When was the first New Testament Book Written? And by whom?

What to Know

• Non-Biblical Support for Jesus’s Life: Multiple early sources outside Scripture confirm key facts of Jesus’s ministry, crucifixion, and followers’ belief in His resurrection, including supernatural events like the darkening of the sun.

• Exceptionally Early Christian Creeds: Scholars identify creeds in the New Testament that circulated within 1–5 years of Jesus’s death—far closer than many well-accepted historical accounts, such as those about Alexander the Great, which appear centuries after his life.

• Public and Verifiable Events: Jesus’s crucifixion was a publicly witnessed event, and New Testament sermons referencing it began circulating when eyewitnesses could have easily refuted false claims—yet no record of such refutation exists.

• Safeguard Against Legend: The minimal gap between Jesus’s death and the distribution of these creeds prevents legends from replacing historical fact. Additionally, the “criterion of embarrassment” (including details that could undermine the message) supports authenticity, strengthening the historical reliability of these early Christian accounts.

Historical records and non-Biblical sources affirm that Jesus Christ lived, had a ministry, was crucified, and was believed to have been resurrected. These essential points, central to the New Testament, are also documented in historical records outside the Bible. Remarkably, even supernatural events, such as the darkening of the sun after Jesus's crucifixion, are extensively recorded.

We've previously discussed the widespread circulation of New Testament copies throughout the Roman Empire and their proximity to the events they describe. Some fragments date back to as early as 50–60 A.D., a period when eyewitnesses would have still been alive. However, even earlier evidence exists beyond the New Testament. Critical scholars have identified sermon summaries in Acts (2:22-36, 3:13-16; 4:8-10; 5:29-32; 10:39-43; 13:28-31) and creeds— succinct statements of faith — found in Romans 4:25; Philippians 2:8; 1 Peter 3:18; Galatians 3:13; and 1 Corinthians 15:3, which all mention Jesus's death. The most famous of these creeds is found in 1 Corinthians 15:3-8, which scholars believe circulated within 1-5 years of Jesus's death.

The German atheist and critic Gerd Lüdemann asserts that "the elements in the tradition are to be dated to the first two years after the crucifixion of Jesus…not later than three years." Respected scholar James D.G. Dunn similarly states, "This tradition, we can be entirely confident, was formulated as tradition within months of Jesus's death."

To grasp the significance of how early these creeds circulated, consider the example of Alexander the Great. Historians generally agree on the major events of Alexander's life, yet the earliest reports come from Arrian and Plutarch, nearly 400 years after Alexander died in 323 B.C. In historical scholarship, a 400-year gap is considered quite close to the actual events, which is why scholars are confident about Alexander's life. In contrast, the documentation of Jesus's life and death, within just a few years or months of the events, is extraordinary in the context of ancient history. This comparison highlights the strong evidence for the accuracy and reliability of the New Testament. To reject the Bible's accuracy would imply questioning the existence of other historical figures like Alexander the Great, Aristotle, or Socrates.

The early circulation of these creeds is significant for two key reasons. First, the claims about Jesus's death by crucifixion and other events were made at the same time and place they occurred. If these claims were false, eyewitnesses could have easily disproven them. Furthermore, crucifixions were public events intended to serve as a deterrent, and Jesus's crucifixion was witnessed by a large assembly of Jewish leaders and a crowd, as described in Luke 23:1-4. This event is later referenced in Acts 2:36, a sermon that critical scholars believe began circulating within months of Jesus's crucifixion. Yet, there is no record of anyone denying Jesus's death at that time.

Second, the short timeframe between the events and the circulation of these creeds prevents the possibility of legendary embellishments replacing the actual events, as some critics claim. A.N. Sherwin-White, a classical historian from Oxford University, states that "the span of two generations [or less] is too short to allow legendary tendencies to wipe out the hard core of historical fact."

Additionally, the criterion of embarrassment further supports the authenticity of the accounts of Jesus's crucifixion. This criterion suggests that authors are unlikely to invent details that would embarrass their message unless those details were accurate. Although primarily applied to the Bible, this criterion is also used by scholars to analyze other historical documents. For example, Jan Nattier employs this method in her analysis of Buddhist texts in her work "A Few Good Men: The Bodhisattva Path according to The Inquiry of Ugra (Ugraparipṛcchā)" (University of Hawaii Press, 2005).

Sources

1.     Josephus, Flavius - Antiquities of the Jews (Book 18, Chapter 3) - Provides a non-Christian reference to Jesus, mentioning his crucifixion under Pontius Pilate.

2.     Tacitus, Cornelius - Annals (Book 15, Chapter 44) - Refers to Jesus's execution during the reign of Tiberius by the procurator Pontius Pilate.

3.     Lüdemann, Gerd - The Resurrection of Christ: A Historical Inquiry (2004) - Discusses the early dating of Christian creeds and Lüdemann's views as a critical scholar.

4.     Dunn, James D.G. - Jesus Remembered (2003) - Provides evidence and analysis on the early tradition of Jesus’s resurrection and the formation of creeds.

5.     Sherwin-White, A.N. - Roman Society and Roman Law in the New Testament (1963) - Analyzes the historical reliability of the New Testament using comparisons with other historical figures.

6.     Nattier, Jan - A Few Good Men: The Bodhisattva Path according to The Inquiry of Ugra (Ugraparipṛcchā)(University of Hawaii Press, 2005) - Uses the "principle of embarrassment" to analyze Buddhist texts.