Why HBC Uses the Authorized Version Page 1 of 8 Part 4: The Text

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1 Why HBC Uses the Authorized Version Page 1 of 8 INTRODUCTION THE TEXT PART 1 2 Timothy 3:15 The difference between a manuscript, a text, and a translation. o A manuscript is a partial (though it could have been complete), handwritten copy of Scripture. It may contain a few verses, a whole book, or in a few cases an entire testament. o A text is either an attempt by men or the providential move of God to take all of the partial manuscripts and compile them into one source for the reader. (Ouellette, 88) o A translation is an attempt by man to render this text into the common vernacular of the people with whom he is working. (Ouellette, 88) MESSAGE Let s look at three areas concerning the Text of the New Testament. 1. The families involved with the Text. a. Textual families can be categorizes into two groups. And although each of these names represents a slightly different shade within each family, I believe this is an accurate representation. i. Critical Text, Eclectic Text, Minority Text, Egyptian Text, Alexandrian Text, Westcott Hort Text, Nestle Aland Text, UBS Text. ii. Traditional Text, Received Text, Preserved Text, Byzantine Text, Majority Text (Until 1982), Antiochian Text, Syrian Text, Textus Receptus, Western Text, TR. iii. Practically speaking, there are only two NT Bible Texts from which all English Bible versions are sourced. 1. The Received Text can be traced to the historical record of the church. 2. The Critical Text is traced to a relatively few obscure manuscripts. (Ouellette, 101) b. The Traditional Text i. The phrase Antiochian Text refers to the capitol of Syria: Antioch. 1. This was the city where believers were first called Christians. 2. This textual sub family is also referred to as the Syrian Text, referring to the province. 3. It is highly probable that the Christians of Antioch translated these early autographs into other languages, including the Syriac Peshitta (believed by many to be one of the oldest translations of NT Scripture available to us, some believe this was translated as early as 150 BC), and the Old Latin Itala. 4. It is certainly worth pointing out that these Itala Christians were later known by the name Waldenses or Vaudois (people of the valleys). a. Theodore Beza, the successor of John Calvin, recognized this group of believers as the oldest and purest Christian church. (Ouellette, 89) b. Jean Leger, a Waldensian pastor and leader during the 17 th century, once said concerning the scripture that they have always had the

2 Why HBC Uses the Authorized Version Page 2 of 8 entire joy and fruition of the celestial treasure of the true preserved holy Scriptures. [Quoted in Ouellette, 89 90; from David Sorenson, Touch Not the Unclean Thing, p 258] c. 2 Timothy 3:15 would suggest to us that we should go with the Scriptures that have been in continual use throughout history. ii. Byzantine Text refers to the fact that most of these Scriptures came from Asia Minor and Greece. 1. It is interesting to note that no original autographs of Scripture were sent to Egypt, but they were sent to the Byzantine Empire. 2. This gives the Byzantine text a head start in establishing itself as the correct text validated and used by the early churches. (Ouellette, 89) 3. Watts cites two issues concerning the location that scripture manuscripts were found. a. First, the place where the copies were found would be significant. Churches themselves became the custodians of the pure Word of God. He went on to point out that a copy found in a church would be significantly reliable. b. Second, the close proximity to an established Christian center would be significant. A copy of scripture made in the same region that the apostles ministered would be more likely to be safeguarded from error without the Christian community quickly suppressing such error. [Watts, 16 17] c. Here is a possible early reference to original NT letters. i. About AD 200, Tertullian wrote The Prescription against Heretics. In chapter 36, he wrote: Come now, you who would indulge a better curiosity, run over the apostolic churches in which their own authentic writings are read Achaia is very near you, (in which) you find Corinth. Since you are not far from Macedonia, you have Philippi; (and there too) you have the Thessalonians. Since you are able to cross to Asia, you get Ephesus. Since, moreover, you are close upon Italy, you have Rome, from which there comes even into our own hands the very authority (of the apostles themselves) [Cited in Watts, 13] ii. Many scholars believe that Tertullian is encouraging unbelievers to travel to the cities of the original churches and there personally view the original epistles of the NT. c. The Critical Text i. The two most prominent ancient manuscripts are Vaticanus and Sinaiticus. 1. These texts were found in the 1800s and presumed to date back to the fourth century. 2. They disagree with themselves over 3000 times in the Gospels alone and both show clear signs of corruption. (Ouellette, 101) 3. Dr. Schrivner wrote that ten different handwriting styles can be found in the one codex Sinaiticus. Some of their alterations and revisions appear to be systematically spread over every page. [F.H.A Scrivener, A Full Collection of

3 Why HBC Uses the Authorized Version Page 3 of 8 the Codex Sinaiticus with the Received Text of the New Testament (Cambrideg: Deighton, Bell, and Co., 1864) p xix] ii. The Critical Text introduced changes into the textual tradition based upon 45 out of 5,255 manuscripts. These 45 texts disagree amongst themselves in over 5,600 places, but because of their age were deemed to be more accurate. (Ouellette, 101) iii. John Burgon: [I am] utterly disinclined to believe so grossly improbably does it seem that at the end of 1,800 years 995 copies out of every thousand, suppose will prove untrustworthy; and that the one, two, three, four, or five which remain, whose contents till yesterday as good as unknown, will be found to have retained the secret of what the Holy Spirit originally inspired. I am utterly unable to believe, in short, that God s promise has so entirely failed, that at the end of 1800 years much of the text of the Gospel has in point of fact to be picked by a German critic out of a waste paper basket in the convent of St. Catherine; and that the entire text had to be remodeled after the pattern set by a couple of copies which had remained in neglect during fifteen centuries, and had probably owed their survival to that neglect; whilst hundreds of others had been thumbed to pieces, and had bequeathed their witness to copies made from them. [Dean Burgon, The Traditional Text of the Holy Gospels Vindicated & Established (Cambridge: Deighton, Bell and Co., 1896) p 11 12] iv. One proponent of the Alexandrian Text states that: But because the Alexandrian text is known as a polished text, the Western, or popular, text sometimes preserved the original wording. When a variant reading has the support of both Western texts and Alexandrian, it is very likely original; but when the two are divided, the Alexandrian witnesses more often preserve the original wording. (Comfort, 187) What? By whose conjecture? By polished do they mean edited? d. Interesting thoughts concerning the text. i. One of the largest arguments levied against the Traditional Text is that there appears to be no early manuscript evidence for this family. 1. First, The Byzantine text type has over whelming support from the Greek manuscripts. [Watts, 21] 2. Second, In the early papyri there is an impressive number of distinctively Byzantine readings. P45 and P46 of the Chester Beatty Papyri contain such readings, as does P66 of the Bodmer Library collection. Professor H. A. Sturz was able to list 150 Byzantine readings with early papyri support [Harry A. Sturz, The Byzantine Text Type and New Testament Textual Criticism, Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1984, p 61ff, 145ff]. This plainly shows that contrary to the views of earlier textual critics, the Byzantine readings can be traced as far back as the second century. [Watts, 21] 3. It is estimated that 95% of Uncial manuscripts have a Byzantine type of text. And nearly all of the minuscules are Byzantine in their readings. [Watts, 21] ii. An interesting change in events is that, of late, more findings confirm the readings of the Traditional Text. 1. In 1979, the editors of the Nestle Aland Critical Text reversed an 80 year tradition of honoring the Westcott & Hort text by re inserting 467 TR readings into the 27 th edition. [Grady, vii]

4 Why HBC Uses the Authorized Version Page 4 of 8 2. Two of the oldest manuscripts in existence, the Chester Beatty and the Bodmer papyri (from around AD 200), contain a plethora of readings from what we now refer to as the Traditional Text. [Grady, 27 28] iii. Three logical areas of support are offered for use of the Byzantine text type: 1. It is supported by the early translations. a. There are the Syriac (Aramaic) and Latin Versions which go make to the middle of the 2 nd century. b. The Peshitta was an early Syriac Version that contains the Byzantine Readings. (Aramaic was what the disciples originally spoke, making it probable that this was an accurate translation.) c. The Gothic version from the 4 th century is also Byzantine. 2. It is confirmed by the early fathers. a. Against: Critical Text proponents are often found to state that no early church father before Chrysostom ( AD) even refer to the Byzantine Text let alone quote from it. b. Answer: But 2,630 specific and clear references are made to the Byzantine Text among the early church Fathers who died before AD 400, including Justin Martyr (died 165), Irenaeus (died 200), Clement of Alexandria (died 215), Tertullian (died 220), Hippolytus (died 236), and even Origen (died 254). These men quoted repeatedly from the Byzantine Text. (There were only 1,753 references to other Texts: this is a 2 to 1 ratio.) c. In fact, Professor Edward Miller found that, given 30 specific theologically significant passages of Scripture, of all of the church fathers, regardless of their doctrinal persuasions, quoted the Byzantine Text 530 times with only 170 in favor of the other text type. In conclusion he said, The original predominance of the Traditional Text is shewn in the list of the earliest Fathers. Their record proves that in their writings, and so in the Church generally, corruption had made itself felt in the earliest times, but that the pure waters generally prevailed The tradition is also carried on through the majority of the Fathers who succeeded them. There is no break or interval: the witness is continuous. [Edward Miller in The Antiquity of the Traditional Tex, in John William Burgon, The Traditional Text of the Holy Gospel Vindicated and Established, London: George Bell and Sons, 1896, p 121] d. As early as the 4 th century, the Byzantine Text was emerging among the Church as the authoritative New Testament Text, which distinctive it held for the five quarter millennia. 3. It is confirmed by the printed Greek New Testament. a. Credit for the earliest modern Greek New Testament goes to Fancisco Ximenes, Cardinal Primate of Spain in b. In his dedication to Pope Leo X, he writes, For Greek copies indeed we are indebted to your Holiness, who sent us most kindly from the Apostolic Library very ancient codices, both of the Old and New Testament; which have aided us very much in this undertaking.

5 Why HBC Uses the Authorized Version Page 5 of 8 c. Furthermore, there is no evidence he ever followed the Codex Vaticanus, even though the Vatican appears to have been in possession of this manuscript for at least 35 years. Cardinal Ximenes work appears to follow the Byzantine Text. [Watts, 22] d. Perhaps so little was thought of Codex Vaticanus that either the Pope failed to send this copy along, or the Cardinal rejected it once received. e. TRANSITION: After looking at the families of the Text, next 2. The People involved with the Text. a. Constantin Von Tischendorf i. Constantin Von Tischendorf, the man who found Sinaiticus, had preconceived bias against the Received Text and created a text with thousands of changes based upon one manuscript. (Ouellette, 101) ii. Tischendorf: we have at last hit upon a better plan even than this, which is to set aside this Textus Receptus altogether, and to construct a fresh text (Ouellette, 92; quoted from rosetta.reltech.org/tc/extras/tischendorf sinaiticus.html) iii. It appears that Tischendorf began his work with the preconception that the TR was erroneous. b. Westcott and Hort i. They did not believe the Bible literally and had a preconceived bias against the Received Text. (Ouellette, 120) ii. Westcott and Hort privately introduced and later published a new Greek text in the late 1800s that was based upon the earlier work of Tischendorf. (Ouellette, 101) iii. Westcott and Hort invented a Syrian Recension and essentially explained away the vast body of evidence for the Received Text by asserting that the entire group of manuscripts came from the one corrupt source. They see the majority as reason to doubt, yet we see the majority as God s unquestioned providence. (Ouellette, 101) iv. Westcott and Hort were placed on a committee to revise the AV in the late 1800s. But they set out not only to revise the Authorized Version, but also to revise the underlying Greek text radically. [Alfred Martin, A Critical Examination of the Westcott Hort Textual Theory quoted in Which Bible? (Grand Rapids) p 60] v. A disclaimer. 1. When we refer to the Westcott and Hort text, let it be understood that we are not stating that the text that these men created is the exact Critical Greek text that is still used today. But quite simply that these men were the first to propose much of the underlying philosophical conjectures that have become the foundation of modern textual criticism. 2. And neither are we stating that those who propone the theories that Westcott and Hort originally developed necessarily believe any of the unorthodox doctrines that these men believed at heart. c. Later on in our discussion, we will return to both the people of the Critical Text persuasion and those involved in providing and defending the Traditional Text. 3. The philosophy involved with the Text. a. First, Shorter verses longer passages. i. In W H minds, the TR evolved over time as the copyists made emendations or conflated (or harmonized) two similar passages. (Ouellette, 94)

6 Why HBC Uses the Authorized Version Page 6 of 8 ii. In order to satisfy their preconceptions that the TR needed to be fundamentally changed, W H produced a shorter (less complete) text. Both men believed that a shorter reading is the best reading. iii. Perhaps this thinking is in line with Hort s preference for evolution: It certainly startles me to find you saying that you have seen no facts which support such view as Darwin s. But it seems to me the most probably manner of development, and the reflexions suggested by his book drove me to the conclusion that some kind of development must be supposed. [Arthur Fenton Hort, Life and Letters of Fenton John Anthony Hort, p 431] iv. It is certainly true that the TR has more words that the Critical Text. But the difference is the reasons given. The Critical Text proponent says that the Received Text has evolved over time and that s why it is longer. The TR proponent says that the Critical Text leaves out key Christological passages making it shorter. v. Long readings do not prove a later interference with the text. Professor Sturz has shown that some of these readings are supported by the earliest papyri (the longer readings of John 10:19 and 10:31, for example, are supported by P66, considered by all to be one of the oldest NT manuscripts). [Harry A. Sturz, The Byzantine Text Type and New Testament Textual Criticism, Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1984, p 84]. This leads to the conclusion that the fault lies with the Alexandrian Text. [Watts, 26] b. Second, Older is better. i. Older is not necessarily better. ii. ONE: Older is always better is usually cited as an anthem of the critical text movement. They illustrate the fact the water in a river is always purer the closer you get to the source. 1. But Pickering makes an interesting observation concerning this line of thought. This is normally true, no doubt, but what if a sewer pipe empties into the stream a few yards below the spring? The process is reverse as the polluted water is exposed to the purifying action of the sun and ground (and dilution), the farther it runs the purer it becomes (unless it passes more pipes). That is what happened to the stream of the New Testament transmission. Very near the source, by 100 AD, at least, the pollution started gushing into the pure stream. In fact Paul, in his letters, deals with the corruption of God s message. [Grady, 60 61] iii. TWO: Concerning the age of Codex Sinaiticus, Professor Dabney stated that Tischendorf himself was unable to trace the presence of his favorite Codex, in the monastery of St. Catherine on Mt. Horeb, by external witnesses, higher than the twelfth century. Their early date is confessedly assigned by conjecture [in other words we guessed! ] (R.L. Dabney, The Doctrinal Various Readings of the New Testament Greek (Carlisle, PA: The Banner of Truth Trust, 1967), pp ) This professor just stated that the idea that Sinaiticus and Vaticanus are older and therefore better is only a statement of faith disguised in scholarly guesswork. (Ouellette, 97) iv. THREE: By the Critical Text proponents own admission, earlier doesn t necessarily mean better. The Codex Vaticanus is dated earlier than Codex Sinaiticus, however many Textual Critics would hold Codex Sinaiticus in high regard on most issues. [Comfort, 181 compared to what Doug Kutilek says as cited in Stauffer, 314]

7 Why HBC Uses the Authorized Version Page 7 of 8 v. FOUR: The number of manuscripts available relative to the date they appear to be copied suggests that they were copied from very early manuscripts. 1. A later date does not necessarily mean that they are less credible witnesses to the originals. Ninth century manuscripts may have been copied from others of the third century. 2. B.B. Warfield has stated concerning this issue: It is not the mere number of years that is behind any manuscript that measures its distance from the autograph, but the number of copyings. 3. Both in Watts, 19 c. Could I point out to you once again this week, the overwhelming bias toward Sinaiticus? i. My thoughts on John 7:8. (Last week I mentioned the closing verses of Mark 16.) 1. Four Greek manuscripts are in favor of leaving out yet Greek manuscripts are noted as leaving in yet. a. f 1 only an abbreviated listing of this family is offered. They list 5 in the introduction and then say: and others. b. f 13 only an abbreviated listing of this family is offered. They list 13 and then say: and others. c. BYZ there are no Byzantine Text that disagrees with the reading of yet, but no complete listing is given. 5 are listed among the rest. d. P 66 is given which all scholars list as among the 10 earliest manuscripts on record. At least 150 years before the earliest dating of Sinaiticus. And very likely less than 100 years after John wrote revelation. e. P 75 which was copied at least 80 years before Sinaiticus. f. Then, even the beloved Vaticanus happens to be among those that read yet. But guess what the Critical scholars selected as their appropriate reading? Sinaiticus. ii. R. B. Ouellette gives several unanswered questions concerning the authenticity of the Critical Text. 1. Why did the early church not embrace the readings of Alexandria Egypt? (Ouellette, 99) 2. Why can no documented history be found concerning the origins of this different text? (Ouellette, 99) 3. Why would God s inspired Words contradict themselves (as noted in John 7:8) and not be truthfully accurate? (Ouellette, 99) 4. Why would such an important, foundational text as the Sinaiticus have never been copied itself? Obviously there are other manuscripts in its family, but the number of disagreements between the 45 or so documents contained therein would suggest that this family is overwhelmingly in the minority for accuracy. d. I suggest to you that the character of the Critical Text is flawed and the logic behind it reaches many illogical conclusions. e. Skepticism toward the reliability of Scripture seems to survive in many academic circles despite the repeated collapse of critical theories [Comfort, 17. See following paragraph for examples.] CONCLUSION

8 Why HBC Uses the Authorized Version Page 8 of 8 Dean Burgon: Strange as it may appear, it is undeniably true, that the whole of the controversy may be reduced to the following narrow issue: Does the truth of the text of Scripture dwell with the vast multitude of copies, uncial and cursive, concerning which nothing is more remarkable than the marvelous agreement which subsists between them? Or is it rather to be supposed that the truth abides exclusively with a very little handful of manuscripts, which at once differ from the great bulk of the witnesses, and strange to say also amongst themselves? [Dean Burgon, The Traditional Text of the Holy Gospels Vindicated & Established (Cambridge: Deighton, Bell and Co., 1896) p 16] It is important to realize that just because there appears to be flaws in the thinking of those who would promote the Critical Text, this does not automatically make the Traditional Text the correct choice. Let s look further into this issue in the coming weeks.