Have you ever wondered if the Bibles we have today are based on reliable texts, or if perhaps the original writings (called “autographs”) were changed over the years? Are they forever lost? These questions get raised quite often and are important to think about. Here’s some information for you to consider that I thought might help address that issue.

Manuscript evidence of Biblical texts compared to other accepted ancient texts:

For starters, let’s look at a few other ancient texts for comparison.

Plato

  • Died: 347 B.C.
  • Earliest known copy: A.D. 900
  • Span from originals to oldest copies: 1200 years
  • Number of known copies: 7
  • Differences between copies: Not enough copies for reliable comparison
  • Fully accepted as genuine and taught in schools

Aristotle

  • Died: 322 B.C.
  • Earliest known copy: A.D. 1100
  • Span from originals to oldest copies: 1400 years
  • Number of known copies: 49
  • Differences between copies: Not enough copies for reliable comparison
  • Fully accepted as genuine and taught in schools

Julius Caesar

  • Died: 44 B.C.
  • Earliest known copy: A.D. 900
  • Span from originals to oldest copies: 1000 years
  • Number of known copies: 10
  • Differences between copies: Not enough copies for reliable comparison
  • Fully accepted as genuine and taught in schools

Homer

  • Died: 900 B.C.
  • Earliest known copy: 400 B.C.
  • Span from originals to oldest copies: 500 years
  • Number of known copies: 643
  • Differences between copies: 95% the same
  • Fully accepted as genuine and taught in schools

Now, at this point, you might think that it doesn’t take much to accept an ancient text as accurate and genuine. That really is not the case. However, there is definite bias and debate when it comes to Biblical texts. And no other group of texts have had more scrutiny than those of the Bible. But is there enough evidence to show whether we have accurate copies of the original Biblical texts today? Let’s take a look at just the New Testament.

New Testament

  • Finished: before A.D. 100
  • Earliest known copy: A.D. 130 (John Rylands’ fragment of John 18, pictured above)
  • Span from originals to oldest copies: less than 100 years and possibly less than 40 years (Apostle John believed to have died in early A.D. 90s)
  • Number of known copies: 5686
  • Differences between copies: 99.5% the same for over 2000 years, differences being name spellings and similar or explanatory sentences added by a scribe, some additional details or removal of details about an event, but nothing conflicting.
  • Fully accepted as genuine by vast majority of scholars worldwide, only challenged by small number of atheists and reputed groups like The Jesus Seminar, Bart Ehrmann, etc.

There is much support for the accuracy of both Old and New Testament documents. Jewish scribes who were copyists were called “counters” because they would count the words on each line of a manuscript to make sure they were the same between the original and their copies. You can actually see their numbers written at the end of each line on the manuscripts. Any mismatched copies were immediately destroyed and the entire copy started again.

We can also tell when more than one scribe and even how many scribes worked on a manuscript. Styles of writing, types of bookbinding, types of paper, etc. are all considered. Every copy is studied and catalogued so we even know exactly which documents contain which words, etc. We also know which documents were mentioned and supported or unsupported by early church fathers.

Discoveries like the Dead Sea Scrolls also support how accurately the Biblical texts have been passed down over the centuries and millennia. Further discoveries may provide even greater proof, such as the tiny Silver Scrolls found by Dr. Gabi Barkay in 1979. There are still thousands of unexamined documents, scrolls, and books tucked away inside libraries of ancient monasteries, churches, etc. that may one day shed even more light. Perhaps even the original writings themselves are somewhere among them.

We can confidently say that the texts of the Bible have been accurately preserved for us today, and we can trust our Bibles to contain the true Word of God. Differences in translations often depend on which manuscripts they’re based on along with the method of translation and purpose that was used.

Hope you find this interesting and helpful.

Blessings!