The New Testament has 320 direct quotations from the Old Testament, but the combined total of quotations and references is about 890.
How Are We to Understand the New Testament Author’s use of the Old Testament?
The Sources of New Testament Textual Criticism
If we are to be able to evaluate the readings of the manuscripts that we have, we must be familiar with the manuscripts themselves. Moreover, we must understand how they are connected by their likenesses and differences. Westcott and Hort wrote in relation to internal manuscript evidence, “The first step toward obtaining a sure foundation…
Was There Really an Epistle to the Laodiceans as Stated In Colossians 4:16, and, If so, Why Is It Not In Our Bibles?
Was there really an epistle to the Laodiceans, and, if so, why is it not in our Bibles? Some scholars maintain that the letter to the Ephesians was not specifically to those at Ephesus but rather it was a general letter to the Ephesians and the Laodiceans, mentioned at Colossians 4:16. In addition, they say, is that the words “which are at Ephesus” found in most translations of Ephesians 1:1 are an addition to the text. They argue the letter that we know as Ephesians was a general epistle sent to the churches in Asia. Are they correct?
Who Wrote the Gospels Found in the New Testament of Our Bibles, and How Do We Know?
The Double Standard from Skeptics When we are looking at secular history, historians come across balanced, fair, reasonable but when it comes to the gospels, there is a tremendous double standard. The Gospels, for example, are presumed to be guilty of being frauds, authors unknowable until they are proven innocent, and the bar is raised when it comes to the level of evidence needed. The normal way of investigating historical events, peoples, and places ostensibly are thrown out the window.
What Is the Synoptic Problem of Matthew, Mark, and Luke and What is the Hypothetical So-Called Q Document?
The reliability of the Gospels has long been questioned because of pseudo-scholarship. Were the Gospel writers plagiarists? Did the synoptic Gospel (Matthew, Mark & Luke) writers merely copy from one another? Is there a document called Q? Was the Gospel of Mark written first? Are the Gospels authentic and reliable?
PAPIAS (c. 60-135 A.D.) and the Gospels of Matthew and Mark
There is much in-depth information in this article: The Synoptic Gospels in the Ancient Church: The Testimony to the Priority of the Gospel of Matthew. We have a brief introduction to papyrus from Tyndale Bible Dictionary. We have a lengthy apologetic article on Papias and the arguments from higher critics by F. David Farnell. This is followed by Papias' writings from two leading scholars on the Apostolic Fathers, Michael W. Holmes, and J. B. Lightfoot.
THE UNKNOWN GOSPEL: Egerton Papyrus 2
The Egerton Gospel (British Library Egerton Papyrus 2) refers to a collection of three papyrus fragments of a codex of a previously unknown gospel, found in Egypt and sold to the British Museum in 1934; the physical fragments are to be dated to about 150 C.E. What does the nomina sacra tell us? And how has a simple hooked apostrophe impacted two of our earliest manuscripts for many new textual scholars?
NEW TESTAMENT TEXTUAL STUDIES: What Are the Nomina Sacra and Their Origin?
Nomina Sacra (singular: nomen sacrum from Latin sacred name): In early Christian scribal practices, there was the abbreviation of several frequently occurring divine names or titles within the Greek manuscripts.
The Synoptic Gospels In Early Christianity: Why Is the Preferred Choice the Testimony to the Priority of the Gospel of Matthew?
The Enlightenment and its spawning of historical-critical methodologies—particularly that aspect of the system called "Source Criticism"—marked the beginning of the end of the priority of the Gospel of Matthew.
What Do We Know About the Dutch Bible and Textual Scholar Erasmus of Rotterdam?
Erasmus said of God's Word, "I WOULD have these words translated into all languages, so that not only Scots and Irish but Turks and Saracens too might read them . . . I long for the plowboy to sing them to himself as he follows his plow, the weaver to hum them to the tune of his shuttle, the traveler to beguile with them the dullness of his journey." (Clayton 2006, 230)