“Historical Fingerprints of the Biblical Text”
By: Mark D. Harrell
Rufitministries.weebly,com
Questions To Muse Over:
1. Do we
have an ACCURATE text of the Bible available
today? The real question is NOT that it
is the
same as it was 1000 years ago, but that we
have what God WANTS us to have today.
All
preservation
really means is to… keep from corruption.
2. If so…
Are there historical FINGERPRINTS attached
to a preserved text of the Bible?
3. What are
the ultimate ramifications if we don’t have an accurate text of the Bible;
since it is the only
source
of ABSOLUTE truth in the entire world?
We are going to
consider both the Biblical ( FAITH ) and the historical ( FACTS ) aspects of
the preservation of the Biblical text. We will not approach this subject from the view of a
scholar of the original languages or as a textual critic; however, we
will investigate the historical and Biblical evidence as to its accuracy and
preservation.
q Evidence provided in history.
q Evidence provided from the existing manuscripts.
q Observing God’s hand
in history.
The first
textual critics in history are found in the 3rd chapter of
Genesis. Let’s recall their methods:
q He (Satan) QUESTIONS
what God said (3:1)
q Eve then
ADDS to what God said (“neither shall ye touch it,” v. 3 cf. 2:17).
q Satan and Eve CHANGED
it (“thou shalt surely die,” 2:17 to
“lest ye die,” v. 3).
q He (Satan) calls God a LIAR
(v. 4, “ye shall not surely die”).
First…
Let’s take a look at what the Bible says about its own accuracy. These are
God-inspired sentinels to stand guard over the Bible’s accuracy.
1. Psa 12:6
The words of the LORD are
pure words: as silver tried
in a furnace of earth, purified seven times.
Psa 12:7 Thou shalt keep them, O LORD, thou shalt preserve them from this generation for ever.
2. Pro 30:5
Every word of God is
pure: he is a shield unto them that put their trust in him.
Pro 30:6
Add thou not unto his words,
lest he reprove thee, and thou be found a liar.
3. Rev 22:18
For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these
things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book:
Rev 22:19
And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part
out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things
which are written in this book.
4. Luk 4:4
And Jesus answered him, saying, It is written, That man shall not live
by bread
alone, but by every word of God.
5. Pro
8:8 All
the words of my mouth are in righteousness; there is nothing
froward or perverse in them.
Pro
8:9 They are all plain to him
that understandeth, and right to them that find knowledge.
6. Deu 4:2
Ye shall not add unto the word
which I command you, neither shall ye
diminish ought from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the
LORD your God which I command you.
7. Job 23:12
Neither have I gone back from the commandment of his lips; I have
esteemed the words of his mouth more
than my necessary food.
8. Psa 138:2
I will worship toward thy holy temple, and praise thy name for thy
lovingkindness and for thy truth: for thou hast magnified thy word above all
thy name. (Why?)
9. Joh 17:17
Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.
10. 1Th
2:13 For this cause also thank we God
without ceasing, because, when ye received the word of God which ye heard of us, ye received it not as
the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe.
11. Heb
4:12 For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any
twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and
of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents
of the heart.
12. 2Co
2:17 For we are not as many, which
corrupt the word of God: but as of
sincerity, but as of God, in the sight of God speak we in Christ.
13. Isa
40:8 The grass withereth, the flower
fadeth: but the word of our God
shall stand for ever.
14. 1Ti
4:6 If thou put the brethren in
remembrance of these things, thou shalt be a good minister of Jesus Christ,
nourished up in the words of faith
and of good doctrine, whereunto thou hast attained.
15. 1Pe
1:23 Being born again, not of
corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.
1Pe 1:24
For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower
of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away:
1Pe 1:25
But the word of the Lord endureth
for ever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you.
16. Isa
8:20 To the law and to the testimony: if
they speak not according to this word,
it is because there is no light in them.
17. Joh
12:47 And if any man hear my words, and believe not, I judge him
not: for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world.
Joh 12:48
He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken,
the same shall judge him in the last day.
18. 1Pe
4:11 If any man speak, let him speak
as the oracles of God; if any man
minister, let him do it as of the ability which God giveth: that God in
all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom be praise and
dominion for ever and ever. Amen.
19. 1Ti
6:3 If any man teach otherwise, and
consent not to wholesome words, even
the words
of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the
doctrine which is according to godliness;
1Ti 6:4 He
is proud, knowing nothing, but doting about questions and strifes of words,
whereof cometh envy, strife, railings, evil surmisings,
1Ti 6:5
Perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds, and destitute of the truth,
supposing that gain is godliness: from
such withdraw thyself.
20. Joh
8:47 He that is of God heareth God's words: ye therefore hear them
not, because ye are not of God.
21. Psa
119:9 Wherewithal shall a young man
cleanse his way? by taking heed thereto according to thy word.
22. Psa
119:11 Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.
23. Psa
119:89 For ever, O LORD, thy word is
settled in heaven.
24. Psa
119:103 How sweet are thy words unto my taste! yea, sweeter than honey
to my mouth!
25. Psa
119:105 Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.
26. Psa
119:130 The entrance of thy words giveth light; it giveth understanding unto the simple.
27. Psa
119:160 Thy word is true from the beginning: and every one of thy
righteous judgments endureth for ever.
28. Mar
13:31 Heaven and earth shall pass away:
but my words shall not pass away.
So… if the Bible is
correct about the importance and accuracy of its “words”… what does that mean
to you and me today?
There are a few basic
schools of thought about Biblical
translations:
1. LITERAL: Word for word translation. (This was used by the School of Antioch as
their foundation).
2. ALLEGORICAL: A pictorial device in which each
object, character and event symbolically illustrate a moral or religious
principle. (The school of Alexandria
used this method as their foundation).
3. DYNAMIC EQUIVALENCE: The words are not what are
important; it is the general idea that is to be conveyed. This is the most popular method since 1881.
Now… is it important
which “copy” of the original text (the “original” text is not in existence today)
is used to ensure ACCURACY?
Note: Semantics: The study of word meanings and the
relationship between symbols and signs.
àSimply:
Words have meaning; if you change the words… you change the meaning!
To
understand which method of interpretation of accurate copies of scripture
should be used, let’s take a look at a few fingerprints that point the way:
FINGERPRINT ONE
Fulfilled Prophecy
àThe Old Testament was
preserved through the Masoretic Scribes.
There is very little argument as to their (the MT copies of the Hebrew
text) accuracy through the ages.
Fulfilled prophecy is one of the strongest defenses for the ACCURACY of
the Bible. Let’s travel back through
time and examine a few of those prophecies that give credibility to the Bible’s
reliability.
àExamples of Old
Testament Prophecies fulfilled:
1. Virgin Birth of
Jesus Christ
Prophecy Given:
Isa 7:14 Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a
sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name
Immanuel.
2. The Messiah would
be born in Bethlehem.
Prophecy Given:
Mic 5:1 Now gather thyself in troops, O daughter of
troops: he hath laid siege against us: they shall smite the judge of Israel
with a rod upon the cheek.
Mic 5:2 But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though
thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he
come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have
been from of old, from everlasting.
3. Messiah would
come from the Tribe of Judah.
Prophecy Given:
Gen
49:10 The sceptre shall not depart from
Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall
the gathering of the people be.
4. The Messiah would
be a descendant of King David.
Prophecy Given:
Jer
23:5 Behold, the days come, saith the
LORD, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign
and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth.
5. The Messiah would
perform miracles.
Prophecy Given:
Isa
35:4 Say to them that are of a
fearful heart, Be strong, fear not: behold, your God will come with
vengeance, even God with a recompence; he will come and save you.
Isa
35:5 Then the eyes of the blind shall be
opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped.
Isa
35:6 Then shall the lame man leap
as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing: for in the wilderness shall waters
break out, and streams in the desert.
6. The Messiah would
enter Jerusalem while riding a white donkey (colt).
Prophecy Given:
Zec 9:9
Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem:
behold, thy King cometh unto thee: he is just, and having salvation;
lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass.
7. There would be a
“son” called God.
Prophecy Given:
Isa 9:6 For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is
given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be
called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The
Prince of Peace.
Isa 9:7 Of the increase of his government and
peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his
kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from
henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this.
9. The Messiah would
be rejected.
Prophecy Given:
Isa 53:1 Who hath believed our report? and to whom is
the arm of the LORD revealed?
Isa
53:2 For he shall grow up before him as
a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor
comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should
desire him.
Isa
53:3 He is despised and rejected of men;
a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our
faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
10. Daniel gave the events as to the destruction of Herod’s
Temple. This is amazing.
Prophecy Given:
Bible
prophecy: Daniel 9:24-26
Prophecy
written: About 530 BC
Prophecy
fulfilled: About 31 AD
The prophet Daniel was Jewish exile who lived during the time of the Babylonian Captivity, about 500 years before the birth of Jesus. During Daniel's lifetime, the Babylonians had destroyed Jerusalem and the Temple and had taken many Jews as captives to Babylon. Daniel, while in Babylon, delivered a prophecy of what would happen during the centuries that followed. Here is the summary of Daniel 9:24-26:
1. There would be a decree to rebuild Jerusalem.
2. Jerusalem and the Temple would be rebuilt.
3. Then an anointed one (Messiah) would be "cut off" (an idiom for "rejected" or "killed").
4. Then Jerusalem and the Temple would be destroyed again.
All of these events later happened, in the same order in which they are described in Daniel 9:24-26:
1. After the Medo-Persians had conquered the neo-Babylonian empire about 2500 years ago, they ruled a vast empire that included the land of Israel. About 2400 years ago (about 445 BC), Persian king Artaxerxes gave permission to the Jews to rebuild Jerusalem, which was still in ruins after having been destroyed earlier by the Babylonians.
2. The Jews rebuilt the Temple and the city of Jerusalem.
3. Then, about 2000 years ago, Jesus entered Jerusalem as the Messiah who had been promised by Old Testament prophets. But, many people rejected Jesus as the Messiah and he was crucified by the Romans.
4. About 40 years after Jesus was crucified, the Romans destroyed Jerusalem and the Temple. (The Temple has not been rebuilt since then)
The prophet Daniel was Jewish exile who lived during the time of the Babylonian Captivity, about 500 years before the birth of Jesus. During Daniel's lifetime, the Babylonians had destroyed Jerusalem and the Temple and had taken many Jews as captives to Babylon. Daniel, while in Babylon, delivered a prophecy of what would happen during the centuries that followed. Here is the summary of Daniel 9:24-26:
1. There would be a decree to rebuild Jerusalem.
2. Jerusalem and the Temple would be rebuilt.
3. Then an anointed one (Messiah) would be "cut off" (an idiom for "rejected" or "killed").
4. Then Jerusalem and the Temple would be destroyed again.
All of these events later happened, in the same order in which they are described in Daniel 9:24-26:
1. After the Medo-Persians had conquered the neo-Babylonian empire about 2500 years ago, they ruled a vast empire that included the land of Israel. About 2400 years ago (about 445 BC), Persian king Artaxerxes gave permission to the Jews to rebuild Jerusalem, which was still in ruins after having been destroyed earlier by the Babylonians.
2. The Jews rebuilt the Temple and the city of Jerusalem.
3. Then, about 2000 years ago, Jesus entered Jerusalem as the Messiah who had been promised by Old Testament prophets. But, many people rejected Jesus as the Messiah and he was crucified by the Romans.
4. About 40 years after Jesus was crucified, the Romans destroyed Jerusalem and the Temple. (The Temple has not been rebuilt since then)
Dan
9:24 Seventy weeks are determined upon
thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an
end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in
everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to
anoint the most Holy.
Dan
9:25 Know therefore and understand, that
from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto
the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two
weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times.
Dan
9:26 And after threescore and two weeks
shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince
that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall
be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.
11. The Messiah was
betrayed by a friend.
Prophecy Given:
Psa
41:9 Yea, mine own familiar friend, in
whom I trusted, which did eat of my bread, hath lifted up his heel
against me.
12. Zechariah
foreshadowed the betrayal of Jesus for 30 pieces of silver.
Prophecy Given:
Zec 11:12
And I said unto them, If ye think good, give me my price; and if
not, forbear. So they weighed for my price thirty pieces of silver.
Zec
11:13 And the LORD said unto me, Cast it
unto the potter: a goodly price that I was prised at of them. And I took the thirty
pieces of silver, and cast them to the potter in the house of the LORD.
13. Jesus was spat
upon and beaten.
Prophecy Given:
Isa
50:6 I gave my back to the smiters, and
my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair: I hid not my face from shame and spitting.
14. Jesus would be
silent before His accusers.
Prophecy Given:
Isa
53:7 He was oppressed, and he was
afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the
slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his
mouth.
15. Jesus would die
for our sins.
Prophecy Given:
Isa
53:4 Surely he hath borne our griefs,
and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and
afflicted.
Isa
53:5 But he was wounded for our
transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of
our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.
Isa
53:6 All we like sheep have gone astray;
we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the
iniquity of us all.
àI could go on and on… but, I just wanted you to see the reliability of
the Hebrew Old Testament as
preserved
by the Masoretic Scribes.
The Real Debate about the Bible’s Accuracy Begins
at This point
This is
where the debate about the accuracy of the Biblical text finds its
beginning. A tour through the
“Tale of
Two Cities,” as I call them, helps to clear up the muddied water of the
“manuscript evidence”
debate; It
creates FINGERPRINTS to an accurately (word for word
) preserved Text.
àThe key word in all of this is ACCURACY! God preserved the words He wanted to preserve
so that an accurate Bible could be written in ANY language on the face of the
earth … even if it presents itself today.
FINGERPRINT TWO
Old Testament Hebrew
Masoretic Text:
A
Bridge to the World
FYI: It is important to note, from the beginning
of this section, that the Hebrew Masoretic Text
is the
basis for
all Old Testaments in all English versions of the Bible
– and all other languages with a Bible.
What most do not know, because of the confusing aspects of scholastic
manuscript evidence, is that two schools of thought
were/are used to translate the Hebrew Masoretic text into Latin, Greek and
English.
Transcribing O.T.
Documents
In making
copies of the original manuscripts, the Jewish scribes exercised the greatest
possible care.
When they
wrote the name of God in any form they were to reverently wipe their pen, and
wash their
whole
body before writing “Jehovah” lest that holy name should be tainted even in
writing. The new
copy was
examined and carefully checked with the original almost immediately, and it is
said that if only
one
incorrect letter was discovered the whole copy was rejected. Each new copy had to be made from an
approved manuscript, written with a special kind of ink, upon skins
made from a “clean” animal. The writer
had to pronounce aloud each word before writing it. In no case was the
word to be written from memory.
They counted, not only the words, but every letter, and how many times
each letter occurred, and compared it with the original.
The books which make up the Bible were written over a period of 1700
years from 1650 B.C. to 90 A.D., by men who were directly inspired by God for
this task (Ps. 12: 6-7). This divine origin has been proven over and
over again through the uniform and unvarying testimonies of the writers who
support each other by quotations and by the testimony of the Lord Jesus.
Questions Concerning the
Apocrypha
From the beginning of Israel’s national history, Israel had enjoyed
communications of the supernatural: God
spoke to the nation through the prophets; through angelic manifestations and
miracles. Then, with the closing of the
Old Testament, there fell over the earth a mysterious silence. Between Hebrews 1:1 and 1:2, Heaven remained
silent from Malachi 4:6 to Luke 1:11-20, a period of about 400 years. No angelic beings visited the earth. The voice of God was not heard in any
fashion. Therefore, no authentic
inspired Scripture could be written as the Word of God. From man’s viewpoint, Heaven’s door remained
tightly closed for 400 years.
So mysterious was this long period of silence, that “uninspired” men (men who wrote in their own “power”
and reasoning) attempted to fill the vacancy with their own religious
writings. The names of some of these
spurious, noncanonical books, or rejected magical writings are: 1st and 2nd Esdras,
Tobit, Judith, Wisdom, Baruch, Ecclesiasticus, Susanna, 1st and 2nd
Maccabees, etc. All these which
originated in the minds of men, under a silent Heaven, are known as the
“Apocrypha.”
In the N.T. there are about 263 direct quotations from, and about 370
allusions to passages in the O.T., yet among all these there is not one
reference, either by the Lord Jesus or His disciples, to the Apocryphal
writings.
The Preservation of the Masoretic Text
q It was initially
preserved by the LEVITICAL PRIESTS. (Deut. 17:18
/ Deut. 36:24)
q It was subsequently
preserved by PRIESTS WHO WERE SCRIBES. (Neh.
8:7-8 / Jer. 36:1-4)
q It is presently
preserved by the JEWS. (Deut. 4:1-2 / Rom. 3:1-2)
-Scribes (they wrote out consonants)
-Pointers (added vowels to the
consonants)
-Masoretes (added marginal notes as
checkpoints to its accuracy)
In a nutshell… the world language, concerning the Biblical texts, has
gone from Hebrew to Greek – to Latin
(until it became a dead language in the European Dark Ages) and back to
Greek again – and then from Greek to
English. There has never been another
“world” language; therefore, there has been no need to correct the MT (Old
Testament) and the RT (New Testament) to this date. All translations of any language should be
derived from the MT and the RT.
Bridge
#1: Ptolemy
Philadelphus
Source: (http://www.bible-researcher.com/brenton1.html)
The Hebrew language was sufficient when the Bible was being written to
and about the Jewish people. But, God was getting ready to prepare the world for the
coming of the savior of the world.
He would come to the “Jew first, but also to the Greek.” For reasons only known to God, the heart of
the King of Egypt – Ptolemy Philadelphus (a Greek by descent and language) –
was stirred to commission the translation of the book of God from the Hebrew to
the Greek.
The document written in 72 days is known as the Septuagint. Although it was hastily written and departs
from the “originals” in many cases, God used this translation as a bridge to break the ice about the God of Jacob,
Isaac and Abraham to the world. It would
eventually prepare the way for the Gentiles to learn about our Savior, just as
the preaching of John the Baptist prepared the way for Jesus among the Jews.
Bridge
#2: Jerome’s Latin Vulgate
The western Christian world had the Bible translated into the Latin
(from the Hebrew Masoretic Text) by Eusebius Hieronymus – better known as
Jerome (c. 345 – 419). His translation
is called the Latin Vulgate, and it formed the basis for the Wycliffe Bible –
the first Bible in the English language.
Of course – the Hebrew MT (Masoretic Text) was always available, as were
the preserved copies of the New Testament that were written in Greek.
The Roman Catholic Church, in time, came to accept Jerome’s version, Translation Nova, but began to decree
that only those sanctioned by the church could read and understand the Bible
properly. The fall of the Roman Empire
in 476 A.D. flung Europe into the dark ages.
The common man could not read Latin, and as it became a dead language,
the Bible became a “closed” book to the masses. 1
Bridge #3: John
Wycliffe’s Bible (1st English Bible)
In 1382, John Wycliffe completed the Bible – for the 1st
time, in the English language. The text
he used was Jerome’s Latin Vulgate. Wycliffe
was a dedicated student of the Scriptures, and was passionate about the Bible
being our absolute standard in all things.
The Black Death, which took the life of up to 40% of
Europeans, shook Wycliffe to his core.
He knew that the common man was without hope if they could not read the
Bible in their own language. Because of Wycliffe’s
love for the common man and the Word of God, in 1428 his bones were dug up,
burned, and the ashes scattered in the nearby River Swift by the religious
leaders in power at that time.
The English language was becoming increasingly popular
as well as versatile, and Wycliffe, through his writings and translation of the
Bible, would help to bring it to a higher level of acceptance.
Bridge #4: The Greek New Testament of Erasmus – The RT
(Received Text)
We will delve into the contribution of Erasmus more a
little later, but for now it will suffice to say that
the translation performed by Erasmus ensured the accurate preservation of the
Word of God until this very day.
He was passionate about a literal word for word translation from the
“original” Hebrew and Greek manuscripts.
He rejected the Alexandrian documents as corrupt and manipulated –
especially the hastily written Septuagint.
The following is a simplified breakdown as to the preservation of an
accurate Old Testament Biblical Text.
àOriginal copies of Hebrew
manuscripts
preserved by Jewish Masoretic Scribes
àPtolemy had the Hebrew Bible translated
into the Greek: The
Septuagint ( in Alexandria).
àOrigen “updated / corrected” the
Septuagint in his work – The Hexapla ( in
Alexandria).
àJerome translated the Bible into Latin (Latin Vulgate) from the “original” Hebrew – not
the Septuagint.
àWycliffe translated the
first English Bible from the Latin Vulgate – Not the Septuagint.
àErasmus translated the Bible
into Greek from the “original” (preserved copies from Antioch – there are NO
ORIGINALS in existence today) Hebrew and Greek manuscripts – not from Alexandria.
These were all very important bridges to knowing which texts are
preserved and, therefore, accurate Bible though the history of man. God was, step by step, progressively
revealing to man his purposes, while, all along, preserving the word of God
accurately. Ptolemy’s
importance to the truth spreading across the world and preparing the
minds of man for the truth is not to be underestimated or unappreciated.
FINGERPRINT
THREE
A
History Lesson about God’s Providence
It is important for you to see to see how history
unfolded in order that you understand what set the
stage for the Bible to be preserved and printed in the English language.
There are six particularly fascinating
events that, I believe, shape the face of our English modern day versions of
the Bible. It shows God’s providential
hand in world affairs, so that the Bible could be accurately preserved.
1. The Renaissance
The scholars during this time of new learning proposed
that every individual, commoner as well as king, was important to God. They insisted that people should be free to
think about the world, and that discussions about ideas were no longer only for
monolithic ecclesiastical organizations that, for the most part, contradicted
themselves. Unlike official Catholicism,
these new thinkers believed that people could examine many points of view and
still follow the essential teachings of Christ and the Bible.
Convinced that the purest text of the Bible was not to
be found in the Latin version of Jerome (accepted as inspired by the Catholic
church), but in the languages in which the Bible was first written, Hebrew and
Greek, Erasmus launched a project that would give to the world the first
published Greek text of the New Testament.
He used four Greek manuscripts that were available to him while in
England, and five or six Greek manuscripts that were accessible at the
University of Basel library. From this
would come the first printed English Bible.
2
2. The Defeat of Constantinople
One of the most positive outcomes that emerged from
this calamitous event was that many of the eminent Bible scholars of the East
fled to the great cities of Europe – Paris, Geneva, Basel, and Zurich –
bringing with them their Greek New Testament manuscripts. Several of these manuscripts (as noted above
with Erasmus) became the basis of the first printed Greek New Testament.
3. The Inventing of the Printing Press
By no accident, the very first book printed on
Gutenberg’s revolutionary press in Mainz, was the Bible – the Latin Vulgate
written by Jerome. Gutenberg couldn’t
have fully comprehended the incredible significance of his invention. It was a communications revolution that
changed how people would be able to communicate to one another. It also meant the Bible could finally be
mass-produced, and literacy became common as books started popping up
everywhere.
4. The Appearance of Erasmus’ Greek New Testament
Erasmus of Rotterdam was the poster child of the
Renaissance in Northern European countries.
He was born illegitimately to a widow and a priest in or near Rotterdam
sometime between 1466-1469. He committed
to studying the Greek text of the New Testament because, according to him, it
was “the distilled essence of that real Christianity which in the judgment of
reformers and humanists alike, had been overlaid and concealed by the dogmas
and accretions of centuries.” 3
All subsequent English Bible translations for almost
four centuries, including the KJV, were based on Erasmus. The Hungarian
versions of Benedek Komjati (1533) and Janos Sylvester (1540), the Spanish of Francisco de Enzinas (1543)
and many more were based on Erasmus
– as it should be even today if an accurate translation
is the goal.
Erasmus wrote in his preface to his New Testament:
“I
would have the weakest woman read the Gospels and the Epistles of St. Paul… I
would have those words translated into all languages, so that not only Scots
and Irishmen, but Turks and Saracens might read them. I long for the plowboy to sing them to himself
as he follows the plow, the weaver to hum them to the tune of his shuttle, the
traveler to beguile with them the dullness of his journey… Other studies we may
regret having undertaken, but happy is the man upon whom death comes when he is
engaged in these. These sacred words
give you the very image of Christ speaking, healing, dying, rising again, and
make him so present, that were he before your very eyes you would not more
truly see him.” 4
It was Erasmus’ translation of the Greek New
Testament in Matthew 3:2 that powerfully worked in the heart of Martin Luther. It was this passage that fueled his passion
to become the man he became for the proclamation of the Word of God. 5
5. The Reformation
It was during the reformation that the only source of
theological authority now lay in the literal meaning of Scripture (Antioch school of thought), not in some vague
interpretation of it or in tradition. No
longer would it be necessary to attempt to understand Scripture according to
the commonly accepted (Alexandrian school of
thought), complex method of interpretation. Medieval scholars applied a mystical or
spiritual meaning to words. This
method (Alexandrian thought) enabled the reader to make scripture say what they
wanted it to say. It was almost
impossible to know precisely what the Bible taught. 6
Luther said at the Diet of Worms on April 18,
1521: “Unless I am convinced by Scripture and plain reason – I do not accept
the authority of popes and councils, for they have contradicted each other – my
conscience is captive to the Word of God.
I cannot and I will not recant anything, for to go against conscience is
neither right nor safe. God help
me. Amen.” 7 It is important to note the Luther’s
translation of the Bible was derived from Erasmus’ translation – not the
Septuagint.
With a renewed emphasis on “Scripture alone,” and a
deeply-rooted belief in the Bible as the foundation of spiritual growth and
maturity, it became incumbent on Luther and the reformers in lands outside of
Germany to provide translations of the Bible in the everyday language of the
people.
A
TALE OF TWO CITIES
Antioch
(Syria) & Alexandria (Egypt)
So… without further delay… Let’s take a look at how these two cities
historically impacted the preserved
copies of
the original manuscripts of the Bible – specifically – the New Testament (Greek
Text) of the
Christian
Bible. We will look into the Antiochian
school of thought in that particular section, but… it is
the Alexandrian
school of thought that we are concerned with at this point.
FINGERPRINT FOUR
The Alexandrian (Egypt = Worldly Ways in the Bible) Way
of Thinking
àThe original
manuscripts were copied by Jewish MASORETIC SCRIBES. But, the issue at hand is that these texts
(MT – Old Testament) were housed, over time, at both of the next mentioned
cities. So, it is of considerable
importance to look into the ideology of the leadership of these pivotal cities
that had their hands on the preserved copies of the Biblical text.
“Alexandria, Egypt
was a remarkable center of learning due to the blending of Greek and oriental
influences; its favorable situation and commercial resources, and the
enlightened energy of some of the Mecedonian dynasty of the Ptolemies ruling
over Egypt.” 8
It
is through Ptolemy II Philadelphus (285 – 246 B.C.E.) that the Hebrew Masoretic
Text (MT) was translated into the Greek.
This translation of the Old Testament MT is known as the Septuagint, or
LXX.
Philo ascribed
“divine inspiration” to the authors of the Septuagint. 9 Counter to what Philo believed about the
Septuagint, Wycliffe, Erasmus, Luther and a host of others believed the “original” (copies preserved in Antioch)
Greek manuscripts, and the O.T. Masoretic Text to be the accurate line of the
preserved text. They believed God CHOSE
the exact words He wanted to use, and that He was providentially moving upon
their hearts to put an accurate translation of the Bible in the hands of common
man.
School of Alexandria’s Philosophy
The name “Alexandrian
school” is also used to describe one of the two great schools of Biblical
interpretation in the early Christian church (the other is, as you shall see
later, Antioch). They (Alexandrian
school) incorporated Greek pagan philosophical beliefs from Plato’s teachings
into Christianity (Neoplatonism), and interpreted much of the Bible
allegorically. It was established in
Alexandria in the late 2nd century.
10
“Until the time of
Constantine, Alexandria blossomed as the second city of the Roman Empire, after
Rome itself. It took pride in its famous
library and its reputation as the center for Greek Philosophy and
learning. We have seen that Philo strove
to integrate Greek philosophy with Judaism; early Christians followed his lead,
as they worked to integrate philosophy with Christianity.” 11
‘’Around
A.D. 200, Clement of Alexandria (a Church Father, c. 150-215) taught that just
as God gave the Law to the Jews, so he gave philosophy to the Greeks--as an
instrument to lead them to Christ. God’s eternal Word (Logos) was the source of
both. Clement believed the truth was to be found in Scripture, but sometimes it
was hidden, and could only be discovered through allegorical
interpretation (this allows for one to make scripture say what one
wants it to say without support of other scriptures).
As a result
of some of the rules, given by Philo, of interpretation the literal sense of
certain passages of the Bible must be excluded altogether… such as…
…Something
being deemed unworthy of God.
…Statement
made unworthy of the Bible.
…Something
sounding senseless.
…Something
sounding contradictory.
…Something
deemed inadmissible.
…Something
which allegorical expressions are used for the avowed purpose of drawing the
reader’s
attention to the fact that the liter sense
is to be disregarded. In truth, one can
only call something “allegorical” if the Bible calls it allegorical. One cannot assume a passage or truth to be
allegorical without the witness of the Bible to validate that assumption.
While the
last is a valid method, the combination of the above leaves the door wide open
for personal opinion and speculation.
There are, in fact, 15 basic rules – I call them keys – to understanding
the Bible; they are found in the Bible itself, and are not up to personal
opinion of any kind. You can find them at:
godtube.com/markharrell. Platonism and Neoplatonism play very heavily
upon this form of inter-
pretation.
Origin of Alexandria
Origen’s
writings were some of the most influential in the early church. He developed
more fully Philo’s and Clement’s ideas of
allegorical interpretation, understanding three levels of interpretation within
a text that corresponded to three aspects of the human being. Literal, moral,
and spiritual meanings corresponded to the body, soul, and spirit, in ascending
order of importance. The literal meaning of the historical events was the least
important for the Christian, just as the body was less important than the soul
or spirit (two different things, psyche and pneuma, in Greek).
More important were the underlying meanings which could only be perceived
allegorically. Even Jesus was less important as a historical figure than as the
mystery of Christ present to believers in the church and the sacraments.
The Greek
philosophy underlying Alexandrian thinking found the God of Judaism absurd and
temperamental. Allegorical interpretation allowed Origen to use the Old
Testament in an abstract way that disregarded the seeming absurdities of the
Jewish God who walked in gardens and spoke on mountains. A drawback
of Origen’s faith in allegorical interpretation is that it often led him into
long speculative expositions of Scripture that get so far from the literal
meaning as to seem to us fantastical and irrelevant.” 12
Origen also taught that
the “Logos” is “ktisma,” meaning the Lord Jesus Christ is a created being, who
did not have eternal existence as God (see Encyclopedia Britannica, Vol. 16
1936 – pages 900-902).
To those who sincerely
study the text issue, the Latin Vulgate; the Vaticanus; the Sinaiticus; the
Hexapla; Jerome; Eusebius; and Origin are terms that are inseparable. They all represent very similar ways of erroneous
thinking about the Biblical text.
Philo of Alexandria
“Philo (20 BC - 50 AD), known also as Philo of
Alexandria, Philo Judaeus,
Philo Judaeus of Alexandria, Yedidia and Philo the Jew, was a Hellenistic
Jewish philosopher born in Alexandria, Egypt.
Philo
used allegory to fuse and harmonize Greek philosophy and Judaism. His method followed the
practices of both Jewish exegesis and Stoic philosophy. His work was not widely accepted. "The
sophists of literalness," as he calls them, "opened their eyes
superciliously" when he explained to them the marvels of his exegesis.
Philo's works were enthusiastically received by the early Christians (this
philosophy is part of what Paul was battling to fix in his epistles).
As
to how much Philo’s erroneous thoughts crept into the early church, arguments
have been put forth that Philo is actually the founder of Christianity by
virtue of his combination of Jewish theological ideas and those present in the
Greek mystery religions, a combination of which would appear much like
Christianity. Whatever the followers of Jesus were like
before Philo's writings became well known, it's possible they seized upon his
precepts and incorporated them into the essays that became the New Testament.” 13
Manuscripts Originating From Alexandria
It is important that we make clear which texts were affected by
Alexandrian thinking. In that way we can know which versions of the
Bible, in any language, are accurate, or infected with a mixture of Christian
and pagan beliefs. Here are a few key
manuscripts that are known to be of Alexandrian heritage.
Codex Sinaiticus
“Codex Sinaiticus is one of the most interesting
hand-written ancient copies of the Greek Bible. It was written in the 4th century, in uncial letters. It came to the attention of scholars in the
19th century at the Greek Monastery of Mount Sinai, with further material
discovered in the 20th century, and most of it is today in the British Library. Originally it contained the whole of both
Testaments. The Greek
Old Testament (or
Septuagint) survived almost complete, along with a complete New Testament, plus the Epistle
of Barnabas, and
portions of The
Shepherd of Hermas.
“In
1844, during his first visit to Monastery of Saint Catherine, Tischendorf saw some leaves of parchment in a waste-basket.
He claimed they were "rubbish which was to be destroyed by burning it in
the ovens of the monastery," After examination he realized that they were part of the
Septuagint (a hastily written OT manuscript), written in an early Greek
uncial script. He retrieved from the basket 129 leaves in Greek which he
identified as coming from a manuscript of the Septuagint.
He
asked if he might keep them, but at this point the attitude of the monks
changed, they realized how valuable these old leaves were, and Tischendorf was
permitted to take only one-third of the whole, i.d. 43 leaves. These leaves
contained portions of 1 Chronicles, Jeremiah, Nehemiah, and Esther. After his
return they were deposited in the University Library at Leipzig, where they still remain. In
1846 Tischendorf published their contents, naming them the 'Codex Frederico-Augustanus'
(in honor Frederick Augustus). In the monastery they left other portions of the same
codex, containing all of Isaiah and 1 and 4 Maccabees.” 14
Codex Vaticanus
“The
Codex Vaticanus, (The Vatican, Bibl. Vat., Vat. gr. 1209; no. B or 03 Gregory-Aland, δ 1 von
Soden), is one
of the oldest and most valuable extant manuscripts of the Greek Bible (because of
its age, not reliability). The codex is named for its place of housing in the Vatican Library.
It is written in Greek, on vellum, with uncial letters. The
manuscript is one of the very few, and one of the two Greek manuscript of New
Testament to be written with three columns per page (the other being Codex
Vaticanus 2061).
Because it was not often used, it has survived to the present day in very good
condition. Codex is comprised in a single quarto volume containing 759 thin and
delicate vellum leaves. “This Codex was
not used earlier in history due to the restrictions placed upon it by the Roman
Catholic Church. The Codex Vaticanus,
along with the Sinaiticus is the basis for every version of the Bible in the
English language since 1611. That is
very telling indeed.
Codex Vaticanus is one of the most important manuscripts
(according to some scholars – because of its age, not reliability) for the text
of the Septuagint and Greek New Testament, It is a leading member of the Alexandrian
text-type. It
was heavily used by Westcott and Hort (who
were heretics) in their edition, The New Testament in the Original Greek (1881).15
Codex Alexandrinus
“The
Codex Alexandrinus (London, British Library, MS Royal 1. D. V-VIII; Gregory-Aland no. A or 02, Soden δ 4) is a 5th century manuscript of the Greek
Bible, containing the majority of the Septuagint
(which is corrupt) and the New Testament
(not the accurate RT –
Received Text). It received the name Alexandrinus
from its having been brought by Cyrillus from Alexandria to Constantinople. Along with the Codex Sinaiticus and the Codex Vaticanus, it is one of the
earliest and most complete manuscripts of the Bible (although very different
from the MT and RT).
It derives its name from Alexandria (Egypt) where it resided for a number of years before being
given to the British in the 17th century.
The
choice is yours to make. Either God
providentially moved upon those in Alexandria to preserve the Word of God for
mankind… or… he touched the heart of men like Erasmus (because
the manuscripts are very different … which means … one is right while the other
is full of errors), Wycliffe,
Luther, Tyndale and a host of others to preserve the Bible from the “original”
(copies of the originals from Antioch) Greek manuscripts and the Masoretic
Text. But you must keep in mind that
the interpretative rules governing these two schools of thought were nothing
alike. They took diverging paths to
the “truth.”
Now…
Let’s take a look at the Antiochian way of thinking, and you’ll see the
difference in the interpretative method crystal clear
FINGERPRINT FIVE
The Antiochian Way of Thinking
In
my research, I found very little negative (except for liberal scholars) about
the School of Antioch. They held to a literal
method of translation, and believed the truth lay in the “original” Greek and Old Testament copies of the
Hebrew Bible.
“In the fourth and fifth centuries (when it was needed – in God’s providence – to lay the path for a future English Bible) a rival school arose in Antioch to challenge the Alexandrian insistence on allegorical interpretation. Scholars of this school dismissed allegorical meanings as so much nonsense and insisted on reading for the historical and grammatical meaning. What the text said was what it meant. It did not convey some abstract philosophical concepts. In keeping with a historical focus, these scholars emphasized the humanity of Jesus. They examined chronology and sequence of events, which had little meaning to those who read everything as allegories.
The most famous representative of the School of Antioch was John Chrysostom* (c. 347-407), a beloved preacher in Antioch [right]. He was famous as a teacher of orthodoxy. Chrysostom focused on the simple reading of a text rather than what he called a lofty meaning from philosophers. Many of his sermons have been preserved, and are still powerful today.
After serving happily as a pastor in Antioch for a dozen years, Chrysostom was elected Bishop or Patriarch* of Constantinople against his will in 398. John was an ascetic* man of enormous zeal and integrity who used his own wealth to help the poor. He also took seriously his responsibilities as bishop, and sought to reform the corruption of the capital city and its church. He had no gift for flattery, tact, or compromise, and he made enemies in the church and at court, including the Empress. He was also resented by the Patriarch of Alexandria, who organized Chrysostom’s enemies and got him deposed and sent into exile on trumped-up charges. (The Bishop of Rome disapproved of this action, and broke off communion with Constantinople and Alexandria.) The Empress called Chrysostom back from exile, but later she took offense at the bishop’s continued disapproval of the ways of the court, and had him banished to distant Armenia. His admirers from Antioch made pilgrimages to hear him preach, so in 407 he was banished to a more remote district. He died of hardships on the way.” 16
Only Two Historical Streams of
the Bible
A correlated historical summary of textual criticism reveals that only two streams of Bibles have come to us. These are the products of two separate religious ways of thinking (systems). First, the true Christian faith puts the inspired Word of God above everything else. The other system puts something above the Bible, or places human tradition and reasoning in a chair of equal authority with it.
One stream has come to us through the divine providence of God’s omniscience. It’s pure, life-giving water of God’s inspired Word has power to produce incredible faith (Romans 10:17).
The other texts have come to us in a stream whose waters are, at best, clouded with the “mud” of philosophic scholastic textual criticism, and seems in part to be based upon the reasonings of the “natural man,” (I Cor. 2:14). The source of this stream is uncertain, hypothetical, and untrustworthy. It has produced a multiplicity of Bible versions which differ so much from each other that the result is confusion.
The reference below further exacts the differences between the Alexandrian way of thinking and the way of thinking in Antioch.
Interpretation and the Bible
“In the late second century, more formal scholarly approaches to biblical interpretation developed in the Eastern church beginning with the School of Alexandria in Egypt. The School of Alexandria was known for using an allegorical method of exegesis (not word for word method of understanding Scriptures). It was founded by Pantaenus, who was followed by more famous interpreters such as Clement and Origen.
Though not a formal school like Alexandria, a network of scholars emerged in Syria in the fourth century; they were based in Antioch (now Antakya, Turkey). These men rejected the Alexandrian approach in favor of a more literal interpretation of the Bible. They also were concerned with determining the context of particular books, with the time and situation in which they were written. An important early leader was Diodore of Tarsus, who taught the most famous scholars in the Antiochene tradition, Theodore of Mopsuestia, John Chrysostom, and Theodoret of Cyrrhus.” 17
I would like to show one more article as to the marked difference between the thinking process of those from Antioch and Alexandrian schools of interpretation.
“Founded in about 180 CE by Pantaenus (a former Stoic philosopher), the theological School of Alexandria in Egypt was the first-known organized Christian institution of higher learning. It became a leading center of the allegorical method of Scripture interpretation, which was the same exegetical method practiced by Palestinian Rabbinical schools. Allegorical exegesis involves, as St. Augustine noted, understanding one passage of Scripture by virtue of example, concept, or another passage. Allegory differs from the parable method in its statement of doctrinal truths rather than practical advice. It also differs from the literal method of Scripture interpretation, in which the surface meaning of a passage is the passages meaning. A positive example of allegory (or typology) in the Bible is that of the vine, found in Psalm 80:8–16 and Isaiah 5:1–6. This is an important issue since we are not allowed (in the Bible) to call something allegorical unless the Bible calls it allegorical. The Bible defines itself. This is a huge difference between the allegorical method and literal method of understanding Scripture. We are to take the Bible literally until it is impossible to take it literally. When it is impossible to take it literally, then we look to the Bible to explain the truth to us … such as … I am the door. We know He was not speaking of a literal door; therefore, we know He was speaking of Himself as the way, truth, and the life.
Under such leaders as Clement (c. 150–215) and Origen (c. 185–254), the theological school of Alexandria endorsed a reestablishment of relations between Christian faith and Greek culture (including the Platonic philosophical tradition), and attempted to preserve Orthodox Christianity in the face of heterodox theologies during periods of doctrinal transition. The Alexandrians typically found allegory in most every passage of Scripture. Moreover, in their accounts of the person of Christ, they tended to focus almost exclusively on His divinity.
Some critics have noted that the Alexandrians, in trying to protect against an overemphasis on the humanity of Christ, sometimes leaned toward tritheism, into which Origen is said to have drifted. Monophysitism (the view that virtually negates Christ’s humanity by claiming Him to be divine only) is thought to have been an extreme form of Alexandrian Christological thinking.
Opposing the School of Alexandria was the School of Antioch, which emphasized the literal interpretation of the Bible. Founded circa 200, the theological school of Antioch in Syria stressed Scriptural literalism and the completeness of Christ’s humanity. Flourishing in the 4th-6th centuries, the School of Antioch gave rise to several significant theologians, including Diodore of Tarsus, Theodore of Mopsuestia, Theodoret of Cyrrhus, and St. John Chrysostom.” 18
FINGERPRINT SIX
The Textus Receptus
(The Erasmus Text)
“The
Dutch humanist Erasmus had been working for years on two projects: a collation of Greek texts and a fresh Latin New
Testament. In 1512, he began his work on a fresh Latin New Testament. He
collected all the Vulgate manuscripts he could find to
create a critical edition. Then he polished the Latin. He declared, "It is
only fair that Paul should address the Romans in somewhat better Latin."
The last page of the Erasmian New Testament (Rev 22:8-21)
“While
his intentions for publishing a fresh Latin translation are clear, it is less
clear why he included the Greek text (there was a battle between if one should
use the Greek texts or the Latin texts for translations at this time). His motivations seem to be simpler: he
included the Greek text to prove the superiority of his Latin version. He
wrote, "There remains the New Testament translated by me, with the Greek
facing, and notes on it by me.” He
further demonstrated the reason for the inclusion of the Greek text when
defending his work: "But one thing the facts
cry out, and it can be clear, as they say, even to a blind man, that often
through the translator’s clumsiness or inattention the Greek has been wrongly
rendered; often the true and genuine reading has been corrupted by ignorant
scribes, which we see happen every day, or altered by scribes who are
half-taught and half-asleep.” It
is clear that he wanted to establish an accurate Latin and Greek text of the
Bible that had, over time, been corrupted and manipulated by others in the
Alexandrian Texts.
28 Years of Research
“Frederick
von Nolan, a 19th century historian and Greek and Latin scholar, spent 28 years
attempting to trace the Textus Receptus to apostolic origins. He was an ardent
advocate of the supremacy of the Textus Receptus over all other editions of the
Greek New Testament, and argued that the first editors of the printed Greek New
Testament intentionally selected the texts they did because of their
superiority and disregarded other texts which represented other text-types
because of their inferiority.
“It is not to be conceived that the original
editors of the [Greek] New Testament were wholly destitute of a plan in
selecting those manuscripts, out of which they were to form the text of their
printed editions. In the sequel it will appear,
that they were not altogether ignorant of two classes of manuscripts;
one of which contains the text which we have adopted from them; and the other
that text which has been adopted by M. Griesbac.
Regarding
Erasmus, Nolan stated:
“Nor let it be conceived in disparagement of the
great undertaking of Erasmus, that he was merely fortuitously right. Had he barely undertaken to perpetuate the tradition on
which he received the sacred text he would have done as much as could be
required of him, and more than sufficient to put to shame the puny efforts of
those who have vainly labored to improve upon his design. [...] With respect to
Manuscripts, it is indisputable that he
was acquainted with every variety which is known to us, having distributed them
into two principal classes, one of which corresponds with the Complutensian
edition, the other with the Vatican
manuscript. And he has specified the positive grounds on which he received the
one and rejected the other.”
The following words were printed in the preface of the Greek New Testament by Erasmus: “Therefore thou has the text (textum) now received (receptum) by all, in which we give nothing altered or corrupt.”
Process to an Accurately Preserved New Testament
q It was initially preserved by the HOLY SPIRIT. (John 16:13-14)
Listen to this quote by John Burgon:
“There exists no reason for supposing that the Divine Agent, who in the first instance gave to mankind the Scriptures of Truth, straightway abdicated his office; took no further care of this work; abandoned those precious writings to their fate… all down the ages the sacred writings must needs have been God’s peculiar care…”
q It was subsequently preserved by the PRIESTHOOD OF THE BELIEVER. (Rom. 16:22 / I Tim. 6:20
/ Rev. 22: 16-19 / I Tim. 3:14-15 / John. 17:17 / II Peter 3:15-18)
There are only 3 things you can do AGAINST the Bible:
1.
Add to it.
2.
Subtract from it.
3.
Twist (wrest) it.
q It was eventually preserved by THE SCRIBES OF THE GREEK SPEAKING CHURCH. (Acts. 20:29-30
/ II Cor. 2:17 / Gal. 1:6-7 / II Tim. 2:15-18)
q It is presently preserved in THE MANUSCRIPT WITNESSES IN EXISTENCE.
Can God use imperfect man to INSPIRE the writings of the Scripture? Most spiritual leaders believe this to be true. The real question should be: Can God use imperfect man to PRESERVE his words? Most spiritual leaders say no… but this is how it happened. If God gave us the INSPIRED Bible from nothing… what is so difficult about Him PRESERVING it with 100% accuracy?
Here is the Real Rub in the Preservation
Debate
q The discovery of an Alexandrian text in the monastery of St. Catherine in 1844.
Wescott and Hort used this text, and other Alexandrian texts, to write a New Greek Testament. Prior to 1871 the New Greek Testament never existed. It is an Eclectic text. They picked and chose between the Greek testament and their own opinions. It is important to remember that unsaved men did this to the New Greek Testament that has been used to translate every English Bible since 1881
q Four facts to consider about the Received Text of Erasmus:
1. They are in the majority. Over 5000 of the 5500 manuscripts agree with the RT.
2. The Received Text does go back EARLIER than the other texts.
3. The Received Text has a VARIETY of evidence to back it up:
àIt was used in North Africa, Asia and Europe.
àIt was translated into other languages: Syriac, Coptic and Old Latin.
àThe early church fathers quote in 87,000 places.
àThere are more than 2000 lectionaries.
4. The traditional text was received and believed by God’s people for over a millennia.
àLook at the MSS representing the Alexandrian texts, because
Sinaiticus leave out 4000 words from the gospels alone; it adds 1000 words and
changes the reading in another 1500 places.
Remember what we said about the original textual critic earlier.
Pro 22:20 Have not I written to thee excellent things
in counsels and knowledge,
Pro 22:21 That I might make
thee know the certainty of the words of truth; that thou mightest answer
the words of truth to them that send unto thee?
FINGERPRINT SEVEN
Purified 7 Times
Psa 12:6 The words of the LORD are pure words: as
silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times.
Psa 12:7 Thou shalt keep them, O LORD, thou shalt
preserve them from this generation forever.
We are going to look
at the history of the English Bibles with this verse in mind. We must realize that
the God who created
time and has already seen the future unfold wrote these verses about His Word –
particularly…
preservation of His words. He said they
would be tried in a furnace of earth (that is
common man in
tribulation – ie. The dark ages and inquisitions); that it would be purified
seven times
and that it would be
preserved forever. Let’s put God’s Word
to the test, shall we? The following Bibles
are the
only English Bibles to come from the Received Text of Erasmus. They do not have a mixture of
corrupt texts or the
Eclectic text such as used by Wescott and Hort.
q The
Tyndale Bible of 1526
Condemned as a
heretic, William Tyndale was strangled, and burned at the stake on October
6,1536.
q The
Coverdale Bible of 1535
Coverdale said, “I
have neither wrested nor altered so much as one word for the maintenance of any
manner or sect;
having only manifest truth of the Scripture before mine eyes.”
q The
Matthew’s Bible of 1537
The Matthew’s Bible
was a disguised Tyndale Bible, but the King, not knowing it was just a slight
revision of the
Tyndale Bible, commented, “I like it better than any other translation
heretofore made.”
q The
Taverner’s Bible of 1539
This was a minor revision
of the Matthew’s Bible in that it departed from the marginal notes in the
former. It was also the first complete Bible to be
printed in English.
q The
Great Bible of 1539
Its biggest change
was that it was to be free from all controversial annotations. Again, it was merely an
edited version of the
Tyndale Bible – integrated with the Matthew’s Bible.
q The
Geneva Bible of 1560
The Bible came out of
Geneva, was dedicated to the new Queen Elizabeth and was used by John Bunyan.
It also included
strong Protestant notes.
q The
Bishop’s Bible of 1568
The biggest change
was to soften the Calvinistic notes in the Geneva Bible and to make it looked a
noble
as possible. It accomplished both.
Note: The Rheims-Douay
Bible was published in 1568. This
translation was not true to the Received
Text / Tyndale
tradition; it was a compromise Bible in order to counter the Protestant
teaching found in
the previous seven
English Bibles.
q The King James Bible of 1611
God directed the seven translations of the Bible that originated from the TR to PURIFY the ACCURACY of the KJV. It was not questioned for almost 400 years… until the rise of Darwinism, German Rationalism, Relative thought and the finding of 2 texts from Alexandria. One in a waste Basket in Egypt and the other that had been locked up in the Vatican (they wouldn’t allow it to be used… they did not believe the ordinary person could understand the Bible anyway.)
The following set of “rules” had been prepared on behalf of church and state by Richard Bancroft, Bishop of London and high-church Anglican. “For the better ordering of the proceedings of the translators, his Majesty recommended the following rules to them, to be very carefully observed:--
1. The ordinary Bible, read in the church, commonly called the Bishop’s Bible, to be followed, and as little altered as the original will permit.
“2. The names of the prophets and the holy writers, with the other names in the text, to be retained, as near as may be, according as they are vulgarly used.
“3. The old ecclesiastical words to be kept; as the word church, not to be translated congregation, &c.
“4. When any word hath divers significations, that to be kept which has been most commonly used by the most eminent fathers, being agreeable to the propriety of the place (CONTEXT), and the analogy of the faith (CROSS-REFERENCING).
“5. The division of the chapters to be altered, either not at all, or as little as may be, if necessity so require.
“6. No marginal notes at all to be affixed, but only for the explanation of the Hebrew or Greek words, which cannot, without some circumlocution, so briefly and fitly be expressed in the text.
“7. Such quotations of places to be marginally set down, as shall serve for the fit references of one scripture to another.
“8. Every particular man of each company to take the same chapter of chapters; and having translated or amended them severally by himself, where he thinks good, all to meet together, to confer what they have done, and agree for their part what shall stand.
“9. As any one company hath dispatched any one book in this manner, they shall send it to the rest to be considered of seriously and judiciously: for his Majesty is very careful in this point.
“10. If any company, upon the review of the book so sent, shall doubt or differ upon any places, and therewithal to send their reasons; to which if they consent not, the difference to be compounded at the general meeting, which is to be the chief persons of each company, at the end of the work.
“11. When any place of special obscurity is doubted of, letters to be directly by authority to send to any learned in the land for his judgment in such a place.
“12. Letters to be sent from every bishop to the rest of the clergy, admonishing them of this translation in hand, and to move and charge as many as being skillful in the tongues, have taken pains in that kind, to send their particular observations to the company, either at Westminster, Cambridge, or Oxford, according as it was directed before the king’s letter to the archbishop.
“13. The directors in each company to be deans of Westminster and Chester, and the king’s professors in Hebrew and Greek in the two universities.
“14. These translations to be used when they agree better with the text than the Bishop’s Bible, viz. Tyndale’s, Coverdale’s, Matthew’s, Wilchurch’s,* Geneva.
There will never be a group of godly men to compare with the 47 men who were commissioned to give us the translation of the kjv Bible.
What about the NKJV
Many believe the nkjv to be an upgrade, or revision of the kjv. The translators of the nkjv say that their Bible used all the documents that were available to the kjv translators. This is true; they used the TR (Received Text) in places, and they used documents from an Alexandrian school of thought also. Let me give you 3 examples (I could give many more, but… two will suffice) to explain my point.
#1: The Temptation of Eve.
The kjv reads:
Gen 3:1 Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?
Gen 3:2 And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden:
Gen 3:3 But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.
Gen 3:4 And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:
Gen 3:5 For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.
The
words to notice are in verse five. The kjv reads:
“ye shall be as gods.” The NKJV,
and all other modern bibles since 1881 read:
"For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened,
and you will be like God, knowing good and
evil.”
What’s the big
deal? The big deal is that the same
source was not used for the kjv and the nkjv translations. They are very different; one is accurate
while the other is not. Either they will
be like god(s) [plural], or they will be like God [singular]. The nkjv is saying that if Eve eats of the
forbidden fruit that she will be like God.
I think not! God is perfect and
sinless. Satan was telling Eve that if
she eats of the fruit (and he’s playing upon her innocence), that she will be
like the fallen angels (who were beautiful, albeit… sinful and separated from
God). He was telling her the truth. He deceived her, but he did not lie. When she ate of the fruit she became like
them… sinful! So… either the kjv is
correct with (gods), or the nkjv, and all other modern bibles are correct with
their God translation.
The choice is yours.
#2 God
created the heaven or heaven(s) and earth.
The kjv reads:
Gen 1:1 In the beginning God created the heaven and
the earth.
The nkjv, and most
all other modern bibles read: Gen 1:1 In the beginning God created the heavens and
the earth.
What’s the big
deal? The big deal is that the source
used for the nkjv and the kjv are not the same.
It is
either heaven
[singular] or heaven(s) [plural]. It is
a massive difference that helps explain what it is that
happened when Lucifer
rebelled against the original Jerusalem above in the ancient past, and what is
necessary for the
universe to become one heaven again.
Right now there are three heavens:
our skies,
outer space and God’s
Throne. There was a “divide” of the
heavens made (ex. 20:11) when Lucifer
corrupted the harmony
of heaven (singular). I cover this in
detail in my book: Secrets of the
Spiritual
Matrix. The rendering of heaven(s) instead of heaven
hides Lucifer’s rebellion, and his identity from the
masses of those
blinded by the deceit of the Dragon.
The choice is yours. These are just two examples of thousands that
could be cited.
#3: Also… what is so important about the: thy, thou, shall, ye, and others of the sort
of the kjv.
Among
the first changes that greets the reader of the nkjv is the removal of
the much maligned "thee, thou and ye". The Preface to
the nkjv states, ". . .thee, thou, and ye are replaced by the simple
you,. . .These pronouns are no longer part of our language." But
"thee, thou and ye" were "NO LONGER part of the
language" during 1611 either. (just read the intro to the 1611 King
James, there are no "thee", "thou" and "ye"). In
fact, Webster's Third New International Dictionary, says of ye: "used
from the earliest of times to the late 13th century. . ."
(p.2648) And yet the 1611 King James was published 400 years later in the 17th
century!
So why are they there?
The Greek and Hebrew language contain a different word for the second person singular and the second person plural pronouns. Today we use the one-word "you" for both the singular and plural. But because the translators of the 1611 King James Bible desired an accurate, word-for-word translation of the Hebrew and Greek text - they could NOT use the one-word "you" throughout! If it begins with "t" (thou, thy, thine) it's SINGULAR, but if it begins with "y" (ye) it's PLURAL. Ads for the NKJV call it "the Accurate One", and yet the 1611 King James, by using "thee", "thou", "ye", is far more accurate!
By the way, if the "thee's" and "thou's" are ". . .no longer part of our language" - why aren't the NKJV translators rushing to make our hymnbooks "much clearer"? "How Great Thou Art" to "How Great You Are", or "Come Thou Fount" to "Come You Fount" Doesn't sound right, does it? Isn't it amazing that they wouldn't dare "correct" our hymns - and yet, without the slightest hesitation, they'll "correct" the word of God!
The
choice is yours. Remember…. ACCURACY is
the goal… not PERFECTION. God chose
every word He
wanted
to preserve through godly men who were led by the spirit of God to give us a
100% accurate text
of
the Bible. There’s a lot of comfort and
security in knowing the history of the texts.
Final thoughts…
Put poison anywhere in the blood stream and the whole becomes poisoned. It is the same with the Word of God. When words are added or subtracted, Bible inspiration is destroyed, and the spiritual blood stream is poisoned. In this respect the revised Bibles of our day seem to have become spiritual guinea pigs, with multiple hypodermic shots-in-the-arm by so called Doctors of Divinity, who have used the serum of scholasticism well mixed with modern free-thinking textual criticism. When the Bible words are tampered with, and substitution is made, the Bible becomes a dead thing with little spiritual power to change lives.
Read the following verses that
back up this battle for the accuracy of the Bible:
2Co 2:17 For we are not as many, which corrupt the word of God: but as of
sincerity, but as of God, in
the sight of God
speak we in Christ.
2Co 4:2 But have renounced the hidden things of
dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling
the
word of
God deceitfully; but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every
man's
conscience in the
sight of God.
2Ti 4:3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after
their own lusts shall
they heap to
themselves teachers, having itching ears;
2Ti 4:4 And they shall turn
away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.
2Ti 4:5 But watch thou in all things, endure
afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make
full proof of
thy
ministry.
The
Holy Spirit is the Teacher… Not Human Reasoning!
It is the ministry of the Holy Spirit to teach us the truths found in the preserved Bible. The “natural man” cannot understand the Bible. We should stop watering down and changing the Bible to make it “understandable” for those who are not obedient to its words in the first place.
Co 2:9 But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor
ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God
hath prepared for them that love him.
1Co 2:10 But God hath revealed
them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things,
yea, the deep things of God.
1Co 2:11 For what man knoweth
the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the
things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God.
1Co 2:12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the
world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might
know the things that are freely given to us of God.
1Co 2:13 Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the
Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual.
1Co 2:14 But the natural man
receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness
unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually
discerned.
I challenge you to
not believe anything I have just revealed to you. I mean that!
You get into the Bible
and research the
historical facts for yourself. The most
important advice I can give you as you journey
through the jungle of
manuscript evidence is to remember the two streams from which all of the texts
originate. Pay attention to the character of the men who
had their hands on the ancient texts, and passed
them down to us
today. I trust the journey will change
your eternity!!
I will leave you with
this passage to ponder as to why the word(s) of God are so important:
Joh 12:47 And if any man hear
my words, and believe not, I judge him not: for I came not to judge the
world, but to save the world.
Joh 12:48 He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in
the last day.
Blessed with a burden,
Mark D. Harrell
Resources: For further research on your own. Do it now; reap the rewards!
2. Trial
by Fire -- by John
Rawlings. Publisher: The Rawlings Foundation (p. 60-61)
3. Ibid,
p. 66
4. Ibid.
p. 69
5. Ibid.
p. 70
6. Ibid.
p. 72
7. Ibid.
p. 74
10. Ibid
12. Ibid
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