When I was playing sports in high school, I might have been a little bit superstitious. Some of my friends had a lucky ballcap, others refused to shower, occasionally certain socks could not be washed, but I took superstition to the next level. I had a lucky piece of gum. This may seem strange, but in 7th grade I played the game of my life chewing this certain piece of gum and I couldn’t just throw it away. I actually, put it in a bag and threw it in the freezer.
Over my high school career, I would break that same piece of gum out for big games. My friends would remind me on gamedays to bring the gum if we thought we might need a little “extra” help. Time after time that piece of gum proved to be reliable. We consistently won. We consistently played our best ball while I was chewing that gum. Looking back, now that I have taken microbiology, I realize it was not the gum that was reliable and that I was probably putting my life on the line trusting in a piece of gum.
As I was reminiscing about my gum earlier this week, I couldn’t help but think about the need for us to put our faith in something actually reliable. In order for something to be reliable, it must be true, effective, and consistent. When it comes to matters of eternity, reliability is imperative and I truly believe the New Testament is the most reliable document in all of history. It honestly has no parallels. Let’s explore what makes the New Testament the shining example of historical reliable.
When examining an ancient document, historians look at the number of manuscripts that have been found. The number of manuscripts adds credibility to the actual account taking place in history. For example, we have approximately 643 copies of Homer’s epic called the Iliad so it’s considered very reliable. The next thing historians look at is the amount of time between the date of the original and the earliest surviving manuscript. Again, looking at the Iliad, we have discovered a manuscript dating about 500 years from the original. Lastly, historians look at the accuracy between all the manuscripts found. For example, between all 643 manuscripts of the Iliad historians have concluded that the copies are about 95% accurate.
The Iliad is often considered the crown jewel of ancient literature. We have several manuscripts, the time between the author’s life and the earliest copies is relatively small, and it appears to be very accurate, but it doesn’t come close to the reliability of the New Testament. We have over 5,600 Greek manuscripts of the New Testament and over 16,000 manuscripts in other languages. The earliest manuscripts are dated to within a generation of Christ. The accuracy is unparalleled. The manuscripts of the New Testament are 99.5% accurate and of the errors only 1/10th of 1% of those are noteworthy enough to make it to a footnote in your Bible.
The New Testament is the absolute most reliable document from antiquity. You can trust it, you can bet your life on it, I know that I have. The Greek philosopher Heraclitus once said, “The only constant in life is change”, but I don’t agree with that. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever and He can be that constant in your life. What does Heraclitus know anyways? We don’t even have one surviving manuscript of his work.
-Brandon Thompson