New Testament Reliability

I picked up the following from my church, The Valley Church of Christ. I've been meaning to post it for sometime now.

*********************************

The WORD on:
New Testament Reliability
You can know that the Bible is from God and is Accurate
(Written by Robert Kuenning, Minister)


This is part of a papyrus manuscript dating from about 200 AD.
It has the last line of Romans and the beginning of Hebrews.

"For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart"
Hebrews 4:12

Many know that the Bible is the perfect Word of God. They have long learned the power of its message and that it guides us into a renewed relationship with God and in a daily walk in Jesus Christ. They know by faith that the verses are true that tell us of the Bible's divine origin:

"All Scripture is God-breathed and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work."
2 Timothy 3:16-17

But there are many more who have not tasted the Word's delicious spiritual feast because of misinformation, doubt, or mistrust. Few realize how much confidence you can have in the Bible before you even have faith.

You see, behind the Bible is a mountain of evidence backing up its claims that it is God's Word and that we can have an accurate copy of the scriptures today. No other ancient writing comes anywhere close to having so much solid proof that its contents are true.

Accuracy and preservation isn't just important to those challenging the Bible. The way every believer, Bible student, Bible teacher, translator, researcher, ancient historian, archeologist and editor handles the Bible also hinges on the certainty of its truth. That's why there has been so much research in this subject and so many challenges to the Bibles truth.

Bibles today are translated directly from the original languages, Hebrew and Greek. The test is whether we have an accurate copy of each testament in its original language. Believer or not, you can KNOW that the Bible is accurate and reliable!

Here we will discuss the reliability of the New Testament (NT). Old Testament reliability is cover in another pamphlet like this one.

• New Testament Overview

• The 27 Books of the NT were written in the Greek language over a 50 year period from approximately 40 AD to 90 AD.
• The NT consists of Gospels (stories of Jesus' life), history, letters, and prophecy.
• Jesus promised his Apostles that the Holy Spirit would tell them what to teach:
  
  "but when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth" - John 16:13-14
  
  
• The NT mostly tells the story of Jesus and the beginnings of His church.
  
  "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." (Jesus) - Matthew 28:19-20
  

• Layers of Evidences
  Here, are a few reasons that we can have absolute confidence in the New Testament:
  

• Huge Volume of Available NT Manuscripts There are nearly 25,000 ancient NT manuscripts!
• Greek ----------- 5,686
• Latin ------------ 10,000+
• Ethiopic --------- 2,000+
• Slavic ----------- 4,101
• Armenian ------- 2,587
• Syriac Pashetta - 350+
• Bohairic --------- 100
  
• Arabic ---------- 75
  
• Old Latin -------- 50
• Anglo Saxon ----- 7
• Gothic ----------- 6
• Sogdian ---------- 3
• Old Syriac ------- 2
• Persian ---------- 2
• Frankish --------- 1
  Total 24,970++

• This amazing number of existing ancient NT documents alone assures us that we can reconstruct the original with confidence!

• Consistency Across the Manuscripts - Even in so many documents, there are very few serious differences and none that effect a principle of faith or doctrine. Most Bibles today show them in the text.
• Dates of Manuscripts - The earliest manuscripts are very close to the dates the originals were written. The closest NT document was written less than 50 years after the original! We have nearly complete NTs that were copied less than 300 years from the originals. This is a very small gap and makes the NT unique in its documentary reliability.
• Wide Diversity of Language & Distribution - Beyond the 15 languages on the above list, we have early quotations from at least 8 more languages. Those 23 different versions and the obvious way that the early books were copied and scattered gives NT accuracy two wonderful boosts:
• One, the wide variety of languages allow scholars to compare and check those copies against the Greek for additional clarity and verification.
• Two, the wide distribution guarantees that no person or group could possibly have controlled or corrupted the overall NT.
• More NT Documentary Evidence
• Early Christian Writers - Throughout the early years of the church, Christians (mostly Elders) wrote a large number of letters and Bible lessons that contain a huge number of NT quotations. These documents date from ~90 AD and contain over 36,000 NT quotations! The entire NT could be recreated from these writings alone! This is an invaluable source in establishing accuracy and dating of the originals.
  
• Church Lectionaries - Early Churches began writing out Bible lessons for Sunday Services and Studies. Researchers have catalogued over 2,300 Lectionaries (There are many more to be studied.) dating from ~500 AD. They note that the NT could be recreated from them except for Revelation and Parts of Acts.
• The New Testament Canon - This is an important part of any NT study. The 'canon' is the list of which books should be in the NT.
• Trusted by the Early Christians - The very earliest Christians received the letters and Gospels from the Apostles. They knew the men and accepted that their teachings were from God. Jesus said it would be:
  
  "the Holy Spirit... will teach you all things, and bring your remembrance all that I said to you." - John 14:26-27 (Also John 16:12-15)
  
  The Apostles, themselves, taught that their words were not from man but from God through His Spirit.
  
  "For to us God revealed them through the Spirit; ... [the] things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit,"
  - 1 Corinthians 2:10-13
  
  These letters were trusted and tested and sent from church to church as scripture. Know this:
  The NT books were not trusted by the early church because they were put into a canon, they were put into a canon because they were trusted by the early church!
  This is an important point to remember and we do know what the early church trusted and used:
• Early Christian Writers (again) - Those same writers gave us a good early look at the canon. Those who wrote from 90 to 120 AD listed 20 of the 27 books (including all 4 Gospels)! And they included no other non-NT book! We know what books the very early church trusted and used.
• Even an Early False Teacher, Marcion, in 140 AD discussed 14 NT books and no others, as he argued against trusting the OT.
• The Non-NT Books being paraded today as "lost gospels" (etc.) were never seriously trusted or used by early Christians. The earliest didn't even exist until ~150 years after Jesus' death! With anti-Christian origins, ridiculous and fanciful stories, and unchristian doctrines, there is no serious challenge on their being omitted.

• Accuracy Check Through History - Only recently has the extreme accuracy of the details of the NT writings been made clear. Historians now conclude that the NT books had to be written before 100 AD (many before 70 AD) for them to contain the detailed facts that they have.
• Conclusion: - The evidence that the New Testament is accurate and reliable is enourmous:
  
• 25,000 Manuscripts!
• Copy with in 50 years of Original!
• 36,000 more quotations to 90 AD!
• NT Books we know were 1st Century.

You can trust todays Bible.

• For more on this subject try:
• The New Evidence that Demands a Verdict, McDowell
• The New Testament Documents, Are they Reliable, Bruce
• Redating the New Testament, Robinson

Written by Robert Kuenning, Minister
Valley Church of Christ
P.O. Box 876401
Wasilla, AK 99654
(907) 745-3011

************************************

FYI:
Any study Bible will tell you the approxamate date each book of the Bible was written (along with it's purpose, author, to whom it was written, setting, etc.) but to make it easier, it's also listed below.

• Matthew ~ Probably between 60-65 AD
• Mark ~ Between 55-65 AD
• Luke ~ About 60 AD
• John ~ Probably 85-90 AD
• Acts ~ Between 63-70 AD
• Romans ~ About 57 AD
• 1 Corinthians ~ About 55
  
• 2 Corinthians ~ About 55-57 AD
• Galatians ~ About 49 AD
• Ephesians ~ About 60 AD
• Philippians ~ About 61 AD
• Colossians ~ About 60 AD
• 1 Thessalonians ~ About 51 AD
• 2 Thessalonians ~ About 51-52 AD (a few months after 1 Thessalonians)
• 1 Timothy ~ About 64 AD
• 2 Timothy ~ About 66 or 67 AD
• Titus ~ About 64 AD
• Philemon ~ About 60 AD
• Hebrews ~ Probably written before the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem in 70 AD, because the religious sacrifices and ceremonies are reffered to in the book, but no mention is made of the temple's destruction.
• James ~ Probably 49 AD
• 1 Peter ~ About 62-64 AD
• 2 Peter ~ About 67 AD
• 1 John ~ Probably between 85 and 90 AD
• 2 John ~ Around 90 AD
• 3 John ~ About 90 AD
• Jude ~ About 65 AD
• Revelation ~ About 95 AD

And there you have it! :)

Old Testament Reliability

I picked up the following from my church, The Valley Church of Christ. I've been meaning to post it for sometime now.

*********************************

The WORD on:
Old Testament Reliability
You can know that the Bible is from God and is Accurate
(Written by Robert Kuenning, Minister)


This is a portion of Psalms 119 from the Dead Sea Scrolls. The arrow is pointing to God's Name "YHWH" in text.

How can a young man keep his way pure?
By keeping it according to Your word.
With all my heart I have sought You;
Do not let me wander from Your commandments.
Your word I have treasured in my heart,
That I may not sin against You.
Blessed are You, O LORD;
Teach me Your statutes.
Psalm 119:9-12

Old Testament Reliability

Many know that the Bible is the perfect Word of God. They have long learned the power of its message and that it guides us into a renewed relationship with God and in a daily walk in Jesus Christ. They know by faith that the verses are true that tell us of the Bible's divine origin:

"All Scripture is God-breathed and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work." ~ 2 Timothy 3:16-17

But there are many more who have not tasted the Word's delicious spiritual feast because of misinformation, doubt, or mistrust. Few realize how much confidence you can have in the Bible before you even have faith.

You see, behind the Bible is a mountain of evidence backing up its claims that it is God's Word and that we can have an accurate copy of the scriptures today. No other ancient writing comes anywhere close to having so much solid proof that its contents are true.

Accuracy and preservation isn't just important to those challenging the Bible. The way every believer, Bible student, Bible teacher, translator, researcher, ancient historian, archeologist and editor handles the Bible also hinges on the certainty of its truth. That's why there has been so much research in this subject and so many challenges to the Bibles truth.

Bibles today are translated directly from the original languages, Hebrew and Greek. The test is whether we have an accurate copy of each testament in its original language. Believer or not, you can KNOW that the Bible is accurate and reliable!

Here we will discuss the reliability of the Old Testament (OT). New Testament reliability is covered in another pamphlet like this one.

Old Testament Overview

• The 39 books of the OT were written over a 1200 year period from approximately 1600 BC to 400 BC.
• Starting with Moses, who wrote the first five books of the Bible, and ending with Ezra who wrote Chronicles, the OT had a wide range of writers. They all had God's inspiration and would have agreed with David's remark:

"The Spirit of the LORD spoke by me, And His word was on my tongue." ~ 2 Samuel 23:2

• The OT primarily tells the story of the Jewish people from roots to riches to ruin. It contains history, law, poetry, prophecy, and personal stories.
  

  "Your word is a lamp to my feet
  And a light to my path. ...
  Revive me, O LORD, according to Your word. ...
  And teach me Your ordinances.
  My life is continually in my hand," ~ Psalm 119:105-109

Layers of Evidences
Here, briefly are a few of the reasons that we can have absolute confidence in the accuracy of today's Old Testament:

• Exacting Jewish Scribes
• The OT was written and meticulously preserved in the original Hebrew language from the beginning through today. It was always considered sacred and therefore was very seriously guarded and copied with the utmost care.
• The sole responsibility of the Jewish Scribes was to know, maintain, protect, and, exactly preserve the books of the OT. The levels of care that they went through is astounding:
• The skin, ink, document size, and lines on the document were all clearly defined. The number, size, spacing, and length of lines and columns per skin were specified. The spacing of the letters, words, sections, and books and the point of ending books were to be exact.
• The dress and cleanliness of the scribe, condition of the book being copied , and the manner in which the name for God (YWHW) was written was all specifically ordered.
• When each book or section had been copied, the scribes would count and check the number of every verse, word, and letter of the manuscript. They even counted the times each letter occurred in each book, calculated the middle word and middle letter and checked the new with the old. Such detail seems extreme to us, but with this level of detail, we can know we have reliable manuscripts today.

• The Dead Sea Scrolls
• An amazing event occurred in 1947 with the beginning of the discovery of 931 ancient documents found in caves near the town of Qumran on the shores of the Dead Sea. The Dead Sea Scrolls:
• Prove the OT Accurate
  The manuscripts of the Dead Sea Scrolls date to as old as 400 BC. The OT manuscripts found are 900 to 1100 years older than the most reliable available Hebrew OT manuscripts. When the Scrolls are compared to the newer manuscripts, they prove to be amazingly accurate, nearly identical. The few differences were mostly slips of the pen, spelling changes or word substitutions (over vs. above e.g.). The extreme accuracy of the newer documents puts to death the questions of the OT reliability based on time.
• Prove the cannon of the OT
  The Dead Sea Scrolls contained 223 OT manuscripts! Those 223 manuscripts include 38 of the 39 books of the OT! The one book missing is Esther, but other documents there refer to the story, so we know it was part of their culture.

• Non-Hebrew & Other Jewish Evidences
  The following ancient documents give tremendous support for the accuracy of the OT.
  
• The Septuagint (250 BC) is the translation of the OT into Greek. An important and powerful document, it not only gave the Jews their scriptures in the common language of the entire region, but gave non-Jews easier access to God's Word (Just in time to understand the context of Jesus' Ministry.).
• The Hexapla (240 AD) is a comparative Greek/Hebrew OT with versions in 6 columns created by the Christian elder Origen.
• The Samaritan Pentateuch (200 BC) is the Samaritan copy of the OT's first five books.
  
• Aramaic Targums (200 AD) are paraphrases of the scriptures kept by Jewish communities to aid in understanding the OT.
• The Mishna (200 AD) was the Law of Moses retold and explained.
• The Gemara (200 AD) was an Aramaic commentary on the Law of Moses.
• The Midrash (100 BC - 300 AD) are doctrinal studies of the Hebrew OT.

• Evidence from History and Archeology
  Substantial proof for the accuracy of the OT text comes through Archeology.
  One famous Archeologist said:
  

  "... categorically ... no archeological discovery has ever [contradicted] a Biblical reference. Scores of ... findings ... confirm in ... outline or detail the statements of the Bible."

  Kingdoms, Cities, Countries, Personal Names, Battles, Kings, Languages, Writings, Laws, Religious Practices, and even the use of words have proven to be correctly described in the OT. Time and again historians have thought that the OT was wrong concerning an event (etc.) only to have the Bible prove right when the facts were known.

• Prophecy in the OT has proven correct in every case expected. Hundreds of predictions have literally come true including those regarding: Edom, Tyre, Babylon, Persia, Nineveh, Israel, Greece, Jesus Christ, and many others.

• Conclusion: The evidence is overwhelming (And this is far from all the evidence.). You do not have to guess or hope, you can KNOW that the Old Testament we have is true & accurate

• For more on this subject, try:
  The New Evidence that Demands a Verdict, McDowell
  Standing on the Rock, Boice
  Facts on Why You Can Believe the Bible, Ankergerg & Weldon
  On the Reliability of the Old Testament, Kitchen

By Robert Kuenning, Minister
If you have any questions or would like help in studying the Bible please call (907) 745-3011
Valley Church of Christ