2nd and 3rd Generation Apostles

2nd and 3rd Generation Apostles
Very busy people--lots of Church building

The early church father from the late 1st century and 2nd century quoted from the NT to virtually recreate the whole Bible from their quotes.

1) Tacitus said in his Annals that Christ was crucified under Pontius Pilate and gives detailed descriptions of Nero's persecutions which are also described in several places in the NT.

2) Correspondence between Pliny the Younger and the Roman Emperor Trajan corroborates the NT history and the persecution of Christians under Nero.

3) Josephus, the first century Jewish historian, makes mention of John the Baptist, and James the brother of Jesus. Josephus wrote his history after the NT was completed and corroborates many details in the Bible as historically reliable.

4) Clement, Bishop of Rome (30-100 AD) wrote about the martyrdom of some of the Apostles, resurrection of Jesus and said he knew Peter. There are some passages in the Bible that talk about Clement.

5) The Epistle of Barnabas (70-130 AD).

6) Polycarp, Bishop of Smyrna (70-155 AD) was student of the Apostle John.

7) Ignatius, Bishop of Antioch (35-110 AD) in the town when Christians were first called Christians, way back in Acts. He quotes from 16 NT books.

8) Irenaeus, Bishop of Lyons (130-200 AD), makes 1,819 references to the NT.

9) Tertullian, 2nd century apologist (160-220 AD), quotes from the NT 7,258 times.

10) Clement, Bishop of Alexandria (150-215 AD).

11) The Didache (90 AD) quotes extensively from the NT.

12) Hyppolytus or Rome (approx. 220 AD) quoted the NT 1,378 times.

13) Origen of Alexandria (230 AD) quoted the NT 17,922 times.

14) Eusebius of Caesarea (290 AD) quoted the NT 5,176 times.

That is to name just a few. There are lots of others.

William Foxwell Albright, one of the world's foremost Biblical archaeologists said, "In my opinion, every book of the New Testament was written by a baptized Jew in the 40s and 80s of the first century...very probably sometime between A.D. 50 to 75."

There are 5,300 Greek manuscripts of the NT and 24,000 manuscript portions for study.

Sir Frederic Kenyon who was the director and principle librarian of the British Museum states, "The last foundation for any doubt that the Scriptures have come down to us substantially as they were has now been removed... Both the authenticity and general integrity of the books in the New Testament may be regarded as finally established."

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