The evidence for our New Testament writings is ever so much greater than the evidence for many writings of classical authors, the authenticity of which no-one dreams of questioning. And if the New Testament were a collection of secular writings, their authenticity would generally be regarded as beyond all doubt. - F.F. Bruce

The reliability of the Gospels is only as good as the copies which have survived. It does us no good to read John and Matthew's eyewitness accounts of Jesus if their work has been edited and corrupted in the two thousand years since they were written. Since we do not have an original copy of any of the New Testament books, how can we be certain we are reading anything close to what was originally written?

We have more ancient copies of the New Testament than any other book of it's time period. There are approximately 5,000 ancient Greek manuscripts, some as early as the second century. There exist complete copies of the four gospels and book of Acts from the 3rd century and portions of Paul's letters and the Gospel of John from the 2nd century, less than 100 years after they were written. One portion of John's Gospel was recently found in Egypt and is believed to have been copied between 100 and 150 A.D., no more than 50 years after it was written. There are over 24,000 ancient manuscripts in various languages.

For comparison purposes, the only ancient text with even close to this many manuscripts is Homer's Iliad, of which there are less than 650 copies, with the earliest being more than 1,000 years after it was written in about 800 B.C.

Though no two manuscripts are identical, the amount of consistency is remarkable. By combing through the earliest manuscripts and those which have the most in common, scholars are able to come extremely close to the original texts. Modern Biblical scholars estimate that the New Testament we have today is 99.5 percent identical to the original documents. Of the very small number of passages which are uncertain or in dispute, none contain any doctrine or teaching which would undermine the key Christian tenets of Christ's resurrection and divinity. All of the manuscripts, including the earliest known, affirm these core Christian beliefs.

With such a compelling number of ancient manuscripts providing an accurate reconstruction of the New Testament, we can know with great certainty what the New Testament authors wrote and we can be sure that their words have been persevered for us during these two thousand years.