Is it reasonable to believe that the Bible we have is what the authors originally wrote? Let’s look at the evidence.
Compared to other ancient texts
There are 24,000 handwritten copies of the 27 books that make up the New Testament. The oldest fragment is dated within decades of when it was originally written. The oldest complete New Testament is dated within 300 years of the original. Compare that to the second best preserved ancient work, The Iliad by Homer. There are only 643 copies of this work and the earliest is dated 500 years from the original. Other accepted ancient documents also have far less copies and are written many more years from the original. So, for an ancient document, the Bible, has much more reliability.
The accuracy of the copies
The New Testament has 40 lines of textual corruption with an accuracy of 99.5%. The Iliad has 764 lines of textual corruption with an accuracy of 95%. Some claim that there are as many as 400,000 textual variants across the New Testament. Although that sounds like a lot, there is something called textual criticism that can help to put this into perspective. This is a method of comparing the vast number of copies, working backwards and then determining where the change took place. Of the 400,000 variants, the vast majority are spelling, grammar and other common scribal errors. Less than 1% of those errors impact the meaning of the text and only a fraction of those are considered unresolved by textual criticism. Not one Christian teaching or belief is dependent on or changed by any variant.
The Canon
The Canon is the list of books considered to be scripture. The Canon started to take shape right away as the apostles started considering each other’s work scripture.
2 Peter 3:15-16 And remember, our Lord’s patience gives people time to be saved. This is what our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you with the wisdom God gave him— speaking of these things in all of his letters. Some of his comments are hard to understand, and those who are ignorant and unstable have twisted his letters to mean something quite different, just as they do with other parts of Scripture. And this will result in their destruction.
During that time people started collecting books that were from trusted sources and consistent with apostolic teaching. They were specifically warned and trained to spot counterfeits. Many think the Canon was imposed at the Council of Nicea in 325 AD but there is record of an almost identical Canon at least 150 years earlier.
All evidence points in the direction that we have a reliable text that is consistent with what the original authors intended.
[Related: The Dead Sea Scrolls]
[Related: Manuscript Evidence – Has the Bible Changed Over the Centuries?]
