In Light of Skepticism: Can we trust the Bible?

Describe the image.

What do you find remarkable about ancient documents?

What is the Codex Sinaiticus?

The Codex Sinaiticus is the oldest manuscript of the complete New Testament. The earliest copies of the Bible were written on papyrus, a kind of paper made from the stems of water plants. These papyri were not very durable, so 4th century scribes copied the papyri onto vellum, another early form of paper made of prepared and stretched calfskin. Scribes cut and bound these sheets into durable books (https://codexsinaiticus.org/en/codex/name.aspx).

How do we know the copies of original texts can be trusted?

Experts engage in textual criticism to determine the reliability of the New Testament texts. One way to evaluate the authenticity of a document, such as an old manuscript of the Bible, is to determine how many copies of the original exist. The more copies we have of ancient texts, the less doubt we have about the existence of the original. For example, Caesar’s Gallic War was written in 58-50 B.C. The earliest copy in existence today was created 900 years after the original book was written, and there are 9 or 10 remaining copies. No one disputes that the copies reflect the original text.

The New Testament was written between 40-100 A.D. The earliest partial copy of the original texts dates from 125 A.D. Furthermore, the earliest complete copies of the New Testament date from 300 A.D., only 200 years after it was first written. Astoundingly, there are over 5,000 Greek manuscripts, 10,000 Latin manuscripts, and 9,300 other manuscripts of the New Testament in existence today. Textual critics determine the age and quality of manuscripts to ensure that the manuscripts of the Bible we read today are as close as possible to the original text (https://biblearchaeologyreport.com/2019/02/15/the-earliest-new-testament-manuscripts).

Does the great number of copies of the New Testament give you confidence in the existence of an original? Why or why not?

Were the copyists accurate?

Another key question is: how accurate were the copyists? According to Dr. Bruce Metzger in Christianity Today, “The earlier copies are generally closer to the wording of the originals. The translators of the 1611 King James Bible, for instance, used Greek and Hebrew manuscripts from the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. Today Bible translators have access to Greek manuscripts from the third and fourth centuries and Hebrew manuscripts from the era of Jesus” (www.christianitytoday.com/biblestudies/bible-answers/theology/biblecopiedhand.html).

Does this information give you greater confidence in the Bible we read today? Why or why not?