On the surface it would seem that if God preserved the original biblical documents, known as autographs, that we could feel more confident that the Bible we have today is an accurate representation of God’s original words to us. I believe there are two very good reasons why God chose to let the autographs disappear leaving us with only copies of the original documents.
Since the original documents were written on leather scrolls, papyrus, parchment, and other materials we can be almost certain that they would have wore out from use and probably returned to dust. As a result, the Bible we have today by definition would have to be a copy of the original autographs. So, the obvious question to ask is how can copies be more reliable than the originals. Before we see why God allowed the original autographs to disappear from the scene let’s take a brief look at the copying process.
In an earlier devotion on November 4, 2020 called Scribes we saw how this amazing profession copied and preserved the biblical manuscripts with an incredible degree of accuracy. Please read this devotion to see why scribes were no ordinary profession. Their copying procedures were so detailed and accurate that there can be little doubt that the Bible we have in our hands today is a very accurate copy of the original autographs. As an example of this profession Christian theologian, Bernard Ramm shares the following: “Jews preserved it as no other manuscript has ever been preserved. With their massora (counting methods) they kept tabs on every letter, syllable, word and paragraph. They had special classes of men within their culture whose sole duty was to preserve and transmit these documents with practically perfect fidelity – scribes, lawyers, massoretes. Whoever counted the letters and syllables and words of Plato or Aristotle? Cicero or Seneca?”1
So not only can we be confident in the copying process but I believe we can be even more certain we have trustworthy copies of the Bible. But why is this so. Just why would God allow the autographs to disappear leaving us only with copies of the originals.
We know that there are thousands of copies of the New Testament still in existence from within a few hundred years of the time of Jesus. They are written in several different languages and were circulated all over the ancient world. The great advantage of having all of these copies is that we can cross-check and compare the questionable copy with other more reliable copies, thus quickly spotting any copy that has a questionable doctrine. Even without the original autographs, having so many copies that essentially agree with each other, except for the occasional misspellings or other minor variants, should add to our confidence in the reliability of our Bible.
If the original autographs were still in existence this could pose several major problems. For example, who would keep possession of them, would other people be allowed to see them and make copies of them, and what would prevent those who do have possession of the autographs from making changes to them – who would know?
Thus, having thousands of early copies, the great accuracy of the scribes, and the ability for the church to cross-check possible aberrant copies should in a sense allow for a self-policing process to give us even more confidence that the Bible we possess today is a very accurate representation of the original autographs. Any copies with doctrinal errors would soon be exposed not by comparing it to the autograph, but to the other thousands of extant copies. So, if the autograph returns to dust the copies would ensure that the teachings of the original biblical writers remain in print.
Reason 2 – God allowed the autographs to disappear to prevent making them an idol
Another reason God may have allowed the autographs to disappear is that if they were still around today, knowing man, he would make the autographs an object of veneration and even worship. My friends the Bible is something to be cherished – not worshipped. Only Jesus should be worshipped – not the book that is all about Him.
So, even without the biblical autographs we have good reason to believe that the Bible we possess today is the same Bible that was penned by the original authors.
Thank you Curt. Both of your points are very logical as well as true. I had never connected the second idea with the why. I really appreciate your ministry.