The NT Scriptures Are Reliable

Tuesday night some of us viewed a film called "Fragments of Truth" by Faithlife ministries on the reliability of the New Testament manuscripts. Scriptures have come under attack again the last couple of decades, from supposedly scholarly sources as well as from popular fiction like the book "The Davinci Code" by Dan Brown -- much of which the public swallows without question.

The truth is much different from modern myth, as we saw last night. Here are a few points:

1. The New Testament books have been shown to have been written between 50 and about 90 AD -- not 100 or more years later as some claim.
2. The earliest fragments of manuscripts we have for the New Testament are from the early 2nd Century, around 110 to 125 AD, and they are virtually identical to the later copies.
3. Scrolls and codex forms (like modern books, with multiple pages bound together) were treated carefully and many lasted for 200 years or more. Therefore, those surviving from the 400s or so AD were probably copied from the original letters or authorized copies.
4. No theory of corruption of the message, or of the text itself, holds any water in the light of the actual texts in museums and libraries. The text, and the message written on it, has not changed.

Can we rely on the written words of the New Testament to teach us about Jesus, and about God's message for humanity? Without doubt. So let's study with confidence, led by the Holy Spirit to understand what the Lord is telling us from his written word about the Living Word, our Savior, Jesus Christ!