WE CAN KNOW THE STORY OF JESUS WASN’T CHANGED OVER TIME BECAUSE OF THE FACTOR OF THE CHAIN OF CUSTODY.

How do we know that the gospels we possess today is the same gospel John allegedly wrote in the 1^st century?  One way to determine if evidence has been altered: I simply examine the “chain of custody”. The chain of custody helps us to determine evidential reliability. The recording of this chain of custody information is vital in the administration of the criminal justice system and if this chain is broken then the prosecution will not be able to use the argument as evidence. With our modern day New Testament, we have similar CHAIN OF CUSTODY authentication that the words written down by the original authors of the NT books are what we read today. In looking back at the chain of custody for the NT we can see the transmission from one generation of Christian leaders to the next.

An example of this is the Gospel of John. In addition to John’s Gospel in written form, we also have the writings of other leaders of the early Christian church in succeeding generations who testify about how they received John’s teachings. John handed the evidence over to the disciples such as Ignatius, Polycarp and Clement whom we know as the early Church Fathers. Ignatius wrote 7 letters to local churches describing Jesus and Polycarp wrote one letter to the church at Philippi. They then handed the evidence related to Jesus over to another disciple in the chain of custody, their student, the well-known second century church apologist, Irenaeus. He also wrote extensively about Jesus and passed on the information to another disciple in the chain, Hippolytus.

Thus we can trace the evidence related to Jesus down the chain of custody from one disciple to another, verifying the content of John’s original message to ensure the story of Jesus was not altered.

The second-tier disciples in the chain: Ignatius, Polycarp and Clement. They learned from John and Paul, and described Jesus in the following manner: Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit, and born of the Virgin Mary, He was baptized by John the Baptist, He was humble, unassuming and sinless, He was whipped, suffered and was crucified, This all took place under the government of Pontius Pilate and Herod the Tetrarch was king, Jesus died on the cross and was resurrected, He appeared to Peter and the others after the resurrection, He encouraged the disciples to touch and He ate with the disciples, The disciples were convinced by the resurrection appearances and were fearless after seeing the risen Christ, Jesus returned to God the Father, He is our only Master and the Son of God, All things are subject to Jesus and all creation belongs to Him, Jesus is our Savior, Lord and God, Jesus will judge the living and the dead etc.

Even without the original descriptions from John and Paul, we can reconstruct the basic tenets of Christian faith from the writings of the second tier disciples.

Irenaeus reports in his letter (Letter to Florinus) that he received the teachings of John from Polycarp and that Polycarp related to him that he was a student of the apostles specifically, the Apostle John. In the generation following Irenaeus we observe that another church leader, Hippolytus, received John’s teachings from Irenaeus

This pattern has repeated itself until the present day where John’s teachings are transmitted from one generation to the next. Because of this historical chain of custody, we can know that we have the actual accounts of the Apostle John regarding the life, ministry, death, and Resurrection of Jesus Christ.

There is a similar chain of custody with the other NT writers as well. This “chain of custody” not only assures us that we have the actual words of the Gospel authors but this also aids Christians when skeptics challenge the validity of the NT Scriptures.

Transmission of the Gospels from John to Hippolytus

The Gospels were written within the generation of the eyewitnesses. And the early accounts were not corrupted over the years.

John was the youngest of Jesus’ disciples. He saw firsthand many of the amazing miracles Jesus performed. John also witnessed the death and Resurrection of Jesus. He wrote the Gospel accurately reflecting the truth related to what he observed as a disciple of Jesus. John taught three important students and passed his Gospel into their trusted hands. They were Ignatius, Papias and Polycarp.

Ignatius (35-117AD) was a student of John and eventually became Bishop at Antioch, (Turkey), following the Apostle Peter. He wrote several important letters to the early Church and seven of them survive to this day. These letters are important because they demonstrate the New Testament documents were already written and familiar to the early Christians. Ignatius quoted or alluded to many New Testament books (including Matthew, John and Luke, and several, if not all, of Paul’s letters).

Papias (60-135AD) eventually became the Bishop of Hierapolis (now known as Pamukake in Turkey). He was quite familiar with the oral testimony of the eyewitnesses during the early documentation of their Gospel accounts. These documents were still being written and circulated during Papias’ early lifetime. Papias wrote a lengthy five-volume treatise called “Interpretations of the Sayings of the Lord”, but this text has been lost to us. Papias’ work (as quoted later by Eusebius), alludes to many Gospel passages and stories. Papias represents another link in the chain of custody, learning from John and the other eyewitnesses and passing this information down to the next generation.

Polycarp (69-155AD) was a friend of Ignatius and a student of John. Irenaeus later testified that he once heard Polycarp talk about his conversations with John, and Polycarp was known to have been converted to Christianity by the eyewitness Apostles themselves. Polycarp eventually became the Bishop of Smyrna (now known as Izmir in Turkey) and wrote a letter to the Philippians that references fourteen to sixteen New Testament books (including Matthew, Luke, John, Acts, Romans, 1 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, 1 Thessalonians, 2 Thessalonians, 1 Timothy, 1 Peter and 1 John, with some scholars observing additional references to 2 Timothy and 2 Corinthians). Polycarp’s letter demonstrates the early texts were in circulation and familiar to the Philippians, making Polycarp’s references in his letter all the more meaningful.

Ignatius, Papias and Polycarp Taught Irenaeus. Irenaeus (120-202AD) was born in Smyrna, the city where Polycarp served as Bishop. He was raised in a Christian family and was a “hearer” of Polycarp; he later recalled hearing Polycarp talk about his conversations with the Apostle John. Irenaeus matured into a theologian and apologist and wrote an important work called “Adversus Haereses” (Against Heresies). This refined response to the heresy of Gnosticism provided Irenaeus with the opportunity to address the issue of Scriptural authority and he identified as many as twenty-four New Testament books as Scripture (including Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts, Romans, 1 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1 Thessalonians, 2 Thessalonians, 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, Titus, 1 Peter, 1 John, 2 John and Revelation).

Irenaeus Taught Hippolytus. Hippolytus (170-236AD) was born in Rome and was a disciple of Irenaeus. As he grew into a position of leadership, he opposed Roman Bishops who modified their beliefs to accommodate the large number of pagans who were coming to faith in the city. In taking a stand for orthodoxy, he became known as the first “anti-pope” or “rival pope” in Christian history. He was an accomplished speaker of great learning, influencing a number of important Christian leaders such as Origen of Alexandria. Hippolytus wrote a huge ten-volume treatise called, “Refutation of All Heresies”. In this expansive work, Hippolytus identified as many as twenty-four New Testament books as Scripture (including Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts, Romans, 1 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1 Thessalonians, 2 Thessalonians, 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, Titus, Philemon, 1 Peter, 1 John, 2 John and Revelation).

Thus the Canon of Scripture was already established in the early 2nd Century.