The number of Greek copies

Sources

• Institute for New Testament Textual Research, summarized (opens in a new tab)

  Institute for New Testament Textual Research, summarized

• Center for the Study of New Testament Manuscripts, “Manuscripts 101: GA Numbers” (opens in a new tab)

  CSNTM on the Gregory-Aland numbering and the current manuscript count

Objections & responses

The vast majority of those manuscripts are medieval, copied a thousand years after the originals. Doesn’t counting them inflate the number without adding much evidential value?

Correct, and it is worth being sharp about it: most Greek manuscripts are Byzantine, from the ninth century onward, and the early papyri number only around 140. But the late copies are not worthless. They preserve readings and let scholars trace how the text was transmitted in different regions. The point of the count is comparative: even restricted to early witnesses, the New Testament has more manuscripts within two centuries of composition than any classical text has in total. The raw number is a starting point; how early the copies are is the exhibit that carries the weight.

Appears under 1 claim in this case

• We can recover what the New Testament originally said better than any other ancient book.