By Phillip Rolfes | Staff Writer

September 16, 2025

Are the Gospels reliable historical sources?

Although this question feels very contemporary, it has been asked repeatedly throughout the two millennia since the Gospels were penned.

In fact, the authors of the Gospels themselves seem to have faced this question and built their responses into their narratives.

There are many reasons that we can trust the Gospels as historically reliable sources.

This article will examine only one argument for the historical reliability of the Gospels, but I’ll also point you to some other resources where you can learn more.

First, let’s take a look at some background.

The Gospels in Context

No honest historian will deny the fact that something strange happened in first-century Judea.

This tiny little nowhere region, lacking all military and political power, launched a revolt against the dominant superpower in the world, the Roman Empire.

Why?

According to the Jewish historian Flavius Josephus, the revolt was a response to a mysterious oracle that predicted a worldwide leader would arise from among the Jews at that time (cf. Daniel 7).

The astonishing fact...

Josephus wasn’t the only historian to reference this mysterious oracle as the spark that lit the fires of rebellion. Roman historians such as Tacitus and Suetonius also spoke of this oracle as a cause of the Jewish revolt.

As one group of Jews held their violent revolt, however, another group began a peaceful, yet no less revolutionary, movement.

While the violent revolt was quickly crushed, the other revolt not only survived, but thrived and soon spread throughout the entire Roman Empire despite repeated efforts to stamp it out.  

The ideas embraced by these revolutionaries gradually transformed the old Roman Empire into what we know today as modern Western civilization.

These world-transforming ideas were based on the teachings of a single man.

Jesus—a Jewish rabbi hailing from a small, relatively insignificant town in Galilee called Nazareth.

Are the life and teachings of this first-century Jewish rabbi accurately detailed in the four Gospel accounts of His life?

There’s good reason to believe that they are. 

The Gospels as History

First-century Jewish historian Flavius Josephus noted that the best histories are those written by someone who participated in the events being recounted. In the absence of such records, the next best histories are those based on interviews with the people who participated in those events.

This is a remarkably modern standard for historical reliability.

But do the Gospels fit this standard?

The answer is a resounding “yes.”

In fact, the Gospels at the very least claim to be based on the eyewitness testimony of those who were with Jesus during His ministry. Take, for example, the opening passage of Luke’s Gospel:

“Inasmuch as many have undertaken to compile a narrative of the things which have been accomplished among us, just as they were delivered to us by those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word, it seemed good to me also, having followed all things closely for some time past, to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theoph′ilus, that you may know the truth concerning the things of which you have been informed.” (Lk 1:1-4)

John’s Gospel makes a similar claim at the close of its account:

“This is the disciple who is bearing witness to these things, and who has written these things; and we know that his testimony is true.” (Jn 21:24)

Add to this the fact that ancient tradition attributes Mark’s Gospel to none other than the disciple of St. Peter (Acts 12:25, 15:37; 1 Pet 5:13), and that gives us three Gospels that are, at the very least, based on the firsthand testimony of those who participated in the events recounted.

Then, there’s the Gospel of Matthew...

Gospel of Matthew as an Eyewitness Account

The Ignatius Catholic Study Bible tells us that the early Church unanimously agreed the Gospel of Matthew was written by the Apostle Matthew himself.

This was the opinion held by the early Church Fathers from St. Irenaeus of Lyons as early as 180 A.D. all the way to St. Augustine in 400 A.D.

It wasn’t until the rise of modern biblical criticism that anyone challenged the apostolic authorship of the Gospel of Matthew.

This shift is based largely on the theory that Mark’s Gospel is older and that the author of the Gospel of Matthew relied on the Gospel of Mark as his primary source. Since the author of the Gospel of Mark was not a direct disciple of Jesus, some scholars concluded that the author of the Gospel of Matthew must not have been either.

This argument, however, is not as strong as it appears at first glance.

One reason, among many, is that the profile of the author emerging from the Gospel corresponds very closely to the character of Matthew as given in the Gospel itself.

For example, the author of the Gospel of Matthew was obviously very familiar with Old Testament Hebrew, a language virtually unknown outside of Israel. Several times throughout his Gospel, he translates Old Testament Hebrew passages into fluent Greek.

His bilingual ability in Hebrew and Greek and intimate familiarity with the Old Testament make it likely that he was a Jewish resident of Palestine, probably Galilee.

In both Matthew’s and Luke’s Gospels, Matthew is sitting in his tax office in Galilee when Jesus invites him to “Follow me” (cf. Mt 9:1, 9). Mark’s Gospel is even more specific, stating that this took place in the town of Capernaum (cf. Mk 2:1, 13-14).

This, of course, is not definitive proof that Matthew is the author of the Gospel of Matthew, but it demonstrates that the ancient tradition of Matthean authorship is defensible.

So...

Can We Trust the Gospels as Historical Sources?

Given that the Gospels are, at the very least, based on eyewitness accounts, and that there is a strong likelihood at least one Gospel was written by an eyewitness himself, we have good reason to trust the four Gospels as historically reliable sources of information on the life and teachings of Jesus—the first-century Jewish rabbi whose teachings quite literally changed the world.

Sources

If you’ve enjoyed this article and would like to learn more, then check out:

The Ignatius Catholic Study Bible.

Gary Michuta, The Gospel Truth.  

“The Gospel of Truth,” with Gary Michuta.