The Double Standard from Skeptics
When we are looking at secular history, historians come across balanced, fair, reasonable but when it comes to the gospels, there is a tremendous double standard. The Gospels, for example, are presumed to be guilty of being frauds, authors unknowable until they are proven innocent, and the bar is raised when it comes to the level of evidence needed. The normal way of investigating historical events, peoples, and places ostensibly are thrown out the window.
There is much in-depth information in gthis article: The Synoptic Gospels in the Ancient Church: The Testimony to the Priority of the Gospel of Matthew. We have a brief introduction to papyrus from Tyndale Bible Dictionary. We have a lengthy apologetic article on Papias and the arguments from higher critics by F. David Farnell. This is followed by Papias’ writings from two leading scholars on the Apostolic Fathers, Michael W. Holmes, and J. B. Lightfoot.
As the official head of the Jewish state, Caiaphas presided over the council, or Sanhedrin, its highest court. Next to the Roman governor he was the most powerful man in Judea and was responsible to the Romans for the conduct of the nation. Caiaphas was …
Gnosticism heresy is a collection of ancient religious ideas and systems which originated in the first century AD among early Christian and Jewish sects. These various groups emphasized personal spiritual knowledge over orthodox teachings, traditions, and ecclesiastical authority.
The Gnostics (Greek gnosis, meaning “knowledge”) maintained they had superior knowledge by way of secret revelation and bragged that they were the “correctors of the apostles.” Gnosticism weaved philosophy, speculation, and pagan mysticism with apostate (false) Christianity.
THE APOSTOLIC AGE
The period of the Twelve Apostles, dating from the Great Commission of the Apostles by the resurrected Jesus in Jerusalem (33 A.D.) until the death of the last Apostle, believed to be John the Apostle in Anatolia (100 A.D.).
2 Timothy 4:13 Updated American Standard Version (UASV)
13 When you come, bring the cloak that I left behind in Troas with Carpus, and the scrolls, especially the parchments.
In not so many words, the apostle Paul urged his fellow traveling companion Timothy to bring him different types of written material. What did Paul mean by the scrolls and parchments?
