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NOTE: If you are blessed from this document, please help me be able to have it
self-published. Upon self-publication I will send out free copies to all contributors. Russell Earl Kelly, 6610 Skyview Dr
SE, Acworth, Ga 30101 770-974-4756 THE
KING JAMES BIBLE CONTROVERSY
Russell Earl Kelly, PHD
September 16, 2011
Chapters
1. The Original Bible
2. A. D. 100 to A.D. 200 Corruptions
Ebionite
Corruption
Gnostic Corruption
Arian Corruption
3. Origen
(d254)
Catechism School of Alexandria
Origen’s Probable Corruptions
Origen’s Theology
4. Lucian
Constantine
Eusebius of Nicomedia
The Greek
Orthodox Decision
5.
A. D. 384 to A. D. 1453
Jerome (d430) and the Latin Vulgate
6 The Alexandrian Manuscripts
Vaticanus B
Sinaiticus Aleph
Comparison Facts
Bodmer Papyri
7. Erasmus to 1604
Erasmus (1516)
Luther (1517)
Tyndale (1522)
The Great Bible (1526)
Stephanus (1550)
The Geneva Bible (1560)
The Bishops’ Bible (1568)
Beza (1598)
8. The King James Bible (1611)
Rules of the King James Version
Elzevir Brothers (1624-78)
Editions, not Revisions
9. Textual Criticism
Prelude to 1881 ERV
Disobeying the King
Westcott and Hort Biography
Work Ethics on the 1881 ERV
10.
Textual-Critical Rules
Shorter are Better Rule
Harder to Read is Best Rule
Smoother and Longer is Bad Rule
The Most Likely Sources are Best Rule
Alexandrian Manuscripts are Best Rule
Readings with Two or More Text Types Rule
11. Text Types and Families
Byzantine Text Type
Western Text Type
Alexanddrian
Text Type
Are Text Types and Families Real
12. The Strongest Argument Against Alexandrian Texts
13. Dating the Traditional Text (Byzantine, Textus Receptus)
14. Early Bible Versions
Old Latin
Old Syriac, Diatesseron
Syriac, Peshitta
Early
German
Gothic Bible
Selected
Author Information
*Numbers in ( ) are page numbers from Floyd Nolen Jones, Th. D., Ph. D., Which Version is the Bible?, Kings
Word Press, 1999.
CHAPTER
ONE
THE ORIGINAL BIBLE
Conservative evangelical Christians
from both the modern text-critic view and the Textus Receptus view believe that God at the very least inspired the first original
copies of the Bible without error. That is also what the Bible claims for itself.
TEXT-CRITIC VIEW:
Modern conservative text critics do not assign variants and errors to the originals either. It is their special mission
to restore the originals by detecting and removing errors and incorrect variants. They teach that the oldest, shortest, and
most difficult to understand Alexandrian manuscripts are usually nearest the originals. They believe that their own methods
and systems of analyzing texts can restore the original autographs to an incredible level.
TEXTUS RECEPTUS VIEW:
2 Peter 1:21 “For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God
spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.”
1 Peter 1:25 “But the word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the word which by the
gospel is preached unto you.”
The Bible teaches that the original autographs of the Word of God were produced by the moving of God upon ordinary men
(2 Pet 1:21). Therefore the original documents of God’s Word must have been holy, pure, easy to understand,
and without error of any kind.
The
original autographs would reflect the character of God Himself as their Originator. Coming directly from the mind of God,
those original written words must have been as perfect as possible in every way. Nothing else makes sense. Anything less demeans
the character and ability of God.
CHAPTER TWO
A.D. 100 TO A. D. 200 CORRUPTIONS
Following the death of the last of the Apostles around A.D. 100, many portions of the original inspired
Word fell into the hands of uninspired and unregenerate men who deliberately changed them to match their false theology.
It is evident that between the end of the first century
(100) and the end of the second century (200) many, but not all, manuscripts of the Bible had been severely corrupted. At
one extreme were manuscripts deliberately corrupted by second century Gnostics, Ebionites, and Arians.
And at the other
extreme were the inspired preserved longer and easier to understand Syrian and Greek texts.
TEXT-CRITIC VIEW
The very rare and oldest Alexandrian manuscripts contain the originals. A long and slow process is necessary
by highly educated linguists in order to glean the truth because many of the oldest manuscripts are severely corrupted.
No Syrian-Byzantine-Textus Receptus documents
existed prior to Chrysostom’s time around 350. They admit that the Western text-type contains very long texts, but deny
that those long texts are the same as the Byzantine.
TEXTUS RECEPTUS VIEW
After inspiring inerrant copies of His Word, it makes no senses that an Omnipotent and Omniscient God would
then allow it to be so lost and so distorted that its restoration was necessary over 1800 years later.
Common
sense concludes that an Omnipotent and Omniscient God would miraculously and providentially preserve his Word and make it
available to all generations. Textus Receptus
advocates say that they do not need a complicated system of filtering errors and variants. They contend that (aside from spelling,
punctuation, and archaic word replacement) the original autographs have always been miraculously at hand with extremely little
changes.
Textus Receptus advocates believe that the earliest
Bible translations such as the Diatesseron, Old Latin, Old Italic and Aramaic Peshitta were written between 100 and 200 and
clearly contain the originals (of the Textus Receptus). They conclude that the papyri from 100 to 400 are a mixture.
Some like the Alexandrian are very choppy and corrupt. Others, like the Greek behind the earliest Bibles, best contain the
originals. T-R advocates claim that the Alexandrian
text-types are scarce because they have been corrupted and were rejected and very seldom copied by the Church since the middle
of the fourth century.
EBIONITE CORRUPTIONS [90-300?]
The Ebionites were Jewish Christians who never understood the full impact of the Gospel and
never stopped being zealous of the Law. They made drastic changes to the originals. They only accepted Matthew’s Gospel,
revered James the Just and rejected Paul as an apostate. They taught that a human Jesus only became the Messiah after His
baptism. And they did not fellowship with other Christians.
[135] Aquila of Sinope had been excommunicated for astrology and worship of dead bodies. He even supervised
the building of the temple of Jupiter on the Temple site and helped to place the emperor's idol there. Wallace (see below)
accused Aquila of Sinope of deliberately changing the OT to remove references to Christ). In the N.T. he changed the Greek
word parthenos (virgin) in Matthew 1:23 to pantheras, a blond German soldier, and father of Jesus through
Mary.
Between 175-195 Irenaeus, Bishop
of Lyons, accused Aquila of Sinope of being a wicked perverter of the Scriptures, Ante Nicean Fathers, Vol 1, Roberts
and Donaldson edition, 1867; Irenaeus, Against Heresies, Bk III, chap 21, 451 quoted by Wallace (93). See more at
Origen.
GNOSTIC CORRUPTIONS: 100-200
Gnostics taught that Jesus was only a spirit being and did not come in the flesh. Their peak of influence
in the second century almost destroyed early Christianity and forced them to compile an early list of inspired books.
It is well known that the Gnostic Marcion deliberately
altered biblical manuscripts to agree with his theology in 140. Dionysius, Bishop of Corinth (168-176) said that the scriptures
had been deliberately altered in his day. Eusebius Ecclesiastical History, Book IV, chapter 23 (134).
In 1898 John Burgon wrote that the Gnostic Valentinus
(c 140) corrupted some texts. J.W. Burgon, The Causes of the Corruption of the Traditional Text of the Holy Gospels;
Edward Miller, 1896, 214-218, 287-291 (157).
CHAPTER
THREE
ORIGEN (d254)
THE CATECHISM SCHOOL OF ALEXANDRIA [190-254]
Origen taught and wrote from this school while living in Egypt. Its influence on his theology and
writing cannot be overlooked.
[190]
Pantaenus (d190) was the first teacher of the Catechism School in Alexandria. He was a classical Stoic who taught the allegorical
method. He also taught that Plato was just as inspired as the Bible.
[175-200] GAIUS named four heretics who altered texts and had disciples copying them who could not
produce the originals. Wilbur Pickering pointed out that Gaius' accusations that the scribes had deliberately changed
Greek manuscripts would have been hollow unless he (Gaius) could produce the originals to prove his point! J. W. Burgon, The
Revision Revised, 1883, 323-324 (148). Pickering, The Identity of the NT Texts, 1977, 109-110 (148).
[220] Clement of Alexandra (155-220) succeeded Pantaenus
from 190-215. He is called the first Christian scholar and opposed Gnosticism.
[d220] TERTULLIAN: In 1896 F. C. Burkitt wrote that Tertullian (160-220) and Augustine of Hippo (354-430)
both testified that the scribes in Africa were constantly editing and revising the manuscripts. Burkitt, The Old Latin
and the Italia, Cambridge, 1896 quoted in ISBE, Vol 4, 970 (167).
Coming from prominent theologians of the early church, this is significant evidence that scribes in
Egypt had actually "changed" the manuscripts. It may also be a reason why Jerome's Latin Vulgate had not been
readily accepted.
[243]
Ammonius Saccas (d243), the founder of Neo-Platonism, taught Origen. He also taught that the world was an emanation from the
impersonal one (Egyptian theology in cuneiform) (94).
ORIGEN’S PROBABLE CORRUPTIONS
With the exception of Westcott and Hort, Origen (d254) is the most controversial person in the KJV-Modern
Bible debate. His father died as a martyr in 202. While teaching for 28 years at the Catechism School of Alexandria, Origen
was extremely ascetic and pious and even castrated himself according to his interpretation of Matthew 19:12.
Origen studied with the founder of Neo-Platoism, Ammonius
Saccas and heard Hippolytus in Rome. After his own bishop, Demetrius of Alexandria, deposed him as a priest in Egypt, he spent
his last years in Had. From his new school in Had he was imprisoned by Emperor Decius in 250 and died soon afterwards. The books included in Origen’s Hexapla cause
Textus Receptus advocates to conclude that Origen most likely corrupted Alexandrian manuscripts by including material from
obviously corrupted Ebionite writings.
Origen’s Hexapla was a parallel Bible with 6 columns: the Hebrew O. T., 3 Ebionite O. T.s by Aquila,
Symmachus and Theodotian, a Greek O. T. Septuagint and a (controversial) Greek New Testament which many believe spawned Sinaiticus
Aleph and Vaticanus B.
That which
disturbs Textus Receptus advocates is the fact that Origen obviously highly regarded the Ebionite manuscripts enough to include
them among sacred literature. Ebionites rejected Paul, had no fellowship with other Christians and never abandoned zealous
obedience to the Law of Moses. At the very
least, this evidence reveals the mind of Origen. He chose for his New Testament the much shorter and much harder-to-understand
Alexandrian manuscripts as the ones he considered to be the most accurate and the closest to the originals. His favorites
were the predecessors of Vaticanus B and Sinaiticus Aleph. Origen's extremely unorthodox theology and lifestyle would
pre-dispose or encourage him to alter texts to agree with his own views. Jerome and Epiphanius later accused Origen of Subordinationism (a form of Arianism). He was much later condemned by
the Synod of Constantinople in 543 for his Arian theology.
Knowing those who influenced Origen and the many accusations
of contemporary Church Fathers just quoted (Irenaeus, Dionysius, Gaius, Tertullian, Jerome and Epiphanius), it is highly likely
that he and/or his school also inserted false theology into the Hexapla.
It is extremely difficult to reconcile two ideas: (1) that Origen believed 3 Ebionite OT documents
included in his Hexapla were inspired enough to be included and (2) that Textual-Critics claim that these corrupted texts
did not influence Origen's revision of the Alexandrian texts.
ORIGEN’S THEOLOGY
Many believe that Origen's theology was radical enough to predispose him to change the Bible. (95)
1. The Bible must be interpreted allegorically.
2. In Genesis 1-3, A. D.am and the fall of man are not literal.
3. The temptations of Jesus by Satan are not literal.
4. Jesus was created (Arianism).
5. The soul sleeps in the grave until a spiritual resurrection.
6. There is no physical resurrection of the body.
7. Baptismal regeneration is essential for salvation.
8. Non-baptized babies go to hell.
9. Eventual universal salvation of even Satan will occur.
10. Purgatory purifies for heaven.
11. Transubstantiation: the literal blood and flesh of Jesus is consumed at communion.
12. Ascetic men must be castrated.
13. Salvation is maintained by goad works
14. The Holy Spirit does not indwell until later.
15. The least sinful fallen souls are the stars.
16. The second least sinful souls are animals.
17. Man has a more sinful soul than animals.
18. The demons and Satan possess the most sinful souls.
In 1962 Moyer and Reumann wrote that Origen edited and changed scripture to fit his doctrine. Elgin
S. Moyer and John H. P. Reumann, Who Was Who in Church History?, 1962, p315 and John H. P. Reumann, The Romance
of Bible Scripts and Scholars, 1965, 98-103 (93).
In 1963 Kilpatrick wrote that Origen changed Mt 19:19 and changes were not tolerated after the 4th
century. He said that Tatian was the last author to make deliberate changes in the text about which we have explicit information."
G. D. Kilpatrick, Atticism and the Text of the Greek New Testament, 1963, 129-131 (155-156).
CHAPTER FOUR:
LUCIAN, CONSTANTINE AND
EUSEBIUS OF NICOMEDIA
LUCIAN
OF ANTIOCH (d312)
HISTORY: Lucian of Antioch, the father of Arianism [Christ was
created by the Father], was head of the theological school in Antioch, Syria. A contemporary of Origen, Lucian taught Arius
of Alexandria and Eusebius of Nicomedia. Though an Arian, he opposed Origen's allegorical interpretation.
TEXT-CRITIC VIEW:
Westcott and Hort attributed the compilation of the Textus Receptus to the Eastern Church between 250-350 with Lucian (d312) as its probable initiator and overseer.
They called it the Lucianic Recension.
Westcott and Hort taught that Lucian deliberately combined
Western and pre-Syrian text types to create the Byzantine text. They say that it was longer and smoother because of deliberately
combined texts. They then stated dogmatically that no inversions (opposite influence) occurred. WH, Introduction,
49, 133, 137-138 (123-127).
Modern Textual-Critics attribute the creation of the Textus Receptus to Eusebius around
350.
TEXTUS RECEPTUS VIEW:
1. The Textus Receptus is not the product or Lucian,
Eusebius, or any other man. It is the original autograph miraculously guided and preserved by God and watched over by the
Greek Church.
2. Textus
Receptus advocates seriously disagree with this malicious accusation by Westcott and Hort. They offer absolutely no historical
proof because none exists.
3.
While Church Fathers complained about scribes who tampered with manuscripts, not a single word exists where any of
them complained about such a large-scale tampering like that text-critics accuses Lucian and Eusebius of Nicomedia of accomplishing.
E. C. Colwell,
The Complex Character of the Late Byzantine Text of the Gospels, Journal of Biblical Literature, LIV, 1935, 212-213
(144).
4. Furthermore, if
monks had enlarged the text at that time in history, they would have almost certainly also added texts which supported their
views about the Virgin Mary and prayers requesting intercession from the saints.
5. By assigning the dates of 312 by Lucian and 350 by Eusebius of Nicomedia, text critics
have inadvertently made the Textus Receptus a contemporary of their own favorite Alexandrian texts. It is clear that the long
and smooth texts existed as far back as the second century. Text critics call the earliest texts Western while T-R advocates
call it Byzantine.
6. It is disturbing
that their completely un-documented theory has turned into accepted biblical history in some reputable Christian source books.
For example, The New International Dictionary of the Christian Church cites Westcott and Hort as proof for the theory when
they only originated it!
CONSTANTINE
(d337)
Roman Emperor Constantine filled two roles. While claiming to be a convert to Christianity
he was, at the same time, the high priest of the Roman mystery religion and was worshipped as a god with his own statues.
His conversion was doubtful, especially since he later murdered his wife and son and mixed both Christian and pagan rites. Constantine's political goal was to unite his empire
under one religion. The Greek letter chi (X) carried by his armies was also a symbol of life in the mystery religions. Arianism was the heresy that Jesus was the first creation
of the Father. It is also part of the heresy of today’s Jehovah Witnesses and Mormons. Arianism began by a Christian
philosopher Arius (d336) of Alexandria, Egypt. He was condemned by the Council of Nicea (325), exonerated by the local First
Synod of Tyre (335), and condemned again by the Council of Constantinople (381). Emperors Constantine II (d361) and Valens
(d378) were Arians.
In 325,
Constantine (the Great) called the Council of Nicea in an effort to unify Christians. The Council condemned both him and Eusebius
of Nicomedia as Arians. Though questionable, Broadbent claims that the consequence was that every bishop in the Catholic Church
was Arian for the next 300 years. Broadbent may have been correct if he had been only referring to the churches of the Eastern
Roman Empire. E. H. Broadbent, The Pilgrim Church, 1931, 21-22 (103).
EUSEBIUS
OF NICOMEDIA (d341)
Eusebius of Nicomedia was Lucian's student. He
is credited with revising the Greek LXX and was martyred. Eusebius wrote that Constantine [in 331] asked him to make 50 copies of the Bible for distribution to the churches.
Although there is no historical or scientific evidence, advocates from both the modern textual-critical camp and the T-R camp
agree that the 50 copies mentioned by Eusebius
used the Alexandrian text.
In
1925 A. T. Robertson wrote that Vaticanus B and Sinaiticus were from these original 50 copies prepared by Eusebius
for Constantine. Eusebius, iv, 36. A. T. Robertson, An Introduction to Textual Criticism, 1925, 80 (103, 105).
In 1949 Ira M. Price wrote that Eusebius considered
Origen to have been the greatest of men. He owned 800 of his documents. Price said that Eusebius used all of Origen's
Hexapla columns, including his edited Greek New Testament and Apocrypha Ira M. Price, The Ancestry of Our English Bible,
2nd ed, 1949, 79 (104).
In 1970
D. O. Fuller agreed with Robertson that Vaticanus B and Sinaiticus Aleph were two still-existing manuscripts of the original
50 produced by Eusebius. Fuller added that both Hort and Tischendorf also believed that these were two existing copies which
Eusebius had prepared. Fuller, Which Bible?, 1970, 163, (105).
If W-H are correct and the Byzantine text completely replaced them within 50 years, why were they
replaced by a Syrian text type? If the Church around A.D. 350 had even temporarily accepted the Alexandrian text-type as the
best nearest to the originals (and copied from even older documents), why were they evidently rejected, not widely copied,
and not widely distributed throughout both the Western and Eastern Roman Empire? This was still centuries before the Muslims
destroyed Bibles in only in the southern half of the Empire. There were still almost 300 years to become widespread.
THE GREEK ORTHODOX
DECISION
By 350 the Eastern
Greek Church seems to have decided that its longer and smoother text was the best text to be used in the Eastern Roman Empire.
Perhaps the presence of the 50 Alexandrian-text Bibles triggered this decision. T-R advocates believe that this choice was
God-guided and God-preserved. The text type chosen by the Greek Church is variously called the Syrian, the Byzantine and/or
the Traditional Text. These terms are all almost synonymous with the Textus Receptus (T-R). It is important to note
that Erasmus much later chose the Greek Orthodox-preserved manuscripts and deliberately rejected older text types as corrupted.
A. D. 384 TO A. D. 1453
From 384 until 1453 the status quo of text types was little changed. The Eastern Roman Empire and
the Greek Church used the Traditional Text. Arabic-speaking Christians preferred the Aramaic Peshitta. Old Latin,
Old Italic, Gothic, and Gaelic Bibles (mostly from the Traditional Text) survived on the fringes of Roman Catholicism in Europe.
Most of the Church Fathers and all of the Lectionaries used the smoother and longer T-R which means that they rejected the
rougher and shorter Alexandrian texts.
In 1453 Ottoman Turks conquered Constantinople and ended the Roman Empire.
The result was that the West was flooded with Greek Traditional Text manuscripts.
JEROME (d430) And THE
LATIN VULGATE BIBLE
HISTORY:
Jerome (d430) is considered by both Roman Catholics
and the Greek Orthodox Church as a saint and Doctor of the Church.
Pope Damasus (d384) was one of the most aggressive advocates for the authority of the papacy. This
was easy to assert in his day when Arian Christian "barbarians" were invading and the Roman Imperial authority had
been severely weakened in the West.
Upon his election Damasus massacred his opponent's supporters for three days. Pagans liked him because of his lavish
life-style. It was Pope Damasus who established Latin as the principal language of the Western Church. Richard McBrien, Lives
of the Popes, 1997, 63-64.
In
383 Pope Damasus commissioned his secretary Jerome, the former Hermit of Bethlehem, to produce a New Testament Latin Bible
to replace the Old Latin Bible. Jerome completed the Gospels around 384 and the complete revision, The Latin Vulgate,
in 405.
TEXT-CRITICS VIEW:
Internal evidence from Jerome's Latin Vulgate of
384 to 405 suggests that he used mostly Alexandrian texts. This demonstrates that the 4th century Church
recognized that the Alexandrian texts were nearest to the originals and accepted them.
TEXTUS RECEPTUS VIEW:
1. The fact that Jerome heavily used the Alexandrian manuscripts only proves that a very corrupt
pope approved Jerome’s use of them.
2. Rome was not the center of Christianity in
384-405. Constantinople in the East
was and Pope Damasus, by commanding that Latin be the official language of the Western Church, was opposing the Eastern Church
Patriarch.
The Western Roman Empire was being overrun and ruled by barbarian Germanic Arian Christians who had
learned Arianism from Eastern Church missionaries.
3. The Eastern Roman Empire endured until 1453 and it never stopped using the Greek Bible.
Since it never accepted the Alexandrian texts as legitimate, it must be concluded that they had been rejected.
4. if Jerome had indeed used Vaticanus B, the Roman
Catholic Church in the West must have certainly thought very little of it because it failed to command its monasteries and
scribes to widely reproduce and widely distribute it to its territories.
5. The Latin Vulgate is not all Alexandrian. It has many texts from both the Old Latin and the Byzantine
Greek. These attest to the fact that the Byzantine was present and used even in the West when Jerome wrote the Latin Vulgate.
6. For some reason, Jerome's
Latin Vulgate suffered abuse within Roman Catholicism for over 1500 years. It was not officially made the Bible of the Roman
Catholic Church until the Council of Trent in 1546 --- after the Protestant Reformers had begun using their own German Bibles.
History does not explain this treatment of the Latin Vulgate by the Catholic Church.
7. It is important to note that, beginning in A.D. 405 the Western Roman Catholic Church
began using the Latin Vulgate derived from a mixture of the Old Latin T-R Byzantine, Alexandrian, and other Greek texts while
the Eastern Roman Empire through the Greek Orthodox Church was only using the Byzantine text.
8. As far back as 386 Helvidius, a contemporary of Jerome who argued against the
perpetual virginity of Mary, accused Jerome of using corrupted texts. Post Nicean Fathers, Vol VII, Schaff,
1892/1983, 338 (108).
Did Jerome use Origen's Hexapla which contained three corrupted Ebionite manuscripts?
If he did use Origen's Hexapla to translate the Bible into Latin, how much did those Ebionite documents contribute to
His Latin Vulgate?
9.
Westcott and Hort admitted that Jerome's Latin Vulgate in places disregards Vaticanus B and Sinaiticus Aleph in
favor of Codex A for 22 significant agreements with the Traditional Text. After looking at Codex A, Edward Hills agreed with
Westcott and Hort. Jerome must not have had as high an opinion of Vaticanus B and Sinaiticus Aleph as did W-H. Since W-H believed
that where B and Aleph agreed, the originals existed, it is difficult to understand why Jerome would abandon B and Aleph for
the TT equivalents in Codex A. WH, Introduction to the NT in the Original Greek, 1882, 187-188 (167). Hills, The
King James Version Defended, 1956.
10. In 1979 The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia said that Jerome revised the Old Latin
NT using Origen's Hexapla and all of the other columns. In his letters Origen referred to using the Greek 'original'
to correct and amend the unskilled scribes. ISBE, 1979, Vol III, p1841, Vol IV, p972 (167).
11. AUGUSTINE (d430): In 1896 F. C. Burkitt wrote
that Tertullian (160-220) and Augustine of Hippo (354-430) both testified that the scribes in Africa were constantly
editing and revising the manuscripts. Burkitt, The Old Latin and the Italia, Cambridge, 1896 quoted in ISBE, Vol
4, 970 (167).
12. The Latin
Vulgate contains John 7:53 to 8:11, the Pericope Adulterae, and it was blessed by the Council of Trent. This is a blow to
text-critics.
ALEXANDRIAN MANUSCRIPTS
It is common knowledge that the minority manuscripts upon which the Alexandrian texts (Beatty,
Bodmer and Uncials such as B, Aleph, A, H and W) are upon papyri or parchment which came only from Alexandrian Egypt. Wilbur
Pickering, The Identity of the New Testament Text, 1977, 116-117 (157).
Papyrus 45 (3rd cent) has 90 misspellings and 245 singular readings of which 10% make no sense; he
shortens the text over 50 times. Colwell, Scribal Habits in Early Papyri, 1965, 374-379, 387.
P46 (circa 200) was discovered in Cairo, Egypt.
In 1953 Gunther Zuntz wrote that Papyrus
46 abounds in scribal blunders, omissions and additions. Gunther Zuntz, The Text of the Epistles, 1953, 18, 212 (158).
P47: According to one of the leading text-critics,
Kurt Aland, "oldest" does not necessarily mean "best." In 1965 he wrote that papyrus P47 is not the best
text of the Revelation. "The oldest manuscript does not necessarily have the best text. P47 is, for example by far the
oldest of the manuscripts containing the full or almost full text of the Apocalypse, but is it certainly not the best."
The Significance of the Papyri, 1965, 333 (158).
Should not this noticeable exception to the rule at least challenge the rule? If P47, the oldest text
of Revelation, is admittedly corrupted, then who can prove that the same process which corrupted P47 did not also corrupt
Vaticanus B or any other text?
P66 (circa 200): In 1965 E. C. Colwell said that Papyrus
66 editorializes and is very poor and sloppy.
P75 (early 3rd century) has over 400 mistakes including 145 misspellings and 257 singular reading with 25%
of them nonsensical.
In 1977 Edward
Hills agreed that the Bodmer Papyri, P75, B and Aleph are error-ridden and have been tampered with by Arian heretics. Hills,
Believing Bible , 1977, 77-78 (157).
In 1977 Wilbur Pickering wrote that A. C. Clarke, Professor of Latin at Oxford, showed in his of
classical texts that scribes were most likely to accidentally omit rather than add." He also detailed the mistakes found
in P45, P66, and P75. Pickering, The Identity of the New Testament Text, 1977, 79-85, 117-120 (127, 158).
Pickering pointed out that Alexandrian Codex D was
evidently so different from Vaticanus B and Sinaiticus Aleph that it was evidently corrupted within its own family. In 1977
he asked "How can any value be given to the depraved testimony of Codex D in Luke 22 to 24, much less prefer it above
the united voice of all other witnesses?" When compared to W-H's final text of Luke 22-24, Codex D omits 329 words,
added 173, substituted 146 and transposed 243. Yet W-H omitted material from the T-R in eight places because it was not found
in D! Pickering, The Identity of the NT Text, 1977, 136 (162).
Question: Would an All-Powerful and All-Knowing God have inspired His Word and then NOT allowed it
to be widely copied and distributed for over 1800 years (as is the case for the Alexandrian documents)?
Question: Would God have inspired His word and then not have preserved it (for example only
ONE copy of Vaticanus B and Sinaiticus Aleph)?
Question: If a single copy of Vaticanus B were the most accurate copy of God’s
Word, a) Why would it be allowed to gather dust until 1481? And b) Why would the Roman Catholic Church NOT command that it
be copied?
VATICANUS B (350-380)
(See Wikipedia article)
In 1481 a single copy of Vaticanus B was discovered in the Vatican library. It had been
copied from 350-380. It contains 759 pages of very expensive Greek vellum 10 1/2 x 10 1/2 inches per page. It had originally
contained almost all the Greek O.T. Septuagint (LXX) except for 1-4 Maccabees and the Pray of Manasseh. It includes the Apocrypha
and Epistle of Barnabas.
Vaticanus B is missing Genesis 1-46, Psalms 106-138, Matthew 16:2-3, Romans 16:24, 1 & 2 Timothy,
Titus, Philemon, Revelation and Hebrews 9:15 to13:25.
There is a curious blank space at Mark 16:9-20 as if
the scribes left space for a possible insertion. It is the only empty column in the Codex (92, 106-107).
Consistent
with the Alexandrian text-type, the following are also missing: Luke 17:36; 22:43-44; John 5:4; 7:53 – 8:11; Acts 8:37;
15:34; 24:7; 28:29; Romans 16:24 and 1 Peter 5:3.
Portions of the following texts are missing: Mt 5:44; 10:37b; 15:6; 20:23; Mk 10:7,
19; Lk 9:55;11:4; 23:34.
The column arrangement is different from that of Sinaiticus A. It appears that 71 pages have been lost.
In the Old Testament Ezekiel has a received text [very interesting],
Isaiah had a rejected one [also very interesting], Judges agrees with the Old Latin, Job is longer and most of the O.T. agrees
with Origen’s Hexapla.
Unlike the O.T., the N.T.
gospels are Alexandrian like that of Bodmer’s early third century and the Pauline Epistles are longer Western. In 1796 Griesbach accepted Mark, Luke, and John as Alexandrian but considered Matthew as Western. All critical editions of the New Testament published after Westcott and Hort were closer in the Gospels to
the Codex Vaticanus text than to the Sinaiticus… All editions of Nestle-Aland remain close in textual character to
the text of Westcott-Hort, which means Vaticanus was the basis for the translation. According to the
commonly accepted opinion of the textual critics, it is the most important witness of the text of the Gospels, in the Acts
and Catholic epistles, with a stature equal to Codex Sinaiticus, although in the Pauline epistles it includes Western readings and the value of the text is somewhat less
than the Codex Sinaiticus. Wikipedia
In 1882 Frederick C. Cook wrote that the 1881 Revised Version has 8-10 changes every 5 verses and that 3
changes every 10 verses were made for “critical purposes” based almost entirely on Aleph and B. Frederick C. Cook,
The Revised Version of the First Three Gospels, 1882, 227, 231 (153).
In 1956 Edward Hills wrote that Vaticanus B was probably kept because it was written on very expensive
vellum. It was not re-copied but remained undisturbed. Hills, The King James Version Defended, 1956/1984,
185-186 (198).
It appears
that the scribes had an assortment of manuscripts before them and chose whatever ones they thought best. How else can Joshua
follow the Old Latin, Isaiah follow a very corrupt text, Ezekiel follow the Received Text, the Gospels follow Alexandrian,
and the Pauline Epistles follow the Western text? All of these text types probably emerged in A. D. 200 – the good,
bad, and very bad.
The
fact that Vaticanus B had not been widely copied suggests that it had been rejected as corrupt and retired in the Vatican
library.
SINAITICUS ALEPH: (350-389)
Codex Sinaiticus
is an Alexandrian text-type manuscript written in the
4th century in uncial letters on parchment. The
Codex was found at the Greek Orthodox Monastery of Mount Sinai in the mid 19th
century. Originally, the Codex contained the whole of both
Testaments. Approximately half of the Greek Old Testament (or Septuagint)
survived, along with a complete New Testament, plus the Epistle of Barnabas, and portions of The Shepherd of Hermas. The apocryphal books present
in the surviving part of the Septuagint are 2 Esdras, Tobit, Judith, 1 & 4 Maccabees, Wisdom and Sirach.
The text of the New Testament lacks Matthew 16:2b-3, 17:21, 18:11, 23:14, 24:35; Mark 7:16, 9:44, 9:46,
11:26, 15:28, 16:9-20; Luke 17:36; John 5:4; 7:53-8:11; 16:15, 20:5b-6, 21:25; Acts 8:37; 15:34; 24:7; 28:29; Romans 16:24.
Portions of the following texts are missing: Matthew 5:44; 6:13; 10:39a; 15:6; 20:23;
23:35; Mark 1:1; 10:7; Luke 9:55b-56a; John
4:9.
Texts have been added from other
Gospels at Matthew 8:13; 10:12; 27:49. Rare Variants are found at: Matthew 7:22; 13:54; Luke 1:26; 2:37; John 6:10; Acts 8:5;
11:20; 14:9; Heb 2:4; 1 Pet 5:13.
And Matt 8:12; 16:12; John 2:3 have a variant found only in two other places. Sinaiticus departs from Alexandrian and agrees with
the Majority Text at: Mark 10:19; Luke 8:48. It has Mark 13:33 while B and D do not. It contains part of 1 John 5:6 which
is missing from B.
In John 1:1-8:38 Codex Sinaiticus
differs from Vaticanus and all other Alexandrian manuscripts. It is in closer agreement with Codex Bezae in support of the Western text-type.
There is a number of differences between Sinaiticus and Vaticanus; Hoskier enumerated 3036 differences:
Matt–656; Mark–567; Luke–791; John–1022; Total—3036. A large number of these differences are
due to iotacisms and variants in transcribing
Hebrew names.
It could not have been written before 325 because it contains the Eusebian Canons. It could not have been
written after 360 because of certain references to Church fathers in the margin. It was discovered by Tichendorf in 1844, partially published in 1869, and fully published by Kirsopp Lake in 1911 (New Testament),
and in 1922 (Old Testament). It is the only
uncial manuscript with the complete
text of the New Testament. For the Gospels, Sinaiticus is generally
considered among scholars as the second most reliable witness of the text (after Vaticanus); in the Acts of the Apostles, its text is equal to that
of Vaticanus; in the Epistles, Sinaiticus is the most
reliable witness of the text.
In the Book
of Revelation, however, its text is
corrupted and is considered of poor quality, and inferior to the texts of Codex Alexandrinus, Papyrus 47, and even some minuscule
manuscripts.
Westcott and Hort taught that, where B and Aleph agree, they are nearest the originals. Yet, while modern textual critics
usually agree with their conclusions, no reason is given for them being nearest the originals when they could just as easily
have been corrupted. Greenlee, Introduction, 81.
COMPARISON FACTS
The Sinaiticus Aleph version of Revelation is admittedly extremely corrupt. How can this be explained
that an admittedly corrupt Revelation is side-by-side with text which must be nearest the originals?
Of great significance to textual critics, B differs from Aleph 652 times in Mark alone and
with A 1944 places. In comparison Stephanus’ TR from 1550 and the Elzevir brothers’ TR in 1624 only differ in
19 places in Mark and 287 places total. Robertson, Introduction, 18-20, 1925 (65).
In 1896 Burgon wrote that Tischendorf made a scandal of the science of textual criticism. After
Sinaiticus Aleph had been discovered following seven editions of his New Testament, Tischendorf then made 3572 changes
to his eighth edition based solely on Aleph. Burgon, The Traditional Text, 160 (105).
Sinaiticus Aleph dates to the 4th century. It follows the Western text in John 1 to 8. [How
is this explained if T-R did not exist at that time?] Acts and Epistles are a mixture of B and Aleph. It has both Epistles
of Clement of Alexandria which deny the literal resurrection of bodies (108). Yet modern text critics will not admit it
has been corrupted.
Burgon (1896) wrote that since B and Aleph keep company with A, C and D which are evidently
corrupted, [If one is to be judged by the company one keeps], then they are in bad company. Burgon, The Revision Revised,
1883, 16-18, 30-31 and Burgon, The Traditional Text, 1896, 84 (161).
In 1914 Herman Hoskier wrote over 500 pages to detail the errors of Vaticanus B and another 400 pages
to detail the errors of Sinaiticus Aleph. Vaticanus B and Sinaiticus Aleph differ from EACH OTHER in the Gospels 3,036 times.
(153, 161). Hoskier, Codex B and its Allies, Vol II, 1914. Herman Hoskier, Codex B and Its Allies, Vol II,
1914, 1 (153, 161).
In 1977 Pickering wrote that since there is only
one existing copy of both B and Aleph. The evident fact that they were not copied (in comparison to the T-R) suggests that
the early church rejected them. Pickering, The Identity of the NT Text, 1977, 127 (162).
BODMER PAPYRI In 1922
the Bodmer Papyri, a collection of 22 papyri, were discovered in Egypt.
They
contain segments from the Old and New Testaments, early Christian literature, and Homer and Menander. The oldest, P66, dates
to 200. There are parts of 35 books plus letters in Coptic and Greek.
|
Papyrus
66 (P66), is a text of the Gospel
of John,[5] dating around 200CE, in the manuscript
tradition called the Alexandrian
text-type. Aside from the
papyrus fragment in the Rylands
Library Papyrus P52, it is the oldest testimony for John;
it omits the passage concerning the moving of the waters (John 5:3b-4) and the pericope
of the woman taken in adultery (John 7:53-8:11). P72 is the earliest known copy of the Epistle
of Jude, and 1 and 2 Peter. Papyrus
75 (P75) is a partial codex containing
most of Luke and John. Comparison of the two versions of John in the Bodmer Papyri with the third-century Chester
Beatty Papyri convinced Floyd V. Filson that "...there
was no uniform text of the Gospels in Egypt in the third century. There are also
Christian texts that would become declared apocryphal in the fourth century, such as the Infancy
Gospel of James. There is a Greek-Latin
lexicon to some of Paul's letters, and there
are fragments of Melito
of Sardis. Among the works is a Christian Vision
of Dorotheus, son of "Quintus the poet" assumed to be the pagan poet Quintus
Smyrnaeus, written in archaising Homeric hexameters, the earliest Christian hexameter poem
(P29). The earliest extant copy of the Third
Epistle to the Corinthians is published in Bodmer Papyri X.all were part of a monastic library.[7]The latest of the Bodmer Papyri (P74) dates to the sixth or seventh century. (Wikipedia) Significant remark: The Bodmer Papyri convinced Floyd V. Filson that "...there was no uniform
text of the Gospels in Egypt in the third century.
CHAPTER SEVEN
ERASMUS: 1516
Desidius Erasmus was a Dutch monk and the leading humanist of his day who lived mostly in Basle, Switzerland.
John Colet of England urged him to become a Bible scholar and restore early Christianity. He was the first best-selling author
in the history of printing. He defended free will against Luther's predestination theology.
Erasmus kept busy visiting libraries, reading Church Fathers and exposing the ignorance of
the priests and Church. The key rulers of his day wanted Erasmus to work for them. He refused employment from the King of
England, the Emperor of Germany and the Pope. As a scholar he was without peer -- an intellectual giant in Europe. D. O. Fuller,
Which Bible?, 1972, 225-226. James Anthony Froude, Life and Letters of Erasmus, 1906/1894, 294 (52).
From 1510 to 1514 Erasmus taught Greek at Cambridge
and, unlike many text critics, professed that the Bible was the absolute Word of God. He opposed an overemphasis on
ritual and said that the Godly life could be improved by giving the Bible to everybody. To be a humanist in his day meant
to humanities and liberal arts. Though critical of abuse in the Church, he was true to his ordination vows.
Erasmus rejected the Alexandrian documents behind much
of Jerome's Latin Vulgate and preferred the Greek manuscripts which had been preserved by the Greek Orthodox Church. He
wanted to reform his church from within (52-62).
After consulting many documents (almost certainly including Vaticanus B) and gathering several hundred variants,
Erasmus settled on a 15th century copied manuscript for the Gospels, a 12th-13th century copied manuscripts for Acts and the
Epistles, a 12th century for Revelation and the Latin Vulgate for the last 6 verses of Revelation.
It is almost certain that Erasmus knew of Vaticanus B and rejected it. In 1854 Samuel Tregelles
wrote that Erasmus had been in regular correspondence with Paulus Bombasius, the Papal librarian, who sent him any variant
readings which he desired. Samuel Prideaux Tregelles, An Account of the Printed Text of the Greek New Testament …,
1854, 22 (84).
In 1516 Erasmus’
first edition of the Greek New Testament was printed. Being hurried and unedited, it contained many typesetting and lack-of-editing
errors. He published his second edition in 1519. Neither of the first two editions included John 5:7-8.
The fact that he was familiar with almost all of the important variant readings known to scholars
today may be proven from his notes.
After 28 years of research, Frederick Nolan (1784-1864), a Greek and Latin
scholar and historian, concluded that it was "indisputable" that Erasmus knew about the Alexandrian documents.
Hills, The King James Version Defended, 198. Frederick Nolan, An Inquiry into the Integrity of the Greek Vulgate.
1815, 413-415 (63).
Later,
in 1533, a Catholic priest
named Juan Sepulveda sent Erasmus 365 selected readings from Vaticanus B as proof of its superiority and offered to
make the entire text available. Erasmus rejected all of these and maintained that the Textus Receptus was correct.
Marvin R. Vincent, A History of the Textual Criticism of the New Testament, 1899 and F. H. A. Scrivener, A Plain
Introduction to the Criticism of the New Testament, edited by Edward Miller, 2 Vol., 1894, Vol. 1, 109 (84).
LUTHER: 1517
In 1519 Martin Luther used Erasmus' 2nd Greek edition to write the German Bible. Like all of
the Reformers, Jerome's [Alexandrian-based] Latin Bible was rejected and Erasmus' Greek New Testament was preferred.
TYNDALE: 1522
In 1525 William Tyndale (d1536) used Erasmus' 3rd edition (1522) to publish the first English printed
Bible New Testament (and part of the O.T). Tyndale was an English priest who left Oxford for Cambridge to Greek
under Erasmus. He was fluent in 7 languages. His unauthorized translation so angered Roman Catholic leaders that in 1536 he
was strangled as a heretic and his body was burned in England (64).
THE GREAT BIBLE: 1536
The Great Bible was printed by King James VIII to be the official Bible. Its N.T. was mostly Tyndale’s
and its O.T. came from Tyndale, the Latin Vulgate, and the German Bible.
STEPHANUS: 1550
In 1550 Stephanus (Robert Estienne) edited Erasmus' third Greek edition. His third edition is the Textus Receptus
which has almost no changes with Erasmus' but did number verses for the first time (65).
THE GENEVA BIBLE: 1560
The 1560 Geneva Bible was translated from Stephanus’ Greek edition of Erasmus’ 3rd edition. It
was “great” in size because it was full of Calvinistic footnotes which offended the High Church bishops of the
Church of England.
BISHOPS’
BIBLE: 1568, 1572,
1602, 1617
The English Bishop’s
Bible removed many Presbyterian-style notes from the Geneva Bible which offended Anglicans. It became the preferred Bible
of the Puritans.
In 1587 an
O. T. version of Vaticanus B was printed by the Roman Catholic Church and was rejected by Protestants in favor of the Masoretics’
preserved text. (83)
BEZA:
1598 In 1598:
Theodore Beza,
a French Protestant scholar, published several editions [not revisions] of Erasmus’ 3rd edition Greek through
1604. His 5th edition became the basis of most of the KJV (65).
CHAPTER EIGHT
THE 1611 KING JAMES VERSION
In
1604 the King James Version began when 1000 Puritans within the Church of England lead by John Renyolds, President of Corpus
Christi College at Oxford, signed a petition, called the Millenary Petition. The Geneva Bible of 1539, they
argued, was very difficult to read and had too many offensive footnotes. The petition requested an easier-to-understand version
and was approved by King James I of England (himself a trained theologian). The new version was not supposed to have footnotes.
Forty seven (47) scholars worked in six (6) groups
at Westminster, Cambridge and Oxford. Of the 47, 4 were college presidents, 6 were bishops, 5 were deans, 39 had master's
degrees, 30 had doctorates and 41 were university professors. The 47 included 13 Hebrew and 10 Greek scholars who had been
1trained to an extraordinary degree. Eldred Thomas, Bible Versions, 1978, 12 (67).
RULES OF THE KJV WRITERS:
(1) INADIVIADUAL STUDY: First, each man spent three years on his own assignment.
(2) SMALL GROUP STUDY: Second, each man contributed to his own group.
(3) LARGE GROUP STUDY: Third, each man in the company contributed to the work of larger groups.
(4) ALL 47 STUDY TOGETHEER: Fourth, all groups contributed
to each other’s work.
(5) Finally,
two men from each group (12 from 6 groups) made the final decisions.
(6) OF UTMOST IMPORTANCE, each of the 47 believed that the Bible was the infallible Word of God and
over 90% of the final document agreed with Tyndale’s 1522 translation. The translation used Theodore Beza's Greek
edition of Erasmus and Stephanus. Italics were used for words added for clarity (67-69).
The individual committees had completed their work by 1608 and the General Committee Review began
in January 1609. The initial printing of 1611 was made before English spelling was standardized. It also had so many printing
errors that litigation followed for decades. In 1629 and 1638 Cambridge printed editions (not revisions).
ELZEVIR BROTHERS 1624-1678
Between
1624-1678 the Elzevir brothers of Holland printed seven editions [not revisions] also based on Stephanus and Beza.
Their second edition in 1633 became the standard text used in Europe. Their introduction in Latin called it the Textus
Receptus, the Received Text for the first time. The Elzevir brothers also believed that they were
working with the infallible Word of God. This means that, if they had considered the Vaticanus B superior, they certainly
would have used it.
EDITIONS,
NOT REVISIONS
Critics of
the KJV argue that it has undergone several major "revisions." Actually there were many "editions" but
no "revisions." The 1629 and 1638 editions were to correct errors by the printers. The 1762 and 1769 editions updated
spelling and punctuation. And the change from Gothic to modern type involved thousands of spelling edits.
Textus
Receptus advocates have always emphasized that God promised to both inspire and preserve His Word for all believers.
In 1675 and again in 1742, first the Helveticus Consensus
and then the Philadelphia Confession declared that God had "preserved" His Word so that it could not be corrupted
(81).
In 1707 John Mill also used Stephanus'
3rd edition to publish an edition of the Greek New Testament. Although he had only a few changes, the difference was that
he included a critical apparatus with variants from 78 manuscripts other than the Textus Receptus. This did not replace
other versions.
CHAPTER NINE
TEXTUAL CRITICISM
KJV-Modern Bible Debate
TEXT CRITICS VIEW:
Most
textual critics today describe themselves as restorers of the original documents. They claim that by using their rules of
textual criticism they can discern which words are nearest the originals and which variants must be rejected. They steadfastly
claim that the message of God has been preserved in all sincere group revisions from the KJV to the most recent. The KJV,
they say, is not a "bad" text, but it is also not the "best" text. Their mission is restoration to the
very best text possible. THE
TEXTUS RECEPTUS VIEW:
The
Textus Receptus, or Received Text, is the underlying Greek of the King James Bible. Scholars who defend
the Textus Receptus are just as well-educated in Greek and Hebrew as their counterparts in the textual-critical viewpoint.
They believe that the KJV and its foundation in the Greek Textus Receptus are God's words because God has kept His promise
to preserve His Word to win souls throughout all generations.
They claim to produce evidence that most of the rules used by textual critics are questionable and
unscientific. While rejecting the critical interpretation of biblical history concerning the creation of the Textus Receptus,
they point out many documented accusations by Church Fathers that scribes in Africa had deliberately changed their copies
of the scriptures.
PRELUDE TO THE 1881 ENGLISH REVISED VERSION
In 1734 Johannes Albert Bengel, called the father of modern textual criticism, published a Greek edition
which notably only deviated from the Textus Receptus when a reading he preferred had already appeared
in print. Harold Greenlee, Introduction to New Textual Criticism, 1964, 72-73. Thus began the trend to discard the
conclusions of the 47 Bible scholars who produced the KJV with the opinion of a single man.
In 1752 John Jacob Griesbach was the first to actually challenge the Greek Textus Receptus
(TR) with what he considered to be the true readings in his non-textual apparatus. Between 1774 and1806 Griesbach broke the
tradition of T-R-only Greek Bibles. He classified the Pauline Epistles as either Alexandrian or Western. Introduction,
Greenlee, 73-74.
In 1870 the
southern convocation of the Church of England decided to edit the King James Bible. A committee of scholars was selected
to make minor cosmetic changes in the wording of the King James Version.
They were charged to
(1)
change obsolete spelling,
(2) update punctuation,
(3) replace archaic words and
(4) update the language.
The Church of England did not want an overhaul of the text itself and only wanted minor changes. Floyd Nolen Jones, Which
Version is the Bible?, 1999 (49).
DISOBEYING KING JAMES
Contrary
to their charge by the Church of England to make minor cosmetic changes, the committee:
(1) Produced an entirely different Bible version based on entirely different foundational Greek and Hebrew
texts.
(2) Included three Unitarians who
had no vested interest in maintaining Trinitarian texts: Vance Smith, Coleridge and Maurice.
(3) Worked in secret eleven years.
(4) 7% of the words from the Textus Receptus were changed or deleted ---9970 of 140,521 words in 5604 places.
(5) A great majority of the changes
came from a single document, Vaticanus B, which remains in the Vatican library and also contains the Apocrypha In 1958 Frederick Kenyon expanded the above numbers
and wrote that the W-H Greek text actually differs in 5788 (not 5604) places from the T-R. Kenyon, Our Bible and the Ancient
Manuscripts, 1958, 312-313 (109).
Of major concern to KJV advocates, the W-H text omits 40 major texts about the virgin birth, resurrection, deity of
Jesus and Jesus' authority.
B. F. WESTCOTT and F. J. A. HORT
The architects behind the 1881 English Revised Version were Bishop B. F. Westcott and F. J.
A. Hort, Anglican professors at Cambridge in England. They had been ordered to edit the English of the King James Version. What kind of Christians were these two men who were
entrusted with "restoring" the Word of God to its original purity? The following are from their own biographies.
1. Both were high church. Their theology was pro Roman
Catholic with emphasis on the adoration of Mary and the intercession of the saints. Westcott, Life, Vol 1, 81, 251. Hort,
Life, Vol 2, 50.
2. Both believed
that atonement through incarnation was more correct than atonement through crucifixion. Westcott, Life, Vol 1, 52.
3. Both questioned or denied miracles. Westcott, Life,
Vol 1, 52.
4. Both denied that
the first three chapters of Genesis were literal. The fall was not literal. Westcott, Life, Vol 1, 8, 78. Vol 2, 69.
5. Both were influenced by Cardinal Newman's Gnostic-type
teaching that there were many intermediaries between heaven and earth. Hort, Life, Vol 2, 55.
6. Both agreed with Unitarians Smith, Coleridge and Maurice in their emphasis on pantheism
and metaphysics. Hort, Life, Vol 1, 42.
7. Both accepted Darwin’s theory of evolution. Hort, Life, Vol 1, 416.
8. In their own book both denied that the original autographs were inerrant. WH, Introduction, 280.
9. Both belonged to a society which believed in ghosts.
Westcott, Life, Vol 1, 117, 312-313. Hort, Life, Vol 1, 211.
10. Hort called the Protestant doctrine of the priesthood of every believer a "crazy horror."
Hort, Life, Vol 2, 51.
11. Hort
wrote to Westcott that Protestantism was "parenthetical and only temporary." Hort, Life, Vol 2, 31.
12. Hort told Westcott that Greek philosophy was "precious
truth." Hort, Life, Vol 1, 449.
13. Hort denied the final authority of the Bible. Hort, Life, 400.
14. Hort prayed to statues he carried with him. Hort, Life, Vol 1, 50.
15. Hort believed that being ordained gave one supernatural powers. Hort, Life, Vol 22, 86.
16. Hort said "Methodism is worse than popery,
being more insidious." Hort, Vol 1, 49. Arthur Westcott, Life and Letters, Vol 1, Vol 2, 1903. George H. Coy, The Inside Story, 1973, 79-88. A. F. Hort, Life
and Letters, Vol, 1, Vol 2, 1896 (56-60).
WORK ETHICS ON THE 1881 ENGLISH REVISED VERSION
1. PRE-EXISTING HATRED OF THE KJV: Even before studying Koine Greek, in 1851 Hort, at the age of 23,
with only a Classical Greek background, already had a negative conclusion towards the Textus Receptus. He called
it "vile" and "villainous." A. F. Hort, Life and Letters, Vol 1, 1896, 211 (91).
2. PRE-EXISTING PLAN TO DISOBEY REVISION RULES: Both violated the charge made to them to only
make minor changes in the existing version --such as capital letters, punctuation and the replacement of archaic words.
3. SECRECY: They convinced the committee to work in
secrecy for eleven years. In stark contrast to the way the King James Bible came into existence, they did not want the public
to know how drastically they were changing the Greek behind the King James Version.
4. AUTHORITARIAN DEMEANOR: Hort convinced the members of the committee to accept his and Westcott's
translation almost to the exclusion of any other opinion.
5. OPPRESSION OF DISSENTERS: F. H. A. Scrivener, the most capable textual critic on Hort's committee
was systematically out-voted as Hort manipulated the others. D. O. Fuller, Which Bible?, 1970, 120, 290-295. Sir
Robert Anderson, The Bible and Modern Criticism, 1905, 104-105 (119-120).
CHAPTER TEN TEXTUAL
CRITICAL RULES
The following
information is the core of the controversy. It comes from a seminary textbook by Harold Greenlee of Oral Roberts University,
Introduction to New Testament Textual Criticism, 1964, 78-82, 86-91, 114-116. Greenlee obtained his material from
Kenyon’s Handbook, 295-306 and Metzger, Text, 129-135.
Westcott and Hort devised a set of rules which are constantly being revised by modern textual critics.
Therefore modern textual critics often dismiss arguments against the Westcott-Hort theory by saying that current methods are
quite different. Greenlee's book was first published
in 1964 – 83 years after W-H's 1881 publication. He has a separate section for the W-H rules on pages 78-82. Next
he discusses the modern text types from pages 86-91 and the modern rules from 114-116. In my opinion, other than the combination
of W-H's Neutral and Alexandrian and the addition of one text type, there is very little substantive change between W-H
and modern textual criticism.
"The
textual theory of W-H underlies virtually all subsequent work in N. T. textual criticism. Although both the work of recent
scholars and the manuscripts discovered since W-H have brought about modifications of their principles, their work is so fundamental
that it is appropriate to give a summary of their theory." Greenlee, ibid, 78.
SHORTER
IS BETTER RULE
TEXT CRITIC
VIEW
“Intentional changes
were more likely to be additions, as explanations or from other traditions, rather than omissions; thus a shorter reading
is generally preferable.” Introduction to New Testament Textual Criticism, Greenlee 78.
"If a scribe makes an intentional change in the text, he is more likely to add
than to omit. He made add a note of explanation, add a phrase from a parallel account (harmonization), or he may combine two
or more readings (conflation). Greenlee 114-115 (122-123).
On the other hand an unintentional change may either add by conflation, harmonization, or repetition;
or may omit by failing to repeat letters which occur twice or by accidentally passing from a word or syllable to the
same or similar-appearing letters farther on.” Greenlee, 115.
TEXTUS RECEPTUS VIEW
1. It can just as easily be demonstrated that many intentional changes have greatly shortened many.
2. Heretics like Marcion deleted
entire books of the Bible and deleted all references to the Old Testament God. Some of his second century changes could have
affected the first Alexandrian manuscripts.
3. Twentieth century text-critic leader Kurt Aland contemplated removing six books from the New Testament
canon.
4. There is very good
reason to suspect second century Gnostics of removing references to the humanity of Christ.
5. There is very good reason to suspect Arians of removing references to the Deity of Christ.
6. There is very good reason to suspect
scribes of deleting portions of the Bible which they thought could not be true. For example the stirring of the water by an
angel in John 5:3-4.
7.
There is very good reason to suspect self-righteous scribes of removing texts which they could not agree with. For
example forgiving a woman caught in adultery s in John 8:2-11.
8. There is very good reason to suspect scribes of removing texts which they thought were not
authentic such as the Mark 16:9-20. Yet it is amazing that the Latin Vulgate has this passage and Vaticanus B has its only
void in this very spot. That is no accident!
9. The argument that the shortest texts are nearest the originals forces a conclusion that the original was
short, choppy, and difficult to understand.
"… or may omit by failing to repeat letters which occur twice or by accidentally passing
from a word or syllable to the same or similar-appearing letters farther on”
10. This quasi-afterthought either downplays or ignores perhaps the greatest reason for shorter texts.
“Farther on” could include many lines of text. Since every copyist makes this mistake, it causes choppy and hard-to-understand
readings.
11. Is there a corresponding
statement that “accidental changes were more likely to be long deletions; thus a longer reading is generally
preferable"? Of course not. Yet common sense and observation demonstrate that scribes will almost always eventually miss
a line and delete rather than add.
12. It would take willful negligence for a scribe to add material to the text itself which was clearly placed outside
the text as a correction or note. The accusation that Lucian or Eusebius did such around A.D. 350 to create the Textus Receptus
has absolutely no support either from historians or Church Fathers.
13. What logic makes the shortest-are-best correct?This logic means that scribes who tend to leave text out are creating the originals while scribes
that tend to add text are creating the Byzantine text.
14. To demonstrate this Westcott and Hort gave eight (8) examples of additions (conflation)
(from 8000 texts). They asserted dogmatically that no inversions [transfer of longer to shorter text types] appeared. W-H,
Introduction to the New Testament in the Original Greek, 49, 106 (122-123).
Does WH's evidence prove their theory? In 1883 John Burgon, Dean of Chi Chester at Oxford, asked
"If after 30 years of searching, why could W-H only find 8 instances of conflation out of nearly 8000
verses?" Burgon, The Revision Revised, 1883, 256-265 (138).
In 1894 William Boussett, a German text-critic could only agree with W-H on one of their eight "conflated"
texts. He stated with Burgon that, if the principle were legitimate, hundreds of examples should have been found. Boussett,
Texte Una Unter …, 1894, 97-101 (139).
HARDER-TO-READ
IS BETTER RULE
TEXT-CRITIC
VEW
“It is recognized that many
errors in the manuscript are due to the fact that a scribe misunderstood his text and changed it to a reading which seemed
to him easier to understand or more natural. Thus the reading which is at first glance harder to understand in the context
often proves to be original.” Greenlee, 78. A scribe is more likely to change a difficult word into one which is easier to understand. WH Greenlee, 78-79. Modern,
Greenlee, 114-115 (123).
On
the one hand modern text-critics teach that the Textus Receptus has been proven to have been altered (using their methodology)
because it is too smooth, too easy to read and too easy to understand. On the other hand they teach that their favorite Alexandrian
texts have been proven to be preserved from the originals because they are more terse, rougher, shorter and harder to understand.
TEXTUS RECEPTUS VIEW:
1. Paradoxically, the current goal of modern textual-criticism is to produce with
every new Bible version a smoother and easier to read and understand text. Paradoxically, they have produced that which they
have opposed. Their "almost original" underlying Greek texts which are "rough, terse, choppy, hard to read
and hard to understand" are now the smooth and easy to understand NAS, RSV, NIV, and New English Bible -- their own 21st
century equivalents of the King James Bible! While they cannot admit that an Omnipotent God could have inspired such an original
smooth easy-to-read and easy-to-understand text, it seems permissible for themselves to do what they deny God could
have done Himself.
2.
The fact that God is capable of both inspiring AND PRESERVING His Word seems to have no bearing on modern textual criticism.
Divine inspiration and preservation does not appear in any of their rules for determining the final text and they do not seem
to mind that many self-appeasing heretics have controlled the modern text types.
SMOOTHER, LONGER, AND EASIER TO READ ARE BAD RULE
TEXT-CRITICS VIEW
Modern text critics assert that the original autographs were terse, short and difficult to read and understand. They
then assert that the Traditional Text did not exist before 350 and was deliberately smoothed out, lengthened, harmonized and
made the official Bible of the church around 350.
TEXTUS RECEPTUS VIEW:
(The arguments repeat.)
1. Textus Receptus (T-R) defenders insert God into their equation and claim
that an All-Powerful God would not inspire His originals to be terse, rough, hard to read, and hard to understand. They assert
that a personal God would inspire a Bible which is the smoothest, longest, most harmonized and easiest to read and understand.
2. There is absolutely no evidence either
from historians or Church Fathers That Lucian, Eusebius, or anybody else created the Textus Receptus by combining text types. Any such great change would
have surely been noted and documented. Westcott and Hort simply invented this theory and presented it as fact.
3. It is incredible to follow the text-critics’
logic which concludes that an All-Powerful God would inspire His originals to be short, terse, choppy, and hard to understand.
THE MOST LIKELY SOURCES ARE BEST RULE
TEXT CRITIC VIEW
"Similarly the reading from which the other readings could most likely have developed is to be preferred
as the original. WH Greenlee, 78. Modern, Greenlee, 115.
TEXTUS RECEPTUS VIEW
1. Taken at face value, this rule can only be applied within a text family.
2. If this rule means that the reading which is most apparent or most common is best, the Alexandrian
texts would be overwhelmed by the Byzantine text type.
THE ALEXANDRIAN MANUSCRIPTS ARE MOST RELIABLE RULE
TEXT CRITIC VIEW:
When deciding which text to use: “If the text types are considered individually the Alexandrian is generally the
most reliable single text.”Greenlee, 115.
TEXTUS
RECEPTUS VIEW
1. This
rule is an insult to the scientific method. Nobody has proved that the oldest texts are unequivocally the best texts.
2. Nobody has satisfactorily answered
the question of why were the Alexandrian texts not widely copied and widely distributed for 400 years preceding the Muslim
conquest if the early church had accepted them as best.
READNGS WITH TWO OR MORE TEXT TYPES ARE BEST RULE
TEXT CRITIC VIEW
“A reading which is supported by good representatives of two or more text types is generally preferable to a reading
supported by one text type exclusively.” Greenlee, 114-115.
TEXTUS RECEPTUS VIEW
1. This rule is meaningless if all text types except one have been corrupted.
2. If all of the corrupted text types agree, the truth is still not among them.
3. The text types
which agree could have originated from the same corrupted text.
4. This rule, like others, treats God’s Word exactly like uninspired literature.
It does not consider the fact that an All-Powerful God who inspired His originals to be perfect would also preserve copies
of His originals to be used by the Church in all generations.
TEXT CRITIC VIEW:
“If therefore the manuscripts of a given text type are divided in their support, the true reading of
a given text type are more likely: (1) the readings of the manuscript which are most faithful to the text type. Greenlee, 116.
TEXTUS RECEPTUS VIEW
This would only be a “true reading” of “the given text type” itself Each text
type would have its own “truth” by being true to itself.
TEXT CRITIC VIEW
(2) The true reading “differs from that of the other text types.” Greenlee, 116
TEXTUS RECEPTUS VIEW
1. In other words, if most of the Alexandrian text types agree on a particular word or
phrase and the other text type agree on a different word or phrase, the Alexandrian is correct. It is obviously a rule invented
to support the Alexandrian theory.
2.
Another possibility is that only the Alexandrian text type had been corrupted by a change of word or phrase.
TEXT-CRITIC VIEW:
(3) The true reading is “the reading which differs from the Byzantine text.” Greenlee,
116.
TEXTUS RECEPTUS VIEW
1. This is another unscientific subjective
rule invented by modern text critic to support their own theory: The Byzantine text is automatically wrong if it disagrees
with the consensus of the Alexandrian texts.
2. This rule implies that God is incompetent. God inspired perfect originals and then hid them
from his church until the late 1800s and allowed a corrupted version of the originals to be the most widely copied and most
widely distributed.
CHAPTER
ELEVEN
TEXT TYPES
Much has been said about text types in the previous discussion. The favorite of modern text
critics is the Alexandrian, followed by the Caesarean, Western and Byzantine.
TEXT CRITIC VIEW
“Still more assurance may be gained if the various mss and witnesses are grouped together into families which
have a closely related text." Greenlee, 79 (120-122).
TEXTUS RECEPTUS VIEW
This discussion will end with serious doubts about the use of text types at all.
SYRIAN-ANTIOCHAN-BYZANTINE TEXT TYPE
TEXT CRITIC VIEW
The most corrupt text type is the youngest SYRIAN-ANTIOCHAN-BYZANTINE TEXT TYPE. It contains most of the minuscule (small
Greek letter manuscripts), later uncials (large older Greek manuscripts), many later versions and Church Fathers. None exist
which are older than Chrysostum. Greenlee, 91 [350].
TEXTUS RECEPTUS VIEW
1. The longest, smoothest, and easiest to read and understand view has been miraculously guided and preserved
by an All-Powerful God.
2. Common
sense teaches that the original autographs would have been smooth and very easy to read and understand because of the nature
of God to communicate.
3.
A. D. 350 is also within a few years of the dating of Vaticanus B and Sinaiticus Aleph. With many monasteries copying,
replacing and distributing worn out copies of the Byzantine text, there would have been no reason to store up old copies.
TEXT CRITIC VIEW
Modern text critics teach that, after Christianity attained official status in the fourth century,
attempts began to be made, to deal with the divergences in the texts, aiming at combing readings where appropriate, removing
obscurities, harmonizing parallels and in general to produce a smooth text free from difficulties. Thus arose the Syrian text
which was smooth and sensible, yet lacking in the vigor and ruggedness of the original." WH VIEW, Greenlee, 79-80.
350 WH, Introduction, 133, 137-138 (125-126).
TEXTUS RECEPTUS VEW
1. There is no evidence that any of this occurred. It is the invention of Westcott and Hort. If this had been done,
scores of secular historians and Church Fathers would have mentioned such an important event.
2. The fact that the Alexandrian texts were not widely copied nor widely distributed from A.D.
200 until A.D. 632 is proof that the early church rejected them.
TEXT CRITICS VIEW
In order to distinguish this from the Syriac Bible it is often called the Antiochan or Byzantine text. It is generally
agreed by modern text-critics that this is a late text type.
TEXTUS RECEPTUS VIEW
It is generally agreed by Textus Receptus advocates that this is the text which God had used the Greek Orthodox
Church to miraculously preserve.
TEXT CRITICS' VIEW
It is likewise possible that in some instances the true reading can be found only in the Byzantine. Greenlee, 91.
TEXTUS RECEPTUS VIEW
What they mean is that it is the original when it is shorter than all the other text types. How convenient.
It is the youngest but somehow the original failed to show up in the three older text types! This could only happen if all
four existed side by side.
TEXT
CRITIC VIEW
The general impression
is that the Byzantine text is inferior and not likely to be original. … One of the most common characteristics of the
Byzantine text type is the harmonization of parallel passages. Modern View, Greenlee, 91.
TEXTUS RECEPTUS VIEW
1. The harmonization of parallel passages is most easily explained by the fact
that Matthew, Mark, and Luke are writing about the same event or perhaps the same sermon preached by Jesus many times with
slight alterations as do modern traveling evangelists.
2. An exhausted scribe might be tempted to omit material which he has already written almost word
for word elsewhere.
WESTERN
TEXT TYPE
TEXT CRITIC VIEW
According to Westcott and Hort, the Western text type
is a small group. It is longer and smoother than the Alexandrian and Caesarean but not the Byzantine text. It contains a few
minuscules, the Old Latin Bible and almost all Fathers of the 2nd and 3rd centuries. Those who accepted the conclusions
of W-H largely tended to dismiss the Western text as corrupt. W-H themselves, however, had recognized that the Western text
could be traced back to the second century, which meant that it was attested at an earlier date than any other text. Greenlee,
80, 87-88.
TEXTUS RECEPTUS VIEW
From A.
D. 100 to A. D. 200 most of the corruptions had appeared. It is important to note that, while the Alexandrian may have (or
may not have) already existed before Origen, Church Fathers such as Tertullian, Irenaeus, Clement of Alexandria, Cyprian and
Augustine evidently rejected it and preferred the longer Western text.
TEXT CRITIC VIEW
By the end of the second century it appeared characterized by extensive variations from the original [Alexandrian] text.
Although this text is very early in origin the principles of intrinsic probability weigh against it. It is generally longer
than the [modern text critics’] preferred [Alexandrian] text. Greenlee 80.
TEXTUS RECEPTUS
“Your ‘preferred’ text”! If the Western text emerged alongside the Alexandrian text around A.
D. 200, there is no “rule” which makes it inferior.
TEXT CRITCS’ VIEW
In a number of notable instances, however, it has a shorter reading in which the Western text alone may have
preserved the original reading while all others have incorporated additions of interpolations. Greenlee, 80, 88.
TEXTUS RECEPTUS VIEW
Again, this is an admission that the original text somehow bypassed the Alexandrian and existed
at the same time as the Alexandrian at the beginning of the second century.
TEXT CRITCS VIEW
Westcott and Hort said that no reading with solely Western support could be accepted as original without serious question.
WH VIEW, Greenlee, 88.
TEXTUS
RECEPTUS VIEW
This may be
true because it is between the Alexandrian and Byzantine. However, it contradicts the previous statement “In a number
of notable instances, however, it has a shorter reading in which the Western text alone may have preserved the original reading
…”
TEXT CRITICS
VIEW
Modern text critics add that the
Western has long paraphrases and long additions to the ordinary [Alexandrian] text, especially in Acts but also elsewhere.
The Western text also substitutes synonyms. The Western text is not generally preferred where it stands alone. Cyprian and
other early Fathers quoted a Western text type." The origin of this text type has many theories and is a mystery. The
Old Latin and Old Syriac are Western. While some scholars have a high opinion of it, most have a low opinion of it. It
is a mixture of Alexandrian and Byzantine. Greenlee, 87-88.
TEXTUS RECEPTUS VIEW
On the surface it sounds just as valid as does the Alexandrian.
ALEXANDRIAN
TEXT TYPE
TEXT CRITICS’
VIEW
That which modern text critics
call the Alexandrian test type, Westcott and Hort divided into the Neutral and Alexandrian text types. "One numerically
small group of witnesses seems to have escaped the corruptions of all three other text-types and to have preserved the
text virtually in its original form. It is represented especially in the agreement of Vaticanus B and Sinaiticus Aleph.
Greenlee, 80-81.
TEXTUS RECEPTUS VIEW
This is highly prejudicial subjective opinion. Oldest does not automatically mean the truest. Since
most of the equally-old Alexandrian texts are considered corrupted by modern text critics, there is no justification for concluding
that Vaticanus B and Sinaiticus Aleph did not appear in the second or third century as corrupted also. Vaticanus B itself
contains the Received Text in Ezekiel. And Sinaiticus Aleph follows the Byzantine text in most of John 1 to 8 and is admittedly
very corrupted in Revelation.
TEXT CRITICS’ VIEW
In frequent instances the text of B is decisive over all other witnesses. The text of WH is therefore essentially a 'Neutral'
or B-Aleph text, or even a 'B' text." WH VIEW, Greenlee, 80-81.
TEXTUS RECEPTUS VIEW
Vaticanus B is decisive over all other witnesses because the rule-makers decided to make this the rule.
TEXT CRITICS’ VIEW
Coming from the home of classical criticism, these had been altered by minor stylistic changes
when compared to the Western and the essential accuracy of the text was undisturbed. WH VIEW, Greenlee, 79-80.
TEXTUS RECEPTUS VIEW
There is no evidence given.
TEXT CRITICS’ VIEW
Further studies have indicated that Westcott and Hort were somewhat too optimistic in their designation of
a 'Neutral' text. The agreement of B-Aleph remains one of the most highly regarded witnesses to the NT text, but it
is generally doubted that the text is as pure as WH believed it to be. … It is now common to combine both of these
[Neutral and Alexandrian] under the designation of Alexandrian. As such it is probably the best single text of the local texts.
… The Alexandrian retains original readings which are terse or somewhat rough and readings which are superficially
more difficult but which commend themselves on further study."Greenlee, 87.
TEXTUS RECEPTUS VIEW
An All-Powerful God would not make His originals “terse, somewhat rough, and difficult to understand.”
ARE TEXT TYPES AND FAMILIES REAL?
As mentioned earlier, the entire discussion about text types and families of texts is meaningless
if there really is no obvious text types at all. If the various text types all emerged at the beginning of the third century
(A. D. 200), they previous discussion is worthless. Some text-critics object to using text types at all.
In 1947 E. C. Colwell wrote that the genealogical method "cannot be applied" to the
New Testament. E. C. Colwell, Genealogical Method, 1947, 111-112 (135).
In 1952 Merrill M. Parvis wrote: "We have reconstructed text types and families and sub families
and in so doing have created things that never before existed …" Parvis concluded that the use of text-types did
more harm than good in attempting to restore the originals. Merrill M. Parvis, The Journal of Religion, XXXII, 1952,
152 (136).
Also in 1952 E.
C. Colwell reversed his earlier position and then agreed that most variants were deliberately changed. If true, then the rules
of internal evidence are worthless and the genealogical tree is voided. E. C. Colwell, What is the Best New Testament?,
1952, 49, 53, 58 (134).
Again
in 1953 Gunther Zuntz said that the genealogical method was inapplicable. He agreed with Parvis that the family divisions
were not scientific. Zuntz, The Text of the Epistles, 1953, 155 (135).
In 1965 Kurt Aland, one of the leading modern textual-critic scholars, wrote that the genealogical
method cannot be applied to the New Testament. Aland, The Significance of the Papyri .., 1965, 341 (135).
In 1969 F. J. Klign, the world’s foremost authority
on what textual critics call 'Western text, wrote "Such a text did not exist." "This classical division
[into 4 families] can no longer be maintained …. If any progress is to be expected in textual criticism we have to
get rid of the division into local texts. F. J. Klign, A Survey of the Researches into the Western Texts of the
Gospels and Acts, Netherlands, 1969, 36, 64 (137).
CHAPTER TWELVE
THE STRONGEST ARGUMENT AGAINST THE ALEXANDRIAN TEXT TYPE
Today’s text critics claim that Vaticanus B and
Sinaiticus Aleph are the best survivors of the original autographs and had been copied from arlier manuscripts dating back
to the early second or third century.
The historical facts reveal that Church Fathers living in and around Alexandria, Egypt in the late second century and
early to middle third century were all using and quoting a longer Western text type. This includes Irenaeus (c202), Clement
of Alexandria (d215), Tertullian (d220) and Cyprian (d258). If they even knew of the Alexandrian text type, they certainly
did not use it and chose to reject it. It is even possible that Origen (d254) was creating it.
If Vaticanus B had been recognized as nearest the original circa 350, why would the Roman Catholic
Church, NOT command scribes in monasteries to copy and widely distribute it when it was received? This was 300
years before the Muslims would destroy Bibles outside of Europe. There was never a time limit to widely distribute this throughout
Western Europe and it was not done.
The same logic applies to Sinaiticus Aleph. If it had been recognized as nearest the original circa 350, why would the
Greek speaking churches in the Eastern Roman Empire NOT command scribes in monasteries to copy and widely distribute it when
it was received? This was 300 years before the Muslims would destroy Bibles in Africa and south of Constantinople. It do not
affect Constantinople and Greece. Why did not the Greek Orthodox Church accept these instead of the Byzantine text which it
has protected throughout the centuries?
If the early church had recognized the Alexandrian texts as nearest to the originals, there would
be no controversy today. Everybody would be using the Alexandrian text type and the Traditional Text would have never existed.
The lack of this in history is proof that the early church clearly rejected the Alexandrian text type as corrupted.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
DATING THE TRADITIONAL TEXT, RECEIVED TEXT, TEXTUS RECEPTUS
MAGADALEN PAPYRUS
Discovered in a jar which had been walled up in a house around A. D. 250, most date the Magdalen Papyrus between A.
D. 66 and 200. It contains a portion of Matthew 26:22 which agrees with the Textus Receptus rather than the Alexandrian
"family." Carsten P. Thiede and Matthew d'Ancona, Eyewitnesses to Jesus, 1996, 124-125. London Times,
12-12-1994. International Papyrologists Association, 8-15-1995 (207-208).
In 1881 Bishop C. J. Ellicott, friend to and Chairman of the W-H 1881 Revision Committee, issued a
pamphlet admitting that the "pedigree" or "the first ancestor of the Received Text (T-R) was at least contemporary
with the oldest of the extant manuscripts (i.e. Codices B, Aleph, C and D) if not older than any one of them." [See
page 197 for the entire quote.] Burgon, The Revision Revised, 1883, 390 (197).
By 1883 Burgon had collected 86,489 Bible quotations from 76 Church Fathers before 400. He was called
the leading religious teacher of his time and was the leading opponent of Westcott and Hort.
In 1896 Burgon and
his editor Edward Miller published the following information about the Church Fathers:
Before 200: Irenaeus (c175-c195) quoted 63 Syrian and 41 Neologian
texts.
Before 250: There is a 2 to 1 ratio of T-R Fathers' quotes
before Origen (A. D. 250). Origen quoted
460 Fathers' quotes agreeing with the Syrian text. Origen quoted 491 Fathers' quotes agreeing with the Neologian text. …..
Before 400: Of 86,489 quotes from 76 pre A. D. 400 Fathers, there is a 3 to 2 ratio of T-R
over all other variants (2630 to 1753).
Conclusion: both kinds of text-types existed in the century of Vaticanus B and Sinaiticus Aleph. This research is contrary to the Westcott and Hort claim that the earliest Fathers before A.
D. 250 did not quote the Textus Receptus. William Burgon, The Revision Revised. 1883 (137). Burgon and Miller,
The Traditional Text, 1896, 99. 116 (139-141).
In 1953 Zuntz wrote "A number of Byzantine readings, most of them genuine which previously were
discarded as 'late,' are anticipated by papyrus P46." "Most of the Byzantine text's readings [in
P46] existed in the second century." Gunther Zuntz, The Text of the Epistles, 1953, 55 (142).
And in 1964 E. C. Colwell agreed with Zuntz's conclusion. Colwell, The Origin of Texttypes of New Testament Manuscripts,
1961, 132 (142).
Perhaps the
best recent evidence that the Byzantine text is as old at the Alexandrian comes from the very-reputable modern text-critic
Gordon Fee in 1968. He studied papyrus P66 and inadvertently proved that there was a strong Byzantine-Syrian text-type
alongside the Alexandrian text-type in the first centuries! In comparing only John 1 - 14, he pointed out the following
agreements with the Byzantine Text:
47.5% of second century P66 agrees with the T-R
51.2% of P75 agrees with the T-R
50.4% of Vaticanus B agrees with T-R
44.6 of 4h century Sinaiticus Aleph agrees with the T-R
45.6% of fifth century A agrees with the T-R
48.5% of fifth century C agrees with the T-R
38.9% of sixth century D agrees with T-R 45.0% of fifth century W agrees with the T-R! Gordon Fee, Papyrus Bodmer II, 1968, 56 (151).
In 1984 Harry Sturtz, Chairman of the Greek Department at Biola University, found 150 Byzantine readings
in pre-200 papyri-- "though not supported by the early Alexandrian and Western uncials, are present in the bulk
of later manuscripts and by the early papyri.
Sturtz listed 170 additional Byzantine readings which also
read differently from the B-Aleph text but are supported by Western manuscripts. He found 839 Byzantine readings in all of
the papyri. The obvious conclusion is that the Byzantine text-type goes back to the 2nd century. Harry Sturz, The Byzantine
Text Type; 1984, 97, 61-62, 143-159 (142, 156).
D. A. Waite, a scholar from Dallas Theological Seminary published his research in 1992.
(1) Of 88 existing papyri, 73 (85%)
support the T-R and 15 (13%) support B and Aleph
(2) Of 267 Greek uncials 258 (98%) follow T-R and only
9 (2%) follow B and Aleph
(3) Of 2764 Greek minuscules 2741 (99%) follow T-R and 23 (1%) follow B and Aleph
(4) Of 2134 Greek lectionaries 100% follow T-RD. A. Waite, Defending the
King James Bible, 1992, 54-55 (50-51).
Waite's research reveals the complete dominance of the T-R over the Alexandrian text-types since the
4th century.
If they had any credibility at all, why were the Alexandrian manuscripts not widely copied and
widely dispersed before A. D. 632? The only credible answer is that the early church rejected them as corrupt.
Conclusion: The claim of modern textual critics that
the Byzantine-Textus Receptus text does not exist prior to A. D. 350 has been proven to be false by many scholars! Both viewpoints claim that their favorite Greek texts
(Textus Receptus or Vaticanus B) descended directly from the autographs and [miraculously] survived the corruptions
of the second century mostly intact. Yet neither camp has provided scientific evident that the "other" camp did
not exist in A. D. 200.
Again, faith in the ability of an All-Powerful God to both inspire and preserve His Word
must be the determining factor. After all, we are not discussing secular literature here – God must be
incorporated
into the decision.
CHAPTER 14
EARLY
BIBLE TRANSLATIONS
This chapter
explores, from the perspective of early Bible versions, Westcott and Hort's claim that the Syrian-Byzantine text did not
exist prior to Chrysostum around A. D. 350.
THE OLD LATIN BIBLE
“Vaudors”
who lived in the alpine valleys of northern Italy would much later be known as the Waldenses. Allix quoted Beza’s opinion
that the Vaudors had the Itala (The Old Latin Bible) which had been translated from the Textus Receptus as
far back as A. D. 157 before Jerome removed much of it. Peter Allix, The Ecclesiastical History of the Churches of Piedmont,
Published 1690; Republished 1821, 177 (167-168).
In 1815, after 28 years of research Frederick Nolan reconfirmed that the Vaudor Bible of 157 was Byzantine
in nature and was translated from Greek into the Old Latin Bible. Nolan concluded that his work overthrew Griesbach to establish
that the Byzantine, and not the Alexandrian texts, are more reliable. F. Nolan, An Inquiry, xvii-xviii; 320-321 (169).
In 1831 W. S. Gully agreed with Allix that Waldensian
doctrines reflect the use of the Byzantine text. W. S. Gully, Waldensian Researches During …., 1831, 118-119
(169).
In 1894 F. H. A. Scrivener also
wrote that the Waldensian Bible, the Itala, or Italic, he argued, represents the Received Text and was translated from the
Greek no later than A. D. 157. F. H. A. Scrivener, Introduction, Vol II, 1894, 43 (168).
In 1970 P. S. Ruckman wrote that Tertullian (d220) mentioned a complete Latin Bible (Old Latin)
produced around 157. He also wrote that the Albigenses continued to use the original Old Latin even after Jerome had revised
it in 384. P. S. Ruckman, The Christian's Handbook of Manuscript Evidence, 1970, 77-79 (166-167).
Four different scholars have concluded that the Waldensian-Old
Latin Bible dates back to 157 (and possibly even 120) and that the Bible was translated from the Received Text rather than
Alexandrian texts. One scholar, Nolan, spent 28 years in his research. While it is true that many modern text-critics disagree,
the declaration by W-H that the Received Text is not older that 350 is at least in doubt and not scientifically demonstrated.
THE OLD SYRIAC DIATESSERON
Between 153-172 Tatian, a possible convert of Justin Martyr, combined the four gospels into one Old
Syriac (still-existing) narrative, The Diatesseron. Although it omits John 7:53 – 8:11, Ira Price wrote that
its agreement with the Traditional Text instead of the Alexandrian text proves that the Traditional Text existed from the
second century. Theodoret (390-458) found over 200 copies of the Diatesseron in Asia Minor. Ira M. Price, The
Ancestry of our English Bible, 1949, 189 (166). Diatesseron, Ante Nicean Fathers, Hendrickson Publishers, Volume
9.
THE SYRIAC (ARAMAIC) PESHITTA BIBLE
Up
until Westcott and Hort questioned it, everybody agreed that the Syriac Peshitta was from the 2nd or 3rd century and that
it agreed with the Traditional Text. While admitting that the Syriac Peshitta text is Byzantine instead of Alexandrian, in
1881 Westcott and Hort said that it was written by Rabulla, Bishop of Nicomedia who died in A. D. 435." W-H, Introduction,
136-137 (164).
As early as
1871 John Burgon argued that Rabulla's opponents would not have accepted a text known to have been translated by their
opponent. Burgon, The Last Twelve Verses of the Gospel of Mark, 1871, 56 (164-165).
Again in 1883 Burgon questioned Westcott and Hort's theory by writing "There is a
total lack of evidence that the Peshitta is late and part of the Lucianic Recension." Burgon, The Revision Revised,
1883; 275-277 (162).
Yet in
1904 text critic F. C. Burkitt once more repeated the story that Rabulla, Bishop of Nicomedia in Syria wrote the Peshitta.
E. F. Hills, The King James Version Defended, 172 (164).
Fifty years later in 1954 Arthur Voobus complained that the critics' reconstruction of history
to push the Peshitta to a late date is "pure fiction without a shred of evidence to support it." A. Voobus, Early
Versions of the NT, 1954, 100-102 (164-165).
In 1956 Edward Hills explained the TR defense by saying that both sides of the divided Syriac Church
probably accepted the Peshitta as its official Bible simply because it had already been established instead of having
been written by Rabulla, the enemy of one faction. Hills defended the TR from the suggestion that monks in the Middle Ages had changed the Peshitta
text. If so, he said, they would have also added references to the worship of Mary, saints, images, etc. Hills, The King
James Bible Defended, 1956, 174, 185-188 (145, 165).
The back and forth continues. In 1977 W. N. Pickering complained that he could not understand how
F. F. Bruce, Colwell and Kenyon could still conclude erroneously that Rabulla had written the Peshitta. W. N. Pickering, The
Identity of the NT Text, 1977, 91 (165).
THE EARLY GERMAN BIBLE
Martin
Luther referred to the Tepl manuscripts which agreed with the Old Latin and were used to translate the Waldensian Bible into
early German. This may explain why he had been accused of being Waldensian. Ernesto Comba, History of the Waldenses
of Italy, 1889, 190-192 (168).
THE GOTHIC BIBLE
About
A. D. 350 Bishop Ulfilas (Wulfilus) travelled beyond the N.E. part of the Roman Empire from the Eastern Roman Empire and invented
the Gothic language in order to write an early Bible for the area of Ukraine, Bulgaria, and Romania. The Gothic Bible followed
the Traditional Text.
To conclude,
the Syrian Aramaic Peshitta, Old Italic, and Gothic Bibles were all translated in the earliest centuries and reflected the
underlying text similar to the Byzantine which became the Textus Receptus. Floyd Nolen Jones, Which Version is
the Bible?, 1999 (ix).
SELECTED AUTHOR INFORMATION
ALLIX, Peter; 1690. French Protestant pastor and writer who fled to England in 1685 after the
Edict of Nantes had been revoked. Because of his level of learning he was given the D. D. degree from two universities and
was canonized at Salisbury Cathedral. Some remarks upon the Ecclesiastical History of the Churches of Piedmont.
BURGON, John William (ad1888). He was Dean of Chi Chester
Cathedral at Oxford. He was born in Smyrna, Turkey -- Turkish father and Greek mother. Degree from Worchester at Oxford; Vicar
of the University Church of St Mary. In 1867 he was appointed Gresham Professor of Divinity. In 1871 began opposing Westcott
and Hort and defending the King James Version and Textus Receptus. In 1876 became Dean of Chi Chester at Oxford.
His extensive collection of Church Fathers is in the British Museum. The Dean Burgon Society continues his opposition to modern
textual critics.
BURKITT, F.
C. (1834-1935) was a British theologian and scholar, Norris Professor of Divinity at Cambridge. The Old Latin and the
Itala, 1896.
COLWELL,
Ernest ( ) held posts at Chicago, Emory and Claremont. He was Dean of the Theological Seminary at Chicago. Called the Dean
of NT Textual Criticism in North America in the 1950s. The Complex Character of the Late Byzantine Text of the Gospels,
1935. Genealogical Limitations: Its Achievement and Limitations, 1947. What is the Best New Testament? 1952. The Origin of
Texttypes of New Testament Manuscripts, 1951. Hort Redivivus: A Plea and a Program, 1967. Scribal Habits in the Early Papyri:
A in the Corruption of the Text, 1965. External Evidence and New Testament Criticism: Studies in the History
and Text of the New Testament, 1967.
In 1970 D. O. Fuller wrote "Is it not incredulous that we are expected to believe God would allow the true text
to sink into oblivion for fifteen hundred years only to have it brought to light again by two Cambridge professors who did
not believe it to be verbally inspired?" Fuller, Which Bible? 1970, 149 (133).
HILLS, Edward F. (1912-1981) was a Latin scholar at Yale before receiving a Th. B. from Westminster
Seminary and a Th. M. from Columbia Seminary. His Th. D. was begun at Chicago and completed at Harvard. The King James Version
Defended, 1956.
HOSKIER, Herman
(1911-1929). The Authorized Version of 1611; 1911. Codex B and Its Allies, 1914. The John Rylands' Bulletin, 1923. Concerning
the Text of the Apocalypse, 1929.
JONES,
Floyd Nolen, Th. D., Ph. D. twice taught at the Continental Bible College, Brussels, Belgium and is an ordained SBC minister.
He has degrees in Physics, Geology, Chemistry, Mathematics, Education and Theology. The Septuagint, A Critical Analysis,
1989. Which Version is the Bible?, Kings Word Press, 1999.
LOGSDON, Frank (1992-93) was a very close friend of Lockman, the founder and publisher of the New American
Standard Version. He participated in early preparations by interviewing some of the translators for the project and he even
wrote the first foreword. However, after the NAS had been published Logsdon was persuaded by arguments from his pro-Textus
Receptus friends that the Alexandrian texts used to translate the NAS were corrupt. Afterwards, Logsdon renounced every attachment to the
NAS. Logsdon is on record (Internet, written and audio) saying that he could not refute the arguments, that the many deletions
are absolutely frightening, that the product is grievous to my heart and I don't want anything to do with its corrupted
Greek text. Logsdon concluded "You can say the KJV is absolutely, 100%, correct; I believe the Spirit of God lead the
translators of the KJV (62).
NOLAN,
Frederick: An Inquiry into the Integrity of the Greek Vulgate or Received Text of the New Testament, 1815.
PICKERING, Wilbur: The Identity of the New Testament Text, Thomas Nelson; 1977. What Difference
Does It Make? 1990.
SCHRIVENER,
F. H. A.: A Plain Introduction into the Criticism of the New Testament, 1894.
STURTZ, Harry: Chairman of the Greek Department, Biola University. Doctoral dissertation at Grace
Theological Seminary. The Byzantine Text-Type and New Testament Textual Criticism; Thomas Nelson, 1984.
VOOBUS, Arthur: Early Versions of the New Testament,
Manuscript Studies, Estonia Theological Society in Exile, 1954.
WAITE, D. A.: A University of Michigan and Dallas Theological Seminary graduate with 66 semester hours
in Greek and 118 hours including Hebrew and French. Waite is acknowledged as a leading Greek scholar. He grew up with the
Westcott-Hort theory but changed his mind after 21 years and now promotes the T-R as the true text. Waite, Defending the
king James Bible, 1992 (117, 129)
WESTCOTT, B. F. AND HORT, F. J. A.: Introduction to the New Testament in the Original Greek, 1882. Life and Letters
of Brooke Foss Westcott, 1903.
ZUNTZ,
Gunther: The Text of the Epistles, Oxford Univ, 1953. | | | |
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