Does the Bible Contain an Accurate Record of Jesus’ Life?

The Bible writer Luke said regarding his account of Jesus’ life: “I have traced all things from the start with accuracy.”—Luke 1:3.

Some claim that accounts of Jesus’ life as recorded in the Gospels—the writings of his contemporaries Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John—were altered sometime in the fourth century.

However, a valuable fragment of John’s Gospel was found in Egypt at the turn of the 20th century. It is now known as the Papyrus Rylands 457 (P⁵²) and is preserved at the John Rylands Library, Manchester, England. It contains what is John 18:31-33, 37, 38 in modern Bibles.

This is the oldest known manuscript fragment of the Christian Greek Scriptures. Many scholars believe that it was written about 125 C.E., a mere quarter of a century or so after the original was written. The text of the fragment agrees nearly exactly with that in later manuscripts.