Essentail Unessential Details

The writers of the New Testament make it clear that they are not intending to create legend. From the beginning, Luke in particular goes out of his way to establish that his intent is to create a historical truthful document. Legends from the time do not include details unessential to plot development, like Jesus writing in the sand when he met the adulterer (Luke 8:7), and prose fiction did not exist as a literary form in the first century.

Tim Keller, Lee Strobel