A friend of mine is asking me to help him understand spiritual things. He asked me about the truthfulness of the bible, the account of the life of Paul and what happens to those who never hear the gospel. This was my response...
I'm sorry I'm just now getting back to you. I had some friends over yesterday and one of the guys spent the night.
Your first question was about any other documentation outside of the New Testament that collaborates with the New Testament. I'm sure there is. I'm not much of a historian so I wouldn't be able to point you to any specific texts. However, the bible claims to be sufficient in itself for salvation. "How you've been acquainted with the sacred writings which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus" (2 Timothy 3:14-15). You don't need to look anywhere else in order to understand and believe the gospel. Secondary sources are nice but you will ultimately be persuaded God's way, which is through understanding his word. Be careful of this verse, "In the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom" (1 Corinthians 1:21).
The whole point of the gospel is that you need to be saved. God wants to make sure that his glory and our worship are not hindered by us thinking that we contributed anything to our salvation. If we think that we became a Christian because of our intellect, we won't really feel the weight of God saving us. We'll always have in the back of our mind that we came to Christ because we pieced some intellectual puzzle pieces together. Don't get me wrong, the word that John uses to describe Jesus is "logos" which literally means, "logic". Christianity is not a fictional novel, rather, it is a historical account. We have a doctor writing “an orderly account” on the life of Jesus (Luke 1:1-4), we read that there were 500 eye-witnesses to the Resurrection of Jesus (1 Corinthians 15:3-9), we read of Paul confronting King Agrippa about his inside knowledge about the resurrection of Jesus (Acts 26:23-26) and we can note that Mark cites his sources when he talks about the crucifixion (Mark 15:21-24). Mark also tells you where it happened, what time it happened, and in case we still think he's making the whole thing up, he provides specific details regarding what the soldiers offered Jesus to drink.
You asked about the trustworthiness of the account of the Apostle Paul's former life. Paul tells his testimony 4 times in the New Testament (Acts 9:1-19, Acts 26:12-18, Galations 3:11-18, Philippians 3:4-7). In Galations he says, "For you have heard of my former life..." Paul was famous for how he treated Christians. Paul wrote many letters of the New Testament. We know that he was learned in Judaism because he says, "I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my own age among my people" (Gal 1:14), he also says that he was a "Hebrews of hebrews" meaning, he knew the Hebrew bible (Old Testament) very well. I can't point you to any secondary sources but my response would be in the form of a question. Why would Paul lie about murdering Christians? All that does is publically indict him for murder and hurt his ministry. Not many pastors or missionaries want to be known as murderers.
The fact that Paul is so upfront about his former life shows his trustworthiness. We should be able to believe what he says because his motive is clearly not a self-promoting one. To tell you the truth, I’m not very morally impressed by murderers. But Paul includes his testimony because it makes much of the grace and mercy of God rather than making much of a man. Muhammad is made much of. So is Ghandi, Joseph Smith and Mary. This separates Christianity from Islam, Buddhism, Mormonism and Catholiscm. Paul continually tried to shine the spotlight off of him and onto Jesus. “Christ came to save sinners…of whom I am the foremost” (1 Timothy 1:15). No man is made much of in Christianity…except Jesus. However, we make much of Jesus because Jesus is God (John 1:1-3, John 10:30, Col 1:15).
You asked about why God revealed himself to Jews and no one else. A helpful way of understanding the Old and New Testaments is Colossians 2:17, “These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ”. The Old Testament is the shadow of Jesus. Every major character and every major theme is a shadow of Jesus. For example, God reveals himself to Israel and saves them from their sin. He delivers them out of Egypt and into the promise land. This is a shadow of Jesus dying for the sins of his church (Ephesians 5:25) and delivering his chosen people to the promised eternal inheritance (Hebrews 9:15).
However, in the Old Testament, the goal was always for the nations to come to know the God of Israel (Ezekiel 38:23). In Psalms it says, “Let the nations rejoice!”(Psalm 67:4). Our enjoyment of God is not complete until we share that enjoyment with others. This is true in a variety of ways. When you see an awesome movie, your enjoyment of that movie is not over when the film stops. It increases as you tell your friends and persuade them to see it for themselves. God’s plan has always been for a group of people to enjoy him so much that their enjoyment bubbles over so as to attract others into that same enjoyment. Your next question had to do with those who didn’t hear about Jesus after his crucifixion and resurrection. Romans 8:29 says that God foreknows those who will be his. The theological phrase is called, “Sovereign election”. It means that God never has his hands tied behind his back, if he wants to save somebody, he does it. He doesn’t need Christians in order to save people. He prefers to use them but he doesn’t need them. Jesus once said, “If my disciples are quiet, the rocks will cry out” (Luke 19:39).
The bible teaches that God is the one who places faith in people (Ephesians 2:8-9). He doesn’t guarantee that everybody will be saved but he does guarantee that every people group will be represented in heaven (Revelation 5:9). Since all have sinned and deserve God’s punishment, God is allowed to grant clemency to whoever he wishes. No one charges a judge with injustice if he gives a mass murderer life in prison with no possibility of parole. The fact that God does grant clemency and does extend mercy to any sinner is all together incredible. The Native Americans who died without the gospel are not necessarily unfortunate, we are just incredibly fortunate. There shouldn’t be a way out of punishment. Our legal system doesn’t even have a gospel. If you’re guilty, you’re guilty. God is gracious and merciful to even create an opportunity for sinful people to turn to him. He calls all people everywhere to turn to him and then when they do, he tells them to turn to others and say to them, “We are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God!” (2 Corinthians 5:20)
I hope that is helpful. Let me know if you would like any clarification.
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