![]() ![]() The New Testament accepts the Old Testament as authentic, confirming the traditional authors, quoting from at least 320 different passages, and confirming the supernatural events cited in the Old Testament. The quotations from pre-Christian writing confirm the text. There are other versions that confirm the accuracy of the Masoritic Text. ![]() The Masorites produced an official text in A.D. We find additional Biblical documents all the time. There were only 1,200 variant readings in A.D. There are over 24,000 ancient fragments and manuscripts of the New Testament in existence today. The ancient scribes were very meticulous. The textual evidence is greater for both the Old and New Testaments than any other historically reliable ancient document. The Old Testament has been more accurately transmitted to us than any other ancient writing of comparable age. There remains only 1 percent of all New Testament words about which questions still exist no questionable passage contradicts any Bible teaching. There were millions of man-hours spent in cross-checking the manuscripts. There are many more writings of the Church Fathers quoting sections of Scripture we could reconstruct the entire New Testament from their writings alone. The earliest textual evidence we have was copied 1,400 years after the original. There are only 5 manuscripts in existence. The earliest textual evidence we have was copied 1,000 years after the original.Īristotle’s Poetics was written in the fourth century B.C. There are only 10 manuscripts in existence. In contrast:Ĭaesar’s Gallic Wars was written in the first century B.C. The earliest textual evidence we have was copied not long after the original. The earliest of these (p52) dates to sometime between 96 and 125 AD. That site also shows how much closer to the date of composition these manuscripts are than many other contemporary texts. There are some 25,000 early manuscripts in existence, almost 6,000 of which (many being only recognizable fragments) are Greek texts and the others being early translations of the Greek New Testament. According to the site Christian Apologetics Research Ministry, there are currently 5,686 known fragments of New Testament manuscripts. The New Testament was written in first century A.D. There is an enormous amount of evidence for authenticity of the biblical manuscripts. The record is then checked for consistency of information, and the claims are analyzed as if it were a legal case, looking for credible testimony with cross-examination. As evidence develops, the data is evaluated against other sources. Textual analysis begins with historical investigation, beginning with the latest documents and working backward. There is more evidence for the Bible’s authenticity than for any literature of antiquity. (I’ve written more about this centuries-long dark age here.Evidence for Creation › Evidence from Scripture › Authentic Text» Next Indeed, thousands of Old Testament manuscripts survive, while upwards of thirty thousand New Testament manuscripts are known to exist. Only when you get to the oldest complete (or nearly complete) texts-the Codices Sinaiticus and Vaticanus from the fourth century-do you get all the missing pieces. But, again, the emphasis should be on the word fragment. The record looks fairly good when you look at the dates of our earliest fragments of the various books in the New Testament-John in the second century, Matthew and Luke around 200, Mark around 250, and so on. P75 (the Bodmer Papyrus) has a substantial fraction of Luke and John. P46 (part of the Chester Beatty collection) has much of nine epistles. Six of them (P4, P32, P64, P66, P77, and P103) are scraps, but in this group we get our first substantial manuscripts. (Though it’s probably obvious, I’ll emphasize that these dates are all just approximations, and arguments can be made for different dates.)Īnother handful of manuscripts date to around 200 CE. Three more manuscripts (P90, P98, and P104) are also scraps of a similar size and date to the second half of the second century. It is our oldest New Testament manuscript and dates to the first half of the second century. ![]() Consider papyrus P52 above-yes, that is considered a “manuscript.” It is a tiny fragment of John just 9cm long. There are one hundred manuscripts in the first four centuries, and many of these are just tiny scraps. ![]()
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