Page 82 - Way of Life Encyclopedia of the Bible Christianity. Based on the King James Bible

BIBLE VERSIONS

perished in the Master’s service” (Burgon and Miller, because they must allegedly be recovered after having
The Traditional Text of the Holy Gospels Vindicated, been corrupted for 1,500 years.
1896, pp. 32, 33). Thus, modern textual criticism is built upon the
Not only do Vaticanus and Sinaiticus disagree in premise that the original text of the New Testament
thousands of places with the vast majority of other needed to be restored in the 19th century.
Greek manuscripts, they disagree with one another in as If this goal is true, then divine preservation is false. In
many or more places! There are 3,036 differences fact, most standard works on textual criticism do not
between the Vaticanus and the Sinaiticus in the Gospels even mention divine preservation. Following are a few
alone, not counting minor errors such as spelling examples:
(Herman Hoskier, Codex B and Its Allies, Vol. II, p. 1).
In spite of these facts, Vaticanus (B) or Sinaiticus The New Testament in the Original Greek
(Introduction) by Westcott and Hort (1881)
(Aleph), either individually or together, are the source The Text of the New Testament by Kirsopp Lake
of most of the omissions and glaring changes in the (1900, 1949)
modern versions. We have already listed a few of these Introduction to the Textual Criticism of the Greek
that touch on the doctrine of Christ’s deity and of the New Testament by Eberhard Nestle (1901)
Trinity. The Canon and Text of the New Testament by Casper
Biblical “common sense” informs us that these Rene Gregory (1907)
manuscripts owe their amazing survival solely to the The Text and Canon of the New Testament by
fact that they are so corrupt. John Burgon, who calls B Alexander Souter (1912)
and Aleph “TWO FALSE WITNESSES,” observes: “We The Text of the Greek Bible by F.G. Kenyon (1936,
suspect that these two Manuscripts are indebted for 1975)
their preservation, SOLELY TO THEIR ASCERTAINED New Testament Manuscript Studies by Parvis and
EVIL CHARACTER; which has occasioned that the one Wikgren (1950)
eventually found its way, four centuries ago, to a The Text of the New Testament by Bruce Metzger
forgotten shelf in the Vatican library: while the other, (1968)
after exercising the ingenuity of several generations of The Text of the New Testament by Kurt and Barbara
critical Correctors, eventually (viz. in A.D. 1844) got Aland (1981)
deposited in the waste-paper basket of the Convent at Modern textual criticism’s theories are strange and
the foot of Mount Sinai. Had B and Aleph been copies of unscriptural.
average purity, they must long since have shared the While not all of the following principles are held by
inevitable fate of books which are freely used and highly any one textual critic, these are standard principles that
prized; namely, they would have fallen into decadence have been promoted by prominent textual critics at
and disappeared from sight” (Burgon, The Revision various stages in its history.
Revised, p. 319; see also pp. 30-31). If these two
witnesses were put on a witness stand in a court of law, Note: The theories of modern textual criticism are
they would be rejected. Not only do they disagree examined more thoroughly in Faith vs. the Modern Bible
together against the vast majority of other witnesses, Versions and in The Modern Bible Version Question-
but they also disagree with one another as much as they Answer Database, available from Way of Life Literature.
disagree with the majority! Modern Textual Criticism Principle: In matters of
(For a study of the Papyri see the book Why We Hold textual criticism the Bible is to be treated like any other
to the King James Bible, which is available from Way of ancient book.
Life Literature.) No special consideration is to be made concerning its
Modern textual criticism’s goal is unscriptural. claims of inspiration and preservation. “The principles
Constantine Tischendorf stated the goal of modern of criticism explained in the foregoing section hold good
for all ancient texts preserved in a plurality of
textual criticism as “the struggle to REGAIN the original documents. In dealing with the text of the New
form of the New Testament” (Metzger, The Text of the Testament no new principle whatever is needed or
New Testament, p. 126). This implies, of course, that the legitimate” (Westcott and Hort, The New Testament in
original form of the New Testament had been lost prior the Original Greek, vol. 2, Introduction and Appendix,
to the 19th century when Tischendorf lived. 1881). The Bible cannot be treated like any other book,
The very title of Bruce Metzger’s popular book -- The because it alone has the divine and supernatural
New Testament’s Transmission, CORRUPTION, AND element, which holds true not only for its origin but also
RESTORATION -- describes modern textual criticism’s for its history. Other books were not written by divine
principle that the Scriptures were not divinely preserved, inspiration or preserved by divine providence. Other

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