Ancient Greek Philosophers and Poets

Ancient philosophers Aristotle and Plato lived around 400 years before Christ. The earliest copies of their writings date to 600-700 years after they lived. There are no original manuscripts from these men. There are only facsimiles of their work, copies made by others and handed down over time. The Greek poet Homer lived 800-900 years BC. The oldest facsimile of his work (Ilias Ambrosiana) dates to AD 400-500. That is over a thousand years after Homer lived.

How we view the works of ancient Philosophers and Poets

Their schools of thought are taught in colleges, there are countless books on these men, countless commentaries on their works. A person can major in the school of Philosophy, based on the writings of these men and many others from that time. Modern medicine for example considers Hippocrates, who also lived around 400 BC, the father of modern medicine. Pythagoras, best known in the modern day for the Pythagorean Theorem, was born 570 BC. Credence is given to these men and their works, yet there are no original documents from any of their hands.

Hand Written

There were no printing presses in antiquity, documents were copied by hand. Yet we still believe that Aristotle, Plato, Homer, Hippocrates, and Pythagoras existed and that their works have endured over time. We believe them to be men who walked this earth, we believe them to be historical figures, as we should.

New Testament Manuscripts - Stunningly Close to the times of the original writings

Compare those works of the Greek philosophers and poets to some New Testament manuscripts which proclaim Christ. One copy is Papyrus 52 (P52), which contains part of the Gospel of John. This document dates to only 35-85 years after the original Gospel of John was written, by the Apostle John himself. John was a disciple and witness to Christ, and this ancient manuscript, P52, was written within 140 years of when Jesus Christ walked this earth and was most likely in circulation along with the original Gospel of John. There is no copy of any ancient classical writing that comes as close to its original as the New Testament manuscripts come to the original Biblical writings. Ancient manuscripts such as P52 and P90 are stunningly close to the actual events of the Bible and the person of Christ. These writings display strong evidence to the eye witness accounts of Christ. Many of these manuscripts have been found in the last 100 years. And although there are variants between different texts, they do not change the message or the theology of scripture. Variants such as in the book of Acts 26:23 regarding the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, one text says "Christ", but another says "Messiah". Both are speaking of Jesus Christ.

Surviving Antiquity and Persecution

There are thousands of ancient New Testament manuscripts, some full, some partial, some fragmented, which are in line, that is, in agreement with themselves and in doctrinal agreement with the Bible that we have today. The uniformity of many of these ancient texts existed over 200 years before the Roman Emperor Constantine formalized Christianity. They were not written by one centralized controlling group of people nor were they modified by Constantine as modern books and movies fictionalize. The original texts, first written by the Apostles and witnesses to Christ, were then copied over time by persecuted people who were scattered throughout the world. These textual transmissions, for many of these manuscripts, occurred before the birth of Constantine. Beginning AD 64 Christianity was largely outlawed by the Roman Empire. Anyone caught copying these documents could be persecuted or killed. Though New Testament manuscripts were outlawed and though many were destroyed, they continued to spread. They were written in various languages such as Syriac (ancient Arabic), Coptic (ancient Egyptian), Ethiopic (Africa), Gothic (Europe), and Greek, despite the efforts of those seeking their eradication. Again, what is so amazing about the manuscripts is that, though they were copied by a scattered and persecuted people in various places, they agree with each other and they are in doctrinal agreement with our Bible today. This was a movement focused on preserving and spreading the same canonical letters and texts, those being the books of our New Testament.

References:

Michael Kruger: How Did We Get the Bible?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DTki0ESXIJk

The Center for the Study of New Testament Manuscripts

https://www.csntm.org/

James White: How We Got Our Bible

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uTeLO-61FAA