Page 73 - Way of Life Encyclopedia of the Bible Christianity. Based on the King James Bible

BIBLE VERSIONS

Minor, and Europe. Not one book of the New Testament After the death of the apostles there was a vicious
is associated with Egypt. satanic attack upon the Scriptures. Heretics multitplied
Beginning in the book of Genesis, the Bible warns and they were not afraid of tampering with the New
about Egypt. The first mention of Egypt is Ge. 12:10-13 Testament.
-- “And there was a famine in the land: and Abram went “It is no less true to fact than paradoxical in sound,
down into Egypt to sojourn there; for the famine was that THE WORST CORRUPTIONS TO WHICH THE
grievous in the land. And it came to pass, when he was NEW TESTAMENT HAS EVER BEEN SUBJECTED,
come near to enter into Egypt, that he said unto Sarai ORIGINATED WITHIN A HUNDRED YEARS AFTER IT
his wife, Behold now, I know that thou art a fair woman WAS COMPOSED ... the African Fathers and the whole
to look upon. Therefore it shall come to pass, when the Western, with a portion of the Syrian Church, used far
inferior manuscripts to those employed by Stunica, or
Egyptians shall see thee, that they shall say, This is his Erasmus, or Stephen, thirteen centuries after, when
wife: and they will kill me, but they will save thee alive. moulding the Textus Receptus” (F.H.A. Scrivener, A
Say, I pray thee, thou art my sister: that it may be well Plain Introduction to the Criticism of the New Testament,
with me for thy sake; and my soul shall live because of II, 4th edition, 1894, pp. 264, 265).
thee.” John Burgon, who did extensive research into the
This was a step of Disobedience on Abraham’s part, history of the Bible, proved that the the manuscripts
for there is no record that God spoke to him about this. favored by modern textual critics (e.g., the Sinaiticus
God had told him to leave Ur and go to Canaan, and and Vaticanus) contain corruptions introduced by
when he did this he was walking in faith and obedience, heretics in those early centuries.
because “faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the “In the age which immediately succeeded the Apostolic
word of God” (Ro. 10:17). But when Abraham turned there were heretical teachers not a few, who finding
aside and went down to Egypt, he was walking by their tenets refuted by the plain Word of God bent
natural sight and disobedience. themselves against the written Word with all their
Abraham’s disobedience quickly led to Deception. power. From seeking to evacuate its teaching, it was
Thus the very first thing that we see about Egypt in the but a single step to seeking to falsify its
testimony” (John Burgon and Edward Miller, The
Scriptures is that it is associated with disobedience and Causes of the Corruption of the Traditional Text of the
deception. We know that the principle of “first mention” Holy Gospels, 1896). “WE KNOW THAT ORIGEN IN
is important, and that this is therefore an important PALESTINE, LUCIAN AT ANTIOCH, HESCHIUS IN
spiritual lesson. “Going down to Egypt in the first two EGYPT, ‘REVISED’ THE TEXT OF THE N.T.
references of Scripture were times of disobedience and Unfortunately, they did their work in an age when such
deception. Does God have a lesson here for us? The fatal misapprehension prevailed on the subject, that
New Testament tells us in 1 Corinthians 10:11 that ‘…all each in turn will have inevitably imported a fresh
these things happened unto them for ensamples: and assortment of monstra into the sacred writings. Add,
they are written for our admonition, upon whom the the baneful influence of such spirits as Theophilus
ends of the world are come.’ I believe He does have a (sixth Bishop of Antioch, A.D. 168), Tatian, Ammonius,
&c., of whom there must have been a vast number in
lesson here and it concerns faith in His preserved Word the primitive age,--some of whose productions, we
and Words. Why do some, including some of our know for certain, were freely multiplied in every
fundamentalist brethren, go to Egypt when it comes to quarter of ancient Christendom:--add, the fabricated
recovering the manuscripts underlying our New gospels which anciently abounded ... and WE HAVE
Testament Scriptures?” (David Bennett, Preserved in SUFFICIENTLY EXPLAINED HOW IT COMES TO PASS
Egypt or Preserved in God’s Churches, 2004, p. 1). THAT NOT A FEW OF THE CODICES OF ANCIENT
Abraham’s journey to Egypt also represented a CHRISTENDOM MUST HAVE EXHIBITED A TEXT
Misplaced Trust. Another important reference to the WHICH W AS EVEN SC AND ALOUSL Y
CORRUPT” (Burgon, The Revision Revised, pp. 29, 30).
danger of Egypt is Isaiah 31:1 -- “Woe to them that go
down to Egypt for help; and stay on horses, and trust in Egypt in particular was a hotbed of heresy and
chariots, because they are many; and in horsemen, fanaticism. Prominent Gnostics were associated with
because they are very strong; but they look not unto the Alexandria. “Egypt was soon filled with religious and
Holy One of Israel, neither seek the LORD!” Instead of philosophical sectaries of every kind, and particularly
trusting in God, the Israelites were trusting in man. And that almost every Grecian sect found an advocate and
this is exactly what we see in modern textual criticism. professor in Alexandria.”
Its theories were not founded on faith in God’s promise A HERETICAL SCHOOL AT ALEXANDRIA
of preservation. Rather, its theories were gathered from This school was established in about 180 A.D. by
unregenerate men in secular fields. It trusts not in God’s Pantaenus. He mixed pagan philosophy with
promises but in the manuscript record.

Way of Life Encyclopedia of the Bible & Christianity 73