No Contradictions

“In the many thousands of manuscript copies we possess of the New Testament, scholars have discovered that there are some 150,000 ‘variants.’

This may seem like a staggering figure to the uninformed mind. 

But to those who study the issue, the numbers are not so damning as it may initially appear. 

Indeed, a look at the hard evidence shows that the New Testament manuscripts are amazingly accurate and trustworthy. 

To begin, we must emphasize that out of these 150,000 variants, 99 percent hold virtually no significance whatsoever. 

Many of these variants simply involve a missing letter in a word; some involve reversing the order of two words (such as "Christ Jesus" instead of "Jesus Christ"); some may involve the absence of one or more insignificant words. 

Really, when all the facts are put on the table, only about 50 of the variants have any real significance - and even then, no doctrine of the Christian faith or any moral commandment is effected by them. 

For more than ninety-nine percent of the cases the original text can be reconstructed to a practical certainty.

Even in the few cases where some perplexity remains, this does not impinge on the meaning of Scripture to the point of clouding a tenet of the faith or a mandate of life.

Thus, in the Bible as we have it (and as it is conveyed to us through faithful translations) we do have for practical purposes the very Word of God, inasmuch as the manuscripts do convey to us the complete vital truth of the originals.”

(“Manuscript Support For the Bible’s Reliability,” Ron Rhodes, Reasoning From the Scriptures Ministries).