Scribal Errors: Can the Bible be Trusted?

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Scribal Errors Can the Bible be Trusted?

• A Textual
• Critical Perspective
• Presented by
• Clinton Baldwin
• 7/23/05

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• The History of the New Testament Text An
  Overview

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The Revelations of God

• Nature Psa 191
• Human beings/relationships Isa 4915
• Personal Experience Acts 1727,28
• The written word 2Tim 316
• The living word Jesus Christ John 118

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Jesus the Greatest Revelation of God

• Jesus is the greatest revelation of God to
  humanity Heb 11-3
• He is the only perfect revelation of God
• All other revelations point to Jesus and are
  meant to glorify Him John 539-40
• We should be careful not to attribute to the
  other revelations that which was meant to be
  attributed to Jesus.

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The History of the NT Text

• 1. The Christ event 4BC - AD30
• 2. Oral tradition of the Christ event AD30 95
  
• 3. The written accounts
• The Pauline Letters 1Thess - AD 49
• The Gospels 60s
• The Johannine Writings 93/95

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Some Sources of Gospel Materials (Intro)

• The gospel writers pulled from different sources.
• Q, Matthew and Luke
• M Matthew
• L Luke
• Mark Mathew and Luke
• Note A similar phenomenon with Ellen
  White

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The History of the New Testament Text An
Overview

• The Bible was written in different ancient
  languages
• The Old Testament was originally written in
  Hebrew and Aramaic
• The New Testament in Greek

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The History of the NT Text An Overview

• No autograph of the New Testament is extant
• What we have are copies of copies of copies
• They were first copied on papyrus, then on vellum
  or parchment
• First on scrolls, then in codices, i.e., book
  form
• The form of writing were first all capital
  letters uncials, later cursive - minuscules
  (9th Cen)

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The History of the New Testament Text (contd)

• Currently, there are approximately 5,664 mss of
  the Greek NT
• No two mss are exactly alike
• Why? They were copied by hand under various
  circumstances
• Thus thousand of errorsApproximatley 300,000

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Origen (186-255 AD)

• It is a recognized fact that there are much
  diversity in our copies, whether by the
  carelessness of certain scribes, or by some
  culpable rashness in the correction of the text,
  or by some people making arbitrary additions or
  omissions in their corrections.
• Selections from the Commentaries and Homilies of
  Origen, trans.by R. B. Tollinton (London Society
  for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 1929) 109-110.
  

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Types of Errors

• 1. Eye sight
• Homoeoteleuton the scribe skips from one
  letter or word to the same letter or word
  farther down the page.
• 1 . . . . . . . .. autos ek tou
• 2 kosmos .
• 3 . . . . . . . . .
  autos ek tou
• 4 ponhrou .
• John 1715 I do not pray that you
  should take them from the world, but that you
  should keep them from the evil one

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Types of Errors (contd)

• Metathesis
• Changing the order of letters or words. Example
  
• Mark 1465, e?aß?? (received), for eßa???
  (struck).
• kai. oi uphre,tai rapi,smasin auvto.n
  elabonÅ and the guards receive him with blows.

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Types of Errors (contd)

• Of Hearing
• Iticism e.g. e? for ?? or o for
  w
• Romans 51 ecwmen for ecomen
• Therefore having been justified by faith
  let us have ecwmen peace with God.
  instead of we have peace ecomen with God
• 1 Cor 1654 vneikos (conflict) for nikos
  (victory)
• death is swallowed up in
  conflict, instead of death is
  swallowed up in victory

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Types of Errors (contd)

• Wrong division of words
• in 1Timothy 316, some manuscripts read
  ?µ??????µe? ?? µe?a we acknowledge how great,
  for ?µ??????µe??? µe?a confessedly great.
• Error of Judgment sometimes a copyist made a
  judgment call as to whether or not a glossary in
  the margin of his text ought to be included in
  the main body of the text
• The troubling of the water John 53-4

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Troubling of the Water John 53,4

• 3b waiting for the moving of the water,
• 4 For an angel went down at a certain season into
  the pool and troubled the water whoever then
  first after the troubling of the water stepped in
  was made whole of whatever disease he had.

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Types of Errors (contd)

• Haplography
• writing of a letter or word once when it should
  have been written twice. Example
  1Thessalonians 27
  e?e????µe? hp??? (we became gentle,) for
  e?e????µe? ?hp???, we became infants.
• Dittography
• The writing of a letter or word twice
  instead of once.
  Example Mark 1227 o ?e?? ?e?? for ?e??

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• Errors due to Diverse Theological opinions
• Marcion
• Anti-Judaic
• As a result of these errors there emerged 1000s
  of divergent and convergent mss

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Codex Bezae (D-05) 4th cen

• Mark 226
• . which is not lawful to eat except only for the
  priests
• The same day seeing someone working on the
  Sabbath, he said to him, man if indeed you know
  what you are doing then you are blessed. But if
  you do not know then you are accursed and a
  transgressor of the law.

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1John 57,8

• The father, the word and the Holy Ghost and
  these three are one. And there are three that
  bear witness on earth.
• Erasmus (1516 AD)
• 1. Monk, (Froy or Roy) copied from Latin vulgate
  about 1520 AD
• Only eight late Greek mss.
• 61, (16th) 88 (12th), 110 (16th), 221
  (10th),
• 429 (16th) 636 (16th), 918 (16th) 2318
  (18th)

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Correct rendering

• As Found in ?, A, B, y, 33, 81, 323,et al.
• For there are three that bear record, the spirit
  and the water and the blood and these three agree
  in one.

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Codex Bezae (D) Brixianus (f)

• Mark 1011, 12
• Whoever divorces his wife and marries another
  commits adultery against her and if a woman goes
  out from her husband and marries another, she
  commits adultery.

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Better rendering

• As found in ?, B
• Whoever divorces his wife and marries another,
  commits adultery against her, and if she divorces
  her husband and marries another she commits
  adultery.

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Woman Caught in Adultery John 753-811

• First appeared in the 9th Cen.
• Appeared in different places
• after John 752 ( D Byzantine text)
• after John 736 (225 )
• after John 2125 (f1)
• after Luke 2138 (f13)
• after Luke 24 53 (1353)
• Many different renderings
• omitted by earliest mss e.g., P66, P75, ?, B,
  

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Miscellaneous

• There are six different endings to Marks gospel
• The benediction of the Lords prayer

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Text-types

• Eventually manuscripts in certain localities
  began to have similar patterns of errors
• Text-types The largest identifiable group of
  manuscripts

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Text- Types

Alexandrian
Western
Caesarean ?
Byzantine
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Text-Types

• Western North Africa, Italy, and S.
  France
• Alexandrian Alexandria, Egypt
• Byzantine Byzantine Empire
• (80 of all mss)
• Caesarean ? Probably originate in
  Caesarea or Egypt

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Dates/Characteristics

• Western 2nd Cen.
• Alexandrian late 3rd early 4th Cen.
• Byzantine 4th 9th Cen.
• Caesarean ?
• Characteristic of Text-types
• Western Paraphrase, harmonizations,
  assimilation
• Alexandrian Shorter more difficult,
  non-harmonious readings
• Byzantine Smoother, easier, more
  harmonious, more
  straight-forward readings

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Determining the Originalor the Earliest Original

• The shorter reading
• The harder reading
• The older reading
• The more widespread reading
• The reading from the better mss
• The reading more in keeping with the authors
  style
• The reading that explains the rise of the other
  reading, and which cannot itself be explained
  by the other readings

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Choosing a Translation

• Those done by a committee, e.g., RSV, NIV, NARSB,
  etc.,
• Avoid individual translations, e.g., The Living
  Bible, The Clear Word.
• The KJV not the best for in-depth bible study

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KJV-Brief Background

• 1) Erasmus (1469-1536 AD)
• i) The first printed text to be published,
  that of Erasmus in 1516 AD
• ii) Based on 4 or 5 12th century mss, has
  readings found in no Greek ms
• iii) His only ms of Revelation lacked the
  last six verses therefore he translated it from
  the Vulgate
• iv) 1John 5 7, 8 - the Trinitarian text
• v) Acts 96 And he Trembling and
  astonished said, Lord what wilt thou have
  me to do. found in no Greek
  manuscripts (Assimilation to Act 2210).

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Background (contd)

• 2) Robert Stephanus
• i) 1550 based on Erasmus edition
• ii) Became the standard text of
  England
• iii) First to divide the Bible into
  chapters and verses (i.e., 3rd
  edition,1551)
• iv) Basis for the KJV of 1611

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Background (contd)

• 3) Theodore Beza
• i) 1565 1604 published nine editions,
  based on Erasmus
• ii) 1588-89, and 1598- editions also
  used as by KJV translators
• 4) Abraham Elzevir Bonaventure (1633)
• i) You therefore have the text which is
  now received by all in which we give
  nothing altered or corrupted
  
• ii) The Received text or Textus Receptus
  -- TR
• iii) TR reigned for 200 years until 1881

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Background (contd)

• The KJV is based on these editions which are all
  based on the Byzantine text.
• The Byzantine text is the poorest of all the
  text-types.

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Background (contd)

• Is a comparatively late text, 350 AD
• Conflate readings combinations of readings of
  the earlier text types
• Inability of their readings to explain the other
  readings
• Tend to smooth out difficult passages

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Discoveries of Ancient Manuscripts

• Oxyrhynchus Papyri Egypt
• a) Discovered by Grenfell Hunt in 1897
• b) Dated 200- 400 AD
• c) 36 New Testament Papyri
• d) The Shepherd of Hermas
• e) The Didache
• f) The Gospel of Thomas
• h) The Acts of Paul
• i)The Acts of Peter
• j) The Acts of John
• k) The Gospel of Mary

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• Oxyrhynchus Papyri 1897
• Chester Beatty Papyri, 1931 P45, P46, P47

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The Chester Beatty Papyri

• Discovered in 1931
• Eight OT mss
• Three NT mss i.e., P45, P46, P47
• Enoch
• These mss were purchased by Chester Beatty from a
  Cairo dealer in 1931

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The Dead Sea Scrolls

• Founded in 1947 at Qumran in the Dead Sea region
• Portions of 200 scrolls in 11 caves
• These finds were mainly of OT books
• Date from 200 BC

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The Bodmer Papyri

• Found in 1952 at Jabal Abu Mana Egypt
• Purchased by Martin Bodmer, in 1950 60s from a
  Cairo dealer
• Manuscripts include P66, P72, P75
• Date 200 AD

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Implications

• A determination of what is written must precede
  interpretation of what is written
• The original languages must be considered
• Consult various Modern Translations

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Implications

• Jesus said And I will ask the father and He
  will give you another counselor to be with you
  forever- the Spirit of truth and when comes he
  will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin
  and righteousness and judgment.
• John 1415168
• The Christians guide is more than a book, it is
  a person.
• God has not only given us a road map- the Bible,
  He has also given us a personal guide- Jesus/the
  Holy Spirit.
• The Bible points to Jesus, John 539-40

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• The End

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Gregory Number

• In 1908 Casper Rene Gregory developed a system of
  recording the Greek mss.
• Papyri P ---- P1 P2 P3 P98 etc
• Uncials with an initial 0 ----- a 01, A 02
  B 03 etc.
• Minuscules 1, 2, 3 etc.
• Lectionaries l --- l 1 l2 l3 etc.

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Rated Value of Readings UBS4

• A The Reading is certain
• B Almost Certain
• C Not as certain as B, enclosed
• D Great difficulty at arriving at a
  decision