Page 48 - Apologetics Student Textbook (3 Credits)

Those individuals to hold to the position that the KJV Bible is the only accurate copy of
God’s Word have a real problem when it comes to Bible translation into other
languages. The translators use the best tools possible to translate original Hebrew
and Greek manuscripts into the most accurate word or phrases of a foreign language,
and that language is not Elizabethan English. Are not any of the thousands of
translations into languages other than English accurate? Are they not God’s Word to
these people?
There is NO ONE translation that is inerrant (without error). Only the original
manuscripts were without error. You have to select the translation that most closely
reflects the words of God which where penned in the original manuscripts. When in doubt, consult
parallel translations and do word studies to determine which is most accurate to the “original Greek and
Hebrew” manuscripts. You have to be like the Bereans who “received the word with great eagerness,
examining the Scriptures daily, to see whether these things were so.” Acts 17: 11

Has the Bible changed over the years of being copied?

In the Scriptorium, a master scribe would read from a passage of Scripture while other scribes wrote
what they heard on vellum for sometimes 12 hours or more during the day.

Words were misspelled, omitted. Sometimes whole phrases were omitted.

Harmonization occurred: Ex., Eph 1:2 in Greek says: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and
the Lord Jesus Christ whereas Col 1:2 in Greek says: Grace to you and peace from god our Father.

Sometimes a scribe would miss a phrase when it was being read, he would realize he has left the phrase
out, so rather than throw away a very expensive piece of Vellum and loose his work to that point, he
would add the missing word in the margin.

Other scribes would make personal comments about a verse or passage, or write a parallel passage in
the margin. That manuscript would then be sent to another scriptorium hundreds of miles away and be
used as the mother script. When a copyist would come to a marginal note, word, or phrase, most often
it was added into the text (better safe than sorry). As a result, later copies of the Bible became “fuller”
or longer.

Examples of marginal notes appearing in later manuscripts:
Mark 16: 9-20 – Conclusion of Mark
John 7:53 – 8:11 – The woman caught in adultery
John 5:4 – The angel stirring the water

Problem of pietism: When the Catholic Church became the majority church of the Middle Ages, monks
and scribes began inserting more descriptive phrases. For example, in the place of the name of Jesus,
“Lord Jesus Christ” was often inserted. The later Byzantine manuscripts have the “Lord Jesus Christ”
occurring in 86 places in the New Testament, where the older manuscripts have it occurring 61 times.
Most of the time, Jesus is replaced by Lord Jesus or Lord Jesus Christ.

Does this mean that the copy of the Bible we have today is laced with errors and discrepancies? NO!
Here is why:

47