Original gospels?

[Shredderbeam]

Do the original gospels still exist? I had thought that they existed among the Dead Sea Scrolls, but apparently they do not.

I apologize if this is not the correct section.

 

[DavidFilmer]

Do the original gospels still exist?

We don’t possess any of the original writings (and this is true for the entire Bible, both OT and NT). The content of the writings has been substantially preserved (though not verbatim), largely through the scholarly efforts of St. Jerome as he compiled the Latin Vulgate using the best available Greek manuscripts.

Jerome lamented that none of the manuscripts perfectly agreed. He said, “I find as many versions as I find copies.” He used an early form of the science of textual criticism to unify the various Greek texts into a single Latin translation.

Because we possess no original texts, we have only the authority of the Catholic Church to assure us of the accuracy and authenticity of the Scriptures.

 

[Eucharisted]

Do the original gospels still exist? I had thought that they existed among the Dead Sea Scrolls, but apparently they do not.

I apologize if this is not the correct section.

The original gospels are over 2000 years old, so the likelyhood of them existing is slim. But God works in mysterious ways; He could be preserving them for future times, as He dose for other important things (like dinosaur bones and arcitecture and documents).

We do have copies of the Bible, though, like the Greek Codex, which you can read here: codexsinaiticus.org/en/manuscript.aspx

 

[DavidFilmer]

We don’t possess any of the original writings (and this is true for the entire Bible, both OT and NT).

I might also mention that this holds true for a vast body of ancient writings. For example, we do not possess so much as an original fragment containing just one original single letter of the writings of Herodotus, Thucydides, Plato, Aristotle, Hippocrates, Galen, Euclid, Archidmeds, Apollonius (of Perga), Nicomachus, Lucretius, Epicttus, Virgil, Plutarch, Tactus, Potolemy, Copernicus, or Kepler.

We know Julius Caesar crossed the Rubicon River, but we have no original account. We know that Xerces invaded Greece, but we have no original account. These examples could be multiplied by thousands upon thousands.

 

[Shredderbeam]

All right, thank you all for answering my question.

 

[Fidelis]

Do the original gospels still exist? I had thought that they existed among the Dead Sea Scrolls, but apparently they do not.

I apologize if this is not the correct section.

The Dead Sea Scrolls only contained writings from the Old Testament and writings from the Dead Sea Scroll community, a sect called the Essenes.

They were a highly ascetic and apocalyptic Jewish sect slightly pre-dating and co-existent with very early Christianity and were primarily based at the Qumran community located on the shores of the Dead Sea. They were apparently destroyed by the Romans about the same time Jerusalem was destroyed, about 70 AD.

Some have speculated that they were influential with John the Baptist and even Jesus, but there is no direct evidence for this.

 

[Fidelis]

The original gospels are over 2000 years old, so the likelyhood of them existing is slim. But God works in mysterious ways; He could be preserving them for future times, as He dose for other important things (like dinosaur bones and arcitecture and documents).

I’ve never thought it before, but if the Dead Sea Scrolls (which are only slightly older than the first New Testament writings) could be preserved, why couldn’t it be possible for original copies of the Gospels and Paul’s writings be preserved in the same way?

Of course it would be almost impossible to prove if they were THE original copies, but still…

 

[redhen]

I believe this is still the oldest NT text found to date, c. 125–150 AD.

kchanson.com/ANCDOCS/greek/johnpap.html

 

[DavidFilmer]

I’ve never thought it before, but if the Dead Sea Scrolls (which are only slightly older than the first New Testament writings) could be preserved, why couldn’t it be possible for original copies of the Gospels and Paul’s writings be preserved in the same way?

It is surely possible. The DSS were (first) discovered in 1947 - practically “yesterday” considering their age. Who knows what may be discovered in a cave “tomorrow.” We might even dig up (and authenticate) Zero Corinthians (which would put the protestant world in a tizzy).

But, so far, this has not happened, and IMHO it will never happen. God did not entrust the authority of the Church to ancient parchment, so there is no Divine reason to preserve such parchment. It might have been preserved as a matter of chance, but this seems unlikely considering how many OTHER original documents from this era have survived to present times.