The time gap between the original composition of New Testament texts (c. 50–100 CE) and the earliest surviving manuscripts (e.g., P52, c. 125–150 CE) is 25–100 years, shorter than for most ancient texts (e.g., Iliad’s gap is ~400 years). For the Old Testament, the Dead Sea Scrolls (c. 250 BCE) are within 1,000 years of some original texts (e.g., Isaiah, c. 8th century BCE).
Statistical Insight: The small time gap reduces the likelihood of significant textual corruption. Statistical models of textual transmission (e.g., stemmatics) show that multiple early copies increase the probability of reconstructing the original text accurately.
