How can you trust the New Testament when the original manuscripts are different?

There isn’t one, single, original, preserved copy of the New Testament. So how can you trust the text of the New Testament when all the earliest copies disagree with each other?

Daniel B. Wallace, Executive Director of The Center for the Study of New Testament Manuscripts, explains why you can still trust the text of the New Testament despite it having so many textual variants.

[erinbeltran]

Your hearts will be filled with the truth of God, the Lord and The Holy Spirit, so anyone who is worried about not having the right Bible shouldn’t worry. It will be in your heart which you will follow if you are with Him. That is what I feel in my own heart. May God bless you.

[jacobjackson]

We love Jesus because he loved us first. 🙏

[victorbutcher]

The Old Testament was written in Hebrew - The New Testament is written in Greek - That should tell a thinking person something.

[Ailsworth]

Certainly this can be said of all ancient writings. Scholars who study ancient texts, known as textual critics, compare and analyze these manuscript copies to determine the most accurate and reliable version of the text. They examine differences between manuscripts, consult references made by ancient authors, and use other tools and methods to reconstruct the original text to the best of their abilities.

[mikerum]

Having thousands of variant copies is actually better than having 1 original. If we only had 1, we wouldn't know if it had been corrupted, but by having thousands of copies, we can reconstruct the original with virtually 100% assurance. There's simply no way to alter the original, either by accident or on purpose, with the amount of copies we have. You'd somehow have to corrupt thousands of scribes, over different locations, over hundreds of years.

[petercollins]

What a truly bizarre argument. Essentially, this creator is claiming that, because no one has original manuscripts, and every copy disagrees and contradicts every other copy, this means we know what the originals said and meant. Welcome to Bizarro World.

Rational adults would say that if we have original manuscripts, and these without doubt, then and only then do we know what the originals said. In the case of the new testament, the first complete copy comes from the 4th century CE. So, in 200+ years, no one has any idea what was changed, added, or omitted. And since the entire new testament was written between 20 (Paul's legitimate letters) to nearly 100 years after the events described, we also have no idea how much those descriptions were altered, added, to, removed from, or simply made up in the oral tradition. Not a word of the new testament is, or claims to be, eyewitness testimony; it is all, at best, third or fourth or later retelling. Not exactly convincing evidence for any purpose to begin with.

I know exactly, precisely what the text of Mein Kampf said - I have a first edition of the book in my hand. The best that biblical believers has is a hundreds of years old, admittedly inaccurate and altered, written record of decades old claims. This is a pathetic and bizarre thing to base one's entire life on.

[thebibleisright]

The most important part is Jesus Christ is the way the truth and the life that’s the most important part that never changed

[ITBEZAE]

All of them have little differences, but they’re all talking about and have the same signs. They know what they saw and lived through

[ahmadsofian]

OMG, please forgive them for boldly corrupting your holy words. And show us the right path to your mercy 😭 .

[jamesgale]

Bravo, proper scholarly insight from a man of God who is clearly also a scholar.

[JESUS_IS_KING_]

Finally, a smart man. When people translate something they do it in a way where they can understand it the best. Each manuscripts may have different ways of spelling or added a small amount of detail of understanding for the reader. But they all point to ONE message which is Christ Jesus is Lord 🙌🏾. The message of The Gospel is literally the point of the Gospel. All the manuscripts teach the same teachings of Christ and his purpose on earth.


If one manuscript said Jesus was just a man there would be a problem. If another said he wasn’t messiah nor did he preform signs there will also be a problem. If one manuscript differed from what Jesus taught in the gospels there would be another problem. But none of them differ from the purpose and message of the gospels🙌🏾

[larrylim]

Who decided these manuscripts are divinely inspired? The Catholic church.

So, why use the manuscripts the Catholic church chose if you don't believe that the Catholic church has the divinely given sole authority to identify genuine scriptures or not?

Why not make their own selections?

[oldindianchief]

Why is it so hard to find one video on the history of revisions and edits that were made to the modern bible? All I get are religious channels preaching what they claim are the real versions, but aren't they just copies from copies that were translated and re-written over centuries again and again? I want to know how many times the bible was edited throughout all history.

[kenwebster]

Yep, there is probably more meaning alteration by the act of translation into other languages, including English which only have one word for love while Greek has 4 with distinctly different meanings. Languages do not have exactly the same concepts and nuances, but the essential truths and values come across as long as we don't get too pedantic analysing every nuance. Also, word meanings change over time and sometimes quite a lot. like the word sensible in English, the root of which is sense as in the 4 senses. Sensible was to do with emotions, an expression of sympathy, it originally had nothing to do with the mind. In term of bible translation, that particular word is irrelevant but it serves to illustrate the point that we need to update translations. We can't just keep using outdated language translations because that leads to errors in understanding.

[sjappiyah]

2:00 I guarantee most people didn’t watch up to 2:00 before commencing.
People need to learn to listen….

[stepsJESUS]

Like have y’all actually watch the video, it says that these textual barriers are minimal there most likely errors of writing, they do not affect the actual message of the gospels!

[kevintonkin]

So we have never seen the original words that have came straight from the pen of the apostle that wrote them?

[fabfrenchies]

“We don’t have the originals, ” “This is actually a great thing for lots of reasons!” Our faith should not be shaken given the abundance of evidence that the original message has been completely preserved.

Because of this, we can have complete confidence in taking the message of the gospel to the ends of the world. This would have brought the Church down long ago if it wasn't already studied.

[maaragould]

Psalm 12:6-7 The words of the Lord are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times. [7] Thou shalt keep them, O Lord, thou shalt preserve them from this generation for ever.

[satriorama]

As a Muslim, I always wonder about this. Muslim read Quran in arabic all around the world no other way, Jews read Torah in hebrew all around the world no other way. So why Bible are translated into many languages and many versions...? Do you guys have ever questioning why they made version after version..? Like, how can words of God be revised again and again.