There are methods to distinguish original text from later insertions and alterations. Paul is generally agreed to be a distinct author writing in the 60s, but w

There are methods to distinguish original text from later insertions and alterations. Paul is generally agreed to be a distinct author writing in the 60s, but with numerous later insertions and alterations, often by Eusebius (or possibly his teacher). For example, a rant in Thessalonians excoriating Jews for executing Jesus is transparently Eusebius, by several different lines of evidence. Somebody named Peter could easily exist and be written about without need for a physical Jesus. Lots of cults of the time "had" a Jesus/Yeshua. It was more or less required. Having a live Jesus, and that Jesus actually saying and doing what was very clearly made up decades later, are not the same. Wikipedia is notoriously unreliable about current scholarship, being heavily 'curated' by retired professors with nothing left to do but defend what they picked up in grad school against new information.