There are actually more than 15,000 New Testament manuscripts (from fragments to complete New Testaments) - 5,000 in Ancient Greek alone - way more than what exists for any other ancient Jewish, Greek, or Roman literature. Historians typically consider themselves fortunate to have ancient manuscripts numbering in double figures. The oldest known fragment of the Gospel dates to A.D. 125...within one generation of the documents original composition. At least several centuries elapse between the oldest existing copies and the original composition of most other ancient historical works. And the Gospel was written within living memory of all of the writers. Our best surviving biography of Alexander the Great comes from nearly five hundred years after his death...! Back then, as today, writers of history wrote from particular perspectives and chose which information they decided to emphasize and which information they decided to omit. They depended on prior sources, written or oral, that they believed conveyed reliable and accurate information. Again, the Gospel was written from within living memory of its writers. Non-believers of the historicity of the Gospel clearly do not hold all of ancient recorded history to the same standards that they ‘selectively’ apply to the Gospel. The Gospel reports real events and real teachings of Jesus. Non-believers clearly don’t like that. But there it is.
