Manuscript Tradition

Early Witnesses

Codex Sinaiticus is a mid-fourth-century Greek manuscript containing the earliest complete New Testament known to survive, as well as most of the Old Testament; its discovery at St. Catherine's Monastery by Constantin von Tischendorf profoundly shaped modern textual scholarship.

Early Witnesses

The John Rylands Papyrus 457 is a fragment of John's Gospel containing portions of chapter 18, palaeographically dated to the first half of the second century — the earliest known witness to any New Testament text.

Textual Evidence

The New Testament has more manuscript evidence than any other ancient text by a wide margin.

Manuscript Evidence

The Dead Sea Scrolls dramatically confirmed the accurate transmission of the Old Testament text across 1,000 years.

Inscriptional Evidence

Two tiny silver scrolls found in a Jerusalem tomb contain the oldest known text of Scripture, dating to the 7th century BC.

Textual Transmission

The Septuagint — the Greek translation of the Old Testament completed between the third and first centuries BC — became the primary Old Testament for Greek-speaking Christians, and its readings are quoted directly by New Testament writers, preserving textual traditions older than the medieval Masoretic manuscripts.