We are dependent on middlemen (intermediaries) for access to the New Testament authors – that is, to what the authors had to say. There are many such mundane dependencies between authors and readers – and we seldom question them. In other words, nothing supernatural is involved in the chain of custody outlined below. Neither is there anything theological or interpretive involved –
- context (events and circumstances)
- author (with the desire to communicate by text)
- (scribe)
- text
- (messenger) – There could be a messenger to deliver the text from the author to the recipient(s).
- church (congregation) – a church or churches (and possibly the author and/or messengers)
- copyists
- translators
- churches (congregations)
- 4th-5th-century congregations who finalized the collection called “the new testament”
- publishers
- scriptoria (until 15th century) and printers (since the 15th century)
- translators (for non-ancient languages such as English)
- wholesalers
- retailers (booksellers, whether storefronts or websites)
- delivery personnel
With regard to the chain of custody of New Testament texts, it is a chain of “handing down” and it began when each author “handed over” his text to the first recipient – initiating the chain.
The Duty of a Man 