Reliability of the New Testament
Throughout history the New Testament has been copied and re-copied. She has not, by chance, changes immediately?
There is a distorted concept regarding the transmission of the biblical text throughout history. Many critics accuse the copyist monks of having altered, for excess of zeal, the biblical text, thus affirming that the result was that of a Bible far from its original form. This objection is of the utmost importance, because actually, if the biblical text were to be altered, its content would lose credibility.
F.F. Bruce emphasizes the importance of the issue, stating:
The events relating to Christianity occurred at a precise moment in history; this distinguishes him from those religions or philosophical systems released from a particular era and makes the question of the reliability of his writings of great importance. The accusation that the Bible has been tampered with in the transcription is disproved by an abundance of evidence to the contrary.
In considering the reliability of the New Testament text, there are three types of evidence to examine: the Greek manuscripts in which the biblical texts were originally written, the various versions into which the New Testament was translated and the writings of the Fathers of the Church.
The New Testament was originally written in the Greek language. Before the invention of printing, occurred in the fifteenth century, all books were copied by hand, and were therefore said “manuscripts”. Today we have approximately 5.500 manuscripts they contain, in full or partial form, the New Testament. We do not have the original manuscripts, but there are very old copies. The New Testament was written between 50 and the 90 D.C.. circa, and it is absolutely exceptional to already have fragments of manuscripts dating back to 120 D.C.. There are about fifty other fragments of copies dating back to 150-200 years from the original writing, and two main manuscripts: the Vatican Code (325 d. C.) and the Sinaitic Code (350 d. C.), which are copies of the entire text of the New Testament made two hundred and fifty years after the original texts.
These periods of detachment between the originals and their copies may seem considerable but, compared with most of the classical works of antiquity, they are exceptionally reduced. Let's take the De Bello Gallico of Caesar. The most recent copy is a manuscript dating from 1.000 years from the original writing. In the case of the Odyssey, the most recent full copy is a long way off 2.200 years from the date on which Homer wrote it.
The manuscripts of the New Testament, on the other hand, are chronologically very close to the originals; But that is not all, because the
number of manuscripts (5.500) it is far superior to that of any other ancient document. Most of the ancient writings have come down to us in a small number of manuscripts. For example, we have only three copies of Catullus' works, the oldest of which dates back to 1.600 years from the original writing; of the writings of Herodotus we have eight copies written at a distance of 1.300 years from the originals.
It is not enough, because in addition to the large number of original Greek documents exist many copies of the New Testament translated into other languages. Translations were very rare in’ antiquity, and therefore their large number (18.000; and maybe even 25.000) constitutes further proof of’ authenticity of the New Testament text in our possession.
In addition to the 5.500 manuscripts in Greek and alle 18.000 translated versions there is a third proof in favor of the authenticity of the New Testament. It is provided to us by the writings of the early Christians (comments, letters, and more): putting together quotations from the New Testament contained in their writings prior to 250 D.C., we could reconstruct the entire New Testament text.
John Burgon identified in the writings of the Church fathers, lived before 325 D.C., beyond 86.000 quotations from the New Testament, a number that far exceeds the evidence left us on other ancient texts. F.F. Bruce notes on that:
The testimonies in favor of the reliability of the New Testament texts are far superior to those of many classical texts, of which no one doubts the authenticity.
He therefore highlights the prejudices of the critics:
If the New Testament were any collection of writings, their authenticity would undoubtedly be recognized by all.
Sir Frederic Kenyon, former director and chief librarian of the prestigious British Museum, he was a world-renowned expert in the field of ancient documents. Shortly before his death, he left this testimony in favor of the New Testament text:
The interval between the original composition and the first manuscripts at our disposal is so small that it can be considered insignificant. This removes any shadow of a doubt that the scriptures currently in our possession, they are almost identical to the original texts. therefore, both the authenticity and integrity of the books of the New Testament can be accepted with full confidence.
