Reliability: Passing the Bibliographic Test Most of the available works of antiquity have only a few manuscripts that attest to their existence, and these are typically much later than their original date of composition, so that it is not uncommon for the earliest manuscript to be dated over nine hundred years after the original composition. When compared with other works of antiquity, the New Testament has far greater (numerical) and earlier documentation than any other book. Writes New Testament scholars and biblical linguistic experts Stanley E. * Of just the 5,800+ Greek New Testament manuscripts, there are more than 2.6 million pages! Combining both the Old and New Testament, we have more than 66,000 manuscripts and scrolls! ANSWER: That equates to one mile of New Testament manuscripts (and 2.5 miles for the entire Bible), compared with an average four feet of manuscript by the average classical writer. * The earliest surviving manuscript of Homer’s The Iliad, which highlights the final weeks of the Trojan War, is about 400 BC. More manuscript discoveries have been made of this epic poem than any other classical work, yet the number of extant manuscripts is less than 2,000. * The earliest of Plato’s Tetralogies (many of his works were compiled into groups of four called “Tetralogies”) is AD 895, with 200+ extant manuscripts. * The earliest manuscript of plays by Sophocles, one of three great tragic playwrights of Athens, is about 3rd century BC, with about 200 extant manuscripts. It fills me with awe to view a sixth century papyrus fragment containing the writing of Luke! QUESTION: If stacked, how high do you think the New Testament manuscripts would be? Go on, take a guess! Another is the Center for the Study of the New Testament Manuscripts. The abundance of Scriptural manuscript copies have made it possible to reconstruct the original text with virtually complete accuracy. The authenticity of the New Testament text we have today rests on the foundation of a massive amount of historical documentation.Ī great source for manuscript study, should you choose to invest some time doing so, is the Leuven Database. Scholars believe the New Testament manuscripts to be the most frequently copied and widely distributed books of antiquity. No more replying, “I don’t know if there’s evidence for that.” Armed with facts, you’ll be able to have a respectful, impactful conversation with skeptics about the truth of the Gospel. If you’d like to catch up from the start, here’s the link to the first blog we posted: Apologetics: Apologizing for Believing in God?.Īpologetics - the defense of Christianity - is not about our apologizing for our Christian beliefs, but rather our sharing of the plethora of historical evidence that confirms the Bible’s validity - and, thus, Christ’s claims. Welcome to our ninth blog post in this series. Vetted for Historical Reliability, the Bible Stands Strong.
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