A first century copy of the Gospel of Mark discovered?Sometimes you have to wait to get all the facts.At times announcements come that only let us know we should be waiting.Such an announcement was made by Daniel Wallace in his article, “Earliest Manuscript of the New Testament Discovered?”(The Center for the Study of New Testament Manuscripts; online: www.csntm.org; 2/10/2012).

If the manuscript is as early as thought, it will be the oldest copy of a New Testament book in known existence.It is one of seven new manuscripts to be discussed in peer reviewed publications sometime in the next year.Even though over 5,000 manuscripts (papyri, uncials, and codex) exist of the New Testament books, these seven newly discovered manuscripts are important.
 
One charge critics of Christianity make is that the New Testament is a farce – it contains nothing more than embellished stories about Jesus made more grandiose by second or third generation Christians.Popular authors such as Dan Brown in his fictional book, The Da Vinci Code, have suggested that the New Testament has been reinterpreted and worked over throughout the centuries.
 
If this manuscript of Mark is legitimately a first century copy, it shows Mark was written, known, and used while some of the earliest Christians were still living.It is not a second century recording of embellished stories.Manuscript evidence has sustained time and again that the New Testament of modern Christians is the New Testament of the first century.