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Understanding God's word is of great importance to all who call on God's name. Study of the Bible is one of the primary ways that we learn to communicate with God.
The Bible stands alone in many ways. It is unique in:
popularity. Bible sales in North America: more than $500 million per year. The Bible is both the all-time and year-to-year best seller!
authorship. It was written over a period of 1600 years by 40 different authors from different backgrounds, yet reads as if written by one.
preservation. F. F. Bruce in Are New Testament Documents Reliable? compares New Testament manuscripts with other ancient texts:
Tableau 1.1. Comparaison des manuscrits du Nouveau Testament avec d'autres textes anciens.
| Ouvrage | Date d'écriture | Copie la plus ancienne | Période écoulée | Nombre de copies |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hérodote | 448-428 avant J.C. | 900 après J.C. | 1300 ans | 8 |
| Tacite | 100 après J.C. | 1100 après J.C. | 1000 ans | 20 |
| la Guerre des Gaules de César | 50-58 avant J.C. | 900 après J.C. | 950 ans | 10 |
| L'histoire romaine de Live | 59 avant J.C. - 17 après J.C. | 900 après J.C. | 900 ans | 20 |
| Nouveau Testament | 40 après J.C. - 100 après J.C. | 130 après J.C. manuscrits partiels 350 après J.C. manuscrits complets | 30 - 310 ans | 5000 Grecs & 10000 Latins |
Ten copies of Caesar's Gallic War exist, the earliest of which was copied 900 years after Caesar wrote the original, etc. For the New Testament we have full manuscripts dating to 350 A. D., papyri containing most of the New Testament from the 200s, and a fragment of John's gospel from 130 A. D. How many manuscripts do we have to compare to each other? 5,000 in Greek and 10,000 in Latin!
"Dans la vérité et la plénitude de l'évidence sur laquelle ils reposent, les textes du Nouveau Testament se placent absolument et indiscutablement à part parmi les autres anciens écrits en prose." | ||
| --Textual critic F. J. A. Hort, "The New Testament in the Original Greek", vol. 1 p561, Macmillan Co., quoted in Questions of Lifep. 25-26 | ||