Can we rely on the New Testament since it has been copied so many times?

   Many people are surprised when they first learn that we possess none of the original documents of the N.T.  The loss of these documents is undoubtedly by divine design, for had they been preserved, foolish men would have made idols of them rather than being directed to God, whose will they set forth.  In spite of the absence of these originals, however, thanks to the work of archeologists and textual critics, we can express a total reliability of the N.T. Text.

    The original text of the N.T. is determined from 3 general sources: (1) Greek Manuscripts (2) Ancient Versions (3) Quotations from the N.T. in the writings of the early church fathers or writers from the post apostolic age.  There are some 5500 Greek manuscripts (in whole or in part) on the N.T. in existence today.  The John Reynolds fragment is the oldest dated at 2nd centaury A.D.  The Chester Beatty 9250 A.D.) and Bodmer (200 A.D.) collections shed an abundance of light of word meanings in the N.T. They demonstrated that Koine Greek was the language of the man on the street.  These manuscripts demolish any claims of a late composition of the N.T.  The most accurate manuscripts represent the manuscripts from which the Textus Receptus or Received Text was taken.  They consist of the majority of the Majority of Greek manuscripts that agree with each other and have been accepted by Bible believing Christians down through the centuries.  It was the text that the Protestants of the Reformation knew to be the Word of God (inerrant and infallible).  Two other manuscripts, Codex Vaticanus (A.D. 325) and Codex Sinaiticus (A.D.350), date within 250 years of the time of composition. This may seem like a long time span, but it is minimal when compared to most major works.  Take Caesars “The Gallic Wars” for example.  The earliest copy dates back 1000 years after the original.  The first complete copy of Homers “Odyssey” was found 2200 years after it was written. When the interval between the writings of the N.T. and earliest copies is compared to other ancient works, the N.T. proves to be much closer than the original!  Secular skeptics never seem to reason this out very well.  In addition we have over 10,000 translations in ancient languages and some of these reach back into the 2nd and 3rd centuries. God preserves His Word! “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away (Matthew 24:35).”