Archaeological Evidence For The Old Testament
There are over 25,000 manuscripts of the New Testament. Nothing like this exists for any other book in the ancient world. Here are just some of the discoveries archaeologists and scholars have made:
The John Rylands Fragment
The John Rylands Fragment is the oldest New Testament manuscript in the world, dating between AD 117 and AD 138.
The early date of the manuscript confirms that all the original Gospels were written in the first century AD, well within the life spans of witnesses to the events they record.
The Alexandrian fragment is of John’s Gospel, containing part of the five verses from John 18:31-33,37-38.
It is composed on papyrus and its origin is clearly from a codex, thus indicating to many paleographers that New Testament codices did indeed exist in the first century AD.
Joseph M. Holden;Norman Geisler. The Popular Handbook of Archaeology and the Bible: Discoveries That Confirm the Reliability of Scripture (Kindle Locations 1240-1241). Kindle Edition.
The Chester Beatty II Papyri
The Chester Beatty II Papyri are dated to approximately AD 250. This is an excellent lent papyrus codex, demonstrating the duplication of an early-dated exemplarary text.
Although portions of this book have been lost (2 Thessalonians and parts of Romans and I Thessalonians), it still boasts Hebrews and the Pauline epistles of Romans, 1 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians, Ephesians, Galatians, Philippians, and Colossians.
All of these books are embraced within the surviving 86 leaves of 11 by 6.5 inches, which are gathered in a single quire (collection of leaves, or signature nature in modern terminology). Overall the textual fidelity of the scribal hand is admirable.
Joseph M. Holden;Norman Geisler. The Popular Handbook of Archaeology and the Bible: Discoveries That Confirm the Reliability of Scripture (Kindle Locations 1251-1253). Kindle Edition.
Codex Sinaiticus 4th Century AD
Codex Sinaiticus (aleph), discovered in the St. Catherine Monastery of Mount Sinai, is debatably the most critical and valuable manuscript of the New Testament. Dating ing to the middle of the fourth century AD, this vellum codex embodies all of the New Testament with the exception of a few verses (Mark 16:9-20 and John 7: 53-8:11) and the greater half of the Old Testament.
The Alexandrian drian text is remarkably accurate, with limited misspellings and omissions. Codex Sinaiticus is the oldest surviving Greek manuscript of the entire Bible.
Joseph M. Holden;Norman Geisler. The Popular Handbook of Archaeology and the Bible: Discoveries That Confirm the Reliability of Scripture (Kindle Locations 1262-1265). Kindle Edition.
The Codex Vaticanus (Ca. AD 325 and AD 350
This codex contains books of the Old and New Testaments, as well as parts of the Apocrypha. In fact, this parchment/vellum contains all of the New Testament with the exception of the general epistles, Mark 16:9-20, John 7:53-8:11, 1 Timothy through Philemon, and Hebrews 9:14 through the end of Revelation.
It is recognized as one of the greatest collections lections supporting the reliability of the New Testament.
Joseph M. Holden;Norman Geisler. The Popular Handbook of Archaeology and the Bible: Discoveries That Confirm the Reliability of Scripture (Kindle Location 1297). Kindle Edition.
The Codex Alexandrinus 5th Century AD
Copied in the 5th century, Codex Alexandrinus is one of the three early Greek manuscripts that preserve both the Old and the New Testaments together.
Its name (‘Book from Alexandria’) derives from the city of Alexandria in Egypt, where it was preserved before the Greek Patriarch of Alexandria, Cyril Lucar (d. 1638) brought it to Constantinople in 1621. As Greek Orthodox Patriarch, Lucar had close ties to Britain and the Church of England, which supported him in many of his activities. He presented this manuscript as a gift to the ruling monarch, Charles I (r. 1625–1649) in 1627. Arriving in London through the English Ambassador to Istanbul, Codex Alexandrinus became part of the Royal Library. It survived the devastating fire of 1733, when the librarian Richard Bentley (d. 1742) rescued it himself from the flames. It subsequently entered the British Museum and then the British Library.
Codex Alexandrinus contains the entire Bible in Greek, comprising the ancient Greek translation of the Old Testament (Septuagint), together with the New Testament. British Library
The Ephraemi Rescriptus
The Ephraemi Rescriptus has a most distinguished history, attesting to the great achievements made in recovering ancient text invisible to the human eye. Text of both the Old and New Testaments was discovered underneath the text of the sermons of Ephraem contained in this palimpsest rescriptus (that is, used, erased, and rewritten manuscript). Chemical reactivation revealed portions from every NewTestament book except 2 Thessalonians and 2 John, along with parts of the Old Testament. This text dates back to the fifth century AD and was most likely copied in Alexandria.
Joseph M. Holden;Norman Geisler. The Popular Handbook of Archaeology and the Bible: Discoveries That Confirm the Reliability of Scripture (Kindle Locations 1302-1305). Kindle Edition.
The Codex Bezae Cantabrigiensis
The Codex Bezae Cantabrigiensis was discovered in 1562 by the French theologian Theodore de Beze. Most exceptional in its composition is the inclusion of both Greek and Latin texts, making it the oldest discovered bilingual manuscript of the New Testament. The 406 leaves contain the four Gospels, Acts, and 3 John 11-15,
Joseph M. Holden;Norman Geisler. The Popular Handbook of Archaeology and the Bible: Discoveries That Confirm the Reliability of Scripture (Kindle Locations 1305-1307). Kindle Edition.
The Codex Washingtonianus 4th or 5th Century AD
The Codex Washingtonianus is an important manuscript from the fourth or fifth century AD.
The manuscript containing most of the Gospels (missing are 25 verses in Mark and, from John, a part of chapters ters 14 and 16 and all of 15) and portions of the epistles of Paul.
It represents both Byzantine and Alexandrian text-types and is dated to the early fifth century AD or late fourth century AD. This clearly written codex is transcribed on 187 sheets of vellum and is formatted ted in one column.
Joseph M. Holden;Norman Geisler. The Popular Handbook of Archaeology and the Bible: Discoveries That Confirm the Reliability of Scripture (Kindle Locations 1309-1311). Kindle Edition.
The Codex Claromontanus (Date Uncertified)
The Codex Claromontanus was discovered in France and dated to the middle of the sixth century tury AD. In many ways it completes the New Testament ment work of Codex Bezae by embodying many of its missing texts. A Western work, it was transcribed on 533 pages of thin vellum. The bilingual manuscript includes Hebrews as well as the entire collection of Pauline epistles in either or both Greek and Latin.
Joseph M. Holden;Norman Geisler. The Popular Handbook of Archaeology and the Bible: Discoveries That Confirm the Reliability of Scripture (Kindle Locations 1314-1317). Kindle Edition.
The Codex Regius 8th Century AD
The Codex Regius, although poorly written, is significant in its overall agreement with the Vaticanus.
It is composed of the Gospels, with a rather unusual addition making up two endings to Mark’s Gospel. It is dated to the eighth century AD.
Joseph M. Holden;Norman Geisler. The Popular Handbook of Archaeology and the Bible: Discoveries That Confirm the Reliability of Scripture (Kindle Locations 1318-1319). Kindle Edition.
The Codex Athous Laurae
The Codex Athous Laurae contains the Gospels of Luke, John, and part of Mark; as well as Acts, Hebrews, the Pauline epistles, and general epistles. Overall it exemplifies a Byzantine text, but does include parts that are Alexandrian and Western. It dates to the eighth or ninth century AD.
Joseph M. Holden;Norman Geisler. The Popular Handbook of Archaeology and the Bible: Discoveries That Confirm the Reliability of Scripture (Kindle Locations 1319-1321). Kindle Edition.
Codex Augiensis 9th Century AD
The CodexAugiensis is a bilingual manuscript encompassing parts of the epistles of Paul and Hebrews. Written in a Western text-type, this ninth-century AD text includes both Greek and Latin.
Joseph M. Holden;Norman Geisler. The Popular Handbook of Archaeology and the Bible: Discoveries That Confirm the Reliability of Scripture (Kindle Locations 1321-1322). Kindle Edition.
The Codex Boernerianus 9th Century AD
The Codex Boernerianus, embodying Paul’s epistles, may uniquely be of Irish origin. This ninth-century AD codex is bilingual, written in Greek with an interlinear addition of Latin. It is noted for its close affinity to F2, Codex Augiensis.
Joseph M. Holden;Norman Geisler. The Popular Handbook of Archaeology and the Bible: Discoveries That Confirm the Reliability of Scripture (Kindle Locations 1322-1323). Kindle Edition.
The Codex Koridethi
The Codex Koridethi is a manuscript of the Gospels dating to the ninth century AD. Mark resembles the earlier text (third or fourth century AD) employed by Eusebius bius and Origen, whereas Matthew, Luke, and John clearly resemble the Byzantine text.
Joseph M. Holden;Norman Geisler. The Popular Handbook of Archaeology and the Bible: Discoveries That Confirm the Reliability of Scripture (Kindle Location 1324). Kindle Edition.