THE TEXT OF THE NEW TESTAMENT

 

When we read the New Testament today, are we actually reading the text that John, Paul, and the other authors wrote? This question makes sense to those who seek to develop a mature and non-naive faith, grounded in the reality of facts and not fantasies and imaginations. The low durability of papyrus, a precursor material of the paper, in which the autographs (original manuscripts of the authors) were written, led to their rapid disappearance. Before, however, they were copied and recopied, what originated thousands of textual variants.  

This process of transmission of the text occurred for 14 centuries until the appearance of the press. Had it undergone significant changes that compromised its authenticity? Let us consider this question in three aspects: the nature of textual variants; The distance between copies and autographs; And the number of documents available. With regard to the variants, the thousands that have arisen derive from the large number of copies made, but they, according to scholars, refer only to spelling and the arrangement of words, and do not affect any Christian doctrine.  

As for the distance from the copies to the autographs, while, for example, Plato's oldest copy is 1300 years distant from him, and no one questions it; there are numerous manuscripts of the NT, on parchment, dating to the century IV, that is, just over 200 years from the originals. In addition, there are considerable papyrus fragments of virtually all NT books that drive us back to the century III and, in some cases, the mid- century II (less than 100 years of autographs). So, in this respect, the authenticity and integrity of the New Testament is uncontested.  

The amount of available documents attesting the existence of writings left by the men who walked with Jesus make the NT the most well-documented ancient text ever. There are now about 5,500 complete Greek manuscripts or fragments, as well as almost 13,000 manuscripts from NT versions for other languages that emerged from the second century onwards with the spread of Christianity. There are also thousands of quotations from the NT text in the parents' literature of the Church. Only Irenaeus, Clement of Alexandria and Origenes quoted portions of the NT 22,147 times.  

For all this, scholars and specialists confirm that the New Testament texts are faithful to the original and credible. This text would be just another old text, if it was not about God who became man and walked among us. For this reason it is elevated to the status of Sacred Scripture, given by God to mankind as light for the way of men.

Antônio Maia – M.Div.

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