Christians, on the other hand, have nothing to fear. This question, “Were the Ancient manuscripts of the Bible transmitted accurately?” can be answered confidently in the affirmative.
Plummer’s Overview of Textual Issues. The Old Testament was written in Hebrew (with a few Aramaic portions) between 1400 and 430 B.C. The New Testament was written in Greek between A.D. 45 and 90. The original copies of the ancient documents are called the autographs. All autographs of biblical books have been lost or destroyed, though we have thousands of ancient copies. The process of comparing and studying these copies to reconstruct the wording of the originals is called textual criticism.
The above is a great overview for any student of the Bible. Given the age of the texts and the fact that the originals are simply not around any longer may give rise for considerable doubt; hence, the skeptical agenda. However, with the tools of textual criticism and the vast number of ancient copies, the wording of the originals is confidently reconstructed.
Plummer notes, “Most scholars, both liberal and conservative, agree that text criticism has served to confirm the reliable transmission of the Old and New Testament manuscripts. A leading biblical scholar, D.A. Carson, notes that the New Testament autographs can be reconstructed with roughly 96-97 percent accuracy. Furthermore, no text in question affects Christian doctrine. That is, all Christian doctrines are firmly established without appealing to debated texts. Most unsolved issues have little or no doctrinal significance.”
I remember speaking with my New Testament professor one day after class. I was troubled by these issues of criticism. Sitting back in his chair, he told me that even if the most scholarly, dedicated, and meticulous atheist were to take all of our manuscript evidence, and set out to compile his own biblical text, he would not be able to derive a heterodoxical book. Wow.
The Copying of Ancient Texts. Plummer comments on the quality of textual transmission in the ancient times. Jewish rabbis and early Christian scribes usually exercised great precision in copying biblical texts. For example, Jewish scribes followed detailed systems for counting letters in manuscripts and checking for accidental variations. Likewise, Christian scribes showed great caution, often having multiple correctors read through their copies to check for errors.
Some Old Testament Evidence. In 1947, the first part of a cache of ancient Jewish documents was discovered in caves near the Dead Sea. Along with extrabiblical literature, scholars have found portions of all OT books except Esther and Nehemiah. These manuscripts are called the Dead Sea Scrolls. Why was this find so important? Prior to this discovery, the most significant extant Hebrew Old Testament manuscripts were the Leningrad Codex (A.D. 1008) and Aleppo Codex (ca. A.D. 900). The Dead Sea Scrolls represent manuscripts and copies of manuscripts from roughly 250 B.C. to A.D. 50, and have confirmed that the Hebrew books of the Bible were meticulously and faithfully copied. Therefore, with this discovery, the Hebrew manuscript evidence is pushed back an entire millennium!
Some New Testament Evidence. We presently have nearly six thousand ancient manuscripts or portions of manuscripts of the New Testament. The oldest fragment comes from about A.D. 130. No other ancient text comes close to having this amount of early textual evidence!
In his book, One Way to God, Mike Robinson points out, “the errors in thousands of copies are easy to find. Scholars have pointed out that scribal mistakes in the copies would be similar to writing out a sentence 4000 times and having errors scattered throughout that work. By comparing all the sentences, it is easy to find the correct and perfect reading.”
I find it extremely encouraging and faith-strengthening to know that our biblical text towers over any other ancient text in terms of the number and chronological proximity of other attestations. For example, F.F. Bruce writes, “For Caesar’s Gallic War (composed between 58 and 50 B.C.) there are several extant manuscripts, but only nine or ten are good, and the oldest is some 900 years later than Caesar’s day.” This is just one of many examples.
Question for Reflection. What is something new you learned about the transmission of biblical manuscripts? Have you ever read a book by Bart Ehrman or Dan Brown? If so, how might this information help you to understand and defend your Bible?
For Further Reading on Textual Criticism I would recommend the following:
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