Manuscript Evidence for the New Testament

Heavy topic, eh? Don't worry, I'm no theologian or historian, but this is part of what our pastor covered this Sunday.

Here's just a snippet of the table he showed us.

Author           Written             Dates of Manuscript Copies              Number of Copies

Plato              450-385             1200 years (after original writing)            7

Aristotle        384-322              1400 years                                                      5

New
Testament     50-100                 30-225 years                                          5300 +


Now, what this says is that there are 7 manuscript copies of Plato's writings and those were copied about 1200 years after the originals were written (between 450-385). There are only 5 copies of Aristotle's and they date from 1400 years after the originals were written.  

Funny that no one doubts their legitimacy or if they are accurate copies.

Finally, there are over 5300 manuscript copies that are only 30-225 years after the original writing of the New Testament.

Want more information about all of this? I highly recommend Josh McDowell's book "Evidence that Demands a Verdict."