When did they write the books of the NT?

How many manuscripts are there?

That’s 2.6 million pages of writing… enough to stack a 1.6km high

Greek N

ew Testament

Homer's Ili

ad

Sophocles

Aristo

tle

Tacitus

Aristo

phanes

Caesar

Euripides

Demosthenes

Herodotu

s

Suetonius

Thucydides

Pliny

Plato0

1000

2000

3000

4000

5000

6000# of Manuscript Copies

* Not exhaustive location list

Dates of the earliest known manuscripts extant

Codex AlexandrinusAD mid-400’s

Showing the end of 2 Peter and start of 1 John

Dates of the earliest known manuscripts extant

Codex VaticanusAD 325 - 350

Showing the end of 2 Thessalonians and start of Hebrews

Dates of the earliest known manuscripts extant

Bodmer Papyri 75AD 200 or earlier

Showing end of Luke and start of John

Dates of the earliest known manuscripts extant

Chester Beattie Library (Dublin Castle) AD 150 – 200

Showing the John 19:25-28

Dates of the earliest known manuscripts extant

St. John at Ryland’s LibraryAD 117 - 138

Showing fragment P52 of John’s Gospel 18:31-33

This papyrus plus others were acquired in 1920’s Egypt by Bernard Grenfell from Oxford.

Dates of the earliest known manuscripts extant

Muratorian ListAD 150 - 200

Showing the last page of the Canon Muratori, a Latin list of New Testament writings then regarded as canonical (scripturally authoritative).

It was named after its discoverer, Lodovico Antonio Muratori, an Italian scholar from Milan who published the manuscript in 1740.

Textual variants in the manuscripts

There are 400,000 variations in New Testament copies:

• spelling differences,• a skipped line,• inverted words “Jesus Christ” becomes “Christ Jesus”• synonyms,• conjunction of words,• placement of comma (textually meaningful, though

non-variable variants)• variants that are both meaningful and viable

Textual variants in the manuscripts

• Doesn’t affect the inerrancy of Scripture because this deals with copies, not the autographs.

• The main reason there are so many textual variants is because there are so many manuscripts!

• However, even with all those variations there's 99.5% agreement of the texts.

• Only 40 lines out of 20,000 lines of the text are in question.

• No core doctrines of the New Testament are in question and its message is unchanged.

“Inasmuch as many have undertaken to compile a narrative of the things that have been accomplished among us, just as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word have delivered them to us, it seemed good to me also, having followed all things closely for some time past, to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, that you may have certainty concerning the things you have been taught.” Luke 1:1-4

“That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life the life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us.” 1 John 1:1-3

“Knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone's own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.” 2 Peter 1:20-21

“…the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.”2 Tim 3:15-17

“as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures.”2 Peter 3:16

“Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.” John 17:17

“Therefore I send you prophets and wise men and scribes, some of whom you will kill and crucify, and some you will flog in your synagogues and persecute from town to town,” Matt 23:34

And he said to them, “Therefore every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house, who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old.”Matt 13:52

• Fears and doubts about the trustworthiness of the New Testament are unfounded.

• You can trust the New Testament for its:– Historical accuracy … eyewitnesses– Reliable + pure transmission down the centuries.– Tells the truth about God.

• Read it for yourself and let it convince you.

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