The Preservation of the Word
Last summer a team from the Center for the Study of New Testament Manuscripts(CSNTM) led by DTS professor Daniel B. Wallace spent a month in Athens, Meteora, and Kozani (Greece) and Craiova, Iasi, and Bucharest (Romania). During this expedition the group discovered at least thirteen New Testament manuscripts.
Among these was a seventh-century majuscule codex. Seventh-century manuscriptsare rare, and equally rare are majuscule manuscripts of the New Testament—with only about three hundred in existence. Only 15 to 20 percent of all the New Testament manuscripts are from the first millennium.
Another manuscript previously unknown to New Testament scholars was a large lectionary from the eleventh century. Housed at the Museum of Art in Iasi, Romania, it weighs more than twenty pounds with eight hundred pages of text. This manuscript is the fourth longest and third largest lectionary from the eleventh century in known existence. Each of these discoveries helps New Testament scholars piece together the transmission of the text. CSNTM leads the world in discovering New Testament manuscripts. Since their inception, they have discovered more manuscripts than all the individuals and institutes combined have found in the same time. Ultimately all the data will help them gain insights and confidence regarding the exact wording of the original text.