This episode contrasts the New Testament manuscript tradition with that of classical authors. We presently have 5,600+ partial copies of the New Testament in Greek and 43% of NT verses are present in 10-12 manuscripts prior to 200 A.D, including all of the Pauline corpus. More than a 100 manuscripts exist dating prior to 300 and an entire copy of the New Testament from 350 (Codex Sinaiticus). Regarding classical works (excluding Homer), we have on average about 15-20 copies of some classical works, the earliest of which is at least 1,000 years after the original autograph. 643 copies of Homer exist, the earliest of which is more than a 1,000 years old. Virtually no one doubts that the classical works have come down to us with very little change from the original autograph, even though we have much fewer copies, the earliest of which is more than a 1,000 years after composition. Consequently, if one is confident that he is reading the actual works of antiquity, based on the relatively sparse classical tradition, one should be exponentially more confident of the reliability of the New Testament.
Why the “Telephone Game” Doesn’t Apply to Copying the Bible
This episode addresses a common misperception about the trustworthiness of the Bible based on successive generations of copying. If there are 15 generations of copies, and each generation through scribal error introduces some corruption into the text, then, the argument goes, the last generation of copies will express the ACCUMULATED errors of all previous copies. This reasoning is the "telephone game" applied to copying. Such reasoning is invalid because, in the case of the New Testament, the second and third generation of copies can always be consulted. The John Rylands fragment, c.a. 125, is probably a copy of a copy of the original autograph penned by the apostle John. Since we now have a trove of early manuscripts to consult in translation, we're not dependent on successive generations of copies that may have allowed errors to creep into the text. Additionally, if doubt persists over the reliability of early manuscripts, then we simply need to compare them. The huge number of New Testament manuscripts (5,800) enables comparative analysis in which we can, in most cases, be very sure of the original autograph.
“An Ounce of Evidence is Worth more than a Pound of Presumption”
This episode, originally called "conspiracy Monday," shows how early manuscripts of the book of John refute conspiracy theories and affirm the deity and incarnation of Christ. The previous episode highlighted doubt among translators over the precise translation of very few texts in the KJV, none central doctrines of the Christian faith. This episode applies the two-edge sword of the "embarrassment of riches," the over 5,800 copies of the New Testament, against twentieth century skepticism and conspiracy theories based on Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code and the supposed influence of Gnosticism on early Christianity. Dan Brown contends that the deity of Christ was an invention of the Church around the time of Constantine. The easiest way to test this hypothesis is to compare pre-Constantinian manuscripts of the gospel of John with 4th century manuscripts. P-66, dated 150-200 contains John 1 to John 14 and the manuscript completely agrees with later manuscripts, affirming the deity of Christ in John 1:1, John 1:14, and John 8:58-59. The thesis of The Da Vinci code is therefore invalid. The episode also debunks the claim that the gnostic Gospel of Thomas was a contemporary competitor with the 4 gospels. Simple comparative dating disproves this claim: all the gospels were completed in the first century, but the Gospel of Thomas was written in the late second century. And the Christian faith unambiguously affirms the incarnation (John 1:14, 1 John 4:2), a doctrine repulsive to "matter-hating" gnostics. The episode also chronicles the discrediting of date assumptions over the book of John, leading William Lane to conclude that "an ounce of evidence is worth more than a pound of presumption."