JESUS CHRIST: GOD-MAN - Vital Christianity

Sir Frederick Kenyon in his book The Bible and Archeology claimed:
"The authenticity and the general integrity of the books of the New Testament
may be regarded as finally established. . . . The Christian can take the whole
Bible in his hand and say without fear or hesitation that he holds in it the
true Word of God, handed down without essential loss from generation to
generation throughout the centuries."27
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British New Testament scholar F. F. Bruce has noted:
"Where Luke has been suspected of inaccuracy, and accuracy has been
vindicated by some inscriptional evidence, it may be legitimate to say that
archeology has confirmed the New Testament record. . . . for the most part
the service archeology has rendered to New Testament studies is the filling
in of the contemporary background, against which we can read the record
with enhanced comprehension and appreciation. And this background is a
first-century background. The New Testament narrative just will not fit into
a second century background."28
The legal proceedings against Jesus and Paul narrated in the New Testament correspond
identically to what is know known of Roman practice during that period of the first century A.D.
F. F. Bruce is amazed at the level of knowledge and testifies that the accuracy extends even "to
the more general sphere of color and atmosphere. He [Luke] gets the atmosphere right every
time."29
From his second missionary journey, Paul refers to the city magistrates of Thessalonica
by the term "politarchs." Since this title does not occur anywhere in other literature it was
assumed by many that Luke coined the term because he did not have first-hand knowledge of the
area. Liberal scholars used such a reference as another example of the inaccurate history of the
New Testament. Since the late 19th century at least nineteen inscriptions with "politarchs" as the
correct title of magistrates in Macedonian towns have been uncovered by archeologists. Luke
was historically accurate. F. F. Bruce in citing several pages of other examples as well says that
Luke's "sure familiarity with the proper titles of all the notable persons who are mentioned in his
pages is one of the most remarkable tokens of his accuracy."30
Sir William Ramsay, regarded by many as one of the greatest archeologists ever to have
lived, states concerning Luke as a historian:
"Luke is a historian of the first rank; not merely are his statements of fact trust-
worthy . . . this author should be placed along with the very greatest of historians. . . .
Luke's history is unsurpassed in respect of its trustworthiness."31
Kenyon expressed what many thought may have been an overly optimistic statement
when he made the claim: