Содержание
Understanding God's word is of great importance to all who call on God's name. Study of the Bible is one of the primary ways that we learn to communicate with God.
Библия стоит особняком во многих отношениях. Она уникальна по:
popularity. Bible sales in North America: more than $500 million per year. The Bible is both the all-time and year-to-year best seller!
authorship. It was written over a period of 1600 years by 40 different authors from different backgrounds, yet reads as if written by one.
preservation. F. F. Bruce in Are New Testament Documents Reliable? compares New Testament manuscripts with other ancient texts:
Таблица 1.1. Сравнение новозаветних Писаний с другими древними текстами.
| Труд | Когда написаны | Самые ранние копии | Промежуток времени | Число копий |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Геродот | 448-428 г.г. до н.э. | 900 г. н.э. | 1300 лет | 8 |
| Тацит | 100 г. н.э. | 1100 г. н.э. | 1000 лет | 20 |
| Цезарь "Галльские войны" | 50-58 г. до н.э. | 900 г. н.э. | 950 лет | 10 |
| Ливий "Римская история" | 59 г. до н.э. - 17 г. н.э. | 900 г. н.э. | 900 лет | 20 |
| Новый Завет | 40 г. н.э. - 100 г. н.э. | 130 г. н.э. Частичные Писания 350 г. н.э. Полные Писания | 30 - 310 лет | 5000 Греческих и 10000 Латинских |
Ten copies of Caesar's Gallic War exist, the earliest of which was copied 900 years after Caesar wrote the original, etc. For the New Testament we have full manuscripts dating to 350 A. D., papyri containing most of the New Testament from the 200s, and a fragment of John's gospel from 130 A. D. How many manuscripts do we have to compare to each other? 5,000 in Greek and 10,000 in Latin!
"По истинности и полноте доказательств текст Нового Завета остаётся абсолютно и неоспоримо исключительным среди других старинных прозаичных рукописей." | ||
| --Textual critic F. J. A. Hort, "The New Testament in the Original Greek", vol. 1 p561, Macmillan Co., quoted in Questions of Lifep. 25-26 | ||