Please Support the Bible Translation Work of the Updated American Standard Version (UASV)

$5.00

The Bible, regarded as the inspired Word of God, has a complex and fascinating history of transmission from its original composition to the versions we possess today. This journey spans over 2,000 years, involving the meticulous work of copyists, translators, and scholars who have sought to preserve and communicate the message contained within the original texts. Although we no longer have the original manuscripts, or autographs, of the Hebrew Old Testament or the Greek New Testament, the process by which the Bible has been transmitted through time provides a strong foundation for confidence in the accuracy of the text we read today.

Isaiah 40:8 captures the enduring nature of God’s Word: “The word of our God endures forever.” Despite the human element involved in the copying and preservation of Scripture, God’s providence has ensured that the essential truths of the Bible remain intact. This article will explore how the Bible has been preserved, copied, and transmitted over the centuries, highlighting the key figures and processes involved in bringing the text of Scripture to us today.

The Inspiration and Publication of the Original Texts

The Bible’s unique authority stems from the fact that its original texts were inspired by God. The doctrine of inspiration, grounded in passages such as 2 Timothy 3:16-17, affirms that Scripture is “God-breathed” and, as such, is infallible in its original form. This means that when the original authors of Scripture—such as Moses, the prophets, the apostles, and their close associates—penned the words of the Bible, they did so under divine guidance, ensuring that what they wrote was without error.

This miraculous process of inspiration applies only to the original autographs of Scripture. The original manuscripts, often written on fragile materials like papyrus or parchment, have long since perished due to the natural decay of these materials. However, from the moment these texts were composed, the task of preserving and transmitting their content began.

The Reading Culture of Early Christianity

Copyists and the Preservation of God’s Word

One of the key ways the Bible was preserved after the original manuscripts were lost was through the meticulous work of copyists. Copying Scripture was a vital task, particularly given the importance of the text for both the Jewish and Christian communities. As the original manuscripts began to age and wear out, new copies were made to ensure that the Word of God could continue to be read and studied by future generations.

The Preservation of the Hebrew Old Testament

Regarding the Hebrew Scriptures (the Old Testament), the tradition of copying and preserving the text began with specific divine commands. In Deuteronomy 17:18, Jehovah instructed the kings of Israel to make their own copies of the written Law. Additionally, the Levites were tasked with preserving the Law and teaching it to the people (Deuteronomy 31:26; Nehemiah 8:7). This divinely mandated process underscored the importance of faithfully transmitting the sacred texts.

After the Babylonian exile, a class of Jewish scribes known as the Sopherim arose. These scribes played a crucial role in making and distributing copies of the Hebrew Scriptures. Ezra, who is described in Ezra 7:6 as a skilled scribe, was one of the early leaders in this movement. The work of the Sopherim laid the foundation for the later Masoretes, who were active during the early medieval period and are renowned for their careful transmission of the Hebrew text.

The Masoretes and the Standardization of the Hebrew Text

The Masoretes, a group of Jewish scribes active from approximately the 6th to the 10th century C.E., were responsible for preserving the Hebrew text in an extraordinarily precise manner. Their work culminated in the creation of what is known as the Masoretic Text, the authoritative Hebrew text of the Old Testament. The Masoretes developed a system of vowel points and accents to ensure the correct pronunciation and reading of the Hebrew Scriptures, which had previously been written only with consonants.

Chapter 40 of Isaiah’s book in the Dead Sea Scrolls (dated from 125 to 100 B.C.E.)
When compared with Hebrew manuscripts from about a thousand years later, only minor differences were found, mostly in spelling

The most famous Masoretic manuscript is the Leningrad Codex, dated to 1008/1009 C.E., which is the basis for most modern translations of the Old Testament. Despite the fact that the Leningrad Codex is over a thousand years old, its accuracy has been confirmed by the discovery of much older manuscripts. In the mid-20th century, approximately 220 biblical manuscripts or fragments were found among the Dead Sea Scrolls, which date from around the 3rd century B.C.E. to the 1st century C.E. Although these scrolls contain some variations in wording compared to the Masoretic Text, none of these differences affect the essential message of the Scriptures.

The Copying of the Greek New Testament

Like the Hebrew Old Testament, the Greek New Testament was also preserved through the diligent work of copyists. The 27 books of the New Testament were originally written by some of the apostles of Jesus Christ and by a few of their early disciples. Once these texts were recognized as divinely inspired, early Christians began copying them for use in churches throughout the Roman Empire. Colossians 4:16 provides an example of this practice, as Paul instructs the Colossian church to read his letter in other congregations as well.

Despite attempts by Roman authorities, such as Emperor Diocletian in the early 4th century C.E., to destroy all Christian literature, thousands of ancient fragments and manuscripts of the New Testament have survived to this day. These copies form the basis for modern Greek New Testament texts. Early Christians also translated these Greek texts into other languages, including Latin, Syriac, Coptic, and Ethiopic, further preserving the New Testament.

Establishing the Hebrew and Greek Texts for Translation

Although the original manuscripts of the Bible are lost, the sheer number of surviving copies allows scholars to reconstruct the original text with a high degree of confidence. The situation is analogous to a teacher asking 100 students to copy a chapter of a book. While each student might make small mistakes, comparing the copies will reveal the original content. Similarly, scholars compare the thousands of surviving manuscripts and fragments to detect copyist errors and determine what the original texts said.

The Reliability of the Hebrew Text

The reliability of the Hebrew Scriptures is confirmed by the remarkable consistency of the Masoretic Text with other ancient versions of the Old Testament. For example, the Dead Sea Scrolls, which are more than a thousand years older than the Leningrad Codex, contain readings that align closely with the Masoretic Text. This consistency demonstrates that the scribes who copied the Hebrew Scriptures did so with extreme care, faithfully preserving the essential content of the text.

William H. Green, a renowned scholar, commented on the accuracy of the Hebrew Bible’s transmission: “It may be safely said that no other work of antiquity has been so accurately transmitted.” This level of precision reflects the scribes’ deep reverence for the Word of God and their commitment to preserving it for future generations.

The Reliability of the Greek New Testament Text

The Greek New Testament is likewise supported by a wealth of manuscript evidence. There are over 5,898 Greek manuscripts of the New Testament, in addition to thousands of early translations into Latin, Coptic, Syriac, and other languages. The earliest surviving fragment of the New Testament, known as the Rylands Papyrus (P52), dates to around 125 C.E., just a few decades after the original writings. This abundance of manuscript evidence allows scholars to reconstruct the original text of the New Testament with confidence.

P46 – A papyrus manuscript of 2 Corinthians 4:13–5:4 from about 100-150 C.E.

P45 (175-225 C.E.)
P46 (100-150 C.E.)
P47 (200-250 C.E.)
P66 (100-150 C.E.)
P75 (175-225 C.E.)

F.F. Bruce, a respected New Testament scholar, remarked on the reliability of the New Testament text: “The evidence for our New Testament writings is ever so much greater than the evidence for many writings of classical authors, the authenticity of which no one dreams of questioning.” Bruce’s statement highlights the overwhelming manuscript support for the New Testament compared to other ancient works, whose accuracy is often taken for granted despite far fewer surviving copies.

The Role of Textual Criticism in Establishing the Bible’s Original Text

While the original autographs of the Bible were inspired and free from error, the process of copying the text over centuries inevitably introduced minor variations and errors into the manuscripts. These variations, known as “textual variants,” can include misspellings, word substitutions, and other minor differences between manuscripts. However, through the discipline of textual criticism, scholars have developed methods to determine the original wording of the text with a high degree of certainty.

Textual criticism involves comparing the thousands of surviving manuscripts to identify and correct copyist errors. This process is essential for reconstructing the original text of the Bible, particularly when dealing with variations in wording between manuscripts.

The Work of the Masoretes and the Biblia Hebraica

In the case of the Hebrew Old Testament, the Masoretes played a key role in standardizing the text and ensuring its accurate transmission. In the early 20th century, Rudolf Kittel produced the Biblia Hebraica, a critical edition of the Hebrew Bible based on the Leningrad Codex. Kittel’s work was a landmark achievement in biblical scholarship, providing scholars with a reliable version of the Hebrew text for study and translation.

Chapter 40 of Isaiah’s book in the Aleppo Codex, an important Hebrew Masoretic manuscript from about 930 C.E.

Since Kittel’s time, additional manuscript discoveries, including the Dead Sea Scrolls, have further refined our understanding of the Hebrew text. Two important modern editions of the Hebrew Bible, Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia and Biblia Hebraica Quinta, incorporate these findings. These editions use the Leningrad Codex as their base text but include footnotes that reference alternative readings from other ancient sources, such as the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Samaritan Pentateuch, the Greek Septuagint, and the Syriac Peshitta. These critical editions provide scholars and translators with the most accurate and complete picture of the Hebrew Bible available today.

The Greek New Testament and the Work of Westcott, Hort, and Others

The process of reconstructing the Greek New Testament has similarly benefited from the work of textual critics. In the late 19th century, two prominent scholars, B.F. Westcott and F.J.A. Hort, produced a critical edition of the Greek New Testament based on a thorough comparison of existing manuscripts. Westcott and Hort’s Greek text became the foundation for many modern translations of the New Testament.

In the 20th century, additional manuscript discoveries, including early papyri dating back to the 2nd and 3rd centuries C.E., further improved scholars’ ability to reconstruct the original text of the New Testament. The Nestle-Aland Greek New Testament and the United Bible Societies’ Greek New Testament are two widely used critical editions that reflect the most recent scholarly research. These editions incorporate the findings from newly discovered manuscripts and represent the best efforts of modern scholars to present the original text of the New Testament.

The Omission of Later Additions in Modern Translations

One of the results of modern textual criticism is the removal of certain verses from the New Testament that were later additions by copyists and were never part of the inspired Scriptures. For example, verses such as Matthew 17:21, Mark 7:16, and John 5:4 are omitted in modern translations because they do not appear in the earliest and most reliable Greek manuscripts. Although these verses were included in older translations like the King James Version, their absence from modern translations is a reflection of the improved understanding of the Greek text made possible by the discoveries of additional manuscripts.

Other passages, such as the longer ending of Mark 16 (verses 9-20) and the account of the woman caught in adultery in John 7:53-8:11, are marked in modern translations as not being part of the original text. These passages are included in many Bibles with footnotes indicating that they are not found in the earliest manuscripts. By making these adjustments, modern translators seek to provide readers with a text that most accurately reflects the original writings.

Confidence in the Accuracy of the Bible Today

Despite the challenges of transmission and the variations that exist between manuscripts, we can have confidence that the Bible we read today accurately reflects the original inspired writings. The sheer number of surviving manuscripts, combined with the rigorous methods of textual criticism, ensures that the essential message of the Bible has been preserved. As F.F. Bruce noted, if the New Testament were a collection of secular writings, their authenticity would be regarded as beyond doubt.

The consistency between the Masoretic Text and other ancient versions of the Hebrew Bible, along with the overwhelming manuscript evidence for the Greek New Testament, provides a solid foundation for believing that the Bible has been transmitted faithfully over the centuries. The Bible’s message, which includes the revelation of God’s plan for humanity, the life and teachings of Jesus Christ, and the guidance for Christian living, remains unchanged and continues to speak to believers today.

About the Author

EDWARD D. ANDREWS (AS in Criminal Justice, BS in Religion, MA in Biblical Studies, and MDiv in Theology) is CEO and President of Christian Publishing House. He has authored over 220+ books. In addition, Andrews is the Chief Translator of the Updated American Standard Version (UASV).