How the New Testament Was Copied and Preserved

Previously, we began examining the transmission of the New Testament. A brief reminder will suffice before moving forward. The copying of the New Testament differed significantly from that of the Old Testament. Old Testament transmission was highly centralized, carried out primarily by professional scribes in specific locations and under strict guidelines.Such conditions were not possible for the New Testament, at least for several centuries. The early church was geographically dispersed and frequently subjected to persecution. As a result, the copying of New Testament writings was undertaken by a wide range of individuals, both trained and untrained, often working quickly to meet demand. Predictably, this process resulted in less uniform copies. At the same time, it produced far more manuscripts.Organizing the Manuscript EvidenceTo understand how the New Testament text has been preserved, it is helpful to picture a large table on which every existing manuscript is laid out. In Greek…