One thing the KJV had translation rules that were decided by the politics of the time, and those rules included this: When a Word hath divers Significations, that to be kept which hath been most commonly used by the most of the Ancient Fathers, being agreeable to the Propriety of the Place, and the Analogy of the Faith. The English text is the modern accepted text of the King James version of the bible which originated in 1611. Eminent scholars such as E. C. Colwell, G. D. Kilpatrick, and Kurt and Barbara Aland maintained, respectively, that The overwhelming majority of readings, almost all variants, and practically all the substantive variants in the text of the New Testament existed before the year 200. . Thats only a 2400 word difference (1.7%), and just two variants (the ending of Mark and the story of the woman caught in adultery) account for a significant portion of that difference. We know that the very means by which we communicate to each otherwordsare crucially important to God. This accidental skipping could account for a very significant portion of the longer Byzantine Textual Variants. 4 Every valley shall be exalted Or to put it another way: The Majority Text method within textual criticism could be called the democratic method. Well talk more about this later. ), Of the various different version of the Textus Receptus, Scriveners is notable. So in the text types of Homer, you have: Among scholars, theres little doubt that the medium text type of Homer is the original, while the short is the result of scholarly revision. If mistakes were tenacious, then there would be very few singular readings because these mistakes wouldve been passed down to each successive manuscript. Because these manuscripts are so foundational to modern Critical Text, they bear a closer look. Ken Johnson also does an expose on the issues and older documents. And carry them in His bosom, Yeah, thats a lot; so heres a picture to make sense of it. This was an interesting article. The longer reading is found in the Majority Text, but not in the Critical text. (Source for this quote is: Homer: The Origins and the Transmission, by Thomas W. Allen), 22. I want to give the men knowledge without taking a side (although I certainly have my own preference). Its often abbreviate as NA plus the version number. The logic on that Confessional Bibliology page regarding Rev 22:19 linked above is truly puzzling. Have you even attempted to understand the woman taken in adultery? All the theistic evolutionists tend to use the humanistic viewpoint when explaining the first 3 chapters of Genesis. I must admit it took me 2 evenings to seriously digest the information, take notes, cross reference and meditate on the essay. Byzantine or Alexandrian Solving the Bible Versions Debate by John Aziza Before beginning this terrain let's define a construction terms that ensue no vocabulary is left . Praise ye the LORD. It is acknowledged that Erasmus stated in his annotations: I found some words in our versions which were lacking in the Greek copies, but we added them from the Latin. The English translations of Wycliffe compared to Tyndales would show this also. I simply do not believe that. God will keep them (His words) by setting him (the man) in safety like He said He would in verse 5. Further, this can happen in smaller increments too. You asked: Has recent textual criticism increased our faith in God?. The oldest more or less complete Septuagint manuscripts are Codex Vaticanus (4th century AD) and Codex Alexandrinus (5th century AD). 7 You, O LORD, will keep them; Scrivener in his reconstructed and edited text used as his starting point the Beza edition of 1598, identifying the places where the English text had different readings from the Greek. I dont have a link, but might add one. We wont spend much time on these because the Westcott & Hort rules were more influential. Does it matter much if Paul wrote a owl vs an owl? Whenever a woman puts on the head covering she is proclaiming a message to the angels. Because Im Any further input that you have would be appreciated. A reading that shows better grammar at the expense of theology is likely not original. As that period also gave rise to the printing press, Bibles were available to the masses for the first time in history. A poor translation can obscure many things about the original language, making it difficult to know. It seems likely a decent scribe could copy 219 words without error. It played an important role in the publication of the King James Bible and, indirectly, the history of the church [6]. (Note: there are some who are near militant on the importance of the Confessional Position. Theres good evidence that he had more manuscripts to choose from, but decided to use only those 7 (presumably because they were of the best quality, but we dont know for sure). This was helpful. (And thats not including quotes by including the early church fathers). Adding to this the 34 new readings in NA28, the total number of full disagreements in the 28thedition ofNovum Testamentum Graeceagainst WH1881 is695. We have four nearly complete Uncial manuscripts dating from before the year 1000. The Textus Receptus book. Clearly, its the judgements that are enduring, not the word. Other examples include when one manuscript has Jesus Christ, and another has Christ Jesus, with only the order changed. Its simplicity itself, but under-girding that simplicity is profound sophistication. Your treating of the KJV reveals you have little concern for text and more concern for your understanding. ), In a similar vein, Kurt Aland considers Greek manuscripts which are purely or predominately Byzantine to be irrelevant for textual criticism.. The term Septuagint, meaning "seventy," actually refers to the seventy-two translatorssix from each tribe of Israelinvolved in translating the Pentateuch from Hebrew to Greek in the third-century BCE (seventy-two is rounded down to seventy, hence the Roman numeral LXX). For our purposes here, the term textus receptus means the 1550 edition of the Greek New Testament published by Robertus Stephanus. d. Therefore, we will refer to the two lineages based on their origins: Antioch/Antiochian and Alexandria/Alexandrian. (though again Im biased) I think the contradiction is clear, and the WEB Bible completely flipped this verse upside down seemingly on purpose, because theres absolutely no justification whatsoever in Greek for their over her own head translation. Unfortunately, we know that happened in at least two ways. The Textus Receptus is Latin for Received Text. I am researching Matt 10:10, specifically the word staff. You still havent answered my question about a specific manuscript, since the Ecclesiastical Text has a few nuances of meaning depending on who you ask. I deal with people, mostly Jews, who see errors in the New Testament, so I must know how to defend Gods words. Its close-ish, but the actual path was slightly more convoluted than that. Thus, they felt free to ignore them (as weve already discussed). If every word is important, does it not make sense that God would preserve all of His words so that we might nourished and strengthened? True faith understands the consequence of sin and turns in heart from it. Erasmus originally assembled his Greek text based on 7 Greek manuscripts and published it in 1516 as the Novum Instrumentum omne. If you do, the Majority Text would look radically different than the mostly pure Byzantine Majority Text that currently comprises the Majority Text. Source: The Greek New Testament according to the Majority Text, p. xi. Great work! My issue is with what I feel, based on your obvious biblical knowledge and intelligence, is a purposeful ignoring of the Holy Ghosts practice of making statements that have multiple and equally valid applications or truths when dealing with passages on the word words and Christ. Praying in Tongues, Speaking in Tongues, & Glossolalia: Dont Miss the Point, Yes, The Bible CLEARLY Says Sex Outside of Marriage is Wrong, Pastors, Elders, Church Authority and REAL Leadership, Does 1 Corinthians 11 Require Women To Wear Head Coverings, http://www.katapi.org.uk/NEB/NT-Introduction-1970.pdf, https://www.christianhospitality.org/wp/bible-fraud7/, http://www.westernrecorder.org/825.article, https://confessionalbibliology.com/2016/06/08/erasmian-myths-revelation-back-translated-from-the-vulgate/, http://www.jesusisprecious.org/bible/nkjv/alexandrian_corrupt_source.htm, A Complete, 100% English Introduction to Koine Greek (with Examples in English), List of Pro-Trinity/Deity of Christ Bible Passages. The first was Erasmus though, so lets take a closer look at it. This is the essence of whats called the Doctrine of Preservation. I challenge you to study this more in depth, and I think you will come to the conclusion that the 5,000 plus manuscripts that we have today from that period equal less than 1% of Bibles used by the church. First, please notice that its words (plural) not word (singular). And it means: So, truth in the KJV isnt unwarranted, but hardly the primary meaning. Im not a KJV only follower Indeed the mans head must not be covered as Paul instructs. Again I must ask, which specific text/manuscript do you consider to be perfect/perfectly preserved? This is the basic view held by the Confessional Position. Which single, specific document or manuscript do you think is entirely without error? Therefore, they had the saying the shorter reading is the more probable reading.. (Eberhard Nestle and Kurt Aland). ), It is in fact easier to find two consecutive verses in which these two MSS differ the one from the other, than two consecutive verses in which they entirely agree.. You did promise to say, but were rather a lot of comments deep and you still havent said. Its not hard to imagine they were fairly pure for the ~300 additional years it would take to get back to the originals. They have thrown the baby out with the wash. Look at your own readers. The Septuagint is older than the Masoretic text, was the version of the Old Testament quoted in the New Testament and is accepted by the Church as its official version. Tischendorf himself might not have been sure. However, the Alexandrian text type is 200 years older. When do you think the church lost the true preserved Word of God? The [fourth-century] text of Chrysostom and other Syrian [= Byzantine] fathers [is], must have had in the greater number of extant variations, The overwhelming majority of readings, almost all variants, and practically all the substantive variants in the text of the New Testament, The criticism of the Homeric epics proceeds on much the same line, The shorter form in Homer is considered to reflect Alexandrian critical know-how and. It might sound simplistic, but theres a good mathematical reason and a good common sense reason behind it. I find the whole thing to be disconcerting, frankly. Do you believe We can no more touch the preserved Word of God than we can the incarnate Christ? Do you believe that we can only do our very best to discern with our human abilities and scientific approach what is correct and what is not? I read this article and the one you did on the best Bible version. Some of these translations included Luther's German Bible, William Tyndale's English translation, as well as the King James Version. (Side note: Ive spent some time in the marketing world in my life. That seems more like personal bias talking than scholarly work, and it persists to this day. By an Alexandrian Church fathers own admission, manuscripts in Alexandria by 200 AD were already corrupt. (Which many dispute, but well get to that later.). You said applying verses 10 to male authority doesnt make sense, but it makes perfect sense. A reading combining two simple, alternative readings is later than the two readings comprising the combination. Aside: I try not to run in circles as I have found you dont get very far! No words and we never hear the gospel, and it is in His words that Gods truth to us regarding Jesus Christ is conveyedand He says He has put His words above His very name. (One of the major places they differ is in The Johannine Comma of 1 John 5:7-8, and theres an article about whether it was added or removed right here on Berean Patriot. The first document to be called Textus Receptus was the 1633 printing of the Elzevir Greek New Testament, which was substantially identical to the 1565 version of Bezas Greek New Testament. I will devote no more space to it in this article because I dont think it relevant, and only mentioned it for completeness. Such is the power/authority of the covering on the head of the woman. Cule). IT is a better translation of the somewhat corrupt TR than the KJV. In verse three it refers to head as chief or lord (God the Father is head of Christ, Christ is head of man, and man is head of woman). Again, Codex Vaticanus is regarded as the single best New Testament manuscript by the adherents of the Reasoned Eclecticism/Critical Text theory. You might want to check the original language in that verse, because it actually says You shall keep him, singular, not them plural. Again, this doesnt change the meaning much, even if it does change the text slightly. (Greek words often have similar endings because of the nature of the Greek language.) 10 Behold, the Lord God shall come with a strong hand, There are several. Thus, they say there were Byzantine Text type manuscripts elsewhere, but they didnt survive because the climate wasnt as suitable for preservation. I think if you want to be a textual critic. You are arguing from the side opposite of Gods promise to preserve His Word, and Im sure that you will never win. Further, if you remember from our discussion of Codex Sinaiticus and Codex Vaticanus, this type of omission is recognized in them. I could certainly see a case for making them the representative of the Byzantine textform, or even a starting place for a base text. For example. You have Vaticanus twice. Its major weakness is outright dismissal of certain readings (without evidence), and that its based on essentially only two manuscripts of dubious quality. Any reading overwhelmingly attested by the manuscript tradition is more likely to be original than its rival(s).. These revealed portions of manuscripts several centuries older than any previously known. Textus Receptus readings generally provide stronger doctrine. . I like the no copyright, but I wouldnt quote it or use it. I have one question regarding the majority text view, which I dont think you addressed, but I could have missed it like you said it is a sizable post. Double for all her sins.. Well, it was Westcott & Hort who said of the Western text: Words and even clauses are changed, omitted, and inserted with surprising freedom, wherever it seemed that the meaning could be brought out with greater force and definiteness. Therefore, it shouldnt be surprising that they basically ignored the Western text type. Codex Sinaiticus was found by a man named Lobegott Friedrich Constantin (von) Tischendorf, at St. Catherines monastery at the foot of Mount Sinai. They use these to translate all . One scholar said of the Western text type: Words and even clauses are changed, omitted, and inserted with surprising freedom, wherever it seemed that the meaning could be brought out with greater force and definiteness. Unsurprisingly, they arent given too much weight because of this freeness. PS: If possible please e-mail me unless I will get an email notification of a reply to this comment. I really appreciate your work here. The Alexandrian text type is slightly shorter than the Byzantine text type. I am calling it a KJV-PT. Well assume two scribes copy correctly and one incorrectly. The Elzevir text is practically a reprint of the text of Beza 1565with about fifty minor differences in all. 16 So the last will be first, and the first will be last.. This translation will be available by the end of year 2021. Im not. Their text was heavily based on the Codex Vaticanus and Codex Sinaiticus. Further assume you had two manuscripts to choose from when copying. I found it reasonably through. He also raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavens in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might display the immeasurable riches of his grace through his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. No Scholar . the first occurrence of the Had some armed foe said these things he would have fought him to the last breath; but this man did not deny, and had no word of scorn. Theres a wikipedia article, but its wikipedia so take it with a grain of salt. So lets look at their methodology, and the methodology of Reasoned Eclecticism in general. However its a good representation of the differences and contains many of the major points of variation. Any uncertainty is 100% uncertainty Right? A. Hort and first published in 1881, with numerous reprints in the century since. It doesnt mean that God works at mans whim and timetable. So that we could not mistake His intentions, the Lord made clear to what degree He would keep the Scriptures pure. The Greek word kephal has two meanings: 1 (primary meaning) the part of the body called the head; 2 (symbolic meaning) the chief, master or lord. For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.. My guess and its only a guess is that the Latin Vulgate had the plural (staves) and so the KJV translators went with that. God bless you, brother. 2. dolos (127 times in the NT) will be consistently rendered as slave. That covers the early manuscripts, but what about the later ones? Though the earliest work was prepared by Desiderius Erasmus, his work was later revised by Robert Estienne (or, Stephanus) and further revised by Theodore Beza. His translation can be purchased for about $10. One issue, a minor one, the majority of Greek manuscripts show the content of Romans 16:25-27 actually belongs in 14:24-26. Not only do Homers works have more manuscript evidence available than any other piece of classical literature (though far less than that available for the NT), but Homer also is represented by MSS from a wide chronological and geographical range, from the early papyri through the uncials and Byzantine-era minuscules. How many such readings are there? The parallels to the NT transmissional situation are remarkably similar, since the Homeric texts exist in three forms: one shorter, one longer, and one in-between. He was able to view 43 sheets, which was a third of the sheets that were to be burned. And, finally, when do you hope to see the church rediscover what you believe they have lost? I refer you to the following article, quoting the beginning paragraph of the counter-argument: This actually makes a lot of sense if you look at the Greek word used. While the name was originally only applied to the 1633 printing of Elzevirs Greek text, it eventually came to include all of them. These comprise over 75% of all textual variants, which means over 75% of textual variants have no effect on anything whatsoever. (by extension) a region, or the solid part or the whole of the earthly globe (including the occupants in each application). Thank you for creating an such a well constructed article. 18 knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers. These errors alone account for hundreds of differences between the Alexandrian and Byzantine Text types. It may not display this or other websites correctly. Note: it will sound like Im strongly biased in favor of the Majority Text while I present the pro side of the argument. I even purchased an interlinear bible because I wanted to know what was really said. Estiennes New Testament is remarkably similar to Erasmus Greek New Testament, but Estienne claimed he didnt use Erasmus work as a source. Again, this is a stretch but well deal with it. When he finished he had produced an edition of the Greek New Testament which more closely underlies the text of the AV than any one edition of the Textus Receptus. Daniel B. Wallace says, Revelation was copied less often than any other book of the NT, and yet Irenaeus admits that it was already corrupted within just a few decades of the writing of the Apocalypse, Theres an argument to be made that the Alexandrian Text type was corrupted very early. ejoice, ye heavens, with him, and let all the angels of God worship him; I will deliver them out of the power of Hades, and will redeem them from death: where is thy penalty, O death? The manuscript differences between the Greek text that the KJV was based on, the majority Greek text, and the modern Greek text are in agreement 98 percent of the time; the other 2 percent does not affect doctrine. The NT Byzantine Textform reflects a similar continuance from at least the fourth century onward. He has preserved them for us! The word thats highlighted is Hebrew word (emunah). However, the picture changes if you include translations into other languages.