There is greater evidence for the historical accuracy of the New Testament than for any other piece of ancient literature. The New Testament passes three crucial tests for historicity: the biographical, internal and external tests.

Papyrus 46, one of the oldest New Testament papyri, showing 2 Cor 11:33-12:9

The New Testament passes three crucial tests for historicity

Judea Province during the first century

There is greater evidence for the historical accuracy of the New Testament than for any other piece of ancient literature. Although I can only quickly paint the picture with a few wide but bright strokes, it can be shown that the New Testament passes three crucial tests for historicity: the biographical, internal and external tests.

The Biographical Test

Papyrus Bodmer VIII, at the Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, showing 1 and 2 Peter.

The biographical test considers (a) how many manuscript copies we possess of a document and (b) the time gap between the documents and the originals.  Although it is a well-kept secret, the New Testament is highly attested in the number of extant manuscripts (over 5,000), much more so than other pieces of classical literature.  Because of recent discoveries of ancient documents, biblical scholars today have more manuscripts to work with than scholars did two hundred years ago.  So, paradoxically, the further we are in time from the life of Christ, the more early manuscripts we have that confirm the biblical records!

The time gap between the original writing and the earliest copies is short

Evangelist Mattheüs en de engel by Rembrandt

The time gap between the original writing and the earliest copies is also quite short, with manuscripts dating as early as A.D. 120, 200 and 350.  Here again the New Testament leaves other ancient documents -- with time gaps averaging a thousand years -- in the historical dust.

The Internal Evidence Test

Saint Paul Writing His Epistles, 17th-century painting. Most scholars think Paul actually dictated his letters to a secretary.

Concerning internal evidence, the New Testament claims to be written by eyewitnesses or by those who based their writing on the testimony of eyewitnesses (Luke 1:1-4; Galatians 1; 2 Peter 1:16; 1 John 1:1; and so on).  The style and content of the documents do not indicate fraud or deception.  The writers had nothing to gain and much to lose by inventing a new religion that was so quickly and violently opposed by Judaism.  Paul, who wrote more New Testament books than anyone else, suffered greatly for his faith (2 Corinthians 11:23-29) and declared that if Christ had not been raised from the dead, Christian faith was futile (1 Corinthians 15:17).  The early church appealed to the historical knowledge of unbelievers (Acts 2:22) and Paul confidently affirmed that over five hundred people witnessed the resurrected Christ and that many of them were still living at the time in which he wrote (1 Corinthians 15:6).  The accounts read as legitimate historical documents, not myths.  Furthermore, the New Testament books all may be safely dated before A.D. 95 and possibly even before A.D. 70, putting them quite close to the time of the events they record.

The External Evidence Test

A Roman portrait bust said to be of Josephus (37 - 100 AD)

Modern statue representing Tacitus (56 - 127 AD) outside the Austrian Parliament Building

Illustration of Suetonius (67 - 122 AD) from the Nuremberg Chronicle

A 17th-century fictional portrait of Lucian of Samosata (125 - 180 AD)

The New Testament is also substantially corroborated by the external evidence of archaeology and extrabiblical historians.  The Jewish historian Josephus, the Roman historians Tacitus and Suetonius, the Greek satirist Lucian, and others comment on the historicity of Christ and other events recorded in the New Testament.

William F. Albright (1891 - 1971)

Renowned archaeologists such as William F. Allbright, Sir William Ramsay and others have also testified to the historicity of the New Testament documents and the Old Testament as well.

God is interested in communicating with us

The Psalms Scroll (11Q5), one of the 972 texts of the Dead Sea Scrolls, with a partial Hebrew transcription.

Finally, on a presuppositional level, if a personal God exists who is interested in truthfully communicating with us, creatures made in his image, it is not unreasonable to believe that he would sovereignly preserve his Word for his purposes and our good.

Source: Groothuis, Doug.  Confronting the New Age.  Eugene, Oregon: Wipf and Stock Publishers, 1988, pages 92-93.