[bayourod]

" What we do have is copies of copies of copies. It can be said, however, that today, as a result of careful critical textual study and lots of hard work, we are closer to the original .."

Yes, in fact it was recently discovered that an early monk left out the "R" in the word "celebrate" in a text describing the qualifications of priests, much to the chargrin of thousands of priests.

[restornu]

Thank you bayourod for bring this to my attention!

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The earliest piece of the New Testament we have is a small portion of John 18 copied on a piece of papyrus and dating to about A.D. 125.

Of course we know that the New Testament books were written in the first century A.D.

But we don't have any of the original manuscripts.

What we do have is copies of copies of copies.

It can be said, however, that today, as a result of careful critical textual study and lots of hard work, we are closer to the original form of the Greek text of the New Testament than at any time since at least the third or fourth century A.D.