The Alexandrian Codices
hese “early” writings have much persuaded our current translations of the English Bible. The discovery of the Alexandrian Codices, namely the Codex Sinaiticus and Codex Vaticanus, have deceived many scholars into thinking these were the most accurate copies of the original authorship of the New Testament, merely because they were the oldest manuscripts found to date, being dated sometime in the 4th century. But the key element being misunderstood, just because it is the oldest doesn’t mean it is the best. In fact, these early manuscripts are blasphemous and incomplete. Written by the Gnostics in Alexandria, they were used to persuade and deceive the world. They used the written Word of God for their own selfish motives; removing many verses of the New Testament to stimulate their own doctrine. For instance, the last 12 verses of Mark 16:9-20 and Acts 8:37 are two examples of text purposely removed. The elimination of these specific passages, among others, shows their deceptive agenda to denounce Jesus as the Christ, the Son of the Living God. The early date of these manuscripts entrap many scholars into thinking they must be more accurate. However, even though there are no earlier dated manuscripts that contain these missing verses, we have proof of these Scriptures from the writings of the Church Fathers. These writings were recorded before the Alexandrian Codices, and we can see evidence of these verses being quoted. For instance, we find, contained in the writings of Irenaeus in 180AD, the text of Mark 16:9-20. Solid proof that these verses were truly a part of the original Gospel of Mark.
In fact, there are 86,000 quotations from the early church. One could literally piece the Bible together, based solely from the writings of the Church Fathers, all except about 17 verses, says J. McDowell, in his book “Evidence that Demands a Verdict”, Vol. I, pp. 50-51.
Below shows the frequency in which the Church Fathers quoted scripture. This list is compiled from “Let Us Reason Ministries”.
In fact, there are 86,000 quotations from the early church. One could literally piece the Bible together, based solely from the writings of the Church Fathers, all except about 17 verses, says J. McDowell, in his book “Evidence that Demands a Verdict”, Vol. I, pp. 50-51.
Below shows the frequency in which the Church Fathers quoted scripture. This list is compiled from “Let Us Reason Ministries”.
- Ignatius who lived sometime around 70-110AD quotes from 15 of the 27 books of the New Testament. In his Seven Letters, written about 110AD, during his journey from Antioch to Rome for his martyrdom, quotes from Matthew, I Peter, I John, cites nine of Paul's Epistles, and his letters bear the impression of the other three Gospels.
- Papias the Bishop of Hierapolis was a personal student of the apostle John. He lived in the period of 130AD and wrote “An Explanation of the Lord's Discourses," in which he quotes from John, and records traditions about the origin of Matthew and Mark. Papias noted that the apostle Mark, in writing his Gospel "wrote down accurately ... whatsoever he [Peter] remembered of the things said or done by Christ. Mark committed no error ... for he was careful of one thing, not to omit any of the things he [Peter] had heard, and not to state any of them falsely.” Fragments of Papias' Exposition of the Oracles of the Lord, 140AD (III, XIX, XX) attests that the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and John are all based on reliable eyewitness testimony
- Polycarp, 69-155AD, in his Letter to the Philippians, quotes much of the New Testament including Matt., Acts, Hebrews Philippians, and reproduces phrases from nine other Pauline letters as well as I Peter.
- Irenaeus, 135-210AD, a disciple of Polycarp, says there are only 4 Gospels, proving the Gnostic Gospels to be heretical and forgeries. He also quotes1,819 from the New Testament books except Philemon, Jude, James and 3 John.
- Clement of Alexandria, who lived about150–212AD, has 2,406 quotes from all but three books of the New Testament.
- Tertullian, who was an elder of the church in Carthage Africa lived around 160-220AD, quotes the New Testament 7,258 times. Of these quotes, around 3,800 are from the gospels.
- Justin Martyr, 100-160AD, quotes all 4 Gospels, Acts and the epistles of Paul and Revelation.
- Tatian, about 160AD, made a "Harmony of the Four Gospels called the "Diatessaron," affirming that only Four Gospels, were recognized among the churches.
- Clement, of Alexandria, 165-220AD, names all the books of the New Testament except Philemon, James, 2 Peter and 3 John.
- Origen 185-254AD, names all the books of both the Old and New Testaments within 17,922 quotes. In “The Hexapla” he harmonized the four gospels in six different languages.
- Athanasius, who preserved the Trinity among the Church, had all 27 books of the New Testament. He said they were the springs of salvation to not add nor take away.
- Hippolytus, 170-235AD, recognized twenty-two books. He had 1,378 quotes of Scripture.
- The Didache, written in Greek between 60-100AD, makes 22 quotations from Matthew with references to Luke, John, Acts, Romans, Thessalonians, I Peter; and speaks of “The Gospel” as an already written document.
Therefore, these present day scholars who eliminate verses of the Bible, merely because they do not exist in some of the earliest Codices are falling into the Gnostic trap. The removal of these Bible verses from our modern translations started with two Greek scholars who were not believers, and influenced greatly by the Gnostic heresies. Their names were Brooke Foss Westcott and Fenton John Anthony Hort. They denied the deity of Jesus Christ and opposed the Bible literally concerning atonement and salvation through Jesus. They began work in 1853 to reissue a revised edition of the Greek New Testament. Up until this time, the received text of Erasmus, the Textus Receptus, was the standard for our Bible. In 1881, Westcott and Hort published a revised New Testament eliminating these precious verses of our Bible, thus forcing the Gnostic heresies into the Christian Church again. These missing texts, of which there are 26 passages of Scripture, totaling about 48 verses, show the underlying topics of Christianity, namely, the deity of Christ, His atonement, and His resurrection. The Gnostics did not believe in these fundamentals; therefore, this explains why these verses are missing. Also, knowing that the Gnostics headquarters were in Alexandria, the same location as these early Codices, proves that these are heretical and corrupted forms of Scripture and should not be considered.
Another unique way, and possibly the best way we know that the last 12 verses of Mark were written in the original Bible, is hidden within the text. We see the fingerprints of the original Author, the Holy Spirit, in these 12 verses. God knew the Gnostics would try to steal the Word of God and hide the Truth, so He implanted a security system within the text. Let’s take a look at this infallible system God implanted into His Word. I am indebted to Chuck Missler for the following facts.
Another unique way, and possibly the best way we know that the last 12 verses of Mark were written in the original Bible, is hidden within the text. We see the fingerprints of the original Author, the Holy Spirit, in these 12 verses. God knew the Gnostics would try to steal the Word of God and hide the Truth, so He implanted a security system within the text. Let’s take a look at this infallible system God implanted into His Word. I am indebted to Chuck Missler for the following facts.
The Hidden Fingerprints of God written within the text
Everyone who explores their Bible quickly discovers the pervasiveness of Seven: there are over 600 explicit occurrences of "sevens" throughout both the Old and New Testaments. As many of our readers are aware, there are also prevalent evidences of design hidden behind the text. The "Heptadic" (sevenfold) structure of Biblical text is one of the remarkable characteristics of its authenticity. The last 12 verses of Mark 16 are full of these heptadic occurrences. For example:
- There are 175 (7 x 25) words in the Greek text of Mark 16:9-20. Curious. These words use a total vocabulary of 98 different words (7 x 14), also an exact multiple of seven. That's also rather striking.
- Try constructing a passage in which both the number of words and the number of letters are precisely divisible by seven (with no remainder)! The random chance of a number being precisely divisible by 7 is one chance in seven. In seven tries, there will be an average of six failures.
- The chance of two numbers both being divisible by 7 exactly is one in 72, or one in 49. (This is a convenient simplification; some mathematical statisticians would argue the chance is one in 91.5 ) This still might be viewed as an accidental occurrence, or the casual contrivance of a clever scribe. But let's look further.
- The number of letters in this passage is 553, also a precise multiple of seven (7 x 79). This is getting a bit more tricky. The chance of three numbers accidentally being precisely divisible by seven is one in 73, or one in 343. This increasingly appears to be suspiciously deliberate.
- In fact, the number of vowels is 294 (7 x 42); and the number of consonants is 259 (7 x 37). Do you sense that someone has gone through a lot of trouble to hide a design or signature behind this text?
- As we examine the vocabulary of those 98 (7 x 14) words: 84 (7 x 12) are found before in Mark; 14 (7 x 2) are found only here. 42 (7 x 6) are found in the Lord's address (vv.15-18); 56 (7 x 8) are not part of His vocabulary here.
This is, conspicuously, not random chance at work, but highly skillful design. But just how skillful? With 10 such heptadic features, it would take 710, or 282,475,249 attempts for these to occur by chance alone. How long would it take the composer to redraft an alternative attempt to obtain the result he was looking for? If he could accomplish an attempt in only 10 minutes, working 8 hours a day, 40 hours a week, 50 weeks a year, these would take him over 23,540 years!
But there's more.
But there's more.
It gets worse. Greek, like Hebrew, has assigned numerical values to each letter of its alphabet. Thus, each word also has a numerical ("gematrical") value.
Just as we encounter coding devices in our high technology environments, here we have an automatic security system that monitors every letter of every word, that never rusts or wears out, and has remained in service for almost two thousand years! It is a signature that can't be erased, and which counterfeiters can't simulate.
Why are we surprised? God has declared that He "has magnified His word even above His name!" We can, indeed, have confidence that, in fact, the Bible is God's Holy Word, despite the errors man has introduced and the abuse it has suffered throughout the centuries. It is our most precious possession-individually as well as collectively. And it never ceases to unveil surprises to anyone that diligently inquires into it.
- The total word forms in the passage are 133 (7 x 19). 112 of them (7 x 16) occur only once, leaving 21 (7 x 3) of them occurring more than once; in fact, these occur 63 (7 x 9) times.
- If we examine more closely the 175 words (7x 25), we discover that 56 (7 x 8) words appear in the address of the Lord and 119 (7 x 17) appear in the rest of the passage.
- We discover that verses 9-11 involve 35 words (7 x 5).
- Verses 12-18, 105 (7 x 15) words
- verse 12, 14 (7 x 2) words
- verses 13-15, 35 (7 x 5) words
- verses 16-18, 56 (7 x 8) words
- The conclusion, verses 19-20, contains 35 (7 x 5) words.
It gets worse. Greek, like Hebrew, has assigned numerical values to each letter of its alphabet. Thus, each word also has a numerical ("gematrical") value.
- The total numerical value of the passage is 103,656 (7 x 14,808).
- The value of v.9 is 11,795 (7 x 1,685);
- v.10 is 5,418 (7 x 774);
- v.11 is 11,795 (7 x 1,685);
- vv.12-20, 86,450 (7 x 12,350).
Just as we encounter coding devices in our high technology environments, here we have an automatic security system that monitors every letter of every word, that never rusts or wears out, and has remained in service for almost two thousand years! It is a signature that can't be erased, and which counterfeiters can't simulate.
Why are we surprised? God has declared that He "has magnified His word even above His name!" We can, indeed, have confidence that, in fact, the Bible is God's Holy Word, despite the errors man has introduced and the abuse it has suffered throughout the centuries. It is our most precious possession-individually as well as collectively. And it never ceases to unveil surprises to anyone that diligently inquires into it.
The Greek New Testament compared with other secular documents
extually, we are able to restore over 99.8 percent of the original autographs from all the writings of the New Testament. There is no justifiable basis to doubt the integrity and accuracy of the New Testament writers. The New Testament passes the secular, bibliographical tests receiving the highest mark of any ancient literature. The great Greek scholar A.T. Robertson said that the real concern is only with a thousandth part of the entire text. According to Robertson, this would make the New Testament 99.9% free of significant variants.
John Ankerberg and John Weldon note “For everything else in life, we must base our decisions on degrees of probability. One hundred percent certainty is not available for anything in life, including life itself, so it can hardly be argued that a 99 percent degree of probability for inerrancy is irrelevant. People buy houses, drive cars, and get married taking much higher degrees of risk than this.” There is more proof for a greater reliability for the writing of the scriptures to be accurate than anything else in life.
Now let us scrutinize the authenticity of the New Testament with the same degree of bibliographical tests that the world uses for its great manuscripts. There are approximately 16 well-known classical authors, for example, Plutarch, I Tacitus, Sentonius, Polybius, Thucydides, Xenophon, etc. The earliest copies date from the range of 750 to 1600 years after the original manuscript was first penned. The total number of copies is usually less than ten, and our knowledge of these works depends on a few manuscripts. When we compare this to the amount of manuscripts there are for the New Testament, there is no contest. The abundance of manuscript evidence far surpasses any other in ancient literature. For instance:
The New Testament is the most highly documented book from the ancient world. J. Harold Greenlee states the available manuscripts of the NT is overwhelmingly greater than those of any work of ancient literature…and the earliest extant manuscripts are written much closer to the date of the original writings, (Introduction to the New Testament textual criticism p.25).
Dr. F. F. Bruce, states of the New Testament: “There is no body of ancient literature in the world which enjoys such a wealth of good textual attestation as the New Testament.” Professor Bruce further comments, “The evidence for our New Testament writings is ever so much greater than the evidence for many writings of classical writers, the authenticity of which no one dreams of questioning. And if the New Testament were a collection of secular writings, their authenticity would generally be regarded as beyond all doubt.”
Frederick Kenyon points out that the Bible has the most reliable manuscripts in the world when compared with any other ancient book. “Scholars are satisfied that they possess substantially the true text of the principal Greek and Roman writers whose works have come down to us, of Sophocles, of Thucydides, of Cicero, of Virgil; yet our knowledge of their writing depends on a mere handful of manuscripts, whereas the manuscripts of the New Testament are counted by hundreds, and even thousands.”
In Frederick Kenyon’s book, The Bible and Archaeology, he states, “The interval, then, between the dates of original composition and the earliest extant evidence becomes so small as to be in fact negligible, and the last foundation for any doubt, that the Scriptures have come down to us substantially as they were written, has now been removed. Both the authenticity and the general integrity of the books of the New Testament may be regarded as finally established.” (Sir Fredric Kenyon, The Bible and Archaeology, 1940, 288).[1]
[1] http://www.letusreason.org/Apolo22.htm
John Ankerberg and John Weldon note “For everything else in life, we must base our decisions on degrees of probability. One hundred percent certainty is not available for anything in life, including life itself, so it can hardly be argued that a 99 percent degree of probability for inerrancy is irrelevant. People buy houses, drive cars, and get married taking much higher degrees of risk than this.” There is more proof for a greater reliability for the writing of the scriptures to be accurate than anything else in life.
Now let us scrutinize the authenticity of the New Testament with the same degree of bibliographical tests that the world uses for its great manuscripts. There are approximately 16 well-known classical authors, for example, Plutarch, I Tacitus, Sentonius, Polybius, Thucydides, Xenophon, etc. The earliest copies date from the range of 750 to 1600 years after the original manuscript was first penned. The total number of copies is usually less than ten, and our knowledge of these works depends on a few manuscripts. When we compare this to the amount of manuscripts there are for the New Testament, there is no contest. The abundance of manuscript evidence far surpasses any other in ancient literature. For instance:
- Aristophanes, 451-383BC, there are 10 copies from 900AD, a span of 1,300 years.
- Sophocles, a playwright, wrote Oedipus trilogy 496-406BC, his earliest copy is 1000 AD, a time span of 1,400 years and there are 193 copies.
- 9-10 good copies of Caesar's gallic Wars originally written anywhere from 100-44BC.
- 7 copies of Plato dated around 1000 years after its original authorship of about 427-327BC.
- 20 copies of Livy's Roman History, dated about 1,200 years after it was originally written in 59BC-17AD
- 2 copies of Tacitus' Annals written in 100 AD; copies we have are from 1,000 years after,
- 8 copies of Thucydides' History originally written in 460-400 BC; copies we have are from 1,300 years after.
- 9 copies from Euripedes originally written in 480-406 BC; copies are from 1500 years after.
- 5 copies Aristotle originally written in 384-322 BC; copies we have are from 1,400 years after.
- The most documented secular work from the ancient world is Homers Illiad -- surviving on 643 manuscript copies.
The New Testament is the most highly documented book from the ancient world. J. Harold Greenlee states the available manuscripts of the NT is overwhelmingly greater than those of any work of ancient literature…and the earliest extant manuscripts are written much closer to the date of the original writings, (Introduction to the New Testament textual criticism p.25).
Dr. F. F. Bruce, states of the New Testament: “There is no body of ancient literature in the world which enjoys such a wealth of good textual attestation as the New Testament.” Professor Bruce further comments, “The evidence for our New Testament writings is ever so much greater than the evidence for many writings of classical writers, the authenticity of which no one dreams of questioning. And if the New Testament were a collection of secular writings, their authenticity would generally be regarded as beyond all doubt.”
Frederick Kenyon points out that the Bible has the most reliable manuscripts in the world when compared with any other ancient book. “Scholars are satisfied that they possess substantially the true text of the principal Greek and Roman writers whose works have come down to us, of Sophocles, of Thucydides, of Cicero, of Virgil; yet our knowledge of their writing depends on a mere handful of manuscripts, whereas the manuscripts of the New Testament are counted by hundreds, and even thousands.”
In Frederick Kenyon’s book, The Bible and Archaeology, he states, “The interval, then, between the dates of original composition and the earliest extant evidence becomes so small as to be in fact negligible, and the last foundation for any doubt, that the Scriptures have come down to us substantially as they were written, has now been removed. Both the authenticity and the general integrity of the books of the New Testament may be regarded as finally established.” (Sir Fredric Kenyon, The Bible and Archaeology, 1940, 288).[1]
[1] http://www.letusreason.org/Apolo22.htm