New Testament Manuscripts and Why They’re Important

New Testament manuscripts are handwritten copies of the biblical text dating from the second century (AD 200) up to the mid-nineteenth century. The majority of NT MSS, however, were published prior to 1454 when Gutenberg’s printing press revolutionized book publishing. Ever since the first apostle set pen to parchment, faithful believers have been copying (or commissioning scribes to copy) the books of the New Testament for their use in church and home. Since at least the second century, translations of the Greek NT were being made into Latin and Syriac as well as Ethiopic, Gothic, Armenian, and Georgian. Since Greek NT MSS are the foundation of faithful Bible translation, they will be the focus of this article.

The number of Greek NT MSS is astounding relative to any other written texts from antiquity, often described as an “embarrassment of riches.” While copies of Homer’s Iliad—arguably the most important text in Greco-Roman society—currently number 1,535 manuscripts, the Greek NT MSS alone number close to 6,000. These MSS can be subdivided into four distinct groups:

Papyri

The fewest in number (approximately 155), the papyri are a classification of manuscript in which the text is written on sheets of papyrus. Mostly found in Egypt where hot, arid climate has preserved the papyri, they date from the second to seventh centuries. They are identifiable in an NT apparatus as “P” + a number (i.e., P46).

Majuscules

The majuscules are parchment manuscripts written in an uppercase Greek form throughout. These number approximately 338 and date from the fourth to eighth centuries. In an NT apparatus, they are indicated by a zero followed by a number (i.e., 0234).

Minuscules

Numbering approximately 2,958 manuscripts, the minuscules are the largest category of NT MSS. They are written in a lowercase form of Greek. The earliest of these is dated from AD 835 and written on parchment. From the twelfth century on, paper was used.

Lectionaries

Lectionaries were used for reading in a church setting and date from the eighth to the sixteenth century. They differ from the papyri, majuscules, and minuscules in that they include segments of NT books; the previous three categories include entire books normally in proper order. They were written in the majuscule (uppercase) script and number approximately 2,501 manuscripts.

Codices

While the most NT MSS include portions or fragments of NT books, if portions of the parchment have been lost, there are four significant manuscript witnesses that contain the entire text of the Bible. These codices (or entire “books”) include Codex Sinaiticus, Codex Vaticanus, Codex Alexandrinus, and Codex Ephraemi Rescriptus.

Significant manuscripts

Although the total number of manuscripts from every category is large, a few NT MSS are more critical due to age, condition, and provenance:

Chester Beatty Papyri P45—third century P46—c. 200; oldest witness of Paul’s Epistles P47—late third century

Bodmer Papyri P66—third to fourth century; portions of John P75—third to fourth century; portions of Luke and John P127—fourth century; book of Acts

Codices Codex Sinaiticus (01)—mid-fourth century Codex Alexandrinus (02)—fifth century Codex Vaticanus (03)—mid-fourth century Codex Ephraemi Rescriptus (04)—mid-fifth century. Original biblical text lies under later addition (a palimpsest) Codex Bezae (05)—c. 400 Codex Claromontanus (06)—sixth century

Majuscules 032 (The Freer Gospels)—fifth century 041—ninth century

Minuscules 1—twelfth century 1582—c. 948 13—thirteenth century 35—eleventh century 1739—c. 948

New discoveries

A little over half a dozen new NT MSS have been discovered every year over the past two decades. One highly publicized and recent find is the earliest known fragment of Mark 1, known officially as P137 (or P. Oxy. LXXXIII 5345) discovered in 2011. Although initial reports indicated a possible first-century date, later analysis suggests a date range of AD 150–250. While not from the first century, P137 brings the total number of NT MSS dated from the second century to 19. Further research may discover copies from the first century itself. Nonetheless, the text underlying our Bibles today in any translation will likely never change by any significant degree. Most of the earlier discoveries cohere entirely with the vast majority of other Greek NT MSS.

Video lectures

• The Basics of New Testament Textual Criticism
  Dan Wallace of the Center for the Study of New Testament Manuscripts presents a series of courses on NT textual criticism, including prolonged discussion of NT manuscripts.


• Manuscripts of the New Testament vs. The Gnostic Gospels
  Faithlife past resident scholar Mike Heiser discusses the reliability of the NT MSS and their history of transmission.


• Is the Original New Testament Lost?
  In this highly professional debate, Dan Wallace and Bart Ehrman discuss the origin, transmission, and reliability of the NT MSS. The debate concludes with an extended Q&A.

Essential monographs

Other links

• Center for the Study of New Testament Manuscripts (CSNTM) – The CSNTM was founded by Dan Wallace of Dallas Theological Seminary in 2002 and has since produced hundreds of thousands of digital images of NT MSS—and discovered dozens more. The CSNTM seeks to bring the latest technology to bear on the study of NT MSS.
• Digitized Manuscripts, the British Library – This searchable database by the British Library contains over 600 NT MSS, with plans to add more.
• Text and Canon Institute – Based at Phoenix Seminary, the Text and Canon Institute is devoted to the study of ancient OT and NT MSS, including text criticism and the history of the canon.
• Codex Sinaiticus Online – Codex Sinaiticus is the oldest Christian Bible in existence and contains the oldest complete copy of the New Testament in Greek. This online resource contains high-definition, searchable images of the entire codex.
• Evangelical Textual Criticism – This online resource is a “forum for people with knowledge of the Bible in its original languages to discuss its manuscripts and textual history from the perspective of historic evangelical theology.” The contributors are some of the biggest names in evangelical scholarship, and the topics include both OT and NT MSS.

Additional Logos Resources

Logos Courses