Historical reliability of the Gospels Historical reliability of the Gospels The historical reliability of the Gospels refers to the reliability and historic character of the four New Testament gospels as historical documents. Some believe that all four canonical gospels meet the five criteria for historical reliability; and others say that little in the gospels is considered to be historically reliable. Almost all scholars of antiquity agree that Jesus existed, but scholars differ on the historicity of specific episodes described in the Biblical accounts of Jesus, and the only two events subject to "almost universal assent" are that Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist and
Quotations from the Hebrew Bible in the New Testament of Moses. Other quotations are sometimes made directly from the Hebrew text (e.g. , , ). When the New Testament was written, the Old Testament was not divided into chapters and verses, and there is therefore no uniform standard for these quotes and the authors had to provide contextual references: Quotations from the Hebrew Bible in the New Testament There are in all two hundred and eighty-three direct quotations from the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament) in the New Testament. In about ninety instances, the Septuagint is literally quoted. In around eighty further instances, the quote is altered in some way.