The integrity of the New Testament is an area of research that is often sought out and questioned then dropped and left without further studying due to its ability to arouse deep spiritual questions concerning the integrity of ones faith. As we venture into the world of Biblical Criticism to seek out the legitimacy of The Holy Bible, we first must conceive a solid background and understanding of the topic. When Studying the integrity, thee biggest issue brought to examination is that of biblical manuscripts.
Popular sources on these topics are in plenty. Why? Because these topics are so renowned among scholars and even among the common people around the world. Among the three subcategories— legitimacy of manuscripts, the wellness of translations, and the canonicity of the New Testament— the most popular tends to be the issue of translation. As in, can we trust the manuscripts the New Testament is being translated from? If the New Testament writings were passed on for over a thousand years with one copy being made from other copies by hand, can we really trust the integrity of our english translations that they are reflecting what the New Testament authors originally wrote in greek?
Thankfully, the answer is yes! thousands of discoveries of manuscripts have been found and all greatly carry their message in accordance with the others. As Walter A. Elwell, professor of Bible and Theology at Wheaton College, states it: “The New Testament is by far the best-attested writing of antiquity. Close to six thousand Manuscripts containing at least a fragment of the New Testament have been cataloged.” (Elwell, Walter A. Encountering the New Testament.) This is a bold statement in making such a claim, but has truth in itself. With almost six t...
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... disprove the New Testament we have today. Well they each yield us to the importance of the issue at hand and also both lead us in the direction of understanding that this issue can be confidently resolved in manner affirming the legitimacy of the New Testament. The evidence is in abundance and the scholarly research is well-rounded and sufficient. Therefore, the denial of the integrity of the New Testament texts would be a decision that would bring to question the researchers ability to examine evidence in a scholarly manner, then proceed to a logical and sound conclusion.
Works Cited
Koukl, Greg. "Is the New Testament Text Reliable." Stand to Reason. Stand to Reason APR. Feb 4, 2013. Web.
Elwell, Walter A., and Robert W. Yarbrough. Encountering the New Testament: a historical and theological survey. 3rd ed. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2013. Print.
The contents of the Bible have dealt with controversy in regards to its inerrancy since publication, and will surely continue to. Historians progress to learn more about biblical stories in order to provide evidence for the reliability of information. Many believers today understand that not everything in the Bible has been factually proven. An outstanding topic many scholars pay attention to lies within the four gospels. The three synoptic gospels, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, replay essentially the same story with minor inconsistencies, while John portrays Jesus in an entirely different way. The differences in each gospel are due to how each gospel entertains different portrayals of the life and understanding of Jesus himself, in order to persuade
The Bible: The Old Testament. The Norton Anthology of World Masterpieces. Ed. Sarah Lawall et al. Vol 1. 7th ed. New York: Norton, 1999. 47-97.
The study of the Gospel of John can be viewed as distinct and separate from the study of any of the previous three synoptic gospels. The Fourth Gospel contains language and conceptions so distinct from the synoptics that scholars are often faced with the question of its historical origins. Originally, scholars believed the main source for the Gospel of John to be Jewish wisdom literature, Philo, the Hermetic books and the Mandaean writings, leading to the idea that John was the most Greek of the Gospels. However, with the discovery of the scrolls, scholars were now faced with source materials, remarkably similar to the concepts and language found in John, illuminating the literature as not only Jewish but Palestinian in origin. The discovery of the manuscripts opened up an entirely new interpretation of the gospel of John and a progressive understanding of its proper place within biblical scripture.
^ John Arthur Thomas Robinson (1919-1983). "Redating the New Testament". Westminster Press, 1976. 369 halaman. ISBN 10: 1-57910-527-0; ISBN 13: 978-1-57910-527-3
The study of textual criticism is important when talking about any historical manuscript or text. In particular, when talking about something with as much impact and influence as the bible, textual criticism is a necessary part of scholarship. Brad Ehrman does an excellent job in explaining the basics of textual criticism and how it can be used to determine the accuracy of biblical texts and manuscripts. His book, Misquoting Jesus, serves as a primer to the study of historical biblical manuscripts. As Ehrman states in his introduction, the thesis explained in the text is that biblical manuscripts have been changed throughout history, both intentionally and non-intentionally, and that those changes were affected by the attitudes and beliefs of the scribes.
Drane, J. W. (2000). Introducing the Old Testament (Completely rev. and updated.) (46). Oxford: Lion Publishing plc.
Although the New Testament is the main source of information regarding Jesus’ life, Jews often disregard it as a reliable source of information. It was not written until two to three generations after Jesus, hence it cannot be considered a primary source. Also, from a Jewish perspective, the aim of the Gospels is not to give an accurate account of Jesus’ life and teachings; the Gospels served as missionary documents containing accounts recorded by biased evangelists. They reflect the aims of the church rather than actual facts, and their writers were more concerned with the advancement of Christianity than the transmission of factual historical information. For these reasons, it is impossible to separate the historical Jesus from the divine Christ presented in the Gospels, and Judaism regards the Gospels as unreliable and irrational.
A controversy of immense silliness has recently broken out among Evangelicals regarding the validity of modern, conservative translations of the Bible like the New American Standard, the New International, and the New King James. The controversy was ignited by a book written by Gail Riplinger entitled New Age Bible Versions.
Metzger, B. (1997). The Canon of the New Testament: Its Origin, Development, and Significance. New York.
Writings of historical scholars, Josephus, Aristotle, and Plato, to name a few, are taken as truth and fact, yet the writings of the Scripture are constantly disputed. Why? Perhaps because of the ethical imperatives imposed to which people do not want to adhere. Perhaps because of man’s ego and pride that disallows them to submit to a Higher Authority. Nonetheless, The Bible has been, and still remains, the most widely read and revered book of all
For centuries now Christians have claimed to possess the special revelation of an omnipotent, loving Deity who is sovereign over all of His creation. This special revelation is in written form and is what has come to be known as The Bible which consists of two books. The first book is the Hebrew Scriptures, written by prophets in a time that was before Christ, and the second book is the New Testament, which was written by Apostles and disciples of the risen Lord after His ascension. It is well documented that Christians in the context of the early first century were used to viewing a set of writings as being not only authoritative, but divinely inspired. The fact that there were certain books out in the public that were written by followers of Jesus and recognized as being just as authoritative as the Hebrew Scriptures was never under debate. The disagreement between some groups of Christians and Gnostics centered on which exact group of books were divinely inspired and which were not. The debate also took place over the way we can know for sure what God would have us include in a book of divinely inspired writings. This ultimately led to the formation of the Biblical canon in the next centuries. Some may ask, “Isn’t Jesus really the only thing that we can and should call God’s Word?” and “Isn’t the Bible just a man made collection of writings all centered on the same thing, Jesus Christ?” This paper summarizes some of the evidences for the Old and New Testament canon’s accuracy in choosing God breathed, authoritative writings and then reflects on the wide ranging
The historical reliability of the Bible is the first matter that needs to be discussed. There are three criteria that the military historian C. Sanders lists as principles for documentary historical proof: the bibliographical test, internal evidence test, and the external evidence test (McDowell 43). The bibliographical test is the examination of text from the documents that have reached us. The reliability of the copies of the New Testament is tested by the number of manuscripts (MSS) and the time intervals between the time in which the piece of literature was written and our earliest copy. There are more than 5,300 Greek manuscripts of the New Testament and 10,000 Latin vulgate manuscripts, not to mention the other various translations.
Bacon, Benjamin W. "The Canon of the New Testament" The Biblical World, Vol. 21, No. 2 (Feb., 1903), Published by: The University of Chicago Press. Web. Available at:
In this paper, there will be a discussion about the canonization of the New Testament. Along with an investigation into who was involved in this process. The people and institutions looked at will include the following: Marcion, Irenaeus, Origen, Synod of Hippo, and God. First, let us look at the canonization of the New Testament. The first available list of the New Testament books is called the Muratorian Canon and it dates somewhere around A.D. 150.
Lea, Thomas D., and David Alan Black. The New Testament Its Background and message. 2nd edition. Nashville, Tennessee: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2003.