The New Testament
If we compare the New Testament documents with other ancient historical works, using the bibliographical test, which I described in yesterday’s devotion, a most amazing result would begin to emerge. Consider the following:
Caesar compiled his history of the Gallic Wars between 58 and 50 B.C. However, we only know of this event from nine or ten copies that date 900 years after he lived.
Josh McDowell tells us, “Aristotle wrote his poetics around 343 B.C. and yet the earliest copy we have is dated A.D. 1100, nearly a 1,400-year gap, and only five manuscripts are in existence.”1
The history of Thucydides (460-400 B.C.) is available to us from eight manuscripts that date from A.D. 900. That’s a gap of almost 1,300 years. F.F. Bruce noted that the bibliographical evidence for the history of Herodotus (480-425 B.C.) is similar to that of Thucydides, “Yet no classical scholar would listen to an argument that the authenticity of Herodotus or Thucydides is in doubt because the earliest manuscripts of their works which are of any use to us are over 1,300 years later than the originals.”2
When we consider the number of extant manuscripts of the New Testament that are in existence today, the numbers are almost too incredible to imagine. Scholars today possess over 4,000 ancient Greek New Testament copies, another 8,000 manuscripts of the Latin, and at least 1,000 versions written in Syriac and other languages. That totals 13,000 manuscript copies of the New Testament and all of them essentially agree. The great New Testament authority Dr. F. J. A. Hort stated that only about one word in a thousand is in sufficient question to require a textural critic to discern the correct reading.3
In many of these cases we find that the scribe inverted a word order or copied a letter wrong. The book that is second in manuscript authority to the New Testament is The Iliad, which has 643 extant manuscripts.
Sir Frederic Kenyon, one of the greatest authorities of all time on ancient manuscripts, stated, “The interval then between the dates of original composition and the earliest extant evidence becomes so small as to be in fact negligible, and the last foundation for any doubt that the Scriptures have come down to us substantially as they were written has now been removed. Both the authenticity and the general integrity of the books of the New Testament may be regarded as finally established.”4
Without a doubt the Bible has been established with greater certainty than any other ancient book ever penned. Imagine over 13,000 ancient manuscripts are presently in existence. They were written in different languages, during different time periods, in different cultural settings, and by many different people – yet all are alike!
In tomorrow’s devotion we will consider the Old Testament and its reliability.
1 Josh McDowell, More than a Carpenter (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., 1988), pp. 47-48.
2 F. F. Bruce, The New Testament Documents: Are They Reliable? (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans, Publishing Co., 1980), pp. 16-17.
3 Howard F. Vos, Beginnings in Bible Archaeology (Chicago: Moody Press, 1978), pp. 47-48.
4 F. F. Bruce, The New Testament Documents: Are They Reliable? (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans, Publishing Co., 1980), p. 20.