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Is Our Copy of the Bible
a Reliable
Copy of the Original?
Old Testament
How do we know the Bible has been
kept in tact for over 2,000 years of
copying? Before the discovery of the
Dead Sea Scrolls our earliest Hebrew
copy of the Old Testament was the
Masoretic
text dating around 800 A.D. The Dead
Sea Scrolls date around the time of
Jesus copied by the Qumran community,
a Jewish sect living around the Dead
Sea. We also have the Septuagint which
is a Greek translation of the Old Testament
dating in the second century B.C. When
we compare these texts which have an
800-1000 years gap between them we are
amazed that 95% of the texts are identical
with only minor variations and a few
discrepancies.
New Testament
In considering the New Testament
we have tens of thousands of manuscripts
of the New Testament in part or in whole
dating from the second century A.D.
to the late fifteenth century when the
printing press was invented. These manuscripts
have been found in Egypt, Palestine,
Syria, Turkey, Greece, and Italy, making
collusion unlikely. The oldest manuscript,
the John Rylands manuscript has been
dated to 125 A.D. and was found in Egypt,
some distance from where the New Testament
was originally composed Asia Minor).
Many early Christian papyri were discovered
in 1935, which have been dated to 150
A.D., and include the four gospels.
The Papyrus Bodmer II, discovered in
1956, has been dated to 200 A.D. and
contains 14 chapters and portions of
the last seven chapters of the gospel
of John. The Chester Beatty biblical
papyri, discovered in 1931, has been
dated to 200-250 A.D. and contains the
Gospels, Acts, Paul's Epistles, and
Revelation. The number of manuscripts
is extensive compared to other ancient
historical writings, such as Caesar's
"Gallic Wars" (10 Greek manuscripts,
the earliest 950 years after the original),
the "Annals" of Tacitus (2 manuscripts,
the earliest 950 years after the original),
Livy (20 manuscripts, the earliest 350
years after the original), and Plato
(7 manuscripts).
Manuscript
Evidence for Ancient Writings
|
Author
|
Written
|
Earliest
Copy
|
Time Span
|
# Mss.
|
|
Caesar |
100-44 B.C.
|
900 A.D.
|
1,000 yrs
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10
|
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Plato |
427-347 B.C.
|
900 A.D.
|
1,200 yrs
|
7
|
|
Thucydides |
460-400 B.C.
|
900 A.D.
|
1,300 yrs
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8
|
|
Tacitus |
100 A.D.
|
1100 A.D.
|
1,000 yrs
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20
|
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Suetonius |
75-160 A.D.
|
950 A.D.
|
800 yrs
|
8
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Homer (Iliad) |
900 B.C.
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400 B.C.
|
500 yrs
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643
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New Testament |
40-100 A.D.
|
125 A.D.
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25-50 yrs
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24,000
|
We also have thousands of early Christian
writings and lexionaries which cite
verses from the New Testament. In fact,
we can actually put the entire New Testament
together just from early Christian writings.
For example, the Epistle of Clement
to the Corinthians (dated 95 A.D.) cites
verses from the Gospels, Acts, Romans,
1 Corinthians, Ephesians, Titus, Hebrews,
and 1 Peter. The letters of Ignatius
(dated 115 A.D.) were written to several
churches in Asia Minor and cites verses
from Matthew, John, Romans, 1 & 2 Corinthians,
Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, 1
& 2 Timothy and Titus. These letters
indicate that the entire New Testament
was written in the first century A.D.
In addition, there is internal evidence
for a first century date for the writing
of the New Testament. The book of Acts
ends abruptly with Paul in prison, awaiting
trial (Acts 28:30-31
(1)). It is likely that Luke wrote
Acts during this time, before Paul finally
appeared before Nero. This would be
about 62-63 A.D., meaning that Acts
and Luke were written within thirty
years of ministry and death of Jesus.
Another internal evidence is that there
is no mention of the destruction of
Jerusalem in 70 A.D. Although Matthew,
Mark and Luke record Jesus' prophecy
that the temple and city would be destroyed
within that generation (Matthew 24:1-2
(2),Mark 13:1-2
(3), Luke 21:5-9,20-24,32(4))
no New Testament book refers to this
event as having happened. If they had
been written after 70 A.D., it is likely
that letters written after 70 A.D. would
have mentioned fulfillment of Jesus'
prophecy. As stated by Nelson Glueck,
former president of the Jewish Theological
Seminary in the Hebrew Union College
in Cincinnati, and renowned Jewish archaeologist:
"In my opinion, every book of the New
Testament was written between the forties
and eighties of the first century A.D."
With all of the massive manuscript
evidence you would think we would have
massive discrepancies - just the opposite
is true. New Testament manuscripts agree
in 99.5% of the text (compared to only
95% for the Iliad). Most of the discrepancies
are in spelling and word order. A few
words have been changed or added. There
are two passages that are disputed but
no discrepancy is of any doctrinal significance.
Most Bibles include the options as footnotes
when there are discrepancies. How could
there be such accuracy over 1,400 years
of copying? Two reasons: The scribes
that did the copying had meticulous
methods for checking their copies for
errors. 2) The Holy Spirit made sure
we would have an accurate copy of God's
word so we would not be deceived. The
Mormons, liberals as well as other cults
and false religions such as Islam that
claim the Bible has been tampered with
are completely proven false by the extensive,
historical manuscript evidence.
Related Links:
References
- And he stayed two full years
in his own rented quarters, and
was welcoming all who came to him,
preaching the kingdom of God, and
teaching concerning the Lord Jesus
Christ with all openness, unhindered.
(Acts 28:30-31)
- And Jesus came out from the
temple and was going away when His
disciples came up to point out the
temple buildings to Him. And He
answered and said to them, "Do you
not see all these things? Truly
I say to you, not one stone here
shall be left upon another, which
will not be torn down." (Matthew
24:1-2)
- And as He was going out of the
temple, one of His disciples said
to Him, "Teacher, behold what wonderful
stones and what wonderful buildings!"
And Jesus said to him, "Do you see
these great buildings? Not one stone
shall be left upon another which
will not be torn down." (Mark
13:1-2)
- And while some were talking
about the temple, that it was adorned
with beautiful stones and votive
gifts, He said, "As for these things
which you are looking at, the days
will come in which there will not
be left one stone upon another which
will not be torn down." (Luke
21:5-6)
http://www.godandscience.org/apologetics/bibleorg.html
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PowerPoint Presentation, 3.5 MB)
by Hill Roberts (
