Lesson 2: Can we trust what the Bible tells us about Jesus?

• Students will identify the key questions that exist in terms of the reliability of the Bible as a historical source for Jesus’ life and ministry
• Students will engage with a variety of expert opinions around the historical credibility of the Bible
• Students will investigate the origins of the Gospels, the processes of transmission and preservation, and the accuracy of modern translations

• Students can discuss the impact of the authorship, dating, and historical context of the Gospels on the credibility and reliability of the Bible
• Students can explain the methods used to copy and preserve the Gospels over centuries, identifying common transmission issues and assess their impact
• Students can describe the relationship of the original documents to modern translations

As a class, play the Telephone Game, then:

• Discuss how much the original sentence changed over the course of the game.
• Discuss what this game might have to do with today’s Big Question.

Students explore reasons why people might think we can’t trust the accounts about Jesus which are found in the Bible. You may need to help students to articulate their questions about the Bible’s:

• origins (Who wrote it? When? Were they eyewitnesses?)
• transmission (How was it passed down to us? Can we be sure that what we have is the same as the original?)
• translation (Why are there so many different versions? How can we know what the real meaning is?)

You can brainstorm this with the whole class on a whiteboard or give small groups individual posters to note down their questions or concerns. Give the class time to view each other’s posters and then lead a whole group discussion around the points that were made.

Do a ‘Think-Puzzle-Explore’ routine for the statement:

“The accounts of Jesus’ life in the Bible are historically reliable.”

Use some, or all, of these resources as a basis for the following learning activities.

• Clip: The purpose of the gospels (2:47)
• Clip: Oral tradition: A reason to trust the Gospels (5:04)
• Clip: Can we trust the Gospels? (2:54)
• Clip: Why trust the Bible? (2:20)
• Article: Nativity Naivete up to ‘Creation contradictions’ (8 minute read)

Using paper and markers, students write down the objections to the historicity of the Gospels that are discussed in the CPX videos, and the answers to those objections given by the four scholars.

Students choose ONE of the following objections to the historicity of the gospels. In small groups, discuss the validity of this objection, and also some possible ways to answer it. Afterwards, they present their findings to the class.

1. “We can’t trust the gospels because they were written with the purpose of persuading people to believe in Jesus.”
2. “We can’t trust the gospels because they were written down decades after Jesus’ death.”
3. “We can’t trust the gospels because there are some inconsistencies between the accounts of the different gospel writers.”
4. “We can’t trust the gospels because we don’t have the original manuscripts.”

Students read Luke 1:1-4 and 2 Peter 1:16-18 and answer the following questions:

1. What points do Luke and Peter make about the reliability of their accounts about Jesus?
2. How much do they seem to care about accuracy and reliability?
3. Do you find their arguments convincing? Why or why not?

Read the article Cold-Case Christianity (podcast extract – 5 minute read)

1. Do the Step In, Step Out, Step Back thinking routine based on Jim Warner Wallace’s perspective.
2. Write an email to Jim in response to what you’ve read in this extract, sharing your reaction to his story and asking any questions you have.

Imagine you have been asked to write a 3 minute speech on the topic: Can we trust what the Bible says about Jesus?

• Prepare the text of your speech, using some of the content from this lesson.
• Create at least three slides that you could use in your speech.

Students could plan the content of their speech in point form.

Invite students to respond to the question:

“What questions do you still have about the historical reliability of the Gospels?”

Students reflect on the following statement and respond in writing.

“If the Gospels are historically reliable, what implications might this have for the way we read them and how they impact our lives?”

Watch some of the Bites on the Bible series with Darrell Bock, and write three classroom activities/questions based on one of the clips.