BIBLICAL TEXTS: Integrity of Hebrew Old Testament

Matt 24:35 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.

How do the manuscript copies of the Bible standup against other Books from antiquity? We probably won't be able to appreciate what a solid base the Bible has in antiquity unless we compare it to a few of the "classics" which are never questioned by any historian:

Caesar composed his work on the, "Gallic Wars," between 58 and 50 B.C. No historian questions the integrity or the content of the manuscripts even though there are less than 10 surviving manuscripts and the most ancient dates from 900 A.D. creating nearly a 1000 year gap between the time of the autograph and the earliest manuscript.

Of the 142 books of the Roman history of "Livy" (59 B.C. to 17 A.D.) only 35 still survive and the oldest dates from 400 A.D. "Tacitus" wrote 14 histories around 100 A.D. and only 4 remain today with the earliest dating from 900 A.D. Excepting the Bible, the book from antiquity with the greatest number of manuscripts is Homer's "Iliad" which was written about 900 B.C. There are 643 manuscript copies with the earliest dating from 400 B.C.

The New Testament was written between A.D. 40 and A.D. 96 with the earliest copy from A.D. 125 leaving a time span of a mere 25 years. Dr. E.W. Goodrick, professor of Greek at Multnomah School of the Bible says, the earliest known manuscript is the John Rylands fragment [P52] which contains five partial verses of the Gospel of John. The date was established by Colin Henderson Roberts in 1935. Not everyone agrees on that date. Kurt and Barbara Aland who studied this fragment say the A.D. 125 date should be regarded as the late limit. They date this fragment from A.D. 90. Is My Bible the Inspired Word of God, Multonmah, 1988, E.W. Goodrick, p. 50; Text of the New Testament, Oxford, 1968, Bruce Metzger, p. 38

Bible Has a Unique Record of Manuscript Integrity
Compare that with the New Testament with over 24,000 manuscript copies. A Ready Defense, Josh McDowell, Here's Life, 1992; pp. 44-45 Professor McDowell says there are now more than 5,300 Greek manuscripts of the New Testament, 10,000 Latin manuscripts, and more than 9,300 other early language versions of the Bible. ibid p. 43 There is greater evidence than just the sheer quantity of manuscripts and that is relevant to the authority of the Bible and that is the early dating for many of those manuscripts. Sir Fredric G. Kenyon, the director librarian at the British Museum wrote, "Besides number, the manuscripts of the New Testament differ from those of the classical authors. In no other case is the interval of time between composition of the book and the date of the earliest manuscripts so short as in that of the New Testament." Our Bible and the Ancient Manuscripts, Harper, 1941, F.G. Kenyon; The Bible and Archeology, Harper - Row, 1940, F.G. Kenyon; Handbook of Textual Criticism, Macmillan, F.G. Kenyon; A Ready Defense, p. 44 F.E. Peters, an author on Greek culture wrote, "on the basis of manuscript tradition alone, the works that make up the Christians' New Testament were the most frequently copied and widely circulated books of antiquity." The Harvest of Hellenism, Simon Schuster, F.E. Peters, p. 50

Old Testament "Gap" in Manuscripts Before 1947
Before the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls, the manuscript record for the Old Testament was rare and recent. There were two important collections assembled by Abraham Firkowitsch (1785-1874) which included 1,582 manuscripts on parchment and another 725 on paper plus an additional 1,200 fragments found in the Cairo Geniza. Text of the Bible, p. 30, 33 These were deposited in the Russian public library at Leningrad. Most of the oldest and best manuscripts date only so far back as A.D. 900. When the Book of Malachi was completed in 400 B.C., it forms a gap of 1,300 years. The only exceptions to this gap were the Nash Papyrus and Codex Cairensis from the Cairo Geniza. [Text of the Old Testament, 33]. The Nash Papyrus contains someone's personal copy of the Ten Commandments and the Shema [Deu 5] and dates from two centuries before Christ.

2. Aleppo Codex [A] includes the entire Old Testament. This manuscript was copied by Shelomo ben Buya'a dating from approximately 930 A.D. Hebrew University scholars are using this text to produce a new Hebrew Bible. See photo of Deut 31:28 - 32:14 in.Text of the Old Testament, p. 163 plate 21.

3. Leningrad Codex [Codex Leningradensis] includes the entire Hebrew Bible dating from A.D. 1008. It was the base of Kittel's third edition of the Hebrew Bible until the recent International Standard. See photo of Gen 28:19 - 29:22 in Text of the Old Testament, p. 169, plate 24

4. British Museum Codex [OR 4445] including the entire Pentateuch dated about 950 A.D. See photo Num 26:12-27 in Text of the Old Testament, p. 165, plate 22.

5. Leningrad (formerly Petersburg Codex of the Prophets) Codex of the Prophets dated 916 A.D. It was discovered by Firkowitsch in 1839 at the synagogue of Chufutkaleh in the Crimea. Text of the Old Testament, p. 35

6. Reuchlin Codex [Codex Reuchlinianus] of the Prophets was written in Italy in A.D. 1105. Text of the Old Testament, p. 25

Manuscript "Discoveries" Before 1947

But it was far too late in the day to begin exploring they had their family's goats to get home before it became dark and they became lost. It was two days later before Muhammed who was nicknamed "the Wolf," (Edh-Dhib) woke to scale the 350 foot wall to enter the cave his cousin Jum'a discovered. He lowered himself feet first into the cave that later became known as Cave 1. He found the floor of the cave littered with debris and broken pottery. Along one wall stood a number of narrow jars. Some of the jars still had their bowl shaped covers in place. Edh Dhib rummaged through several jars finally finding something wrapped in cloth. He extracted two cloth covered bundles and one covered in leather. The coverings were green with age. Edh Dhib wiggled himself back out of the cave and then half ran and half fell back down the hillside to his sleeping cousins. Scholars today have identified these three bundles as containing the very Isaiah Scroll, a commentary on Habakkuk and the Essene Community's Manual of Discipline. Understanding the Dead Sea Scrolls, Vintage, 1993, H.T. Frank, p. 3-7

Of course, neither these young men or their family understood the significance of a discovery like this in such a remote area. This was just one year before Israel was granted nation status by the United Nations. The young men were fearful as Palestinians to enter Jerusalem at such a chaotic time. It was April before Jum'a and his older cousin Kamlil visited Bethlehem taking the three scrolls, and two jars. They had no success in interesting anyone with their discovery until they found Khalil Iskander Shahin, better known as "Kando." Kando was a Syrian Orthodox Christian owner of a cobbler shop who agreed to handle the disposal of the discovery for one third the purchase price. The young Bedouin boys left their scrolls with Kando in Bethlehem for five pounds. During Holy Week they approached the Syrian Orthodox Archbishop of Jerusalem with the discovery. His name was Athanasius Yeshue Samuel. Samuel asked Kando to bring the scrolls to St. Mark's Monastery. There Samuel quickly saw that the scrolls were both old and Hebrew. Samuel offered to purchase the discovery plus any additional finds. Samuel was anxious to purchase the scrolls.

Samuel called and called repeatedly to obtain delivery of the scrolls but with no success. It was July 1947 and Samuel had been promised that they would arrive that day. But they did not. When he called Kando he was surprised to learn that the deliverers had been denied access to St. Mark's because the scrolls were covered in pitch and smelled very bad. None of the monks would allow them within the monastery walls let alone into the presence of the Archbishop. Understanding the Dead Sea Scrolls, Vintage, 1993, H.T. Frank, p. 8-9 When the purchase was finally completed five scrolls were sold for $97 dollars.

In February 1948, a monk at St. Mark's named Butros Sowmy learned that the eminent archeologist from Hebrew University, E.L. Sukenik wanted to purchase the scrolls from St. Mark's. Sowmy wanted to get some better information about the scrolls before they considered selling them. Sowmy telephoned the American School of Oriental Research who was in the temporary charge of John Trevor in Millar Burrow's absence. Trevor, while anxious to study the scrolls was also equally anxious about venturing to that part of the war torn city. Sowmy agreed to deliver the scrolls arriving the next afternoon. When Trevor examined the Isaiah scroll he extracted a photograph of the ninth century British Museum Codex, and then a photo of the Nash Papyrus from the second century. Trevor noticed that the Hebrew characters on the Isaiah scroll looked more like the characters on the Nash Papyrus than on the later ninth century manuscript. Sowmy had to leave, but Trevor made a quick hand copy of the section in view. That evening as Trevor began studying what he had copied he became convinced that this was chapter 65 of Isaiah and possibly older than the Nash Papyrus. The next morning Trevor asked permission to come to St. Mark's with his camera to make a complete photographic record of all the scrolls. The journey was danger filled. At the moment the photographic session was to begin terrorist actions halted all electricity in Jerusalem. In the days that followed copies of these photographs were sent out to the universities of the world including W.F. Albright at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. On March 15, 1948 a letter addressed to Trevor from Albright arrived reading:

"My heartiest congratulations on the greatest manuscript discovery of modern times! There is no doubt in my mind that the script is more archaic than that of the Nash Papyrus... I should prefer a date around 100 B.C.! What an absolutely incredible find! And there can happily not be slightest doubt in the world about the genuineness of the manuscript."

Within two weeks violence forced the closure of the American School of Oriental Research. Trevor was the last to leave on the fifth of April. Samuel needed a safe place for the scrolls. Sowmy suggested a bank vault in Beirut. Thereafter Sowmy was killed by bomb fragments as he stood in the courtyard at St. Mark's. Later they came to America being displayed in the Library of Congress. When they were sold in 1954 for $250,000 the Internal Revenue Department declared that amount a personal earning and took the majority of that amount. In February 1955 the Israeli prime minister announced that the scrolls were in Israel as a possession of the State of Israel. At first they resided at Hebrew University, then they moved to their present home in the Shrine of the Book in Jerusalem. Understanding the Dead Sea Scrolls, Vintage, 1993, H.T. Frank, p. 12-19

Important Manuscripts from the Dead Sea Scrolls

Not everyone agrees on the origin of every scroll in this library. Some say all were produced by Essenes in nearby Qumran. Others say the library was far too diverse indicating some scrolls were deposited there by others seeking a safe place as they faced the coming destruction of Titus in A.D. 70. Everyone agrees the library dates from 250 B.C. to A.D. 68. Between 20 and 25 percent of the 800 texts are Biblical texts. Every book of the Old Testament is represented excepting Esther. The nonbiblical texts contain things like hymns, psalms, commentaries, wisdom literature, legal texts, letters, pseudepigrapha and the temple scrolls. Understanding the Dead Sea Scrolls, Vintage, 1993, Hershel Shanks, p. xv-xxxviii

Cave 1 Biblical Scrolls

Cave 2 Biblical Scrolls

Cave 3 Biblical Scrolls

Cave 4 Biblical Scrolls

Cave 5 Biblical Scrolls

Cave 6 Biblical Texts

Cave 7 Biblical Texts

Cave 8 Biblical Texts

Cave 11 Biblical Texts

Comprehensive listing of DSS material, The Dead Sea Scrolls Translated, Eerdmans, 1996, Florentino Garcia Martinez, p. 467-519

Dating Dead Sea Scroll Material

Note: AMS dating is "Accelerator Mass Spectomety," which is more refined than carbon-14 which was a destructive test requiring the object being dated be burned. Paleography is the study of ancient scripts in shifts of character shapes and styles. Internal dating utilizes the ideas contained in the various texts noting for example named persons or events that are known dates.

The Septuagint - Early Witness to Old Testament
The Septuagint, is not a text of the Old Testament. It is an early witness for the Old Testament, but it is a translation into another language: Greek. Ptolemy II Philadelphus (285-247 B.C.) the royal master of the famous library at Alexandria Egypt wrote a letter authorizing a translation of the Hebrew Bible into Greek as an addition to his library. His letter is preserved by both Josephus and Philo. This translation was completed around B.C. 252. Both the Jewish diaspora and the early Christians used the Septuagint through the early centuries of Christianity. Text of the Old Testament, p. 49-74 While the library at Alexandria did not survive, parts of the Septuagint LXX have survived in Qumran. Later the Jews rejected this early Greek translation favoring later translations based on the Hebrew texts coming out of the Council at Jamnia after A.D. 70.

Here are a few important later Greek translations

2. Symmachus A.D. 170 was discovered in Hexapla fragments.

3. Theodotion made a translation at the end of second century.

4. Origin's Hexapla A.D. 240. This was a six column work using all three above Greek translations. In addition he added a column of Hebrew, the early Septuagint. Professor Wurthwein says "The Hebrew text stands in the first place as the original, and the sequence of the versions corresponds to their relationship to the original." Text of the Old Testament, p. 55 cf. General Introduction To The Bible, p. 109

2. Papyrus Fouad 266, another early pre-Christian Greek Old Testament (early second century B.C.) found with Rylands Papyrus 458. It includes Deu 31:28 - 32:6. The Jewish Greek scribe wrote the name of Yahweh by using a tetragram, which they considered unspeakable [anekphoneton] and wrote with the Hebrew letters yodh, he, waw, and he. Centuries later when Jerome was translating his Vulgate in Latin he mentioned this practice, "even today we find the tetragrammaton name of God written in archaic letters in some Greek manuscripts." Text of the Old Testament, p. 68, cf. p. 178 and plate 29 which is a photographic record of this manuscript.

3. Leather scroll of the Minor Prophets including fragments of the text of Hab 1:14 - 2:13-15. It is dated from the end of the first century A.D., having been acquired by the Palestinian Archeological Museum in Jerusalem in August 1952 from Bedouin. Text of the Old Testament, p. 68, 180-181, photo of fragment in plate 30

4. Chester Beatty Papyri, includes the remains of eleven codices that contain nine Old Testament books, and fifteen from the New Testament found in 1929. They date from the second to fourth centuries A.D. Test of the Old Testament, p. 68-69 see photo of Chester Beatty Papyri 967, plate 31 containing Ezek 16:57 - 17:1 Chester Beatty 967 includes 68 pages of a codex of Ezekiel which dates from the first half of the third century A.D.

5. Berlin fragments date from the late third century A.D., containing the text of Genesis 1:16 - 35:8. This codex is made up of 16 sheets folded to construct 32 folios. It was discovered by Professor C. Schmidt in 1906 in Akhmim in Upper Egypt. Text of the Old Testament, p. 69, 184-185, see photo of section including Gen 34:11-25 in plate 32

6. Codex Vaticanus, dated to the fourth century A.D., having been discovered in the fifteenth century in the Vatican Library. This codex contains the complete Old Testament in Greek excluding much of Genesis and a few Psalms.

7. Codex Sinaiticus, dated from the fourth century A.D., but not discovered until 1844-1859. Sinaiticus contains much of the Greek Old Testament. It was found by Tischendorf at St. Catherine's Monastery at Mt. Sinai. Text of the Old Testament, p. 70, 186-187; note photo in plate 33

8. Codex Alexandrinus, is a fifth century A.D. codex containing most of the Old Testament. It was given to King Charles 1 of England n 1627 where it is housed in the British Museum. Text of the Old Testament, p 70

Changing Hebrew Language

By the Middle Ages, the church at Rome made it illegal for people to read the Hebrew or Greek Bible. The Latin Vulgate became the only Bible of Medieval Europe. It wasn't until the Renaissance that interest rose in manuscripts and the original Biblical languages. When Christians did begin to show interest in the original Biblical languages, there was not a ready supply of Hebrew scholarship.

The Reformation Returns to the Authority of the Hebrew
Johannes Reuchlin (1455-1522) was the first Christian Hebrew scholar. In 1452 Gutenberg published the first Bible printed with moveable type. It was a two volume Latin Bible. Soon printing houses began to spring up throughout Europe. The first portions of the Hebrew Bible were printed in Italy. The Psalms which in 1477, and the entire Hebrew Bible in 1488 at Socino. A later printing made at Brescia was used by Martin Luther for his German translation of the Old Testament. Daniel Bomberg printed the first rabbinic Bible. The first two editions of Kittel's Biblia Hebraica [1906-1912] were still based on Bomberg's Bible. Bomberg was the first to include Christian chapter divisions.

In 1520 the first Polyglot Bibles were printed which included a column of Hebrew text among various other languages. When Tyndale made his translation he referred to the Complutensian Polyglot published in 1522 in Spain. The London Polyglot followed in 1657, being important because it was the first to include a Hebrew grammar and lexicon as well as the Samaritan Pentateuch, a Targum, the Septuagint, the Vulgate and the Peshitta.

An early edition prepared by a Christian scholar was printed in 1699 by J.H. Michaelis. The Oxford theologian Benjamin Kennicott printed his Hebrew Bible at the same time as C.D. Ginsburg in 1894, 1908, and 1926. The British and Foreign Bible Society printed its first edition in 1926 which was updated in 1958 by Norman Snaith. By the seventh edition of Kittle and Kahle in 1951, readings from the Dead Sea Scrolls began to appear.

Work of Textual Scholars
Professor Wurthwein says "there is no precisely defined method for Old Testament textual criticism." Text of the Old Testament, p. 111 There are some principles which can avoid falling into the pits of arbitrariness or subjectivity. As a general rule the Masoretic Text should always be preferred unless there are good reasons for looking elsewhere. Professor Wurthwein says it is unscholarly to oppose the Masoretic Text simply because its reading does not agree with the reader's theological viewpoint. Textual scholars have classified the most common problems as they evaluate various texts.

1. Unintentional changes in the manuscripts made by scribes failing to distinguish between look alike letters.

2. Intentional changes made by "thinking scribes" who had more than copying on their agenda. These scribes wanted to "improve" the text so they included marginal notes or they added words. As a textual scholar makes a decision as to which manuscript should be used for a particular passage these are some reference tools available.

3. Lectionaries, commentaries and sermons from early church leaders who quoted from the New Testament a great deal. These people also produced many ancient multi-lingual manuscripts that are still helpful in difficult decisions.

How Much "Pollution" Exists in Hebrew Manuscripts?
While the autographs are pollution free, the further we move into the process of transmitting God's word the more the human element is increased, and the more possibility for pollution to creep into the text. There is pollution in the Hebrew manuscripts.

The autographs are pollution free documents. It was not until copies of the autographs are made by scribes that pollution can possibly enter. The history of textual criticism points out that pollution has always been minor and it is diminishing ever further as the work of textual scholars continues to yield more accuracy to the text. Jesus did not bring new autographs from heaven. He taught from copies made from copies of copies. He confirmed the integrity of the Tora. Mt 5:18 Elsewhere He confirmed the entire Old Testament. Lk 24:44

Sir Fredric Kenyon, the famous British textual scholar wrote, "It is reassuring at the end to find that the general result of all these discoveries and all this study is to strengthen the proof of the authenticity of the Scriptures, and our conviction that we have in our hands in substantial integrity, the veritable Word of God." A General Introduction To The Bible, p. 162

"Textual Scholars vs. Higher Criticism
Its important to understand the difference between two kinds of critics early in this section of study. One is been the enemy of God's Word, and the other is vital to its transmission. The first is the "higher critic" (who really should be called a skeptic) and the second is the textual scholar. Higher critics take what they think is an intellectually higher approach to the Bible. They take various events in the biblical record looking especially at things like biblical authors, faith, the creation, the Genesis flood, the incarnation of Jesus, Jesus' miracles, the resurrection of Jesus, the apostles miracles and compare these events with their own non-supernatural world. Any event that violates their own world view and experience is considered "spurious" and non-historical.

1. Jesus Seminar
They are going back into history through all the extra-biblical evidence about Jesus and accept as being real, while rejecting the biblical narrative of the New Testament. Their criteria is to match all the events of Jesus' life against their extra-biblical material and reject any non-verifiable events. The material they use are gnostic writings and the works of other second and third century cults who denied either the deity of Christ, his manhood, or his resurrection. Some of these early cults claimed Jesus was only here as a phantom who was never born, crucified or resurrected. Any idea of salvation being accomplished through the shed blood of Jesus is lost in their definitions.

2. Documentary Hypothesis
This theory is discussed in the chapter on inspiration since it attacks the authorship of Moses in the first five books of the Bible.

3. Form Criticism
This was introduced by Rudolph Bultmann who taught that all scripture is open to the examination of the theory that if a portion of scripture contains an unexplainable miracle then obviously there is evidence that the text was tampered with by later scribes. Bultmann says his "historical method" includes a presumption that all history must be a unity connected by a "succession of cause and effect." Bultmann says this "unity" produces a closedness to anything that is outside of normal human experience. Because this is a presumption Bultmann, the burden of proof lies not on the historian researching evidences for various events but on the assumption that once a miracle is mentioned the entire passage must lie outside of what is conceivable. The idea of the resurrection or even the idea that God Himself would intervene in history should not be contemplated by human beings. Bultmann says , "modern man acknowledges as reality only such phenomena or events as are comprehensive within the framework of the rational order of the universe." To the form critic all of the Biblical evidences for miracles are by their very existence "inadmissable" as evidence. Form criticism creates a closed canon on history, science and religion according to Bultmann.

BIBLICAL TEXTS: Integrity of Greek New Testament

1 Peter 1:25 But the Word of the Lord stands forever. And this is the Word which by the gospel is preached to you.

By the year A.D. 100 all the books of the New Testament had already been written. Professor David Ewart says most of them had already been in circulation for several decades before this. General Intro to Bible, p. 135 The original autographs were copied by the early churches as they traded letters and books back and forth in the first century. Paul had this practice in mind when he mentioned the fact in an early letter. Col 4:16 As Christian centers of life blossomed they did so around carefully maintained copies of the books of the apostles. ibid.

The oldest known New Testament manuscript was dated at being approximately 10 or 20 years distant from the autograph. This manuscript is known as the P52 John Rylands manuscript. It contains a small portion of the Gospel of John dating from 100 A.D. to 125 A.D. Scholars say John wrote the gospel in about 90 A.D. Is My Bible The Inspired Word of God, p. 49-50; see a photograph of P52 on p. 50 Scholars today say there are more than 5,300 surviving Greek manuscripts of the New Testament. There are an additional 10,000 Latin manuscripts, and an additional 9,300 other early versions in existence. cf. photographs manuscripts Encyclopedia Britannica v. 3, pp. 570-588 note the photo of Codex Sinaiticus from the 4th century A.D. ibid. p. 571 which was an important manuscript from antiquity as it shows the marks of no less than 8 proofreaders, Is My Bible Inspired, Goodrick, p. 53}.

P52 Greek Manuscript John 18:31-33, 37-38

Textual Note

Date: A.D. 100-105 Location: John Rylands Collection at Manchester England Importance: this text preserves language verifying Jesus' trail. The text names Pilate. While the fragment is missing the word Jesus due to damage the text itself that is undamaged preserves several sentences from John 18. Reference: Comfort and Barrett, The Text of The Earliest New Testament Greek Manuscripts, Tyndale, 2001, 365-368.

Period of Professional Scribes & Scriptoriums
In the fourth century after Christianity received official sanction from the government in Rome it became more and more usual for the church to utilize commercial book manufacturers or scriptora to produce the New Testament. Text of the New Testament, Oxford, 1968, Bruce Metzger, p.14

Roman scribes hired by a scriptorium were held to standards of accuracy through the use of a "corrector," who was specially trained to rectify mistakes. The corrector would annotate the manuscript with his own notes in different tints of ink and style of writing. Quality was controlled by counting the number of lines [stichos] in the text. This is important because it was also the way the scriptorium determined the amount to charge the customer. In A.D. 301, Emperor Diocletian set the wages of scribes at 25 denarii for 100 lines if the quality was first rate, but only 20 denarii per 100 lines for second quality work. Rendel Harris estimated the cost of the codex Sinaiticus would have come to 30,000 denarii. A Roman scriptorium had a lecturer who dictated text from a lecturn to several scribes who wrote dictation style. This method was open one spoken error being compounded by the number of scribes. Text of the New Testament, p. 16

Palimpsests
To save money Roman scriptoriums "reused" old parchments. They scraped off the original writing, washed the parchment and then copied the new script. The manuscripts produced this way were called "palimpsests." In A.D. 692 a Roman church council forbade the practice of reusing parchment already used for Scriptures. Of the 250 uncial manuscripts of the New Testament known today over 50 are "palimpsests." Text of the New Testament, p. 12

Monastic Scriptoriums
In the years when monks produced Greek Bibles, the monasteries refrained from production quotas that placed pressures to produce on the scribes. This reduced the number of scribal errors. Monasteries gave each scribe an individual cell to let them work at their own pace. They used four operations in producing a copy: 1) reading to oneself, 2) memorizing the text being copied, 3) dictating the material to oneself, 4) writing down the text being copied. Text of the New Testament, p. 16

Important Witnesses to the Text of the New Testament

1. Papyri: the manufacture of papyrus was a flourishing business in Egypt. The papyrus plant thrives along the Nile delta growing from 12 to 15 feet in height. The stems are cut into foot long sections and then split open lengthwise. Layers of these are mounted on a flat surface with all of the fibers running in the same direction. Then another layer is fabricated over the first at a right angle to the first layer. Both layers are then pressed together to form a very inexpensive fabric. Text of the New Testament, p. 3-4 This is much less expensive than parchment or vellum which is made from animal skins.

2. Uncials: is a formal style of Greek writing used for making books. They were used exclusively until the beginning of the ninth century A.D. In appearance uncials look like Greek capital letters. Pictured here are a few lines from a page of Matthew 13 from codex Sinaiticus from the fourth century A.D.

3. Minuscules: beginning in about the ninth century A.D., there was a reform in hand writing and a smaller script of letters was introduced. They appear smaller than capitals or uncials. This script condensed writing in the Greek, making it more popular than the older uncials which after a hundred years ceased to be used. Pictured are a few lines from the 10th century A.D. manuscript that Erasmus used to produce his Textus Receptus.

Martin Bodmer Collection
A Swiss business man, Martin Bodmer of Geneva discovered a collection of manuscripts in 1956. Among them are Bodmer II which has a large portion of the Gospel of John dating from 200 A.D. P66 contains more of John's Gospel copied again from 200 A.D. This manuscript bears the mark of a proof reader. P72 contains the Epistle of Jude and two Epistles of Peter from the 3rd century making it the oldest text of one of the epistles. P75 is one of the earliest records of the Gospel of Luke dating from 175 A.D. to 225 A.D.

P45 is the fragmentary remains of portions of 30 leaves of a papyrus codex that once consisted of 220 pages. It included all four Gospels and Acts. It is dated in the first half of the third century.

P46 consists of 86 leaves of the Pauline Epistles. Professor Metzger says this manuscript dates from an earlier time at A.D. 200. It was once a codex with 104 leaves. Text of the New Testament, p. 38, plate II

P47 consists of 10 mutilated leaves of a codex that once included 32 pages of the Book of Revelation. It was copied in the middle of the third century.

P52 is the oldest copy of any portion of the New Testament. It contains a single fragment of the Gospel of John. Jn 18:31-33, 37-38 Although discovered in Egypt in 1920 by B.P. Grenfell, it was not recognized until 1934 by C.H. Roberts an Oxford Fellow who was studying part of an unpublished group of manuscripts in the John Rylands Library. If P52 had been discovered earlier it would have silenced the liberals who introduced the idea that the Gospel of John was not even written before A.D. 160. Text of the New Testament, p. 38-39 Professor E.W. Goodrick says later scholars have given P52 an earlier date bumping the date to A.D. 125 plus or minus 25 years. Since most conservative scholars date John at A.D 90, this opens the door to a manuscript being found that is less than a decade from the autograph. Is My Bible Inspired Word of God, p. 49-50

P66 is one of the oldest manuscripts. It is a papyrus codex dating from A.D. 200 containing fragments of 104 pages of the Gospel of John. It was published for the first time in 1956 in Geneva. Professor Metzger says there is evidence of 140 scribal corrections, "most of them appear to be the scribe's corrections of his own hasty blunders." Text of the New Testament, p. 39-40

P72 is one of the oldest copies of the Epistle of Jude. It dates from A.D. 300 and also includes both Epistles of Peter as well as some Psuedopigrapha. Professor Metzger says the size indicates it may well have been someone's personal copy with four separate styles of handwriting. Text of the New Testament, p. 40-41

P75 is an early codex dating from A.D. 175-225. It originally contained 144 pages. Professor Metzger says 102 leaves of Luke and John have survived. The text is important because it is very similar to the Codex Vaticanus in appearance. Text of the New Testament, p. 41-42, plate III

For a complete listing of these papyrus see professor Metzger's appendix. Text of the New Testament, p. 247-256

a Codex Sinaiticus
is one of the most important codex because it dates from the 4th century, was the product of a professional scribe and of excellent quality, and it was the only complete codex of the entire New Testament. It was like the "Dead Sea Scroll discovery" of the nineteenth century. It was discovered by Constantine von Tischendorf [1815-1874] in Sinai. He first visited St. Catherine's monastery at the foot of Mt. Sinai in 1844 searching for biblical manuscripts. As he was retrieving some leaves from an old Septuagint, he was told by the monks they had been using these manuscripts to make fires. He warned them not to burn any more material like this and he obtained permission to return in 1853 but found nothing. Then in a visit in 1859, being sent by the Czar of Russia, he was led to the Codex Sinaiticus. Text of the New Testament, p. 42-46, plate IV; Ency Brit 3:510, plate I.3

He spent the entire night examining the codex. He tried to purchase it, but he could not. From Cairo he negotiated an agreement with the Monks to allow Tischendorf to copy 8 leaves at a time. It took him 2 months to copy 110,000 lines of text. Finally he received it as a gift for the Czar who published it in 1862. After the Communist revolution, Sinaiticus was sold to the British Museum in 1933 for a half a million dollars. General Intro Bible, Zondervan, 1983 David Ewart, p. 141

A Codex Alexandrinus
The British Museum also houses the Codex Alexandrinus. This codex contained both testaments in Greek. It was given to the museum by Cyril Lucar, patriarch of Constantinople and earlier Alexandria. The museum obtained this codex late to be used in translating the Authorized King James Version of the Bible. General Intro Bible, Zondervan, 1983, David Ewart, p. 142; Ency Brit 3:510, plate I.4

B Codex Vaticanus
was discovered in 1475 in the Vatican Library at Rome. It was not available for study. It was carried captive to Paris by Napoleon as a prize of war. Constantine von Tischendorf was able to get enough of its readings to publish an edition in 1867. It was not until 1889-90 that a complete photographic record was made and published. This manuscript dates from the middle of the fourth century A.D. being slightly older than Sinaiticus. It contains both Testaments. Ency Brit 3:510, plate I.2; Text of the New Testament, p. 47 Professor Metzger says some scholars belief that Vaticanus and Sinaiticus were among the 50 that Emperor Constantine ordered Eusebius to produce.

C Codex Ephraemi
is a fifth century palimpsest. The original fifth century writing was erased by a twelfth century monk in need of paper on which to make a copy of some ancient sermons from the early church fathers. Count Tischendorf was able to apply a chemical reagent and through painstaking work decipher the original fifth century manuscript. There are 145 leaves of the New Testament surviving in this manuscript. Text of the New Testament, p. 48-49, 12

D Codex Bezae
is also called the Codex Cantabrigiensis. It is a fifth or sixth century manuscript containing most of the Gospels, Acts and fragments from 3 John. It was presented to the library at Cambridge University in 1581 by T. Beza. The text is important because it contains two languages in a side by side format with Greek on the left and Latin on the right. It was not published before 1864. Text of the New Testament, plate V; Ency Brit 3:510, plate I.5; Cambridge History of Bible, p. 605, plate 24

Dp or D2
Codex Claromontanus is a sixth century manuscript containing only Paul's epistles including Hebrews. It is bi-lingual with Greek on the left and Latin on the right. It was first published by Tischendorf in 1852. Text of the New Testament, p. 51

I Codex Washingtonianus
is a fifth century manuscript of the Pauline Epistles. It originally contained 210 leaves, of which 84 survive today in the Smithsonian Institution. This manuscript is in agreement with Codex Sinaiticus. Text of the New Testament, p. 54; Ency Brit 3:510, plate I.7

Important "Minuscule" Greek Manuscripts of the New Testament

Fam. 1
While this group of manuscripts dates from the 12th to the 14th century A.D., textual scholars say they were copied from a genealogy of manuscripts that are traced back to Caesarea in the 3rd and 4th centuries.

Fam. 13
These four medieval manuscripts were discovered in 1868 by W.H. Ferrar a professor at Dublin University. These manuscripts date from between the 11th and 15th century.

MS.61
is dated from the late fifteenth century. It contains the entire New Testament. It is housed at Trinity College in Dublin. It was the first Greek manuscript found which contains the passage in 1 John relating to the three witnesses. 1 Jn 5:7-8 When Erasmus completed his first version of his "Textus Receptus" it did not contain this language. When people began to complain Erasmus replied that he knew of no Greek manuscript in existence that contained the disputed passage. At length this one was found or written by a Franciscan friar at Oxford in 1520 making his translation from the Latin Vulgate into the Greek. Text of the New Testament, p. 62, 101-103

Ancient Versions of the New Testament

Syrian Versions

2. Peshitta, or Syriac Vulgate
The Peshitta is accepted as the standard version of both the eastern and western branches of Syrian Christian churches. Professor Metzger says this version was fully accepted before A.D. 431. There are more than 350 Peshitta with several dating as far back as the fifth and sixth centuries. Text of the NT, p. 70 One of the oldest dated manuscripts of the Bible is a peshitta found in the middle of the nineteenth century in Egypt. It is housed in a monastic library in the Nitrian Desert of Lower Egypt. The first two books were dated at A.D. 464. Cambridge History of Bible, 1:604-605, plate 21

1. Old Latin Version
In the third century, professor Metzger says many of these versions were circulated through North Africa and Europe. No complete codex of a complete New Testament has survived. About 32 manuscripts exist with all four Gospels, 12 have the Book of Acts, and 4 have fragments of the Pauline Epistles. These manuscripts date from the fourth to the thirteenth centuries. There were many problems with this version. Unlike the Greek text, these Old Latin Versions, according to Jerome the translator of the Vulgate have "almost as many versions as their were manuscripts." Text of the New Testament p. 72; Ency Brit 3:510, plate II.7-8

2. African Latin Manuscripts
There are two important African manuscripts. The first is the Codex Palatinus from the fifth century containing the four Gospels. The other is the Codex Bobbiensis which is fragmentary dating from around A.D. 400 and is housed in the National Library at Turin Italy.

3. European Latin Manuscripts
The oldest is Codex Vercellensis from A.D. 370. There is Codex Veronensis, copied in the fifth century and a part of the Chapter Library of the Cathedral at Verona Italy. It was written on a distinctive purple parchment using silver and gold ink. It contains most of the four Gospels. Professor Metzger says Jerome was influenced by this manuscript.

4. Latin Vulgate
In 382 A.D. Pope Damasus obtained the foremost Bible scholar of his time Jerome [Sophronius Eusebius Hieronymus] to produce a Bible for the Latin church. Jerome used the best Old Latin manuscripts comparing them with some old Greek manuscripts. Scholars say Jerome took two years to produce a Latin Version of the four Gospels. Scholars are not all in agreement as to who translated the remainder of the Vulgate which seemed to be a more cursory translation effort than were the Gospels. Text of the New Testament, p. 76

The textual record of the Vulgate, particularly during the Middle Ages shows that the Vulgate suffered much from Monastic scribes trying to "purify" Jerome's work. ibid., p. 266-267 One of these best efforts was Codex Amiatinus produced for Pope Gregory in A.D. 716. ibid., plate Ib There was so much textual confusion over the Vulgate that the Council of Trent was called in 1546 to prepare an authentic edition of the Vulgate. Pope Sixtus V authorized the official publication in 1590, but the next pope Clement VIII called back all those copies he could find in 1592 and produced another authentic edition. Text of the New Testament., p. 78; Ency Brit 3:510, plate II.9

Coptic Versions

Gothic Version

Armenian Version

Ethiopian Version

Georgian versions from the area between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea date from A.D. 897. The Slavonic version translated by missionaries named Cyril and Methodius had to first create a Slavic alphabet in the middle of the ninth century A.D. Islamic translations from Greek, Syriac, Coptic and Latin are dated to the thirteenth century. Fragments of an ancient Nubian version has been found. The Anglo-Saxon version was translated from the Latin Vulgate.

Witness of the Way the Early Church Fathers Used the New Testament Professor Metzger has said the early church fathers used the New Testament so extensively in their commentaries, sermons, and lectionaries that "if all other sources for our knowledge of the New Testament were destroyed, they would be sufficient alone for the reconstruction of practically the entire New Testament." Text of the New Testament, p. 86 cf. Geisler Nix p. 109

Erasmus

Erasmus published the first Greek New Testament in print in 1516, using half a dozen recent Greek manuscripts from a library in Basel Switzerland. He was upset with the fact that he could not find more Greek manuscripts in Europe. He found the quality of the six he had so poor that he had to make some corrections. ibid., 8:679

To obtain a Greek text of the Book of Revelation, Erasmus had to borrow a 12th century manuscript from his friend Reuchlin. However the last leaf was missing, so he supplied the Greek text by retranslating the Latin Vulgate back into Greek. There were other places where he had to insert Latin Vulgate readings after retranslating them into Greek. Many textual scholars who defend Erasmus say, "If Erasmus had realized his text would become the standard for many generations, he would have taken longer and paid closer attention to accuracy." Dr. David Ewert, A General Introduction To The Bible, Zondervan, 1990, p. 147-151 Cambridge and Oxford students were forbidden to read Erasmus' Greek text.

Impact of the Textus Receptus

Although many other texts were in print by the end of Erasmus' career, it was his now famous "Textus Receptus" that was to be published as the standard for the next 400 years. It is interesting to note that although Erasmus' text certainly had some problems, as soon as older, better Greek texts began surfacing, it was quickly evident that the integrity of God's Word had not been compromised. Each new manuscript brought textual modifications, but no modification was ever needed which posed serious questions about doctrines of the church. Is My Bible The Inspired Word Of God? Multnomah Press, E. F. Goodrick, 1984, pp. 47-63; A General Introduction To The Bible, Zondervan, David Ewert, 1990, pp. 147-157

Textual Scholars Respond to the Textus Receptus

Karl Lachman (1793-1851)
published a Greek Testament that was the first to rest wholly on textual criticism and not on an existing Greek text. Lachman published many classical literature. He began to study differences in various manuscripts that gave clues or evidences as to which archetype they stemmed from. Lachman did not believe it was possible to reproduce the original text. He merely presented the best based on purely documentary evidences. Text of New Testament, p. 124-126

Lobegott Friedrich Constantinov Tischendorf (1815-1874)
studied theology at Leipzig under Johann Winer who infused him with a passion to seek and utilize the most ancient witnesses in reconstructing the purest form of the Greek Scriptures. Tischendorf sought out and published more manuscripts of the Greek Bible than any scholar. He prepared 8 editions of the Greek New Testament, 22 volumes of texts of Biblical manuscripts, writing a total of 150 books and articles. His most important work was his two volume Greek Testament in which he painstakingly assembled all of the textual variant readings known in his day. Later scholars have faulted him on his high view of Codex Sinaiticus which he discovered and published. Text of New Testament, p. 126-127

Samuel Prideaux Tregelles (1813-1875)
was an iron worker who taught himself Greek, Aramaic, and Hebrew in his free time. In his early twenties he began work on an edition of the Greek Testament. He traveled collating existing manuscripts and noting variations with Erasmus Textus Receptus. He made a study of the way the early church fathers quoted the Greek New Testament all the way down to Eusebius. Before publishing a text, he presented a survey of earlier editions using documentary evidences. His new text was published in six parts between 1857 and 1872. Professor Metzger says of this scholar "despite poverty, opposition, and ill health [suffering a paralyzing stroke in 1870] Tragelles overcame all difficulties and devoted a lifetime of meticulous labors on the text of the New Testament as an act of worship." Text of the New Testament, p. 127-128

B.F. Westcott [1825-1901] and F.J. Hort [1828-1892]
produced the most important new Greek text in 1881. Both Cambridge scholars, they claimed four principle types for the Greek New Testament: Syrian, Western, Alexandrian, and Neutral. Their work was titled "The New Testament in the Original Greek." It was released in two volumes with volume one containing the Greek text and volume 2 the introductions and appendix.

1. The first deals with internal readings and asks what was the author likely to have written.

2. The second deals with transcriptional evidence related to the scribes asking what they are likely to have made the author seem to write. This step requires an understanding of whether the source of the evidence is usually credible and trustworthy.

Genealogical Evidence

1. Third is to group and consider manuscripts from the standpoint of documentary genealogy.

2. The fourth rule states that all reconstruction of a text must be based on the documentary study of their history.

3. Their fifth rule defines the method for mediating between internal evidence and documentary and genealogical evidence.

Wescott & Hort's Four Manuscript Types

2. Western Type is best evidenced by Codex Bezae, Codex Claromontanus, the Old Latin Versions, and the Curetonian Syriac. Marcion, Tatian, Justin, Ireneus, Hippolytus, Tertulian and Cyprian used the Western form of text. Westcott & Hort believe the Western form suffered as almost a paraphrase of the original text. Text of the Bible, p. 132-133

3. Alexandrian Type is preserved according to Westcott and Hort in Codex Ephraemi, Codex Regius, Codex 33, and in the Coptic versions. The Alexandrian fathers were Clement, Origen, Dionysius, Didymus and Cyril. These texts benefitted from the intellectual philosophical training centers and libraries in their region. These texts had a great deal of polish and style in language. Text of the Bible, p. 133

4. Neutral Type is the manuscript group in the opinion of Westcott and Hort that is most free from corruption and mixture coming nearest to the text of the autographs. It is best represented by Codex Vaticanus followed by Codex Sinaiticus. When these two manuscripts agree it is closest to the original manuscript. Text of the Bible, p. 133-135

Twentieth Century Evaluation of Westcott and Hort

2. John Burgon (1813-1888)
defended the Textus Receptus claiming Sinaiticus, Vaticanus and Codex Bezae "are three of the most scandalously corrupt copies." Burgon's defense of the existing Textus Receptus was not made on grounds of study, but on the assumption that claimed: "God would not have permitted so many errors in such an important text that had been around for so many centuries [believing that inerrancy extended down to the Textus Receptus]." Text of the Bible, p. 135-136

2. F. Scrivener and G. Salmon
criticized Westcott and Hort because they felt more weight should have been given to Western readings. While critical of this one area they concluded Westcott and Hort's work was epoch making and doubtless the purest and oldest text that could be attained at that time. Text of the Bible, p. 137

3. Bernard Weiss (827-1918)
having produced his own three volume Greek Testament he approached differing readings subjectively "in accord with what he deemed to be the most appropriate meaning in the text." He developed his own 5 rules for decision making coming to the conclusion in the end that the best Greek text was Codex Vaticanus being in agreement with Westcott and Hort in that selection. Although he used different standards he came up with a similar result from his lifetime study. Text of the Bible, p. 137

4. Hermann von Soden (1852-1914)
produced a Greek text by dividing all known manuscripts into three classifications: 1) manuscripts containing the entire New Testament with or without the Book of Revelation; 2) manuscripts containing the Gospels; 3) manuscripts containing Acts and the Epistles with or without the Book of Revelation. Within each class he listed all as to date and contents. His conclusions bolstered his support for the Textus Receptus. His work was accepted by some Roman Catholic scholars. Text of the Bible, p. 139-143

5. Heinrich Vogels
prepared a Greek Testament with the Latin Vulgate in 1922 which is close to the Textus Receptus giving weight to Old Latin material and Syriac versions. Text of the Bible, p. 143

6. Augustine Merk
published a Greek and Latin New Testament through the Pontifical Biblical Institute in Rome in 1933 relying on Von Soden's methods. Text of the Bible, p. 143

7. Jose Bover
[a Roman Catholic scholar] published a bilingual Greek Spanish text in 1943 departing from the Alexandrian texts in favor of the Western. Text of the Bible, p. 143-144

8. Eberhard Nestle (1851-1913)
produced a Greek Testament in 1898 based on a comparison of the texts edited by Tischendorf, Westcott and Hort, and Weiss. Where these three texts agree this is the Nestle text. Later editions published are published by Erwin Nestle and Kurt Aland which are state of the nineteenth century scholarship. This is the most widely used pocket edition of the Greek New Testament in publication. Text of the Bible, p. 144

An early important Alexandrian textual scholar was Zenodotus of Ephesus (325-234 B.C.). He made textual restorations for the text of Homer's Iliad and Odyssey. Another important textual scholar was Aristophanes of Byzantium (257-180 B.C.) who was one of the first to employ a variety of critical symbols to indicate his opinion about the condition of certain texts. His pupil was Aristarchus of Samothrace (220-144 B.C.) who continued the habit of utilizing editorial symbols.

Philo Judaeus and other early Alexandrian church fathers were influenced by the philological scholarship in their city. They applied that knowledge to their interpretation, methods of exegesis, and textual criticism to their study of Scripture. Text of the New Testament, p. 150

Modern Textual Criticism
Because of manuscript discoveries found after the work of Westcott and Hort some changes have been introduced. Canon Streeter published a four volume work on the origin of the Gospels in 1924. Professor Metzger says Streeter builds on Westcott and Hort's classic work. Streeter emphasized the importance of isolating the forms of text which were current at the great centers of ancient Christianity. The relationship between the local texts used in the five Churches of Alexandria, Caesarea, Antioch, Italy, Gaul and Carthage corresponded to the spread of texts throughout the eastern Mediterranean world.

Streeter used three rules for coming to textual conclusions. 1) In weighing the among of external evidence consider primarily not the quantity or age of the manuscripts, but the number and geographic distribution of the ancient local texts in which it can be traced. 2) Cite manuscripts not in alphabetical or numerical order, but in groups corresponding to local texts. 3) Consider the concurrence of different lines of ancient and independent evidence. Text of the New Testament, p. 169-173

Modern Practice of New Testament Textual Criticism

2. Geographical distribution of the witnesses that agree is an important evidence.

3. Genealogical relationships between the manuscripts and families of witnesses.

Internal Evidence
1. In general the more difficult reading from the standpoint of the scribe is given more weight. The more difficult reading would be less likely to occur as a temptation for the scribe to make an alteration which were usually done in an apologetic manner.

2. The shorter reading is to be preferred.

3. Since scribes often attempt to bring divergent passages into harmony with one another that reading which stands in dissidence is to be preferred.

1. Geisler and Nix
say of the 20,000 lines in the New Testament there are only 40 over which there is any disagreement. They point to the Iliad which has 15,600 lines with 764 in question. They point to the national epic of India which has 250,000 lines and 26,000 lines that are corrupted. For example if one single word is misspelled in 3,000 manuscripts this is counted as 3,000 variants. In speaking of the content of these variants they said they are "merely mechanical matters such as spelling or style." They calculated problems variants at 1.67% of the text. Evidence that Demands a Verdict, p. 44

2. Dr. Benjamin Warfield
says of the problem readings in the Greek New Testament that "they are of so little importance that their adoption or rejection would cause no appreciable difference in the sense of the passages where they occur." Warfield says our New Testament "has been transmitted to us with no, or next to no variation." In speaking of the worst examples of flawed manuscripts, "the real text of the sacred writers is competently exact nor is one article of faith or moral precept neither perverted or lost." Evidence that Demands a Verdict, p. 44

3. Dr. Philip Schaff
says of these small number of variants not one of the variations altered "an article of faith or precept of duty which is not abundantly sustained by other and undoubted passages." In addressing the process of addressing faulty manuscripts, "we possess so many manuscripts, and we are aided by so many versions, that we are never left to the need of conjecture as the means of removing errata." Evidence that Demands a Verdict, p. 44

4. J.A. Hort
in speaking of the content of the variants said they deal with in a great part "changes of order and other comparative trivialities." Evidence that Demands a Verdict, p. 44

5. F.F. Bruce
has said "it is doubtful whether there is any reading in the New Testament which requires it to be conjecturally emended." Evidence that Demands a Verdict, p. 45

6. Sir Frederic Kenyon
said "One word of warning already referred to, must be emphasized in conclusion. No fundamental doctrine of the Christian faith rests on a disputed reading." He went on to underscore his comment, "it cannot be to strongly asserted that in the substance the text of the Bible is certain: especially is the case of the New Testament." In speaking of new manuscript discoveries he said, "it is reassuring at the end to find that the general result of all these discoveries and all this study is to strengthen the proof of the authenticity of the Scriptures, and our conviction that we have in our hands, in substantial integrity, the veritable Word of God." Evidence that Demands a Verdict, p. 45, 46

7. Dr. Gleason Archer
said, "A careful study of the variants of the various earliest manuscripts reveals that none of them affects a single doctrine of Scripture." Evidence that Demands a Verdict, p. 45

8. Dr. Millar Burrows
of Yale University says, "Another result of comparing New Testament Greek with the language of the papyri is an increase of confidence in the accurate transmission of the text of the New Testament itself." In speaking of the net result of the process of transmission he said the texts "have been transmitted with remarkable fidelity, so that there need be no doubt whatever regarding the teaching conveyed in them." Evidence that Demands a Verdict, p. 46