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In a conversation with a man, a statement was made as well as a
question asked: "The Bible was taken from hand written copies, much
of which are only fragments. How can we trust that what we read
in the bible is accurate?"
Because there are over 14,000 manuscript copies of the New Testament
we can absolutely be confident of its accuracy. With this large
number of manuscripts, comparing manuscripts easily reveals any
place where a scribe has made an error or where there is a variation.
There are approximately 150,000 variations in the manuscripts we
have today. However, these variations represent only 10,000 places
in the New Testament (if the same word was misspelled in 3,000 manuscripts,
that is counted as 3,000 variations.) Of these 10,000 places, all
but 400 are questions of spelling in accord with accepted usage,
grammatical construction, or order of words. Of the remaining variations,
only 50 are of significance (such as two manuscripts leaving out
Acts 2:37). But of these 50, not one alters even one article of
faith, which cannot be abundantly sustained by other undoubted passages.
There are some manuscripts that date as early as 130 AD, very close
to the completion of the New Testament. These manuscripts are nearly
identical to those dating 900 years later, thus verifying the accuracy
of the scribes.
Besides this, Jesus promised that His words would not pass away.
(Mat 24:35) "Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall
not pass away." |
