References: (1) The bibliographic test seeks to determine if we can RECONSTRUCT the original writings from the extant copies of the documents we have at hand. It examines the QUANTITY, the QUALITY, and the PROXIMITY of the MSS relative to the ORIGINAL TEXTS. More MSS and earlier copies generally indicate a higher level of reliability. (2) The Internal Test checks for INCONSISTENCIES within the text itself. It evaluates the accuracy of the internal content of the MSS. If the text contains internal contradictions, it will not be considered as reliable. (3) The External Test involves examining historical documents and archaeological findings OUTSIDE the MSS that support the Bible’s claims. (4) According to Norman Geisler’s book Christian Apologetics pp. 306-307 there is more abundant and accurate manuscript evidence for the NT THAN FOR ANY OTHER BOOK from the ancient world. (5) In contrast, the typical number of existing MSS copies for any works of ancient authors, such as the well known classical authors Caesar, Livy, Tacitus, Thucydides, Herodotus, Demosthenes, Homer, NT, given in a table of Christian Apoletics that range from the 9 century BC for Homer to the first century AD for the NT. The earliest copies of these ancient non-Christian authors range from 643 for Homer, 200 for Demosthenes but the other BC writers the number of copies range from 8 to 20 and this is typical for many other ancient writers as well. The average gap between when the original manuscript was first penned to the discovery of the earliest copy is over 1000 years. The average secular work from antiquity survives on only a handful of MSS; but the NT boasts thousands. The degree of ACCURACY is greater for the NT than for other books that can be compared. (6) Bruce M. Metzker (1914-2007) was an American biblical scholar and historian who taught NT languages and literature at Princeton University. (7) The NT has about 20,000 lines. Of these only about 40 are in doubt (i.e., about 400 words). The Iliad has about 15,600 lines with 764 lines in question. This would mean that Homer’s text is only 95% pure compared to what Metzker says that the NT can be regarded as approximately 99.5% accurate. (8) We need only compare such SLIM EVIDENCE for classical authors to the MASS of NT DOCUMENTATION involving over 24,000 MSS portions and versions dating within 70 years after they were originally written. (9) The small percentage of minor mistakes are due to scribal error (like spelling, word order, etc.). Only a fraction of these have any real consequences. Furthermore, NO VARIANT READINGS are significant enough to call into question any doctrines of the NT. (10) Josh McDowell says in his book God Breathed that Dr. Peter Flint, the director of the Dead Sea Scrolls Institute at Trinity Western University in British Columbia and author of the book The Dead Sea Scrolls, affirms that the scrolls confirm the Hebrew text. (11) The proximity of the NT MSS Is EXCEPTIONAL. For most of the NT is less than 70 years from the date of authorship to the date of our earliest NT MSS. This can be contrasted with the average gap of over 1000 years between the composition and the earliest copy of other ancient authors. The early dates of the MSS, copied close to the time of the events of the Bible, do not allow enough time for MYTH and EMBELLISHMENT to have ALTERED the text. (12) To summarize the bibliographic test, the OT and NT enjoy far greater MSS attestations in terms of quantity, quality, and proximity span than any other ancient documents. In other words, the Bible passes the biographical test and must be graded with the HIGHEST MARK of any ancient literature we possess. This is episode 260.
