How do we know what Jesus said?

About forty years separate the death of Jesus from the oldest Gospels. During that time his words were passed on mainly by word of mouth. In a culture where few people could read, remembering was a skill that was taken seriously.

Researchers use a few rules of thumb to weigh how old a saying is. Does it appear in several independent sources? Is it awkward, so that nobody would have invented it? Think of the cry of abandonment on the cross. Are there traces of Aramaic? And does it fit with what else we know of Jesus?

The results vary. In the 1980s and 1990s scholars of the Jesus Seminar voted on every saying with coloured beads. Red meant: Jesus almost certainly said this. They ended up with only a small number of red words. Other researchers, such as Richard Bauckham, point out instead how close the Gospels stand to eyewitnesses.

This site doesn't take sides, but mentions doubt where there is doubt. As with the ending of the Lord's Prayer, the story of the first stone and the prayer for forgiveness from the cross.