Ancient Sources Compared to New Testament copies

Author Book Date Written Earliest Copies Time Gap Numbers of early copies
Homer Iliad 800 BC c. 400 BC c. 400 years 643
Herodotus History 480-425 BC c.AD900 c. 1,350 yrs. 8
Thucydides History 460-400 BC c. AD 900 c. 1,300 yrs. 8
Plato Surviving works 400 BC c. AD 900 c. 1,300 yrs. 7
Demosthenes Surviving works 300 BC c. AD 1100 c. 1,400 yrs. 200
Julius Caesar Gallic Wars  c. 54 BC (lived 100-44 BC) c. AD 900 c. 1,000 yrs. 10
Livy History of Rome ?-AD17
(lived 59BC-AD 17)

4th century
(partial)
10th century
c.400 yrs
c 1,000
1 partial
 
19 copies
Tacitus Annals c. AD 100 c. AD 1100 c. 1,000 yrs. 20
Pliny the Younger Natural History c. AD 100 C, AD 850 c. 750 yrs. 7
New Testament 27 books AD 50-70 (some scholars date Revelation as late as AD100) c.114
fragments
c. 200 books   c. 250 New Testament (most)
c. 325 New Testament (complete)
10 – 50 yrs.
 
70-100 years
100-150 yrs.  
 
 
200-225 yrs.
5366

 

Early Patristic Quotations from the New Testament
(from their surviving works)

Writer Gospel Acts of Apostles Pauline Epistles Catholic Epistles Revelation Total

Justin Martyr

268 10 43 6 3
(266 allusions)
330
Irenaeus, Bishop of Lyon 1,038 194 499 23 65

1,819

Clement of Alexandria

1,017

44

1,127

207

11

2,406

Origen

9,231

349

7,778

399

165

17,922

Tertullian

3,822

502

2,609

120

205

7,258

Hippolytus

734

42

387

27

188

1,378

Eusebius

3,258

211

1,592

88

27

5,176

Totals

19,368

1,352

14,035

870

664

36,289

Charts inspired from Evidence That Demands a Verdict, page 55

 

·        Papias: Now Matthew made an ordered arrangement of the oracles in the Hebrew language, and each one translated it as he was able.

·        Irenaeus wrote of Papias: ...a hearer of John and a companion of Polycarp.

"(Polycarp) had familiar intercourse with John and with others who had seen the Lord."

of the Apostle Matthew: "Matthew also among the Hebrews published a written gospel in their own dialect, when Peter and Paul were preaching in Rome and founding the Church there."(c. 180AD)

·        Irenaeus wrote of himself: that he ...had the preaching of the Apostles still echoing in his ears and their doctrine in front of his eyes.

·        Polycarp wrote: "of the apostles who preached to us.."

·        Eusebius wrote 4th century of Pantaenus (teacher of Clement of Alexandria) circa 150-215,  (He) went to India, and the tradition is that he there found his arrival anticipated by some who were acquainted with the gospel according to Matthew; for Bartholomew, one of the Apostles, had preached to them and left them the writing of Matthew in Hebrew letters, and this writing was preserved until the time mentioned.

·        St. Jerome finished the official Latin Vulgate 407AD.  He testified that when he translated Matthew he worked with an ancient copy of Matthew's Gospel written in Hebrew.

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