Many of the other books of the New Testament were written by Paul, and the approximate dates of his Epistles are not in dispute. His first Epistle was written around 50 AD. The dates of Paul's writings make it impossible that the Gospels were written 70 years after Jesus' life, because much of the Book of Acts is about Paul, including his conversion on the road to Damascus and his missionary journeys. And, as I mentioned, the author of the Gospel of Luke and Acts are the same person, which is also not disputed. The Book of Acts also describes how a physician named Luke met Paul on his 1st missionary journey.
Also, a verse in 1 Timothy seems to be quoting from Luke's Gospel:
St Paul, while he was writing his Epistles, appears to have known what was written in the Gospel of Luke. I say “appears to have known” because I’m open to alternative explanations, but on the face of it, this is how it looks. If you think I’m wrong, show me why.Here is why this appears to be the case. This is an excerpt from Paul’s first letter to Timothy (1 Timothy 5:17–18):
Let the elders who rule well be considered worthy of double honour, especially those who labour in preaching and teaching; for the scripture says, “You shall not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain,” and, “The labourer deserves to be paid.”
Paul claims to be quoting from scripture. But which parts of scripture is he quoting from? The first one is easy. “You shall not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain” comes from the Torah, in Deuteronomy 25:4. What about the second quote, “the labourer deserves to be paid?” or more literally, “the worker deserves his wages?” (the NRSV from which I quoted often alters the sentence to remove reference to gender). Is it anywhere in the Hebrew Scripture? What about the Septuagint? Nope, nowhere. Was there any Jewish writing at the time that contained this saying and which might have been regarded as scripture? No. So what was he quoting from when he claimed that this is something contained in scripture?
Here’s a quote from something that Christians today regard as Scripture: “Remain in the same house, eating and drinking whatever they provide, for the labourer deserves to be paid.”
And there it is, the elusive phrase. This is from the Gospel of Luke (10:7), where Jesus is giving his disciples instructions before sending them out. So how did Paul know about this saying being in Scripture? Remember that St Paul is believed to have died in AD 67.
According to the texts, and from what I was once told by a famous tv evangelist from Louisiana, generations were counted as either 40 year or 70 year spans. Since Christianity was not cemented, until the events over Passover weekend, when he was counted as being 33, then if one of the text authors would qualify as a generation later, using the 40 year count.
Romans were very good record keepers.
Where are the Roman contemporary records of Jesus? He was put on trial, yet no legal of that time record exists, unless it is locked away in the basement in Rome. Thanks to a bunch of guys getting together 300 years after the events and witnesses are dead and gone, what other evidence and testimonies were thrown away. And yet, the writings of a man called delusional, were allowed to remain. Fyi, it is Catholics that call him delusional.
I consider this whole thing Rome’s “Area 51”, with plausible deniability et al.