TTer gone CTer

[Jerusalem Blade]

Hello Robert W.!

Before I answer regarding Lucian, just a brief note about 1 John 5:7. In the T.H.L. Parker translation (Torrance editors, Eerdmans) of Calvin’s commentary, the sentence reads,

…and as I see that it is found in the best and most approved copies (codicibus), I also readily embrace it. [Bold emphasis mine –SMR]​

And in his Institutes (the Westminster/Battles edition), 3:1:1, page 538, he writes,

For, as three witnesses in heaven are named—the Father, the Word, and the Spirit—so there are three on earth: the water, the blood, and the Spirit [1 John 5:7-8].​

I want to add an excerpt from Will Kinney’s article on the matter (http://www.geocities.com/brandplucked/1John5-7.html):

It is also important to note that most of the Greek copies that have existed throughout history are no longer with us today. Several well known Christians mention Greek texts that contained 1 John 5:7 that existed in their days centuries ago. Among these are Theodore Beza, John Calvin and Stephanus. Beza remarks that the reading of 1 John 5:7 is found in many of their manuscripts; Calvin likewise says it is found in "the most approved copies"; and Stephanus, who in 1550 printed the Greek text that bears his name, mentioned that of the 16 copies he had 9 of them contained 1 John 5:7. John Gill, who also believed in the inspiration of this verse, likewise mentions in his commentary that nine of Stephanus' sixteen manuscripts contained this verse. There was a time in history when over 50% of the providentially available Greek manuscripts contained the reading found in the King James Bible.​

I appreciate your posts in defense of this part of Scripture, Robert. Now to Lucian.

Schaff says concerning him,

As to the New Testament , it is likely that he contributed much towards the Syrian recension (if we may so call it), which was used by Chrysostom and the later Greek fathers, and which lies at the basis of the textus receptus. [Bold emphasis mine –SMR] (Schaff, History, vol. 2, p. 815.)​

Schaff here gives a footnote to Hort’s Introduction, and cites him to this effect:

“Of known names his [Lucian] has a better claim than any other to be associated with the early Syrian revision; and the conjecture derives some little support from a passage of Jerome…” (Ibid.) [Bold emphases mine-SMR]​

So Schaff’s comment has no other basis than Hort’s view. Before I comment on Hort’s presumption – now shown to be groundless – of Lucian and his “revision,” let’s look at what Jerome actually said. In his Preface to The Four Gospels, discussing various manuscripts and writers, he says:

I pass over those manuscripts which are associated with the names of Lucian and Hesychius, and the authority of which is perversely maintained by a handful of disputatious persons. It is obvious these writers could not amend anything in the Old Testament after the labours of the Seventy; and it was useless to correct the New, for versions of Scripture which already exist in the languages of many nations show that their additions are false. (Nicene And Post-Nicene Fathers, vol. 6, Schaff and Wace, Editors; Hendrickson Pub. MA 1994) p. 488.​

First, Hort merely conjectures without any historical basis his entire schema of Lucian and the fabulous “Syrian revision”! And Schaff is but parroting him (and quite a squawk of parrots ensued through the field in the century following!).

But it “worked” in Hort’s mind, apart from events in the real world—so historical research has shown—and evidently it works in many minds down to this day. It is a good thing we can appeal to facts of known history, and common sense can dispense with mere fabrications and wishful thinking.

Pickering, in his The Identity of the New Testament Text (INTT), remarks, “Lucian was an Arian, a vocal one. Does Metzger seriously invite us to believe that the victorious Athanansians embraced an Arian revision of the Greek New Testament?” (1980 edition, pp. 95, 96) We will cite Pickering on Metzger & co. shortly.

These “additions” mentioned by Jerome cannot be construed to indicate a massive and official recension such as Hort conjectured. According to Jerome, they were likely a few corruptions easily discerned and the manuscripts which contained them discarded by him.

For more about Lucian and the Hortian theory involving him, I would like to introduce those who do not know him to Jakob Van Bruggen, and his classic, The Ancient Text of the New Testament

http://web.archive.org/web/20030428225220/www.thescripturealone.com/VanBrug.html

This book is now out-of-print and is rare, and when it is available fetches quite a high price. Those of you interested in these textual issues should download the book and put it in a file, as a small treasure.

In chapter 2, The Value of the Number of Manuscripts, Bruggen states,

The Byzantine textual tradition, which is at present rejected, is found in a large majority of manuscripts. Rightly so Aland introduces the new siglum M (Majority-text) for this text-type. When the team of textual scholars, that determined the Greek text for the United Bible Societies, could not come to an agreement, the opinion of the majority settled the matter. Seeing that there is still no certainty in the 20th century about the correct text of the New Testament, one could consider allowing the majority of manuscripts to decide the matter. Why does not this happen? Because, according to most people, this majority of manuscripts can be traced back to one recension: the many manuscripts would be nothing else than copies of only one manuscript. The large number is traced back to the one recension in the 4th century. The majority is reduced to a minority which receives only one vote and then also only a secondary vote because here we are thought to have a later revision of the original and not a faithful copy of it. In this way, the large number is reduced and disqualified. The counted majority appears to be a weighed minority. Two matters call for attention here. In the first place, the question whether historical proof can be given for the proposition that the text of the New Testament has undergone a revision in the fourth century. In the second place, the question whether the Byzantine textual tradition can be characterized as the result of such a recension.

The historical starting-point for this recension-idea is sought in the person of Lucianus of Antioch(30). That we, however, can not speak with great certainty here, appears from the fact that Hort did not do anything more than mention the possibility that Lucianus stands at the beginning of the Byzantine text(31). In the sixties of this century Metzger still refers to what he calls the decisive work of Lucianus(32), but it is striking that he does not repeat this name in his later Textual Commentary. Metzger then still speaks only about "the framers of this text"(33). It is also not possible to prove historically that Lucianus of Antioch offered a revised text of the New Testament. Even though for along time, since De Lagarde, people have anxiously searched for the assumed LXX-recension of Lucianus, some are at present even sceptical concerning Lucianus' revisionary work on the Old Testament(34). What Hieronymus says in mutual contradictory statements about the work of Lucianus, also gives little support(35). In any case there is no clear indication in Hieronymus' statements of influential work that Lucianus was thought to have done on the Greek New Testament(36). If he was busy with a revision of this text, his work remained of very limited value"(37). This also appears to be so from the fact that the later Decretum Gelasianum speaks with aversion about some Lucianic manuscripts(38). If the original Greek text is superseded by an inferior recension in the 4th and following centuries, then this process has left surprisingly few trails behind in the historiography. Does this point out that people were never aware of such a process? Or does this show that such a process did not take place? These questions can only be answered by going into the second point that calls for attention here: can the Byzantine text be characterized as a recension on the basis of its textual tradition?

Although the name of Lucianus is mentioned less and less as the historical starting-point, people in the 20th century maintain with undiminished certainty that there was a recension in the 4th century. This is striking. Closer examination of the Byzantine tradition has shown, in the period after Hort, that several tendencies can be pointed out in this tradition. Von Soden distinguished various layers in these Koine manuscripts(39). It proved to be impossible to describe the layers as a variation arising within a group of manuscripts, which in fact all go back to one archetype. That there is much agreement between all these manuscripts does not mean that they all come from one and the same source. The later research-work done by Lake and Colwell did change the picture given by Von Soden, but at the same time it has shown even more clearly that it is better to describe the Byzantine textual tradition as a collection of converging textual traditions than as a varying reproduction of one archetype(40). This fact now prevents us from thinking of one recension as the source for the text that is found in the majority of the manuscripts. No matter how one judges about the value of the growing consensus in the textual tradition, one can not simply reduce the large majority of manuscripts to one vote and then only a secondary vote. To say it differently and more technically: it is impossible to treat the majority of the manuscripts during the evaluation of them as though they textually formed one family (41).​

[For those wanting to see the footnotes, please access them via the online book, at the end of it.]

The first chapter of Bruggen’s book is titled, The Last Certainty of New Testament Textual Criticism, and the third (of five) is, The Age of the Byzantine Type. The entire work is only 40 pages long.

Next we will cite Pickering’s (updated) classic, The Identity of the New Testament Text II, which is also available online (http://www.revisedstandard.net/text/WNP/index.html). I’m citing from near the end of chapter 4, An Evaluation of the W-H Theory (pages 93, 94 in the book),

The "Lucianic Recension" and the Pesh-itta

Burgon gave the sufficient answer to this invention.

Apart however from the gross intrinsic improbability of the supposed Recension,—the utter absence of one particle of evidence, traditional or otherwise, that it ever did take place, must be held to be fatal to the hypothesis that it did. It is simply incredible that an incident of such magnitude and interest would leave no trace of itself in history.[189]​

It will not do for someone to say that the argument from silence proves nothing. In a matter of this "magnitude and interest" it is conclusive. Kenyon, also, found this part of Hort's theory to be gratuitous.

The absence of evidence points the other way; for it would be very strange, if Lucian had really edited both Testaments, that only his work on the Old Testament should be mentioned in after times. The same argument tells against any theory of a deliberate revision at any definite moment. We know the names of several revisers of the Septuagint and the Vulgate, and it would be strange if historians and Church writers had all omitted to record or mention such an event as the deliberate revision of the New Testament in its original Greek.[190]​

Colwell is blunt: "The Greek Vulgate—the Byzantine or Alpha text-type—had in its origin no such single focus as the Latin had in Jerome."[191] F.C. Grant is prepared to look into the second century for the origin of the "Byzantine" text-type.[192] Jacob Geerlings, who has done extensive work on certain branches of the "Byzantine" text-type, affirms concerning it: "Its origins as well as those of other so-called text-types probably go back to the autographs."[193]

In an effort to save Hort's conclusions, seemingly, Kenyon sought to attribute the "Byzantine" text to a "tendency."

It seems probable, therefore, that the Syrian revision was rather the result of a tendency spread over a considerable period of time than of a definite and authoritative revision or revisions, such as produced our English Authorised and Revised Versions. We have only to suppose the principle to be established in Christian circles in and about Antioch that in the case of divergent readings being found in the texts copied, it was better to combine both than to omit either, and that obscurities and roughnesses of diction should be smoothed away as much as possible.[194]​

But what if we choose not "to suppose" anything, but rather to insist upon evidence? We have already seen from Hutton's Atlas that for every instance that the "Syrian" text possibly combines divergent readings there are a hundred where it does not. What sort of a "tendency" is that? To insist that a variety of scribes separated by time and space and working independently, but all feeling a responsibility to apply their critical faculties to the text, should produce a uniformity of text such as is exhibited within the "Byzantine" text seems to be asking a bit much, both of them and of us. Hodges agrees.

It will be noted in this discussion that in place of the former idea of a specific revision as the source-point for the Majority text, some critics now wish to posit the idea of a "process" drawn out over a long period of time. It may be confidently predicted, however, that this explanation of the Majority text must likewise eventually collapse. The Majority text, it must be remembered, is relatively uniform in its general character with comparatively low amounts of variation between its major representatives. No one has yet explained how a long, slow process spread out over many centuries as well as over a wide geographical area, and involving a multitude of copyists, who often knew nothing of the state of the text outside of their own monasteries or scriptoria, could achieve this widespread uniformity out of the diversity presented by the earlier forms of text. Even an official edition of the New Testament—promoted with ecclesiastical sanction throughout the known world—would have had great difficulty achieving this result as the history of Jerome's Vulgate amply demonstrates. But an unguided process achieving relative stability and uniformity in the diversified textual, historical, and cultural circumstances in which the New Testament was copied, imposes impossible strains on our imagination.[195]​

An ordinary process of textual transmission results in divergence, not convergence. Uniformity of text is usually greatest near the source and diminishes in transmission.

The accumulating evidence seems not to bother Metzger. He still affirmed in 1968 that the "Byzantine" text is based on a recension prepared by Lucian.[196] There is an added problem with that view.

Lucian was an Arian, a vocal one. Does Metzger seriously invite us to believe that the victorious Athanasians embraced an Arian revision of the Greek New Testament?​

[Footnotes found at end of online chapter four: http://www.revisedstandard.net/text/WNP/id_4.html

To close this post, for those interested in learning of the Byzantine text, I introduce Maurice Robinson and Wm. Pierpont’s essay (that being their Introduction in THE NEW TESTAMENT IN THE ORIGINAL GREEK ACCORDING TO THE BYZANTINE / MAJORITY TEXTFORM), also available online: http://www.skypoint.com/~waltzmn/RobPier.html.

Robert, I hope this is sufficient to answer your questions, plus provide some research trails. In the next post I will give Burgon’s answer to Hort’s Lucianic fantasy.

Steve

 

[Jerusalem Blade]

In the work, The Revision Revised, by John William Burgon (London: 1881, reprinted by A.G. Hobbs Publications, TX: 1991), the author remarks on this Hortian hypothesis concerning Lucian and the alleged official recension. I quote this passage at length so the issue may be seen with the clarity of the learned text-critic Burgon:

But how does it happen—(let the question be asked without offence)—that a man of good abilities, bred in a university which is supposed to cultivate especially the Science of exact reasoning, should habitually allow himself in such slipshod writing as this? The very fact of a ‘Revision’ of the Syriac has all to be proved; and until it has been demonstrated, cannot of course be reasoned upon as a fact. Instead of demonstration, we find ourselves invited (1)—‘To suppose’ that such a revision took place: and (2)—‘To suppose’ that all our existing Manuscripts [comprising the TR] represent it. But (as we have said) not a shadow of reason is produced why we should be so complaisant as ‘to suppose’ either the one thing or the other.

Now, instead of insisting that this entire Theory is made up of a series of purely gratuitous assumptions,—destitute alike of attestation and of probability: and that, as a mere effort of the Imagination, it is entitled to no manner of consideration or respect at our hands:—instead of dealing thus with what precedes, we propose to be most kind and accommodating to Dr. Hort. We proceed to accept his Theory in its entirety. We will, with the Reader’s permission, assume that all he tells us is historically true: is an authentic narrative of what actually did take place. We shall in the end invite the same Reader to recognize the inevitable consequences of our admission: to which we shall inexorably pin the learned Editors—bind them hand and foot;—of course reserving for ourselves the right of disallowing for ourselves as much of the matter as we please.

Somewhere between A.D. 250 and 350 therefore,—(‘it is impossible to say with confidence’ [-Hort, Introduction-Appendix, p. 137] what was the actual date, but these Editors incline to the latter half of the 3rd century, i.e., circa A.D. 275);—we are to believe that the Ecclesiastical heads of the four great Patriarchates of Eastern Christendom,—Alexandria, Antioch, Jerusalem, Constantinople,—had become so troubled at witnessing the prevalence of depraved copies of Holy Scripture in their respective churches, that they resolved by common consent on achieving an authoritative Revision which should henceforth become the standard Text of all the Patriarchates of the East…

We venture to remark in passing that Textual matters must have everywhere reached a very alarming pass indeed as to render intelligible the resort to so extraordinary a step as a representative Conference of the ‘leading Personages or Sees’ [Hort, p. 134] of Eastern Christendom. The inference is at least inevitable, that men in high place at that time deemed themselves competent to grapple with the problem. Enough was known about the character and the sources of these corrupt Texts to make it certain that they would be recognizable when produced; and that, when condemned by authority, they would no longer be propagated, and in the end would cease to molest the Church. Thus much, at all events, is legitimately to be inferred from the hypothesis.

Behold then from every principal Diocese of ancient Christendom, and in the Church’s palmiest [most excellent, prosperous] days, the most famous of the ante-Nicene Fathers repair to Antioch. They go up by authority, and are attended by skilled Ecclesiastics of the highest theological attainment. Bearers are they perforce of a vast number of Copies of the Scriptures: and (by the hypothesis) the latest possible dates of any of these Copies must range between A.D. 250 and 350. But the delegates of so many ancient Sees will have been supremely careful, before starting on so important and solemn an errand, to make diligent search for the oldest Copies anywhere discoverable: and when they reach the scene of their deliberations, we may be certain that they are able to appeal to not a few codices written within a hundred years of the date of the inspired Autographs themselves. Copies of the Scriptures authenticated as having belonged to the most famous of their predecessors,—and held by them in high repute for the presumed purity of their Texts—will have been freely produced: while, in select receptacles, will have been stowed away—for purposes of comparison and avoidance—specimens of those dreaded Texts whose existence has been the sole cause why (by the hypothesis) this extraordinary concourse of learned Ecclesiastics has taken place.

After solemnly invoking the Divine blessing, these men address themselves assiduously to their task; and (by the hypothesis) they proceed to condemn every codex which exhibits a ‘strictly Western,’ or a ‘strictly Alexandrian,’ or a ‘strictly Neutral’ type. In plain English, if codices B, Aleph, and D had been before them, they would have unceremoniously rejected all three, but then, (by the hypothesis) neither of the two first-named had yet come into being: while 200 years at least must roll out before Cod. D would see the light. In the meantime, the immediate ancestors of B, Aleph and D will perforce have come under judicial Scrutiny; and, (by the hypothesis,) they will have been scornfully rejected by the general consent of the Judges. [Bold emphases added –SMR]

Pass an interval—(are we to suppose of fifty years?)—and the work referred to is ‘subjected to a second authoritative Revision.’ Again, therefore, behold the piety and learning of the four great Patriarchates of the East, formally represented at Antioch! The Church is now in her palmiest days. Some of the greatest men belong to the period of which we are now speaking. Eusebius (A.D. 308-340) is in his glory. One whole generation has come and gone since the last Textual Conference was held, at Antioch. Yet no inclination is manifested to reverse the decrees of the earlier Conference. This second Recension of the Text of Scripture does but ‘carry out more completely the purposes of the first;’ and ‘the final process was apparently completed by A.D. 350’ [Hort, p. 350].—So far the Cambridge Professor.

But one important fact implied by this august deliberation concerning the text of Scripture has been conveniently passed over by Dr. Hort in profound silence. We take leave to repair his omission by inviting the Reader’s particular attention to it.

We request him to note that, by the hypothesis, there will have been submitted to the scrutiny of these many ancient Ecclesiastics not a few codices of exactly the same type as codices B and a: especially as codex B. We are able even to specify with precision certain features which the codices in question will have all concurred in exhibiting. Thus,—

(1) From S. Mark’s Gospel, those depraved copies will have omitted THE LAST TWELVE VERSES (16:9-20).
(2) From S. Luke’s Gospel the same corrupt copies will have omitted our SAVIOR’S AGONY IN THE GARDEN (22:43, 44).
(3) HIS PRAYER ON BEHALF OF HIS MURDERERS (23:34), will have also been away.
(4) The INSCRIPTION ON THE CROSS, in GREEK, LATIN, AND HEBREW (23:38), will have been partly, misrepresented,—partly, away.
(5) And there will have been no account discoverable of S. Peter’S VISIT TO THE SEPULCHRE (24:12).
(6) Absent will have been also the record of our LORD’S ASCENTION INTO HEAVEN (ibid. 51).
(7) Also, from S. John’s Gospel, the codices in question will have omitted the incident of THE TROUBLING OF THE POOL AT BETHESDA (5:3, 4).​

Now, we request that it may be clearly noted that, according to Dr. Hort, against every copy of the Gospels so maimed and mutilated, (i.e. against every copy of the Gospels of the same type as codices B and a,)—the many illustrious Bishops who (still according to Dr. Hort,) assembled at Antioch, first in A.D. 250 and then in A.D. 350,—by common consent set a mark of condemnation. We are assured that these famous men,—those Fathers of the Church,—were emphatic in their sanction, instead, of codices of the type of Cod. A,—in which all these seven omitted passages (and many hundreds besides) are duly found in their proper places.

When, therefore, at the end of a thousand and half a thousand years, Dr. Hort (guided by his inner consciousness, and depending on an intellectual illumination of which he is able to give no intelligible account) proposes to reverse the deliberate sentence of Antiquity,—his position strikes us as bordering on the ludicrous. Considering the seven places above referred to, which the assembled Fathers pronounce to be genuine Scripture, and declare to be worthy of all acceptation,—Dr. Hort expresses himself in terms which—could they have been heard at Antioch—must, it is thought, have brought down upon his head tokens of displeasure which might have even proved inconvenient…

It is plain therefore that Dr. Hort is in direct antagonism with the collective mind of Patristic Antiquity. Why, when it suits him, he should appeal to the same Ancients for support,—we fail to understand. ‘If Baal be GOD, then follow him!’ Dr. Hort has his codex B and his codex a to guide him. He informs us [Hort, p. 276] that ‘the fullest consideration does but increase the conviction that the preeminent relative purity’ of those two codices ‘is approximately absolute,—a true approximate reproduction of the Text of the Autographs.’ On the other hand, he has discovered that the Received Text is virtually the production of the Fathers of the Nicene Age (A.D. 250—A.D. 350),—exhibits a Text fabricated throughout by the united efforts of those well-intentioned but thoroughly misguided men. What is it to him, henceforth, how Athanasius, or Didymus, or Cyril exhibits a place?

Yes, we repeat it,—Dr. Hort is in direct antagonism with the Fathers of the 3rd and the 4th Century. His own fantastic hypothesis of a ‘Syrian Text,’—the solemn expression of the collective wisdom and deliberate judgment of the Fathers of the Nicene Age (A.D. 250—A.D. 350),—is the best answer which can by possibility be invented to his own pages,—is, in our account, the one sufficient and conclusive refutation of his own Text. (pp. 276, 277, 278—282, 283, 284)​

In this above illustration of the saying, “Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own conceit” (Proverbs 26:5), Burgon, knowing what the reality would be if Hort’s hypothesis were actual fact, turns it against him:

For ourselves, having said so much on this subject, it is fair that we should add,—We devoutly wish that Dr. Hort’s hypothesis of an authoritative and deliberate Recension of the Text of the New Testament achieved at Antioch first, about A.D. 250, and next, about A.D. 350, were indeed an historical fact. We desire no firmer basis on which to rest our confidence in the Traditional Text than the deliberate verdict of Antiquity,—the ascertained sanction of the collective Church, in the Nicene Age. The Latin ‘Vulgate’ [A.D. 385] is the work of a single man—Jerome. The Syriac ‘Vulgate’ [A.D. 616] was also the work of a single man—Thomas of Harkel. But this Greek ‘Vulgate’ was (by the hypothesis) the product of the Church Catholic, [A.D. 250—A.D. 350,] in her corporate capacity. Not only should we hail such a monument of the collective piety and learning of the Church in her best days with unmingled reverence and joy, were it introduced to our notice; but we should insist that no important deviation from such a ‘Textus Receptus’ as that would deserve to be listened to. In other words, if Dr. Hort’s theory about the origin of the Textus Receptus have any foundation at all in fact, it is ‘all up’ with Dr. Hort. He is absolutely nowhere. He has most ingeniously placed himself on the horns of a fatal dilemma.

For,—(let it be carefully noted,)—the entire discussion becomes, in this way, brought (so to speak) within the compass of a nutshell. To state the case briefly,—We are invited to make our election between the Fathers of the Church, A.D. 250 and A.D. 350,—and Dr. Hort, A.D. 1881. The issue is really reduced to that. The general question of THE TEXT OF SCRIPTURE being the matter at stake; (not any particular passage, remember, but the Text of Scripture as a whole;)—and the conflicting parties being but two;—Which are we to believe? the consentient Voice of Antiquity,—or the solitary modern Professor? Shall we accept the august Testimony of the whole body of the Fathers? or shall we prefer to be guided by the self-evolved imaginations of one who confessedly has nothing to offer but conjecture? The question before us is reduced to that single issue. But in fact the alternative admits of being yet more concisely stated. We are invited to make our election between FACT and—FICTION…All this, of course, on the supposition that there is any truth at all in Dr. Hort’s ‘New Textual Theory.’

Apart however from the gross intrinsic improbability of the supposed Recension,—the utter absence of one particle of evidence, traditional or otherwise, that it ever did take place, must be held to be fatal to the hypothesis that it did. It is simply incredible that an incident of such magnitude and interest would leave no trace of itself in history. (pp. 292, 293)​

I trust the faithful (if a little weary) reader has understood Burgon’s strategy; he has allowed – for the sake of argument – Hort’s theory, and shown that if it were indeed true, it would be a wondrous thing, and a great boon, to have such a profoundly attested and authorized text; but it not being the case, it is nothing – but the dream of a man hostile to the Greek text of the AV. For the young Hort, near the beginning of his studies at Cambridge, said to a friend,

I had no idea till the last few weeks of the importance of texts, having read so little Greek Testament, and dragged on with the villainous Textus Receptus…Think of that vile Textus Receptus leaning entirely on late MSS.; it is a blessing there are such early ones… (Life and Letters of Fenton John Anthony Hort, by his son, Arthur Fenton Hort [Macmillan, London, 1896] Reprint by the Bible for Today. Volume I, p. 211)​

So much for impartial and careful scholarship!

Steve

 

[Jerusalem Blade]

Robert,

To answer your question about the genuineness of Acts 8:37, I shall begin with the remarks of J.A. Alexander in his, A Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles (Banner of Truth, 1991):

…it may be argued that the verse, though genuine, was afterwards omitted, as unfriendly to the practice of delaying baptism, which had become common, if not prevalent, before the end of the third century. It is moreover found in many manuscripts, including some of the most ancient, and is quoted as a part of this context, not only by Cyprian but by Irenæus. It is therefore one of those cases, in which the external testimony may be looked upon as very nearly balanced, and in which it is the safest course to let the scale of the received text and traditional belief preponderate. (pp. 349, 350)​

But perhaps you will say that since 1857 when this was first published more manuscripts have come to light, and this changes the picture (even though it has not changed the picture).

F.H.A. Scrivener, in his A Plain Introduction To The Criticism Of The New Testament Vol. 2, discusses this verse at length. Although he is what may be termed a “majority text” advocate, he nonetheless pronounces against this verse, albeit in somewhat guarded language:

We cannot safely question the spuriousness of this verse, which all the critical editors condemn, and which seems to have been received from the margin…extracted from some Church Ordinal: yet this is just the portion cited by Irenaeus, both in Greek and Latin; so early had the words found a place in the sacred text….Bede, however, who used Cod. E, knew Latin copies in which the verse was wanting: yet it was known to Cyprian, Jerome, Augustine, Pacian, &c. among the Latins, to Œcumenius and Theophylact (twice quoted) among the Greeks. Erasmus seems to have inserted the verse by a comparison of the later hand of Cod. 4 with the Vulgate; it is not in the Complutensian edition. This passage affords us a curious instance of an addition well received in the Western Church from the second century downwards, and afterwards making some way among the later Greeks codices and writers. (pp. 369, 370)​

I have not listed the numerous MSS Scrivener noted that it was found in, as I will do so below. Even from his non-acceptance of it, one can see it is well-attested. I draw your attention to his use twice of the word “seems” – indicating that his view is conjecture.

Jack Moorman, in his, When the KJV Departs From the “Majority” Text (pp. 60, 61), notes that the AV reading is also found in:

[Bibles] Tyndale Great Geneva Bishops / [Text editions] Steph. Beza Elz.
[MSS] E 4 36 88 97 103 104 242 257 307 322 323 385 429 453 464 467 629 630 913 945 1522 1739 1765 1877 1891 & others. Note: the above and following witnesses include those with minor variation.
Von Soden indicates: I b1 (522 1758), I b2 (2298).
Lectionary 59.
Old Latin: ar c? e gig h l m ph r; Vulgate: Clementine am-2 tol demid; Syriac: Harclean-with asterisk; Coptic Middle Egyptian; Armenian Georgian.
[Fathers] Irenaeus, Lyons, Latin, 178; Tertullian, N. Africa, Latin 220; Cyprian, Carthage, Latin, 258; Ambrosiaster, Latin, 384; Pacianus, Barcelona, Latin, 392; Ambrose, Milan, Latin, 397; Augustine, Hippo. Latin, 430; “Praedestinatus”, Latin, 434; Bede, England, Latin, also cites Greek mss., 735; Theophylact, (cor.) Bulgaria, 1077.​

The point of citing these many places where our excised verse is present is to “flesh out” J.A. Alexander’s statement that “the external testimony may be looked upon as very nearly balanced”.

I will finish this post with a testimony from Dr. Thomas Holland:

http://members.aol.com/DrTHolland/Chapter8.html

Acts 8:37

Here the testimony of this faithful and beloved African, the Ethiopian eunuch, does not appear in the Critical Text. Some have argued that the verse is not genuine because it is found in only a few late manuscripts and was inserted into the Greek text by Erasmus from the Latin Vulgate. It is true that the passage appears in the Latin Vulgate of Jerome. However, the passage also appears in a vast number of other Old Latin manuscripts (such as l, m, e, r, ar, ph, and gig). It also is found in the Greek Codex E (eighth century) and several Greek manuscripts (36, 88, 97, 103, 104, 242, 257, 307, 322, 323, 385, 429, 453, 464, 467, 610, 629, 630, 913, 945, 1522, 1678, 1739, 1765, 1877, 1891, and others). While there are differences even among these texts as to precise wording, the essence of the testimony still remains where it has been removed from other manuscripts. Additionally, Irenaeus (202 AD), Cyprian (258 AD), Ambrosiaster (fourth century), Pacian (392 AD), Ambrose (397 AD), Augustine (430 AD), and Theophylact (1077 AD) all cite Acts 8:37.

The natural question posed by textual scholars is this: if the text were genuine, why would any scribe wish to delete it? [Metzger, A Textual Commentary On The Greek New Testament, 315-316.] In his commentary on the book of Acts, Dr. J. A. Alexander provides a possible answer. By the end of the third century it had become common practice to delay the baptism of Christian converts to assure that they had truly understood their commitment to Christ and were not holding to one of the various heretical beliefs prevalent at that time. [ J. A. Alexander, The Acts Of The Apostles (New York: Scribner, 1967), vol. 1, 349-350.] It is possible that a scribe, believing that baptism should not immediately follow conversion, omitted this passage from the text, which would explain its absence in many of the Greek manuscripts that followed. Certainly this conjecture is as possible as the various explanations offered by those who reject the reading.

Nevertheless, because of biblical preservation, the reading remains in some Greek manuscripts as well as in the Old Latin manuscripts. Clearly the reading is far more ancient than the sixth century, as some scholars have suggested. Irenaeus noted that "the believing eunuch himself: . . . immediately requesting to be baptized, he said, ‘I believe Jesus Christ to be the Son of God’." [Against Heresies: I 1:433.] Likewise, Cyprian quotes the first half of the verse in writing, "In the Acts of the Apostles: ‘Lo, here is water; what is there which hinders me from being baptized? Then said Philip, If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest’." [Treatise 12:3:43.] These statements, clearly quotations of Acts 8:37, appear by the end of the second century and at the first half of the third. We see that the passage was in common use long before the existing Greek manuscripts were ever copied. This in itself testifies to its authenticity and to the assurance of biblical preservation.​

The weight that tips the balance decisively in favor of the genuineness of the reading is the conviction that God providentially brought the manuscripts which contained it into the awareness and judgment of the editors and translators who used the manuscripts and versions that were the bases of the Authorized Version, thus fulfilling His promise to preserve His word, even in the minutiae, in this the final stage of its preservation.

Heaven and earth shall pass away, but My words shall not pass away. —the Lord Jesus

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I will get back to you, Robert, on your post #30 shortly.

Steve

 

[Robert Truelove]

You have an 'a priori' logic that receives all of the readings of the KJV (TR) and then picks the best arguments to defend them; even in cases where the arguement for one reading is grossly inconsistent with an arguement for another reading.

Can you cite a single reading from the King James Version that you think is there in error due to the underlying Greek text?

Robert,

The weight that tips the balance decisively in favor of the genuineness of the reading is the conviction that God providentially brought the manuscripts which contained it into the awareness and judgment of the editors and translators who used the manuscripts and versions that were the bases of the Authorized Version, thus fulfilling His promise to preserve His word, even in the minutiae, in this the final stage of its preservation.

Heaven and earth shall pass away, but My words shall not pass away. —the Lord Jesus

 

[Jerusalem Blade]

Hello Robert,

You say,

You have an 'a priori' logic that receives all of the readings of the KJV (TR) and then picks the best arguments to defend them; even in cases where the arguement for one reading is grossly inconsistent with an arguement for another reading.​

I think you are essentially correct, although I would call “an ‘a priori’ logic” the logic of faith (to use Dr. E.F. Hills’ phrase). It amounts to this: In numerous places God promised to preserve His inspired word – given through prophets, His Son, and His Son’s apostles – until the end of the world, and into eternity. We discern that He has done this through the process resulting in the manuscripts, both Hebrew and Greek, from which the King James Bible was translated. There are some threads which have followed – and defended – this process in its particulars (“Why do KJ Only types believe the Westcott and Hort manuscripts are bad?” and “What is the authentic New Testament text?”).

Based upon God’s promises we take our stand. We believe our view is far more cogent as far as proposing a history of the textual transmission, and the result of it – fairly examined – than the CT or MT views, although we hold with the MT view up to a certain point.

Let me give you an illustration from another area. Assuming you hold to the historicity of the Book of Genesis – a few years ago a book came out, The Bible Unearthed, which purported to debunk the historicity of patriarchal accounts, the exodus of Israel from Egypt, the conquest of Canaan, etc. And over a century ago Darwin’s Origin of Species shook the Christian world, and the intellectual children and grandchildren of Darwin continue to shake it, or mightily try. Now we do not have scientific proof of the Genesis account of creation, nor of the historicity of the patriarchs, as we were not there to observe these things, which science requires. Yet we believe them despite many supposedly sound “proofs” given against our view. Apart from preponderance of evidences in favor of the various Biblical accounts, we believe, and that solely because we believe in our God’s word.

You might say we “have an 'a priori' logic that receives all of the readings” of the Bible, and then we pick the best evidences we can gather to support our “logic of faith.” What it comes down to is that we believe our God’s word against all appearances and supposed evidences to the contrary. We take this stand on the Scriptures in this light.

As far as those “cases where the arguement for one reading is grossly inconsistent with an arguement for another reading,” it is simply a matter of different situations textually. We defend the texts on a case-by-case basis, and not all are the same, for instance, Mark 16:9-20, John 7:53-8:11, and 1 John 5:7. The defense of each must needs be different, as the circumstances require.

The CT does not have a settled text – it keeps changing, as does the MT – which its adherents admit is but “provisional.” We do have a settled text – since the Reformation, when the process of preservation was completed.

As regards “an error in the underlying Greek text,” Hills said that Romans 7:6 had a letter in it that was erroneous in the TR (see the “A Short Analysis of Romans 8:28(a)” thread, post #2), and I am currently researching that. Being in a country where the Byzantine text is native, I have some leads. The 1904 Byzantine text by Antoniades does not have the TR reading, but the Bambas edition from the 1800s does, as does the 1638 edition of Maximos, and a parallel column in that edition done in 1819 does also, but I cannot yet identify what that text is.

Steve

 

[larryjf]

Steve,

It amounts to this: In numerous places God promised to preserve His inspired word – given through prophets, His Son, and His Son’s apostles – until the end of the world, and into eternity. We discern that He has done this through the process resulting in the manuscripts, both Hebrew and Greek, from which the King James Bible was translated.

The CT does not have a settled text – it keeps changing, as does the MT – which its adherents admit is but “provisional.” We do have a settled text – since the Reformation, when the process of preservation was completed.

Does this mean that you don't believe it is perfectly preserved in every generation, but was a progressive preservation that ended up in a preserved text - the TR?
Because clearly there is no text exactly like the TR before it.

Was a text just like the TR in existence as the original autographs, then lost only to go through a process to recover the preserved word of God resulting in the TR?

It seems that CT supporters also argue for a restoration of God's preserved word. You think it was accomplished a few hundred years ago, and they are still working on it. But neither of you think that it has been purely preserved in every age?

 

[Jerusalem Blade]

Larry,

These are your questions:

Does this mean that you don't believe it is perfectly preserved in every generation, but was a progressive preservation that ended up in a preserved text - the TR?
Because clearly there is no text exactly like the TR before it.

Was a text just like the TR in existence as the original autographs, then lost only to go through a process to recover the preserved word of God resulting in the TR?

It seems that CT supporters also argue for a restoration of God's preserved word. You think it was accomplished a few hundred years ago, and they are still working on it. But neither of you think that it has been purely preserved in every age?​

Well, if I asserted that it was “perfectly preserved in every generation” I would have no text to demonstrate this before 1611. And then the TR 1894 (the text Scrivener compiled to give the Greek exactly underlying the A.V.) only exists because it was put together to show the Greek readings – taken from the MSS the 1611 translators used.

I quote a line from the “The merits of the A.V.” thread, post #43, “There was a process over time during which God guided ‘all things together for good’ to bring the true readings of Scripture — which He had kept in their purity — together into one definitive text.”

Most defenders of the AV do say that the AV / TR 1894 is a trustworthy reproduction of the original autographs; some say it is exactly that, while others say it is virtually that, given some minor, almost negligible scribal errors.

The CT supporters, following B.B. Warfield’s view (after W&H), was that the Alexandrian texttype would allow us to scientifically recover the original readings of the NT. In another thread I wrote this:

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Folks, I really don’t mean to offend anyone, but this is a truth-claim issue, and I’m taking a stand. Perhaps you will appreciate that I did not draw “first blood,” in this conflict (as Rambo was wont to say), Benjamin Breckinridge Warfield did when he wrote to the general Christian public in Sunday School Times 24 in 1882, that Mark’s long ending was “no part of God’s word,” and therefore “we are not to ascribe to the verses the authority due to God’s Word.” [Cited from Theodore P. Letis’ The Ecclesiastical Text: Text Criticism, Biblical Authority and the Popular Mind, p. 53]. In naming him thus be it understood I mean not at all to demean “the mighty Warfield,” as other than in the area of text criticism I honor and love him. But when a man is wrong we sin if we do not decry that error which causes harm to the flock of God.

To his credit, Warfield’s intentions were good; he hoped to disarm the threat posed by text criticism in the hands of liberal and unbelieving scholars by redefining the Westminster Confession’s statement on Scripture to refer to the inerrant autographs (anciently lost and beyond reach) instead of the apographs (the copies; texts in the hands of the Westminster divines). I quote from Letis’ essay “B. B. Warfield, Common-Sense Philosophy and Biblical Criticism” (in The Ecclesiastical Text”, pp. 26-27):

Only eight years after Warfield’s death [in Feb 1921], the higher criticism entered Princeton and the seminary was reorganized to accommodate this. The facile certainty that Westcott and Hort’s system seem to offer Warfield evaporated. Later text critics abandoned the hope of reconstructing a “neutral” text and today despair of ever discovering an urtext, the final resting ground of Warfield’s doctrine of inspiration and inerrancy. Warfield had given earnest expression to his hope that,

The autographic text of the New Testament is distinctly within the reach of criticism….we cannot despair of restoring to ourselves and the church of God, His book, word for word, as He gave it by inspiration to men. [“The Rights of Criticism and of the Church”, The Presbyterian (April 13, 1892):15]​

Fifty years later, the Harvard text critic, Kirsopp Lake, offered a more modest assessment:

In spite of the claims of Westcott and Hort….we do not know the original form of the Gospels, and it is quite likely that we never shall. [Family 13 (The Ferrar Group (Phila., The Univ. of Penn. Press, 1941), p. vii]​

Warfield’s Common Sense adoption of German methods would be more fully developed by others at Princeton who would no longer find his appendage of the inerrant autographs theory either convincing, or any longer relevant for N.T. studies.​

Make no mistake about it, Warfield’s textual theories, taken in good faith from Westcott and Hort – which he was open to after his studies in German criticism at the University of Leipzig in 1876 – single-handedly turned the Reformed Communities from their former view of the WCF and its prizing the texts-in-hand to the (what turned out to be) never-to-be-found-or-restored autographic texts. This was the watershed. And today men of good intentions seek to make the best of it, developing theories and stances so as to defend what they say is a trustworthy Bible.


[End of quote from thread]
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Larry, that dream of Warfield has evaporated, and the textual situation as far as the CT text revealing the autographs is bleak, although many are not aware of how desperate the situation is. I don’t know what CT adherents still believe the originals can be restored. Letis talks about this in his essay on Warfield in The Ecclesiastical Text.

About the originals being “purely preserved in every age,” no; I – and no one – thinks this of the originals, although below (in another excerpt – again from “The merits of the A.V.” thread, post #43, in turn quoting from the “Authentic” thread) I distinguish between “adequate preservation” and preservation “in the minutiae”. Dr. Price had brought up the issue of the Latin Vulgate and its long usage in the Roman “Church” and how that E.F. Hills’ view was negated by this. So I quoted Hills to show this was not the case, and added some other comments after Hills.

Edward F. Hills:

Do we believing Bible Students "worship" the King James Version? Do we regard it as inspired, just as the ancient Jewish philosopher Philo (d. 42 A.D.) and many early Christians regarded the Septuagint as inspired? Or do we claim the same supremacy for the King James Version that Roman Catholics claim for the Latin Vulgate? Do we magnify its authority above that of the Hebrew and Greek Old and New Testament Scriptures? We have often been accused of such excessive veneration for the King James Version, but these accusations are false. In regard to Bible versions we follow the example of Christ's Apostles. We adopt the same attitude toward the King James Version that they maintained toward the Septuagint.

In their Old Testament quotations the Apostles never made any distinction between the Septuagint and the Hebrew Scriptures. They never said, "The Septuagint translates this verse thus and so, but in the original Hebrew it is this way." Why not? Why did they pass up all these opportunities to display their learning? Evidently because of their great respect for the Septuagint and the position which it occupied in the providence of God. In other words, the Apostles recognized the Septuagint as the providentially approved translation of the Old Testament into Greek. They understood that this was the version that God desired the gentile Church of their day to use as its Old Testament Scripture.

During the 4th century the Roman Empire was divided into two parts, a Greek-speaking Eastern half and a Latin-speaking Western half. In the West the knowledge of Greek died out, and only the Latin language remained. Hence for the Western Christians the Greek Bible became useless. For more than 1,000 years the Latin Vulgate was their only Bible. It was the Latin Vulgate that John Wyclif translated into English, and it was through the study of the Vulgate also that Martin Luther gained his knowledge of those Gospel truths by which he ushered in the Protestant Reformation. Hence, in spite of its errors, it is not too much to say that the Latin Vulgate was the providentially appointed Bible version for Christians of Western Europe during the medieval period.

But if the Septuagint was the providentially appointed Old Testament version during the days of the early Church and if the Latin Vulgate was the providentially appointed Bible version for Christians of medieval Europe, much more is the King James Version the providentially appointed Bible for English-speaking Christians today. In it the true text of the Hebrew Old Testament and the Greek New Testament has been restored, and the errors of the Septuagint and of the Latin vulgate have been corrected. (Believing Bible Study, pp. 81, 82)​

I think this gives us a different picture of what Dr. Hills understood to be the truth. The superiority of the providentially appointed English Bible arrived when the English language was at its height, when the translators were the best and most learned, and in time for the greatest missionary outreaches — using the best Hebrew and Greek texts — to translate the Bible into the various languages of the nations. There was a process over time during which God guided “all things together for good” to bring the true readings of Scripture — which He had kept in their purity — together into one definitive text. Hills put it this way,

The Traditional Text, found in the vast majority of the Greek New Testament manuscripts, is the True Text because it represents the God-guided usage of [the] universal priesthood of believers.

…The first printed text of the Greek New Testament represents a forward step in the providential preservation of the New Testament. In it the few errors of any consequence occurring in the Traditional Greek Text were corrected by the providence of God operating through the usage of the Latin-speaking Church of Western Europe. In other words, the editors and printers who produced this first printed Greek New Testament text were providentially guided by the usage of the Latin-speaking Church to follow the Latin Vulgate in those few places in which the Latin Church usage rather than the Greek Church usage had preserved the genuine reading. [Emphasis mine –SMR]

…Through the usage of Bible-believing Protestants God placed the stamp of His approval on this first printed text, and it became the Textus Receptus (Received Text). It is the printed form of the Traditional Text found in the vast majority of the Greek New Testament manuscripts. (The King James Version Defended, pp. 111, 112)​

It seems that if one is looking to find fault, find it they will, even if it means missing the thread of cohesion that holds their opponent’s arguments together. Sin has affected our ability to reason and perceive. No doubt I suffer from this also. Please, Lord, preserve me from that here!

So the phrase, “the text current among believers”, is not to be taken as an absolute, valid everywhere and for all time, but in the context of the historical steps of preservation, as Hills meant it to be taken. The crown of this process, being in English (for I have seen excellent translations from the TR in Arabic and in Dinka Padang New Testaments) the King James Bible, cannot be supplanted by inferior translations based upon inferior Greek texts, however widely used among believers, as is the case today.

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Another excerpt from the same thread:

To demonstrate briefly how Hills’ thought coheres, and how he does not contradict himself as regards his principles involved in preservation. He does not say that God’s providential preservation of the New Testament operated in the area of the Greek text exclusively, neither does he say that this “providential preservation operated within the sphere of the Greek Church” exclusively. One might try to paint Hills in a corner this way, but it is invalid to lay these thoughts at his doorstep. Please note this: Hills’ presupposition that God would successfully preserve His word down through the ages was the lens through which Hills discerned in the factual history of the New Testament text God’s hand upon it.

And consider this: the edition of the Majority Text / Textus Receptus in the English language given the world is the King James Bible; its underlying Greek text is the one God sovereignly chose to have used.

It exists, a fait accompli!

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As regards the issue of "If only the Greek Byzantine was the providentially preserved text, what about the other locations in the world that had a different texttype -- did they not have an adequate Bible?" I aver (again excerpting from an interaction with the writings of a text critic):

There is a preserving of the text, and then there is a preserving of the text—where its integrity is held even to minute readings not granted the former. That the former was nonetheless efficacious is analogous to the Bibles based upon the CT being efficacious to save and edify God’s people today, as witnessed by the multitudes regenerated through those who use the NIV and NASB. The minute preservation occurred in the primary edition (KJV/TR) which was to serve the English-speaking people and the translations created for the vast missionary work they undertook, which impacted the entire world. (It is accepted by many today that the English language is now the universal language—the second language of most other nations.) There was a progression in the purifying of the text, so as to almost (some would say completely) perfectly reconstitute the original manuscripts of the apostles, even as there has been, in the area of theology, a restoration of apostolic doctrine, which also went through phases of deterioration and eventual renewal.

Thus, even those areas of the church which were non-Greek-speaking also had a “preserved text”—as do multitudes in this present day—though their texts were not “minutely preserved.” The texts they had were efficacious unto the salvation of souls and the sustaining of the churches.

As regards the “minutely preserved” text, I observe the fait accompli of His work – Him who said, “I am God, and there is none like me, Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all My pleasure” (Isaiah 46:9, 10) – I observe this Book produced in 1611, and I seek to understand in retrospect what He did and how He did it. I am aware you may scoff at what you may term my “unscientific and ignorant” approach, but what is that to me? I do not have faith in your “science” or in your “learning,” so your judgment of my approach is not relevant to me. You may term this (as I have heard it said) “invincible ignorance,” but if my approach to knowledge is approved by my Lord, I care not for your disapproval.

Many times the people of God have not understood how a prophecy was to be fulfilled until it was a done thing, and then they looked backward to see how He had worked. It is thus in observing how He fulfilled His promise to preserve His word.

I look at the completed act of His providential preservation, the manuscripts He brought into the possession of (despised-by-many) Erasmus, and those editors who came after him; I follow the transmission backwards, the nature of those texts – behold, in the main they are those of the Byzantine text-type, with some few readings from the Latin Vulgate – and I seek to discern and construct what Maurice Robinson and Wm. Pierpont posited in their Introduction to The New Testament in the Original Greek According to the Byzantine / Majority Textform,

A sound rational approach which accounts for all the phenomena and offers a reconstruction of the history of textual transmission is all that is demanded for any text-critical hypothesis. (p. xxxii)​

I am likewise aware that Messrs. Robinson and Pierpont will disown me as one of their illegitimate progeny, as they make clear on their page xli, but I want to make clear I refuse to be under bondage to “the tyranny of experts,” to use Machen’s memorable phrase. I do not need the knowledge of “experts” who proceed according to methodologies I do not subscribe to. I will consider their work (as much as I am able) and use it if I please.

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I bring these things up to indicate there is an adequate preservation as distinguished from preservation in the minutiae, and this will cast some light on the status of the Latin Vulgate, the Alexandrian texttype, etc.

[End of excerpts]
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Larry, I hope I have not tired you with all this (nor been redundant if you remember these discussions from the earlier threads), and I hope I have answered your important questions.

Steve

 

[larryjf]

Larry, I hope I have not tired you with all this (nor been redundant if you remember these discussions from the earlier threads), and I hope I have answered your important questions.

You haven't tired me at all. I love reading your posts. You have definitely answered my questions.

This is an area that is very important to me, and i love reading your ideas on it. They are most illuminating for me.

Thank you.

 

[Jerusalem Blade]

Robert,

At the end of post #29 you said,

Here you make a clarification about 'readings' versus 'text type' but yet you continue to treat them as virtually the same thing in your logic.​

Well, you can’t deny they are a text type. They exist. They comprise the vast majority of extant manuscripts. What else would you call the thousands of MSS which read virtually (not exactly) the same, within 2%? It is a type of text.

The truth of the matter is that since the objective data...the actual extant manuscripts we have, reveal the Alexandrian Text Type (as a Text Type, not only readings) in the oldest manuscripts, it is up to those who hold to the Byzantine Text Type to prove their position.​

I cannot argue against the truth of this. The MSS, particularly Aleph and B, are Alexandrian in origin, and they are the oldest complete MSS we have, and they do exhibit a type of text – the Alexandrian. But they are no more a type of text than the Byzantine, although the MSS of the Byz are later than the Alex. This, however, does not mean that the text-type of the Alexandrian is more ancient than the Byzantine. We assert that the Byzantine text-type – not the manuscripts – are more ancient than the Alex. The individual readings of distinctively Byzantine type found in the papyri prove that there were Byz readings even before the Alex. exemplars. As for the Byz. text-type, where do you suppose it came from? How did it come to have such extreme numerical superiority over the Alexandrian? Can you account for it?

As for me, I can point out that 1. the manuscripts I view to generally have the most weight are the old ones (because they are old) and 2. The characteristics of the text in the oldest manuscripts best explain the readings found in the later manuscripts. Flip that around and it is inexplicable how many of the Alexandrian readings could have been derived from the Byzantine unless they were the result of heretics deliberately tampering with the text (a point often made by Traditional Text defenders). As I said before, if the Alexandrian Text-Type is the result of heretics, they were the most inept, least consistent heretics who ever tampered with the scriptures. Casting off arguements that these Papryi were the works of heretics, the arguement from their age also bears much weight.​

We are to respect our elders, so the Scripture teaches. But do you know the saying, “There’s no fool like an old fool”? Not all that has age is per se excellent in character, whether men or manuscripts.

When you say, “The characteristics of the text in the oldest manuscripts best explain the readings found in the later manuscripts,” would you please clarify that for me?

I think you way overstate the case when you keep saying that some allege the Alex. and the papyri “were the works of heretics” and “the result of heretics.” Of course they were the products of sincere believers. (Have you been listening to the KJV extremists and so think this is the norm for TT defenders?) A few factors: none of the NT manuscripts – the apostolic originals – were sent to anywhere in Egypt; rather, most were went to Asia Minor. Hence, the MSS they received were copies, and they did not have the autographs to compare copies to. In Alexandria, the theological school had certain traits both theologically and as regards the manuscripts (i.e., they were not so averse to making “corrections” in the texts they received if they thought the reading was wrong – Origen is a prime example of this tendency). It is a different thing to say a bad reading crept into a text than to say “a heretic produced the MS.” Even in the Byzantine Church some bad readings crept in. In Marcion’s case one could say “a heretic produced the manscript”.

If the two main exemplars of the Alexandrian text-type – Aleph and B – show intense disagreement between themselves, each testifying against the other (over 3,000 times in the gospels alone), what do you make of that? If they show the hand of correctors revising the manuscripts again and again, what do you make of that? If they are shown not to exhibit a “neutral” (i.e., uncorrupted) text-type, as Hort alleged, by virtue of internal contradictions between the exemplars, does that still allow them to retain the weight of their age?

When you make a statement like, “Alexandrian readings could have been derived from the Byzantine [as] the result of heretics deliberately tampering with the text,” are you suggesting that those bad readings in the Alex. were there because heretics inserted Byz. readings into it? (I hope I have not misconstrued your meaning here.)

To turn to the three passages you remarked on in post #30.

You say (and I thank you for responding),

Matthew 1:7

Asaph is an alternate spelling for Asa. Alternate spellings for names was not uncommon as there were no standard spellings guidelines back then (as we have today). The same holds true in verse 10.

If 'Asaph' is a corruption here, what was the heretic trying to accomplish that introduced it?

If 'Asa' is the corruption, it makes sense that a scribe made what he thought was a correction to an error in the manuscript he was copying.​

Your argument (please note that I think this is the preferred spelling of “argument”) assumes a primitive literary consciousness among the Jews around Christ’s time, which is most unwarranted. As regards spelling, what holds true for early English does not hold true for ancient Hebrew. Their linguistic skills were quite finely honed, and their spelling standardized.

It is as though you were saying that a skilled writer in our day would say agent is an alternative spelling for age, and Jewel is an alternative rendering for Jew, both of which are obviously untenable. Neither was Matthew such a dummy as to make such an error, especially as he was moved by the Holy Spirit to write his gospel. “Alternative spelling” is so far-fetched as to not even be an option. Asaph was not introduced by “a heretic,” but is simply a scribal blunder reproduced in fortunately very few MSS. Asaph is neither the original reading (the Holy Spirit does not make such mistakes), nor an alternative spelling.

1 Tim 3:16

If the passages like 1 Tim 3:16 are the result of deliberate corruption by heretics, then why were they so inconsistent? Why did they leave numerous passages that clearly contain the diety of Christ?​

Are you saying that this deletion of the deity of Christ cannot be a deliberate act of a heretic because he (or they) did not delete all references to His deity? What kind of logic is that? Because some references to His deity remain proves that this passage could not have been deliberate, seeing as this would make the perpetrator inconsistent? Remind me not to write a reference for you to get a job as detective in a Homicide or Grand Larceny unit! One mutilation of the Sacred Text – especially such a key one – would be a great score for the demon prince; and this one would be quite enough to do tremendous damage, had it not been so fiercely contested, and the stolen word restored!

A competent heretic-mutilator would be careful not to make his activities obvious, just as a thief stealing but one precious jewel from a room of treasure would be more successful than a thief carting off a wheelbarrow full. It would be a most inefficient and thoughtless heretic-mutilator of Scripture to make his activities so easily noticeable. Not all who take a scissors to the Bible are as unsubtle as a Marcion.

Listen to three defenders of this verse; This is Wilbur Pickering:

(I will of course be reminded that witnesses are to be weighed, not counted; I will come to that presently, so please bear with me.) Still, with the above reservation, one may reasonably speak of up to 95% of the extant MSS belonging to the Majority text-type.

I see no way of accounting for a 95% (or 90%) domination unless that text goes back to the Autographs. Hort saw the problem and invented a revision. Sturz seems not to have seen the problem. He demonstrates that the "Byzantine text-type" is early and independent of the "Western" and "Alexandrian text-types," and like von Soden, wishes to treat them as three equal witnesses.[42] But if the three "text-types" were equal, how ever could the so-called "Byzantine" gain a 90-95% preponderance?

The argument from statistical probability enters here with a vengeance. Not only do the extant MSS present us with one text form enjoying a 95% majority, but the remaining 5% do not represent a single competing text form. The minority MSS disagree as much (or more) among themselves as they do with the majority. For any two of them to agree so closely as do P75 and B is an oddity. We are not judging, therefore, between two text forms, one representing 95% of the MSS and the other 5%. Rather, we have to judge between 95% and a fraction of 1% (comparing the Majority Text with the P75, B text form for example). Or to take a specific case, in 1 Tim. 3:16 some 600 Greek MSS (besides the Lectionaries) read "God" while only seven read something else. Of those seven, three have private readings and four agree in reading "who."[43] So we have to judge between 99% and 0.6%, "God" versus "who." It is hard to imagine any possible set of circumstances in the transmissional history sufficient to produce the cataclysmic overthrow in statistical probability required by the claim that "who" is the original reading.

It really does seem that those scholars who reject the Majority Text are faced with a serious problem. How is it to be explained if it does not reflect the Original? Hort's notion of a Lucianic revision has been abandoned by most scholars because of the total lack of historical evidence. The eclecticists are not even trying.​

This was from Pickering’s The Identity of the New Testament Text, as copied in another thread: http://www.puritanboard.com/showpost.php?p=194935&postcount=4

John William Burgon, responding to the margin note in the 1881 Revision which says “The word God, in place of He who, rests on no sufficient ancient evidence”, replies (quoting from the summation of his 76-page dissertation of proofs to the contrary):

Behold then the provision which THE AUTHOR of Scripture has made for the effectual conservation in its integrity of this portion of His written Word! Upwards of eighteen hundred years have run their course since the HOLY GHOST by His servant, Paul, rehearsed the ‘mystery of Godliness;’ declaring this to be the great foundation-fact,—namely, that ‘GOD WAS MANIFESTED IN THE FLESH.’ And lo, out of two hundred and fifty-four [cursive] copies of S. Paul’s Epistles no less than two hundred and fifty-two are discovered to have preserved that expression. Such ‘Consent’ amounts to Unanimity; and, (as I explained at pp. 454-5,) unanimity in this subject matter, is conclusive.

The copies of which we speak, (you are requested to observe,) were produced in every part of ancient Christendom,—being derived in every instance from copies older than themselves; which again were transcripts of copies older still. They have since found their way, without design or contrivance, into the libraries of every country of Europe,—where, for hundreds of years they have been jealously guarded. And,— (I repeat the question already hazarded at pp. 445-6, and now respectfully propose it to you, my lord Bishop; requesting you at your convenience to favor me publicly with an answer,)—For what conceivable reason can this multitude of witnesses be supposed to have entered into a wicked conspiracy to deceive mankind?

True, that no miracle has guarded the sacred Text in this, or in any other place. On the other hand, for the last 150 years, Unbelief has been carping resolutely at this grand proclamation of the Divinity of Christ,—in order to prove that not this, but some other thing, it must have been, which the Apostle wrote. And yet (as I have fully shown) the result of all the evidence procurable is to establish that the Apostle must be held to have written no other thing but this…

The numerical result of our entire enquiry, proves therefore to be briefly this:

In 1 TIMOTHY 3:16 the reading [writing English for the Greek] God manifest in the flesh, is witnessed to by 289 manuscripts:—by 3 VERSIONS:—by upwards of 20 Greek FATHERS [all of which he has just listed in detail]…

The reading who (…in place of God) is countenanced by 6 MANUSCRIPTS in all (a , Paul 17, 73: Apost. 12, 85, 86):—by only one VERSION for certain (viz. the Gothic):—not for certain by a single Greek FATHER. (From Burgon’s, The Revision Revised, pages 494, 495, 496.)​

In short, the overwhelming testimony of Antiquity says that the Fathers, the Lectionaries, and the manuscripts were familiar with the very reading we ourselves have preserved in the Traditional Text. The fractional aberrant readings proceeding from their source in a’s Alexandria or Caesarea, where the Deity of Jesus Christ was denied, are virtually buried by the contradictory evidence of the true reading widely spread throughout the ancient Christian world.

---------

This is from Ted Letis’ The Majority Text, an essay of his in that book responding to Carson’s The King James Version Debate, dealing with “Thesis 9,” which states “The charge that the non-Byzantine text-types are theologically aberrant is fallacious.” (p. 62) (This is the only one of Carson’s theses he responds to, as he has a purpose to achieve with it.) And then he picks the one verse which Carson does not use (in his chart by Victor Perry (p. 64)): 1 Timothy 3:16. Letis comments:

The one passage, however, which unambiguously states, in a dogmatic formula, that Jesus Christ was in every sense of the word deity (and is therefore, the pivotal passage of sufficient clarity, by which the other ambiguous passages must be understood and without which, we have at best, ambiguity concerning this doctrinal issue) was not treated by Carson, namely, 1 Timothy 3:16.

I will not attempt to defend the majority text reading as this has been done admirably by Burgon.(37) the traditional reading is as follows:

and without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh…​

After showing how almost all the modern versions chose the significant variant that replaces “God” with “He” or “He who” (contrary also to proper Greek grammar), aligned with the Jehovah’s Witnesses’ New World Translation (seeing as the JWs use the actual Westcott-Hort Greek text), Letis remarks:

By recognizing the manuscript tradition that altered this confession of the apostolic church, the modern translations have endorsed a form of Christianity that was considered by Nicean/Chalcedonian Tradition to be outside the pale of the catholic Faith. Burgon recognized the reading supporting Arianism was adopted by the revisers of 1881, and he likened the change to a strong characterization penned by the Apostle Peter:

May we be permitted to say without offence that in our humble judgment, if the Church of England, at the revisers bidding, were to adopt this and thousands of other depravations of the sacred page—with which the church universal was once well acquainted, but which in her corporate character she has long since unconditionally condemned and abandoned—she would deserve to be pointed at with scorn by the rest of Christendom? Yes, and to have that openly said of her which S. Peter openly said of the false teachers of his day who fell back into the very errors which they had already abjured. The place will be found at II S. Peter ii:22.(38)​

Burgon had good reason to accuse the Church of England of taking up the ancient error of Arianism, unwittingly perhaps, because Eusebius gives clear testimony that is was heretics, subordinationists, who were altering the manuscripts in the pre-Nicean period to substantiate their position.(39)

So there is a clear line of demarcation, because of this passage alone, which puts the majority text/TR/KJV in the Nicean/Chalcedonian tradition whereas all modern translations from 1881 on, not founded on the majority text, are clearly aligned with the Arian reading. A telling demonstration of this is found in the fact that our modern-day Arians, the Jehovah’s Witnesses, in their Bible, guard their understanding of Christ’s “subordination” to the true God, at this passage; but queerly enough, all Bibles used by evangelicals, which are not the KJV, read like The New World Translation at this point. That the KJV offers the reading the Reformers recognized (and they did have the optional reading in Erasmus’ notes on this passage), as “received,” is clear from the following quotes from the historic editions of scripture used by Luther and the English, Protestant churches:

Luther’s (1552)…..Gott ist offenbaret im fleisch…
Tyndale’s (1525)…..God was shewed in the fleshe…
Coverdale’s (1535)…..God was shewed in the flesshe…
Matthew’s (1537)…..God was shewed in the flesshe…
The Great (1539)…..God was shewed in the flesshe…
Geneva (1560)…..God is manifested in the flesh…
Bishop’s (1568)…..God was shewed manifestly in the flesh…

Some will fault me for not answering every objection of Carson’s, but it was only our intention to raise the old issue of presuppositions and to underscore the fact that this debate is not one between experts with data and non-experts with dogma, but rather one between experts with the same data, but different dogma—the dogma of neutrality versus the dogma of providence…(pp. 201-204)​

----------
Footnotes:

(37) Burgon, The Revision Revised, pp. 424-501. Also, see Terence H. Brown’s God Was Manifest in the Flesh (London: The Trinitarian Bible Society, n.d.); Hill’s King James Version Defended, pp. 137-38; and Frederick H.A. Scrivener’s, A Plain Introduction to the Criticism of the New Testament, 4th ed., 2 vols. Revised by Miller (London: George Bell and Sons, 1894), Vol. 2, pp. 390-95, where he affirms, “I dare not pronounce qeovvV a corruption.”
(38) Burgon, The Revision Revised, pp. 105-06. The passage reads; “But it is happened unto them according to the true proverb, the dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire.”
(39) Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History (translated by Christian Frederick Cruse (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1974), 5:28, pp. 213-16).​

[End of Letis excerpt]

---------

I might disagree with Letis in that there are other “unambiguous” texts proving the deity of Christ, but he is right that they are not in a “dogmatic formula.”

Robert, for the last of your defenses, you say:

Mark 16:9-20

This is not an easy one. This is a disputed text from ancient days. In the Codex Vaticanus there is what appears to be space left on the page for the long ending (as if the scribe were not sure whether or not to add it). This passage was also disputed by some early writers of the church.

Some reject this passage based upon the internal evidence; that it contrasts sharply with the context (Mary Magdalene is introduced a second time though she had already been introduced at the beginning of the chapter) and Marks writing style.

For me, I believe that the internal evidence is fairly conclusive that it was not penned by Mark but by a separate author. This however does not mean that it is not inspired and to be received as the true ending of Mark. Deuteronomy 34 is a similar example. Moses clearly didn't write that last chapter (it has the account of his death) but it is still God's word (God used a second human agent to complete it).​

Mary Magdalene is mentioned at the beginning of chapter 16, along with Mary the mother of James, and Salome, when they had come early the first day morning to anoint the body of Jesus, but found the tomb empty. After they were spoken to by the angel, and they went and told the disciples, Mary came back (we are told in John 20), and after Peter and John left, she remained, weeping, and the Lord then appeared and spoke with her. It is perfectly appropriate for Mark to mention her again by name in 16:9 of his gospel, so as to identify her in this continuing drama. Otherwise we would not know her identity.

Mark’s alleged writing style in this passage being unlike his normal style is a fiction by those who wish to believe it. It is not so.

What makes the gospel of Mark (and the other gospels) authoritative is that they were written under the authority of the apostles (Mark, Luke, and Acts not by apostles directly).

It is especially important to note that the apostles esteemed their own commandments as of the same divine authority as the books of the Old Testament (2 Pet 3:2; 1 Thess 4:2; 2 Thess 2:15), and the teachings they held forth in the name of the Lord were to be obeyed in all the churches (2 Thess 3:14; 1 Cor 14:37). B.B. Warfield, in The Inspiration and Authority of the Bible, says, "In the apprehension...of the earliest churches, the 'Scriptures' were not a closed but an increasing canon." (p. 412) [All emphases here and immediately below are by Warfield.]

Warfield has an interesting take on this issue:

"...it was not exactly apostolic authority which in the estimation of the earliest churches, constituted a book a portion of the 'canon'....The principle of canonicity was not apostolic authorship, but imposition by the apostles as 'law'....And in imposing new books [on top of the 'old books' of the O.T.] on the same churches, by the same apostolical authority, they did not confine themselves to books of their own composition. It is the Gospel according to Luke, a man who was not an apostle, which Paul parallels in 1 Tim 5:18 with Deuteronomy as equally 'Scripture' with it, in the first extant quotation of a New Testament book as Scripture." (Ibid., pp 415,416)

We begin to get a glimpse of the forces at work in determining the N.T. canon, and that was, primarily, the authorization of the apostles themselves, as agents of the Spirit of God.”​

Now if the last 12 verses of Mark were not written by Mark they are not inspired, as it was Mark who (so the early church tells us) wrote under the authority and direction of Peter. We recognize no substitute for Mark as author in the acknowledging of his gospel as inspired Scripture. It is his or it is not by apostolic authority. There is no relation between this passage and Deuteronomy 34; this was acknowledged by the Jews without reservation as written by an inspired author. We probably cannot do any better than Calvin: “It is not certain who wrote this chapter; unless we admit the probable conjecture of the ancients, that Joshua was its author. But since Eleazar the priest might have performed this office, it will be better to leave a matter of no very great importance undecided.” (OT Commentaries, Vo. 3, Bingham/Baker Books edition, p. 404)

(Cont.)

 

[Jerusalem Blade]

We will now sample the view of two-fisted Fundamentalist Baptist, Dr. William Grady, in his study of textual history and criticism, Final Authority: A Christian’s Guide to the King James Bible, William Grady’s superb investigation into, and his defense of, the manuscripts and Bible preserved by God, and in particular – in this excerpt – the results of his examination of the evidences for and against those last twelve verses in Mark.

Remember, we are looking for understanding and for evidence concerning which is the best – the reliable – Bible.

In his book Dr. Grady uses the name “Nicolaitane,” taken from Revelation 2:6, and 15, to refer to those who proclaim themselves experts and whose expertise is used to destroy faith in the inspired and providentially preserved Scriptures God has given to His people. What follows is a brief paragraph on the significance of this name, summarizing Grady's view.

Nicolaitane: followers of Nicolas, a name from the Greek words nikos – to conquer – and laos – the people. The only solid information we have regarding this name is from the meaning of it; the historical data is nonexistent, and what there is is simply conjecture. Most commentators are agreed that whatever the actual “deeds” and “doctrines” of the Nicolaitanes were which the Lord hated (see the verses in Revelation) they pertained to the division of God’s people into so-called “lords” exercising authority over the “common” people and replacing the guidance of the Holy Spirit, then using this advantage to lead these people into error and sin. The people were thus divided into those with “higher knowledge” and those without it, which culminated in the wickedness of a New Testament priesthood exclusively ministering “grace” through an invented system of “sacraments” and rituals, as in the Roman Church, and the forbidding of the people to even read the Bible. Thus the “lords” in the “church” ruled over the people with an iron hand, often leading them into damnation. This “priesthood” of the “learned” over the common believers was not limited to Rome or Constantinople, for the Protestants had (and have) their own version: the highly educated, the textual scholars (often not even genuine believers), lording it over the people and trying to separate them from their trusted Bible by means of alleged superior “scholarly” knowledge, but in fact bringing them under the bondage of uncertainty and doubt in their God’s word. Dr. Grady does a service to the “common” people of God by putting his own godly scholarship to use in defense of the Scriptures. If he gets angry at the oppressors, if he hits hard, if the words out of his mouth seem a little rough, remember, this is no game, and the word of our God and King is at stake, or more accurately, our faith in it is. Grady plays for keeps, and well he should. What follows in this section is his, excerpted from the 5th chapter in his book, titled, “Mark 16:9-20”. Please note that all emphases are his.

From Dr. William Grady’s, Final Authority:

For a quarter of a century, the classic work in this field [of Biblical Introduction] has been A General Introduction to the Bible by Geisler and Nix (Moody Press, 1968). We will examine this evangelical standard-bearer’s particular treatment of Mark 16:9-20 against the established tenets of manuscript evidences….

That a cloud of suspicion has engulfed this passage is not to be denied. While most translation committees have expressed their disdain for these verses by confining them to reproachful brackets, the more audacious have dislodged them altogether. However, it is this author’s contention that the blame for such “perplexity” must be placed upon unreasonable Christian scholars for their refusal to acknowledge the truth.

Their opening dogmatic pronouncement illustrates their irrationality: “These verses are lacking in many of the oldest and best Greek manuscripts.”[1]

By technical definition the “oldest” Greek manuscripts would comprise the uncial (or majescule) style, characterized by inch-high, block capital letters running together without breaks between words.

For our first example of Nicolaitane indifference to reality (not to mention blatant dishonesty), we submit the following statistics. With uncials prevailing for about ten centuries, we learn that five of their number have obtained particular notoriety due to age. They are, in addition to [the fourth century’s] a and B; Codex Ephraemi (C), fourth century; Codex Alexandrinus (A), fifth century; and Codex Bezae (D), sixth-seventh century. As all five include the sixteenth chapter of Mark, we soon discover that when Geisler and Nix stated that the last twelve verses were lacking in “many” of the oldest Greek manuscripts, what they really meant was only 2 out of 5 – Sinaiticus and Vaticanus.

They are soon in trouble with another “scholarly” disclosure: “The familiar long ending (AV) of the Received Text is found in a vast number of uncial manuscripts (C, D, L, W, Q)….”[2]

Having subpoenaed the remaining uncial witnesses to Mark 16, we discover that the “vast number” of corroborating majescules is in reality 15 out of 15!

Our next example of intellectual dementia involves the choice of vocabulary words when describing the quality of the two uncials in question, Sinaiticus and Vaticanus. Apparently for Geisler and Nix the word best was the “best” they could do when portraying a pair of manuscripts which disagree with each other in over 3,000 places in the Gospels alone.[3] (See chapter 8.)

Moving right along, we discover another incredible statement: “The familiar long ending (AV) of the Received Text is found in…most miniscules.”[4] The uncials were gradually replaced by the cursive or minuscule style manuscript (introduced by the scribes of Charlemagne, approximately 800 A.D.), employing lower case letters in a running-hand style with the normal break occurring between words. When Geisler and Nix said “most” miniscules contained the familiar ending, what they really meant to say was 600 out of 600![5] (And these are the kind of people who would condemn the Jehovah’s Witnesses for wresting the Word of God?)

Dean Burgon epitomizes the ageless exasperation of God’s people when confronted by such an unscrupulous disregard of Holy Scripture:

With the exception of the two Uncial manuscripts which have just been named, there is not one codex in existence, uncial or cursive, (and we are acquainted with, at least, eighteen other uncials, and about six hundred cursive copies of this Gospel), which leaves out the last twelve verses of Mark.

The inference which an unscientific observer would draw from this fact is no doubt, in this instance, the correct one. He demands to be shown the Alexandrine (A), and the Parisian Codex (C), neither of them probably removed by much more than fifty years from the date of the Codex Sinaiticus, and both unquestionably derived from different originals; and he ascertains that no countenance is lent by either of those venerable monuments to the proposed omission of this part of the sacred text. He discovers that the Codex Bezae (D), the only remaining very ancient manuscript authority—notwithstanding that it is observed on most occasions to exhibit an extraordinary sympathy with the Vatican (B)—here sides with A and C against B and a. He inquires after all the other uncials and all the cursive manuscripts in existence, (some of them dating from the tenth century,) and requests to have it explained to him why it is to be supposed that all these many witnesses, belonging to so many different patriarchates, provinces, ages of the church, have entered into a grand conspiracy to bear false witness on a point of this magnitude and importance? But he obtains no intelligible answer to this question.[6]​

The credibility gap widens still further with their comments on ancient versions. When Geisler and Nix stated that the traditional ending is found in, “some Syriac manuscripts,”[7] what they really meant was all but one—the Sinaitic Syriac.[8] When they assured us that the disputed verses were in, “most old Latin manuscripts…”, we know that what they intended to say was all but one—the Codex Bobiensis (K).[9]

Finally, there is an unusual assertion given concerning the silence of the church fathers. “Many of the ancient Fathers show no knowledge of it (e.g., Clement, Origen, Eusebius, et al.).”[10] By now, the alert student can discern the Nicolaitanes’ frequent recourse to desperation when confronted by facts. Besides containing a glaring inaccuracy concerning Eusebius, this last remark smacks of futility in at least two other areas. Not only is their charge of patristic ignorance ridiculously false (as we shall presently demonstrate) but were this not the case, it would still represent a mere argument of silence. How weak can you get?

Although a number of the fathers labored under varying degrees of theological deficiency, the trio recommended by Geisler and Nix is almost as credible as their “many,” “best,” and “most” manuscripts. Clement (of Alexandria) believed that Plato’s writings were inspired because they contained the truth,[11] while his celebrated pupil, Origen denied both a physical resurrection and a literal Hell.[12] (Concerning Origen’s departures from orthodoxy, scholars are uncertain whether his mental faculties were affected by his self-mutilation in obedience to Matthew 19:12 or vice versa.[13]) His favorite student Eusebius prophesied that Constantine and Christ would reign together throughout eternity.[14]

As for Eusebius’ unfamiliarity with the so-called “long ending,” he not only knew of it, but expressed his willingness to accept either ending. Dean Burgon cites Eusebius’ epistle to a certain Marinus as follows:

But another…will say that here are two readings (as is so often the case elsewhere,) and both are to be received, – inasmuch as by the faithful and pious, this reading is not to be held to be genuine rather than that nor that than this.[15]​

Geisler and Nix then appeal to Jerome’s testimony that “almost all Greek copies do not have this concluding portion.”[16] Dr. Frederick H.A. Scrivener (leader of the conservative forces within the Revision committee of 1871-1881) counters with an accent on Jerome’s duplicity:

Jerome’s recklessness in statement has already been noticed (A Plain Introduction to the Criticism of the New Testament, Volume II, p. 269); besides that, he is a witness on the other side, both in his quotations of the passage and in the Vulgate, for how could he have inserted the verses there, if he had judged them to be spurious.[17]​

That Geisler and Nix are in desperate straits is apparent by their listing of the Latin Vulgate as one of the havens for our verses in question. In any case, these authors imply that the fathers’ primary input is negative. Nothing could be further from the truth! There was enough positive evidence in circulation over a century ago for Dean Burgon to publish a massive 350-page volume in defense of the disputed passage entitled The Last Twelve Verses of the Gospel According to St. Mark. In a stinging letter to Bishop Ellicot, chairman of the Revision Committee, Burgon summarized his research as follows:

Similarly, concerning THE LAST TWELVE VERSES OF S. MARK which you brand with suspicion and separate off from the rest of the Gospel, in token that, in your opinion, there is “a breach of continuity” (p.53), (whatever that may mean,) between verses 8 and 9. Your ground for thus disallowing the last 12 verses of the second Gospel, is, that B and a omit them: – that a few late MSS. exhibit a wretched alternative for them: – and that Eusebius says they were often away. Now, my method on the contrary is to refer all such questions to “the consentient testimony of the most ancient authorities.” And I invite you to note the result of such an appeal in the present instance. The verses in question I find are recognized,

In the 2nd century, – By the Old Latin, and – Syriac Verss. – by Papias; – Justin M.; – Irenaeus; – Tertullian.

In the 3rd century, – By the Coptic – and Sahidic versions: – by Hippolytus; – by Vincentius at the seventh Council of Carthage; – by the “Acta Pilati;” – and the “Apostolical Constitutions” in two places.

In the 4th century, – By Cureton’s Syr. and the Gothic Verss.: – besides the Syriac Table of Canons; – Eusebius; – Macarius Magnes; – Aphraates; – Didymus; – the Syriac “Acts of the Ap.;” – Epiphanius; – Leontius; – ps. – Ephraem; – Ambrose; – Chrysostom; – Jerome; – Augustine.

In the 5th century, Besides the Armenian Vers., – by codices A and C; – by Leo; – Nestorius; – Cyril of Alexandria; – Victor of Antioch; – Patricius; – Marius Mercator.

In the 6th and 7th centuries, – Besides cod. D, – Georgian and Ethiopic Verss.: – by Hesychius; – Gregentius; – Prosper; – John, abp of Thessalonica; – and Modestus, bishop of Jerusalem.[18]​

Obviously, the extant testimony of the church fathers is overwhelming. And for the reassuring benefit of a tangible illustration, note the presence of Mark 16:19 as found in its natural context within the second century work, Irenaeus Against Heresies (A.D. 177).

Plainly does the commencement of the Gospel quote the words of the holy prophets, and point Him out at once, whom they confessed as God and Lord; Him, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who had also made promise to Him that He would send His messenger before His face, who was John, crying in the wilderness, in “the spirit and power of Elias, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight paths before our God.” For the prophets did not announce one and another God, but one and the same; under various aspects, however, and many titles. For varied and rich in attribute is the Father, as I have already shown in the book preceding this; and I shall show [the same truth] from the prophets themselves in the further course of this work. Also, toward the conclusion of his Gospel, Mark says: “So then, after the Lord Jesus had spoken to them, He was received up into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of God;” confirming what had been spoken by the prophet: “The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, until I make thy foes thy footstool.” Thus God and the Father are truly one and the same; He who was announced by the prophets, and handed down by the true Gospel; whom we Christians worship and love with the whole heart, as the Maker of heaven and earth, and of all things therein.[19]​

Irenaeus is only one of approximately thirty patristic endorsements recorded by Burgon over a century ago. Why couldn’t Geisler and Nix find them? Or if they knew of their witness, why did they suppress this important evidence? But how could they be ignorant when they refer to Burgon’s work? The Authorized Version A.D. 1611 is not suspect for containing Mark 16:9-20. The Alexandrian codices are suspect for excising them!

The final witness of our three fold cord is the unassuming lectionary. Burgon wrote:

But the significance of a single feature of the Lectionary, of which up to this point nothing has been said, is alone sufficient to determine the controversy. We refer to the fact that in every part of Eastern Christendom these same twelve verses – neither more nor less – have been from the earliest recorded period, and still are, a proper lesson both for the Easter season and for Ascension Day.[20]​

It is noteworthy that Dean Burgon’s defense of Mark’s ending has yet to be refuted. Facts are stubborn things. And yet, with Burgon’s four other scholarly works on manuscript evidences bringing his total pages count to nearly 2,000, his great potential for good was frustrated by the solitary, patronizing remark of Geisler and Nix that, “Defense of the Received Text (vv. 9-20) has been made by John W. Burgon.[21]​

Footnotes:
1 Normal L. Geisler and William E. Nix, A General Introduction to the Bible (Chicago: Moody Press, 1968), 372.
2 Ibid.
3 Herman C. Hoskier, Codex B and Its Allies, vol. 2, Chiefly Concerning a, but covering three thousand differences between a and B in the Four Gospels. (London: Bernard Quaritch, Publisher, 1914), 1.
4 Geisler and Nix, Introduction to the Bible, 372.
5 David Otis Fuller, True or False? (Grand Rapids, Mich.: International Publications, 1973), 95. [Original source: The Last Twelve Verses of Mark, by John Burgon, pages 70, 71]
6 Jay P. Green, ed., Unholy Hands on the Bible, vol. 1, An Understanding to Textual Criticism, Including the Complete Works of John W. Burgon, Dean of Chichester (Lafayette, Ind.: Sovereign Grace Trust Fund, 1990), c40-c41.
7 Geisler and Nix, Introduction to the Bible, 372.
8 Edward F. Hills, Believing Bible Study, 2d. ed. (Des Moines, Iowa: Christian Research Press, 1977), 133.
9 Ibid.
10 Geisler and Nix, Introduction to the Bible, 372.
11 Alexander Roberts, D.D. and James Donaldson, LL.D., eds., The Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 2, Fathers of the Second Century (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1989), 192.
12Earle E. Cairns, Christianity Through the Centuries, A History of the Christian Church, 1st ed., rev. (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan Publishing House for Academie Books, 1981), 112.
13 J.G. Davies, The Early Christian Church, A History of Its First Five Centuries (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Book House, 1965), 124.
14 Colm Luibheid, The Essential Eusebius (n.p.: Mentor Omega Book for New American Library, 1966), 213.
15 [Hills is here citing Burgon] Edward F. Hills, The King James Version Defended, 4th ed. (Des Moines, Iowa: Christian Research Press, 1984), 165.
16 Geisler and Nix, Introduction to the Bible, 372.
17 Frederick H.A. Scrivener, M.A., D.C.L., LL.D., A Plain Introduction to the Criticism of the New Testament for the Use of the Biblical Student, ed. Edward Miller (London: George Bell & Sons, 1894), 2:342.
18 John William Burgon, B.D., The Revision Revised (Paradise, Pa.: Conservative Classics, 1883), 422-23.
19 Alexander Roberts, D.D. and James Donaldson, LL.D., eds., The Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1, The Apostolic Fathers with Justin Martyr and Irenaeus (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.., 1989), 426.
20 Burgon, Revision Revised, 40.
21 Geisler and Nix, Introduction to the Bible, 372-73.

[End of Dr. Grady’s excerpt]

 

[Jerusalem Blade]

A caveat with regard to Dr. Grady’s book. Before any of you staunch Calvinists (as I am myself!) buy it, please be aware that he is strongly anti-Calvinist! And that this view informs some of what he writes in Final Authority. I am not put off by such, though some of you may well be. As regards defense of the Scripture we are allies, as regards God’s sovereignty in salvation, opponents.

It is a different battle.

I am going to be taking a vacation from posting for a little while. I want to spend more time with my wife, and my friends (my style of posting can be most time-consuming!).

Steve