Can we trust the copies?

The best-copied book of the ancient world.

Nobody has the original of any ancient book, only copies. Historians trust Tacitus, even though his major works come down to us mainly through two medieval manuscripts. Now count the New Testament's.

A small, ragged scrap of papyrus with a few lines of Greek letters. — Papyrus 52, a scrap of John 18 usually dated to the 2nd century and generally accepted as the oldest surviving piece of the New Testament. John Rylands Library, Manchester.Photo: John Rylands Library, University of Manchester · Public domain

Tacitus's major works0

main manuscripts

The New Testament0

Greek manuscripts, plus about 10,000 in Latin

The copies are closer, too. Our oldest copy of Tacitus's report on Christus was made more than 900 years after he wrote it. Papyrus 52, a scrap of John's Gospel, is usually dated within about a century of the original. More copies don't prove the events happened. They do mean we know what the writers actually wrote.

Check it yourself:New Testament manuscripts How Tacitus survives Papyrus 52

Go deeperSee the manuscripts yourself: the Center for the Study of New Testament Manuscripts Up nextThree copies, one original.