차례
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 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:
표 1.1. 신약성경 사본과 다른 고대 사본 텍스트들과의 비교
| 작품 | 씌여진 시기 | 최고(古) 사본 | 최고(古)사본과의 시간차 | 사본의 수 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 헤로도투스(Herodotus) | 448-428 B.C. | 900 A.D. | 1300년 | 8 |
| Tacitus | 100 A.D. | 1100 A.D. | 1000년 | 20 |
| 시저(Caesar)의 Gallic War | 50-58 B.C. | 900 A.D. | 950년 | 10 |
| 리비우스(Livy)의 Roman History | 59 B.C. - 17 A.D. | 900 A.D. | 900년 | 20 |
| 신약 | 40 A.D. - 100 A.D. | 130 A.D. 부분 사본 350 A.D. 전체 사본 | 30 - 310년 | 5000(헬라어) & 10,000(라틴어) |
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!
"그밖의 많은 증거들이 신약의 텍스트가 다른 고대 산문들중에서도 절대적이고 어떤 사본도 범접할 수 없는 특별한 경우라는 것을 증명한다." | ||
| --Textual critic F. J. A. Hort, "The New Testament in the Original Greek", vol. 1 p561, Macmillan Co., quoted in Questions of Life p. 25-26 | ||