THE TEXT OF THE NEW TESTAMENT

Book excerpt: THE TEXT OF THE NEW TESTAMENT was copied and recopied by hand for 1,500 years. Regardless of those scribes who had worked very hard to be faithful in their copying, errors crept into the text. How can we be confident that what we have today is the Word of God? Wilkins and Andrews offer the reader an account of the copying by hand and transmission of the Greek New Testament. They present a comprehensive survey of the manuscript history from the penning of the 27 New Testament books to the current critical texts. What did the ancient books look like and how were documents written? How were the New Testament books published? Who would use secretaries? Why was it so hard to be a secretary in the first century? How was such work done? What do we know about the early Christian copyists? What were the scribal habits and tendencies? Is it possible to establish the original text of the New Testament? How do paleographers date the ancient manuscripts? How has the Greek New Testament text come down to us? How did textual variations and manuscript families arise? Just how many textual variants are there and how are they to be counted? What guarantee do we have as to the reliability of the Greek text? What are the principles and rules of textual criticism and how are they to be applied, so that we can get back the original reading? What are the collation and classification of manuscripts? What is the Coherence-Based Genealogical Method (CBGM) and can it be trusted? How reliable are our master (critical) Greek texts of the New Testament (WH/NA28/UBS5)? Why can we be confident that the literal translations (ASV / RSV / NASB / UASV) are providing for its readers the faithful Word of God? Their work on THE TEXT OF THE NEW TESTAMENT is carried out with an apologetical mindset, to assist Christians in their defense of God's Word.