Manuscripts of the New Testament

The New Testament is preserved in a remarkable wealth of manuscript evidence — over 5,800 Greek manuscripts, ranging from tiny papyrus fragments to complete parchment codices, plus over 10,000 Latin manuscripts and 9,300 manuscripts in other ancient versions. This textual tradition far surpasses any other ancient document in both quantity and proximity to the original compositions. Manuscripts are categorized by material (papyrus, vellum/parchment, paper), by script (uncial/majuscule, minuscule, lectionary), and by age. The earliest substantial fragments include P52 (Rylands Papyrus, John 18:31–33, c. 125 A.D.) and P66 (Bodmer II, Gospel of John, c. 200 A.D.). The great fourth-century codices — Codex Sinaiticus (ℵ) and Codex Vaticanus (B) — preserve complete or nearly complete NTs. Textual critics organize manuscripts into text-types: Alexandrian, Western, and Byzantine (or Majority Text). The discipline of textual criticism seeks to reconstruct the most original text by evaluating variants; modern critical editions (Nestle-Aland, UBS Greek NT) reflect the consensus of this scholarship. No major Christian doctrine hangs on any disputed textual variant.