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What is the date, place, and language of the oldest manuscript from which the current Gospel (New Testament) was copied? Are there texts in this Gospel in which Jesus, peace be upon him, claims to be the son of the Lord? Do Christians who believe in the divinity of the Messiah use the same Gospel?

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The Gospels relied upon by Christians are four: Matthew, John, Luke, and Mark. All of them lack a continuous chain of transmission (isnad) back to Christ, peace be upon him, which confirms that human hands have extended to them, adding, subtracting, and corrupting. The manuscripts of the New Testament are divided into three sections: papyrus manuscripts (from the second and third centuries), Greek manuscripts written on animal parchment (from the fourth century), and later manuscripts (from the thirteenth century and beyond). There are several important copies of manuscripts written on animal parchment, including: the Vatican manuscript, the Sinaitic manuscript, the Alexandrian manuscript, the Ephraemi manuscript, the Beza manuscript, the Basle manuscript, and the Laudian manuscript. All of them contain differences and deficiencies in the texts.

Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026

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