Presentation of Direct Written Testimony

Ever wonder how the Bible stacks up against other historic manuscripts? The works of two ancient historians, Tacitus and Josephus, are looked to as reliable sources of first century history. There are a combined 11 manuscripts for their primary written contributions to the world (2 for Tacitus' major work and 9 for Josephus'). So, as far as we know, their works were only copied for preservation 11 times. Let me say it once more, there are 11 surviving, catalogued copies that have endured the test of time and scholars find these writings reliable. What about the Bible? Are you sitting down? "'More than 5,000 [New Testament Greek manuscripts] have been catalogued.'"¹ Mind blown. Homer's Iliad comes in second place to the New Testament as the most copied historical work. I can't wait to tell you how many manuscripts have been found for it! 650. 650! 5,000 - 650 = 4,350. That is just so awesome! You may say I'm just crazy, but 650 compared to over 5,000 makes it look like there was Something else keeping the words of the New Testament authors alive. The evidence literally just piles up! In fact, the actual current number of Greek manuscripts that contain scripture is at 5,664! Might I add that if you look at historical, church related documents and early translations from the Greek into languages like Latin, there are at least 16,000 other ancient New Testament documents. I don't know about you, but I am dizzy!

I have got to share some more facts from this third chapter of The Case for Christ! "[T]heologians in the [1800s] argued strenuously that the fourth gospel [(John)] was not even composed until at least the year 160 - too distant from the events of Jesus' life to be of much historical use. ... '[We now] have a fragment of a copy of John [, dating to around 100 A.D., that was found in 1920] all the way over in a community along the Nile River in Egypt, far from Ephesus in Asia Minor, where the gospel was originally composed.'"¹ This implies that the Gospel was written before 100 A.D. While we are talking about time lapsed between the original to the first copy, I should mention that the earliest copies of the Iliad are from between 100-200 A.D. The Iliad was composed in 800 B.C. The Gospel of John, less than 70 years between composition and next known copy. The Iliad, somewhere around 900 years.

However, in all these copies there must be inconsistency. I mean, come on, no human could be perfect. But scholars have found that even "'the more significant variations do not overthrow any doctrine of the church. Any good Bible will have notes that will alert the reader to variant reading of any consequence.' ... [S]cholars Norman Geisler and William Nix conclude, "The New Testament, then, has not only survived in more manuscripts than any other book from antiquity, but it has survived in a purer form than any other great book - a form that is 99.5 percent pure.'"¹

This chapter also talks about the early process of determining what should be included in Scripture and does an amazing job of explaining it accurately and concisely. Alas, I am running out of room. If I keep going, the post will be unbearably long! The man that Strobel interviewed for the main content of this chapter, Dr. Bruce Metzger, ended their session with the following. "'I've asked questions all my life, I've dug into the text, I've studied this thoroughly, and today I know with confidence that my trust in Jesus has been well placed.' He paused while his eyes surveyed [Strobel's] face. Then added, for emphasis, 'Very well placed.'"¹

Manuscript: P52
Second century manuscript of the Gospels on papyrus
Location: Manchester, John Rylands University Library
Shelf Number: Gr. P. 457
Image Credit: Center for the Study of New Testament Manuscripts

Work Cited

1. Strobel, Lee. The Case for Christ. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 1998.

Want to know more?(Works Cited by Strobel)

Bruce, F. F. The Canon of Scripture. Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 1988.
Geisler, Norman L., and William E. Nix. A General Introductions to the Bible. 1968; reprint, Chicago: Moody Press, 1980.
Metzger, Bruce M. The Canon of the New Testament. Oxford Univ. Press, 1992.
Patzia, Arthur G. The Making of the New Testament. Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 1995.

See also, My Beautiful Inheritance previous blog entries Taking Jesus to Court, Please Call the First Witness, and Testing the Witnesses

For another article I wrote that touches on similar research about the authenticity of the Bible see The Jesus's Wife Papyrus