How We Got the Bible, Part Three – Part 3, New Testment

• How We Got the Bible
• Part 3 – New Testament
• Hebrews 1:1-2 God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets,2 has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds;
• Gospels and Acts
• Paul’s First Journey
• Paul’s Second Journey
• Paul’s Third Journey
• Paul in Prison in Rome
• Paul’s Release/2nd Imprisonment
• General Epistles
• Writings of John
• New Testament Canon
• By the end of the first century all 27 books of the NT were written and received by the churches. The canon was complete and all the books were recognized by believers somewhere. Yet, because of the many false writings debate about the canon continued for centuries until the church universal recognized the canonicity of the 27 books of the NT
– (From God to Us, Geisler and Nix page 107).
• Identifying True Writings
• In the generation following the apostles, every book of NT was cited as authoritative by some church Father.
• Within 200 years after the first century, nearly every verse of the NT was cited in one or more of the 36,000 citations by the church Fathers.
• The Canon
• The New Testament uses the term “canon” in a figurative sense to describe a rule of conduct (Galatians 6:16).

• The Canon
• The Canon refers to the authoritative books that are accepted and approved as Scripture.
– These books are based on a standard or “rule of faith.” Some of these standards include: divine inspiration, accuracy, doctrinal truth, consistency, power, and acceptance by the people of God.

• Canonicity is determined by inspiration
• Canonicity is determined by God and discovered by man.
– The church simply recognized which books belonged by the marks of inspiration they possessed.

• False writings were warned of…
• Paul warned that there were already letters being sent to Christians and churches forged in the name of the apostles (2 Thess. 2:2).
– Writings, just like preachers, must be tested to see if they are from God (1 John 4:1).

• Marks of CANONICITY
• The authority of a book. Does the book make the claim to be from God? If the book lacks the claim to be authoritative, it is likely not a part of the canon.
• The authenticity of a book. A book that contains factual or doctrinal errors could not be inspired by God. (i.e. Apocrypha, Book of Mormon, initially James was questioned).
• Manuscripts on Papyrus
• Fragment of John 18:33-37 dated around 130 A.D.
• Manuscripts on Papyrus
• John Rylands Fragment
– Papyri acquired for the John Rylands Library in Manchester, England by B.P. Grenfell in 1920

• Manuscripts (hand written copies of N.T. in Greek)
– Originals were inspired, but copies are not inspired
• The Most Important Uncials
• Two Major Types of Manuscripts
• Uncials
– Written in capital letters
– About 650 extant
• 280 parchments
• 95 papyri
• 270 lectionaries

• Two Types of Manuscripts
• Uncials
• Two Types of Manuscripts
• Cursives or Miniscules
– Smaller letters and cursive like in appearance
– Date from the ninth century (A.D. 800’s)
– Over 2800 extant


• Vatican Manuscript
• Widely acknowledged as the most important witness of the N.T. text
• 759 leaves of the finest vellum
– Almost all of O.T. (617 leaves) (Missing parts of Genesis and Psalms)
– Most of the N.T. (142 leaves) (Missing part of Hebrews, all of letters to Timothy & Titus, and Revelation)
• Vatican Manuscript
• Believed to be the earliest of the great uncials (early to mid 300’s)
• Considered to be the most exact copy of the New Testament known
• Finally made available in photographic facsimile to all scholars in 1890
• Vatican Manuscript
• Each page is 10.8” square and holds three columns of writing with 40 to 44 lines of text per column and about 16-18 letters per line.
• Vaticanus
• Bound in book form
• 759 vellum leaves (pages)
• Each leaf is abt 10 inches sq
• Written in 3 columns per page
• Probably the oldest
• Today’s Greek texts depend heavily on Vaticanus

• Vaticanus-OT
• Vaticanus contains most of the OT
• Missing from the OT
– Gen 1:1 to 46-28
– Psalms 106-138
• Also contains
– Wisdom of Sirach, Judith, Tobit
– Baruch, Letter of Jeremiah

• Vaticanus-NT
• Vaticanus contains most of the NT
• Missing from the NT
– Hebrews 9:15 to the end
– I & II Timothy, Titus, Philemon & Revelation
• The missing portions were all at the end of the MSS

• Sinaitic Manuscript
• Discovered at St. Catherine’s Monastery at Mount Sinai (1859)
• Sinaitic Manuscript
• Sinaitic Manuscript
• Bought for the British Museum from the Russian government in 1933 (~$500,000)
• “The interval then between the dates of the original composition and the earliest extant evidence becomes so small as to be in fact negligible, and the last foundation for any doubt that the Scriptures have come down to us substantially as they were written has now been removed. Both the authenticity and the general integrity of the books of the New Testament may be regarded as finally established.” Sir Frederic Kenyon, The Bible and Archeology 1940
• How We Got the Bible
• Part 3 – New Testament
• Alexandrian Manuscript
• Known to have been in Alexandria, Egypt for several centuries
• Presented to King Charles I of England by the Patriarch of Constantinople in 1627
• Caused much excitement!!
• Alexandrian Manuscript