Transcript Reliability of Bible

Justin W. Bass, Ph.D.
First Biography
Earliest MSS
Time Elapse
Zoroaster (1000 BC)
Third Century AD
1,300 Years
Buddha (563-483 BC)
First Century AD
600 Years
Alexander the Great
(356-323 BC)
First Century AD
400 Years
Jesus of Nazareth
(4 BC-33 AD)
AD 55-90/70-90
AD 125
25-60 Years!
Time Elapsed
Earliest MSS
Xenophon (430-355 BC)
1,600 years
AD 1350
Polybius (200-120 BC)
1,110 years
AD 950
Seutonius (AD 69-130)
800 years
AD 850
Pliny (AD 60-115)
800 years
AD 850
Plutarch (AD 50-120)
900 years
AD 950
Tacitus (AD 56-117)
900 years
AD 900-1000
2
Herodotus (485-425 BC)
1,300 years
AD 900
8
Thucydides (460-395 BC)
1,300 years
AD 900
8
Josephus (AD 37-100)
1,000 years
AD 950-1050
9
Julius Caesar (100-44 BC)
1,000 years
AD 900
10
Livy (59 BC- AD 17)
300 years
AD 300
20
Aristotle (384-322 BC)
1400 years
AD 1100
49
Demosthenes (384-322 BC)
Copies of MSS
200
Illiad (Homer) (900 BC)
500 years
400 BC
643
New Testament (AD 50-96)
70-170 years!
AD 125
5000+
“The Interval between the dates of 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, 288-89
Masoretic Text
Isaiah Scroll discovered in 1947
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Sir William Ramsay
A. N. Sherwin-White
Colin Hemer
“I may fairly claim to have entered on this
investigation without any prejudice in favor of the
conclusion which I shall now attempt to justify to the
reader. On the contrary, I began with a mind
unfavorable to it, for the ingenuity and apparent
completeness of the Tubingen theory had at one time
quite convinced me. It did not lie then in my line of
life to investigate the subject minutely; but more
recently I found myself often brought in contact with
the book of .Acts as an authority for the topography,
antiquities, and society of Asia Minor. It was
gradually borne in upon me that in various details the
narrative showed marvelous truth.” Sir William
Ramsay, St. Paul the Traveler and Roman Citizen, 7
“The Historical framework is exact. In terms of
time and place the details are precise and correct.
One walks the streets and marketplaces, the
theatres and assemblies of first-century Ephesus
or Thessalonica, Corinth or Philippi, with the
author of Acts. The great men of the cities, the
magistrates, the mob and the mobleader are all
there…”
A.N. Sherwin-White, Roman Society and Roman
Law in the New Testament, 186.
For I received from the Lord what I also passed on
to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was
betrayed, took bread…”
(1 Cor 11:23)
“1 Cor. 11:23 says nothing other than that the
chain of tradition goes back unbroken to Jesus
himself”
Joachim Jeremias Eucharistic Words, 101
1 Corinthians 15:3-8 fragment
Repeated “that”
Unpauline words
Aramaic origin
“But when God, who set me apart from birth and
called me by his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son
in me so that I might preach him among the Gentiles,
I did not consult any man, nor did I go up to
Jerusalem to see those who were apostles before I
was, but I went immediately into Arabia and later
returned to Damascus. Then after three years, I went
up to Jerusalem to get acquainted with Peter and
stayed with him fifteen days. I saw none of the other
apostles—only James, the Lord’s brother. I assure you
before God that what I am writing you is no lie”
(Galatians 1:15-20)
“Here is His Book. Read it! It is the looking glass!
Jesus is on the other side and He looks into this
Book and if you look into it with well-washed
eyes, you may see His reflected image in this glass
darkly, however, at the best.”
C.H. Spurgeon, Pressing Questions of an
Awakened Mind #1520
“What a wonderful complexity there is in Your
utterances! The surface meaning lies open before
us and charms beginners. Yet the depth is
amazing, my God, the depth is amazing! To
concentrate on Your Scriptures is to experience
awe—the awe of adoration before its
transcendence and the trembling of love.”
St. Augustine, Confessions 12.14.17
1042 Lead Pastor
214-460-5872
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