Historians have roughly 25,000 manuscripts of New Testament books, far more than for any other book from ancient history. Compare that with 2000 copies of Homer’s Iliad, the second-best represented manuscript. Even more poorly represented are the works of Aristotle, Julius Caesar, Herodotus, and other great figures from ancient history, for which we have closer to a dozen manuscripts each.
We don’t conclude that our record of Gallic Wars by Julius Caesar is so unreliable that it can’t inform our understanding of the past. But if that’s the case, we must then accept the far-better attested New Testament story—or so the popular argument goes.
But that argument is flawed. More manuscripts at best increase our confidence that we have the original version, but that doesn’t mean it was history. Far more impressive than a mountain of manuscripts are Egyptian hieroglyphics and Mesopotamian clay tablets that are not only older but original. No one would argue that their mythology must be accurate simply because they’re original, and the same would apply if we had the New Testament’s original.
Let’s return to those 25,000 manuscripts. The originals of every New Testament book were written in Greek, but most of these manuscripts are translations into other languages. A translation means an extra layer of interpretation. Discard these, and we’re down to 5800 Greek manuscripts.
Now consider when these manuscripts were written. The chart below shows the number of Greek New Testament manuscript copies by century. The twelfth century has the most, with 1090 manuscripts. The printing press was invented in the middle of the fifteenth century, which explains the drop on the right of the chart.
There are a hundred manuscripts from the first four centuries, though many of these are just papyrus scraps of less than a page. The first substantial manuscripts with dozens of chapters date to around 200 CE. Only when we get to the fourth century do we find complete (or nearly so) copies of the New Testament. Our view into the past is so hazy that even when they were written is just an educated guess.
When historians weigh evidence, they want the oldest and most reliable manuscripts. The vast majority of the manuscripts shown in the chart are irrelevant, so our 5800 Greek manuscripts have shrunk to the oldest hundred or so from which scholars make their best guess at the originals. Whether we have 1090 copies from the twelfth century or ten times that number, manuscripts that late don’t inform the re-creation of the New Testament originals.
The New Testament does have the most copies, but this isn’t the evidence many think.
Continue to chapter 32.
Image credit: Unknown author (public domain) via Wikimedia
Notes
Manuscript: A manuscript is a handwritten document. The earliest New Testament manuscripts were scrolls made from papyrus. Parchment, made from animal skins and bound into a codex (book), gradually became more popular over the first few centuries CE.
The chart below shows the number of Greek New Testament manuscript copies by century: the data for this chart came from “Biblical manuscript,” Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia (Wikimedia Foundation Inc.), en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biblical_manuscript#New_Testament_manuscripts, retrieved November 4, 2013.
25,000 manuscripts sounds like a lot: “List of New Testament papyri,” Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia (Wikimedia Foundation Inc.), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_New_Testament_papyri, retrieved June 15, 2018.
2-Minute Christianity 
,_Saba,_MS_394_LOC_matpc.10860.jpg){kind=link}
The comparison of Homer’s Iliad to the books of the new testament is very revealing. Only in the modern age have we been wealthy enough to have personal copies of books. Flawed or not, religion really gets people whipped up and active.
LikeLike
Pingback: 30 The Ten Commandments: They May Not Say What You Think | 2-Minute Christianity
The manuscript count is but one example of the compelling evidence that the Bible is true and trustworthy. The book Have You Considered has 365 amazing reasons to trust it. The most convincing for me is experiencing the truth of all of God’s promises in scripture. Psa 34:8 Taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in him.
LikeLike
And, as this chapter shows, those Christian reasons don’t stand up to scrutiny.
LikeLike
I had the privilege of listening to a Rabbi and Buddhist monk on the role of scripture in faith traditions at an interfaith gathering. Both agreed that words only get you so far and the meaning of scripture can get changed over the centuries for political or military reasons. In spite of all this pressure of the Roman Empire, Borgia popes, and the divine right of Kings, there is still quite a lot that did not get corrupted and point to the original meaning. I don’t get the sense your method of analysis is capable of making the distinction between the corrupted parts and the genuine.
LikeLike
Original meaning? Sure, let’s imagine we’re back to the original meaning. You still have an unbelievable supernatural story. The burden of proof is on the Christian.
LikeLike
All traditions including Atheist describe an origin to the Universe and the consciousness we possess to be able to discuss this. There is nothing miraculous about this nor of the notion that it is best to love life and love our neighbor as ourselves. Jesus is not the first leader who was more revered more after his death than in life. It is quite human to embellish a story over time until it takes on a mythical quality.
Where a person of faith describes the creation as a loving entity and a great leader as having divine qualities, a tyrant will co-opt this and turn this language into a system of domination and judgement. Do not be confused about what the tyrants of history did and the original intention to show love and be thankful.
LikeLike
Wow, the majority of Greek Manuscripts aren’t even in the 1st century when Jesus/Isa ibn Maryam (Alayhi Salam) was born?
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes, that is surprising! In fact, we have zero manuscripts from the first century.
LikeLiked by 1 person
This makes me believe that Christianity isn’t even the correct religion. I created an article about 10-12 hours ago here sir! https://muhammadabdularrahman.wordpress.com/2025/05/14/proving-the-bible-was-altered-and-its-manuscripts-dont-date-back-to-the-1st-century-proof/
LikeLike
And also, just so I can clarify, those “25,000” NT manuscripts reduce to 5,500-5,800 NT manuscripts the rest of the 19,000+ manuscripts are just other translations and stuff like translated into different languages over time. Like, English, Japanese, Chinese, Arabic, and more translations of different languages.
LikeLike
Pingback: Proving the Bible Was Altered and Its Manuscripts Don’t Date Back to the 1st Century (Proof) – Muhammad Abdul Ar-Rahman's Article Posts
That’s right–5800 manuscripts are in Greek and the rest are in other languages. Most of those are Latin, but there are manuscript copies in Syriac, Coptic, Aramaic, and others.
LikeLike