Woman to Woman
Vol. 6, No. 2
“And ye are complete in him.” Colossians 2:10
Mar./Apr. 2003
Archaeology and History
Attest to the Reliability of the Bible
Richard M. Fales, Ph.D.
The Bible is still the
world’s best seller, and has been
translated into more than 1400
languages. It was written over a
period of 1500 years by kings,
statesmen, prophetic seers, in-
tellectuals, and commoners. All
66 books of the Bible are
uniquely in harmony and agreement with each other.
In contrast to the fans of the Bible, critics looking for the
flyspeck in the masterpiece allege that there was a long span
of time between the events recorded in the New Testament
and the writing down of those events. Then they say another
gap exists archaeologically between the earliest copies made
from the autographs of the New Testament. In reality, the al-
leged spaces and so called gaps exist only in the minds of the
critics.
Notice how no other ancient book’s text is questioned or
maligned like that of the Bible. For instance, Aristotle’s Ode
to Poetics was written between 384-322 BC. Our earliest
copy of this work dates 1100 AD, and we find there are only
49 extant manuscripts. Note that the gap between the origi-
nal writing and the earliest copy is 1400 years. A second ex-
ample is Plato’s Tetralogies, written 427-347 BC. Our
earliest copy is 900 AD, and there are only 7 extant manu-
scripts to study. The gap between the original and the earliest
copy is 1200 years. What about the New Testament? Jesus
was crucified in 30 AD. The New Testament was written be-
tween 48-95 AD. The oldest mss date to the last quarter of
the first century, and the second oldest 125 AD. This gives
us a narrow gap of 35 to 40 years from the originals written
by the apostles. From the early centuries, we have some
5300 Greek mss of the New Testament. Altogether, includ-
ing Syriac, Latin, Coptic and Aramaic, we have a whopping
total of 24,633 texts of the ancient New Testament to con-
firm the wording of the New Testament scriptures. So the
bottom line is, there was no great time period between the
events of the New Testament and the New Testament writ-
ings. Nor is there a great lapse of time between the original
writings and the oldest copies. This means that with the great
body of mss evidence, it can also be proved, beyond a doubt,
that the New Testament says exactly the same things today
as it originally did nearly 2000 years ago.
Critics also charge that there are not ancient writings
about Jesus outside the New Testament. This is another ri-
diculous claim. Writings that confirm His birth, ministry,
death, and resurrection are found in Flavius Josephus (AD
93), the Babylonian Talmud (70-200 AD), Pliny the Youn-
ger’s letter to the Emperor Trajan in about 100 AD, the An-
nals of Tacitus (115-117 AD), Mara Bar Serapion
(sometime after 73 AD), and Suetonius’ Life of Claudius
and Life of Nero (120 AD). Another point of contention
arises when critics of the Bible have knowingly or unknow-
Inside This Issue:
Editorial
Winter Bound ·················· Page2
The Heart of God - Part 2 ············· Page4
Spotlight on Orphans
Hopefor“HomaBayHopeCentre” ······ Page6
APleafromPeru ················ Page7
A Page from My Experience
AnAmazingPenPal ·············· Page8
The Coming of His Feet ·············· Page8
Happy Homemaking and Family Harmony
AreYouJusttheChore-Giver?········· Page9
Health is Wealth
Fearfully and Wonderfully Made (Part 5) · · · Page 10
Recipe Corner
GarbanzoSalad ················ Page12
(Continued on page 5)
