Are the Ancient Biblical Manuscripts We Have Reliable? (2024)

Are the Ancient Biblical Manuscripts We Have Reliable?July 25, 2024Randy Alcorn

Are the Ancient Biblical Manuscripts We Have Reliable? (1)

There are vast numbers of biblical manuscript copies (non-originals) in existence today. Not surprisingly, given the long labors of thousands of scribes, there are variations in them. Mistakes happen today even when we have built in spell-checkers and teams of trained people combing through manuscripts searching for errors. (As an example, I remember a time we found a missing comma in one of my books, which actually changed the meaning of the sentence. It was corrected in the next printing.)

There were drowsy scribes, working by candlelight, who missed a line here or added a word there. It had to be a mind-numbing job at times! While we’re told God supernaturally protected the writers of Scripture from error, that promise was never made of everyone who copied it.

In fact, most scribes were extremely diligent, even meticulous in copying and checking and rechecking what they wrote. Sometimes they would count the number of words and even letters of the original and compare it to the copy, to make sure nothing had been added or left out.

The good news for us is that the scribal errors of spelling and inserted or omitted words are normally obvious and easy to spot. They take nothing away from the reliability of the original manuscripts or the basic message of the Bible. In fact, textual critics are certain of 99.5% of the biblical texts. The only uncertainties involve one half of one percent of all Scripture.

The earliest copies of Julius Caesar’s writings go back to 900 A.D.—about 950 years after they were penned. We have none of his originals, yet who questions whether they are accurate representations of what he wrote? There are only seven copies of Plato’s writings, the first of which was copied by a scribe 1,200 years after Plato died! Yet the vast majority of people are confident that what we have is what Plato wrote.

In contrast, there are about 5,686 Greek manuscripts of the New Testament and over 19,000 in Syriac, Latin, Coptic, and Aramaic. This makes nearly 25,000 manuscripts, and some of them date to within 100 years of the originals. One portion of the gospel of John, the Rylands fragment, dates back to A.D. 125, probably about 30 years after John wrote the book. This is unparalleled by any other ancient book. Daryl Witmer, executive director of AIIA Institute,calls these“virtual originals.” By all standards of ancient literature, this brief interval, coupled with the substantial numbers of copies, makes a powerful case for reliability.

New Testament professorKenneth Berding states, “…if someone wants to question the integrity of the Greek New Testament based upon manuscript evidence, that person ought to be ready to throw out everything he thinks he knows about ancient history, since we have so many more—and better-quality manuscripts—than any other document from ancient history… historians of other ancient documents find themselves wishing they had so many manuscripts to work with.”

Critics have argued that inerrancy became a belief only in the last two hundred years. Norman Geisler argues that a line of continuity can be established going back to the third century. Those throughout history who upheld inerrancy include Augustine, Aquinas, Luther, Calvin, Warfield, Hodge, Wesley, Spurgeon, and many more.Geisler says, “Inerrancy is neither a late nor a denominational doctrine. It is not provincial but universal. It is the foundation for every group that names the name of Christ. . .” (Dr. John Woodbridge carefully refutes the claim that inerrancy was a late developing doctrine in his bookBiblical Authority.)

Recommended Reading

When I’ve been asked if I could recommend any good, readable (not too academic) books that deal with the authority and reliability of Scripture, the following have been my recommendations, picking up on the “readable, not too academic” aspect:

You Can Trust the Bible, by John Stott, 94 pages.

Why We Believe the Bible, by John Piper (DVDandstudy guide)

The Book of Godgraphic novel

Evidence that Demands a Verdict, by Josh and Sean McDowell, 880 pages, for someone wanting something thorough and detailed, yet still readable.

A unique treatment of this subject isWhy You Can Have Confidence in the Bibleby Harold Sala, different enough that I will comment on it.

Instead of just writing about the value and importance of the Dead Sea scrolls in confirming the fidelity of ancient manuscripts, Sala tells the story of their discovery. He tells the story of Tischendorf, who rescued priceless findings when he found the monks at Saint Catherine’s Monastery heating their room by burning the pages of some of the most ancient biblical manuscripts in existence.

Sala tells many more stories, ancient and modern. Some readers will think, “Why tell me these stories? I just want the facts.” But those who enjoy the stories will engage the facts (which are definitely included) with more interest. It is 272 pages, but they are very easy reading, and memorable.

You can preview the book on Amazon. There you will see his writing style. Now, I think there are too many stories in this early material. As interesting as Admiral Byrd’s story of the fixed reference point is, and Barna’s stats about how few people read the Bible, and the impact of the Da Vinci Code in undermining faith in Scripture, I found myself wanting to get more quickly to the main purpose of the book. However, Sala does get there, and most of the subsequent stories do serve a good purpose. It is certainly unique and would be a great fit for some readers.

Photo:Unsplash

Are the Ancient Biblical Manuscripts We Have Reliable? (2024)

FAQs

Are the Ancient Biblical Manuscripts We Have Reliable? ›

In fact, textual critics are certain of 99.5% of the biblical texts. The only uncertainties involve one half of one percent of all Scripture. The earliest copies of Julius Caesar's writings go back to 900 A.D.—about 950 years after they were penned.

Are the biblical manuscripts reliable? ›

There are thousands more New Testament Greek manuscripts than any other ancient writing. The internal consistency of the New Testament documents is about 99.5% textually pure.

Do original biblical manuscripts exist? ›

The ancient manuscripts of the Bible that we have today are copies of the originals, but research and new discoveries have continued to demonstrate that these copies have accurately preserved the text of the various books of the Bible over the centuries.

Are the biblical records reliable? ›

Biblical Data Is Historically Testable

After many millions of man-hours of research and evidence analysis, archaeology has repeatedly confirmed the reliability of the Bible. The Bible has been proven geographically and re-proven historically accurate, in the most exacting detail, by external evidences.

Can the history of the Bible be trusted? ›

While the Bible contains historical narratives, historians do not use the Bible as direct historical evidence of historical claims. That is because much of what was written in the Bible was written decades or centuries after the fact.

Is the Bible 99.5% accurate? ›

This is evidence of how accurate the copying process was. Using the science of textual criticism, we know for certain about 99.5 percent of the original contents of the Bible in the original languages, and in the other 0.5 percent we know what the all the options are.

What is the strongest evidence that the Bible is trustworthy? ›

Evidence for Bible

The New Testament records are incredibly accurate. There are minor differences in manuscripts, called variants, but none of these variants impact or change key Christian beliefs or claims. Other physical evidence includes archeological finds.

What version of the Bible is closest to the original manuscripts? ›

The New American Standard Bible is a literal translation from the original texts, well suited to study because of its accurate rendering of the source texts. It follows the style of the King James Version but uses modern English for words that have fallen out of use or changed their meanings.

How many original manuscripts of the Bible survive today? ›

The New Testament has been preserved in more manuscripts than any other ancient work of literature, with over 5,800 complete or fragmented Greek manuscripts catalogued, 10,000 Latin manuscripts and 9,300 manuscripts in various other ancient languages including Syriac, Slavic, Gothic, Ethiopic, Coptic, Nubian, and ...

Where are the original texts of the Bible kept? ›

The original manuscripts (the autographs) written by the sacred authors themselves are no longer extant for any book of the Bible. The oldest partial copies of the text of any biblical book are to be found among the Dead Sea Scrolls (treated in next post).

Is there any real evidence for the Bible? ›

We have more manuscripts of the Bible than any other ancient text, and it's not even close. You can look at 2,000-year-old copies of Old Testament passages found near the Dead Sea in 1947 (the famed Dead Sea Scrolls) and your ESV Bible from Mardels, and they say the exact same thing.

Why is the Bible not a credible source? ›

Contradictions. The Bible is an unreliable authority because it contains numerous contradictions. Logically, if two statements are contradictory, at least one of them is false. The biblical contradictions therefore prove that the book has many false statements and is not infallible.

Is there any credibility to the Bible? ›

Is the Bible reliable? The Bible is God's voice in written form. It is a collection of 66 books, inspired by the Holy Spirit, and written by more than 40 authors over 1,500 years. Later writings and archeology have confirmed that Bible people, places, and events were real.

How do we know the Bible can be trusted? ›

Similarly the way we know – the only way we can know – that the Bible is utterly trustworthy is through the witness of God himself. The Bible claims to be God's written word. Scripture is breathed out by God (2 Tim. 3:16), the words themselves came from God (1 Cor.

Can we trust the Bible is accurate? ›

The Bible's reliability gives us confidence that the Bible we read is what the apostles actually wrote. It is common to hear that the Bible wasn't created until centuries after Jesus lived and that certain books were left out for political purposes. But archaeology demonstrates that's not true.

Is there any physical evidence of anything in the Bible? ›

The Bible covers well over a thousand years, yet many doubt the historicity of the Bible. However, multiple recent archaeological discoveries, such as proof of crucifixion and evidence for the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, provide physical evidence for many of the key events and individuals named in the Bible.

Is the Bible a credible source of history? ›

While the Bible is not a scholarly source, it would be considered a primary source (primary sources and scholarly sources are two different things) if the topic is religion. It is not a primary source for historical research or most other subject areas.

What is criticism of the Bible manuscripts? ›

Textual criticism examines biblical manuscripts and their content to identify what the original text probably said. Source criticism searches the text for evidence of their original sources. Form criticism identifies short units of text seeking the setting of their origination.

Does the Bible count as a credible source? ›

There is a split between scholars who reject the biblical account of Ancient Israel as fundamentally ahistorical, and those who accept it as a largely reliable source of history—termed biblical minimalists and biblical maximalists, respectively.

Top Articles
Latest Posts
Recommended Articles
Article information

Author: Rubie Ullrich

Last Updated:

Views: 6249

Rating: 4.1 / 5 (72 voted)

Reviews: 95% of readers found this page helpful

Author information

Name: Rubie Ullrich

Birthday: 1998-02-02

Address: 743 Stoltenberg Center, Genovevaville, NJ 59925-3119

Phone: +2202978377583

Job: Administration Engineer

Hobby: Surfing, Sailing, Listening to music, Web surfing, Kitesurfing, Geocaching, Backpacking

Introduction: My name is Rubie Ullrich, I am a enthusiastic, perfect, tender, vivacious, talented, famous, delightful person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.