The Intention Test

Was the intent of the gospel writers to accurately preserve history?

In the case of the gospel of Luke Blomberg, Lee Strobel's expert, uses Luke's own words. However, in the case of Mark and Matthew Blomberg's evidence is a little sketchy: "they are close to Luke in terms of genre, and it seems reasonable that Luke's historical intent would closely mirror theirs." Perhaps it is reasonable, but it is also reasonable that their investigation efforts were not as careful. There is no way of knowing for sure, is there?

For John there is also a weak conjecture argument that if theology is to be believed it is important that the history is accurate. I really don't believe that this is a tautology. If it is meant to be, then it certainly needs to be supported much better than to simply state it.

So what do we know of the intent of the authors of the Gospels? We know that at least one of them, Luke, has stated a clear intent to be accurate. A careful reading shows Luke's concern in context: "an account of the things that have been fulfilled among us, just as they were handed down." His aim therefore is not to play the sceptic: to determine whether or not events happened based on the supposition that they didn't happen. Rather his writing arises from the view that these things did happen, and to be accurate to the story as it was handed down.

Unfortunately, careful presentation of a case does not guaranty its accuracy. For example, it is the intent of prosecutors and the judicial system in which prosecutors play a role not to put innocent people behind bars, which is why our judicial system is founded on a innocent until proven guilty premise. However, unintended mistakes can happen. Often the more careful a prosecutor was in preparing and presenting a case, the more difficult it has been to identify and reverse mistakes. How does this happen? It happens because the prosecutor, like Luke has to rely on other people to make his case, whose intent may be unknown, or who may not be as careful as the prosecutor. In the case of a well established myth the origin may be impossible to determine, and hence the original motivation equally as impossible to know. Luke did not have the benefit of a snopes.com.

So it may be that the things that Luke writes about did happen, or it may be that they did not happen. Since bible accuracy is not an either or proposition, both may also be the case.