Extant evidence! There are well over 5,000 existing manuscripts of the New Testament to support the accuracy of the text. This is an overwhelming amount of textual evidence in any case, but especially when you compare the evidence for the New Testament text to that available for other ancient documents. For example, there are only seven copies of the works of Plato, and they were all written more than 1200 years after he died. Aristotle? A whopping forty-nine copies, but they are at least 1400 years removed from his time. By contrast, many New Testament manuscripts date to within 100 years of their original writing.

Witnesses! The original writings that make up the New Testament of Jesus Christ were written within the time that the things they are reporting actually happened. This means that there were witness to all that was recorded who could deny the accounts if they were not accurate.

Accuracy! Though ‘uneducated’ men were involved in its writing, the New Testament is accurate in every respect. It is historically accurate, noting numerous events and individuals without any mistakes. It is geographically accurate, as the writers spoke of ‘going up’ or ‘going down’ and of towns, rivers, seas, lands and boundaries that seemed to be ever changing, yet the record provided us is %100 reliable.

Unity! It was written by at least eight different men, yet there are no contradictions and no apparent competition between them. As a matter of fact, these men corroborate one another’s accounts as though there were only one author. This is in accord with the claim that the Holy Spirit of God guided what was put down through the hands of these men, John 16:13,
1st Corinthians 2;12-13, 2nd Timothy 3:16-17.

Brevity! There are no unnecessary explanations of things that would likely fascinate unguided writers. Why is there no physical description of Jesus, or any of His apostles? Why are angels not elaborated upon? Men tend to drone on unnecessarily about pointless details, yet there is nothing included in the New Testament that is without meaning and purpose, keeping it relatively brief.

Unparalleled moral appeal! The New Testament teaches us that we must die to ourselves to follow Jesus. Jesus demands that we sacrifice our wants to seek the good of others, that we speak truth even if it brings persecution, that we remain faithful in marriage, that we ‘turn the other cheek’ and ‘go the second mile’. These writings never appeal to the ego, nor do they excite the flesh with promises of worldly gain.

It does not just survive persecution, it thrives in the face of it! What other book throughout history has been so reviled, so abused, and had so many attempt to destroy it? Yet it remains a ‘bestseller’.

Marty Kessler