Only by relying on Scripture that has passed historical tests – the gospels in the canon – can readers find an accurate portrait of Jesus, Bock says.  “Our culture is sending out numerous, distinct portraits of Jesus. Most of them claim He was a political revolutionary, a great religious leader or a prophet of some kind, but not the unique revelation from God, what John’s gospel calls the Word and what the other books of the New Testament portray as a Savior or Son of God.  These biblical portraits makes Him absolutely unique. The real Jesus is this unique Jesus.  Having a relationship with Jesus, which is a core element of the Christian faith, means having access neither to a guru nor a prophet, but to One whose work paid our debt for sin and who intercedes for us before God.  To demean the status of Jesus is not only to demean our faith, but also to demean the power of our access to God.”

The experience of writing "Breaking the Da Vinci Code" deepened Bock’s own faith.  “It allowed me to renew my understanding of the early years of the history of the church and sense how God had worked through faithful servants to guide the later church into a concern for the truth of the faith.  That was an example of faithfulness for me.”

Reviewing how the canon of Scripture came to be formed also proved “reassuring,” he says.  “ … the four gospels were already well established by the end of the second century.  This is a good 125 years before the council of Nicea, where "The Da Vinci Code" claims the four gospels were chosen from an alleged 80 gospels to make Jesus divine. We do not have anywhere near that many gospels, biblical and extra-biblical. The count is closer to 16, and none but the four (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) ever made a significant penetration across the breadth of the church.  By the time of Nicea, these four gospels had solidly established themselves as unique and the church recognized this.”

"Breaking the Da Vinci Code" will hopefully help all readers discover the truth about Jesus for themselves, Bock says.  “My goal was to write a book that someone with no theological training could follow.  Whether someone has questions having read the novel or knows someone asking questions, the goal was to lay out the ancient record so that the reader could see the historical record and make their own evaluation.  Like a tour guide, my goal was to lead and organize the material in a readily accessible way.  Hopefully the effort will help to show where the truth lies about the early history of Christianity.”

For more information about Darrell Bock and "Breaking the Da Vinci Code" (Thomas Nelson Publishers), click here.