With the sacraments, you have a consistency of message going down, and now the apostles start to put this into writing. What did they call what they said, and what did they call what they wrote?

Dr. Darrell Bock: They called both of them the word of God. The preached word of the gospel was the word of God. The written word of the apostles in these letters sent to the churches, and the Gospels written by them or their associates, was also the word of God. It was a message from God; this is a revelation or a disclosure that comes from Him. That is where it gets its authority and its credibility. This gospel message was a message for humanity from the living God.

The Apostolic Timeline and Authorship

Dr. John Ankerberg: As we go from 30 AD into the 40s, 50s, and 60s, the apostles start to die. Before they die, they start writing letters and books. What are the earliest books that start to come out?

Dr. Darrell Bock: We think that the earliest books are in the 40s. Some place James there, and Galatians is often put at the very end of the 40s. In the 50s, the publishing house really gets rolling with various epistles, extending into the 60s. Traditionally, Peter and Paul are said to have been martyred for their faith in the middle 60s. Many scholars place the book of Revelation in the 90s.

Dr. John Ankerberg: If Jesus dies at 30 AD and the books start coming out in the 40s, you are only 10-15 years from the time Jesus was on the scene. Could their letters have completely changed everything they founded in those churches? Did they make a giant switch so the Jesus of faith is completely different than the Jesus of history?

Biblical Evidence for Apostolic Authority

Dr. Darrell Bock: When we think of the "word of God," our mind immediately jumps to a book. But in many New Testament passages, the term actually refers to the preached message of the gospel—the kerygma. For example, in 1 Thessalonians 2:13, Paul writes: “When you received God’s message that you heard from us, you accepted it not as a human message but as it truly is, God’s message, which is at work among you who believe.”

Dr. John Ankerberg: When they wrote, how do we know it is the word of God? In what sense is it His word?

Dr. Darrell Bock: They viewed themselves as writing a message from God that touches on various issues impacting the church. In their letters, they emphasize that it is not their own human wisdom, but spiritual truth combined with spiritual words. This is not surprising in Judaism; we had the prophets who did the same thing. The Old Testament was already established as Scripture, so there was precedence. What gave these utterances their authority was not that Paul or Peter said them, but that they were understood to be a message from the living God.

Next up: Part 5 – How early were the New Testament books written, and why is that important?