Evidences Class

N.T. Greek Manuscript Evidence

1. What about all the copy errors in the New Testament? Wasn’t the transmission just like playing telephone?

200,000 variants or errors in 10,000 places !!!

The Wrong Idea

Colossians 4:16 (ESV)And when this letter has been read among you, have it also read in the church of the Laodiceans; and see that you also read the letter from Laodicea.2 Peter 3:14-16 (ESV) And count the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him, as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters.

Which copy is inspired???

Number of copies …Author Book Date Written Earliest Copies Time Gap No. of CopiesHomer Iliad 800 B.C. c. 400 B.C. c. 400 years 643Herodotus History 480-425 B.C. c. A.D. 900 c. 1350 years 8Thucydides History 460-400 B.C. c. A.D. 900 c. 1300 years 8Plato 400 B.C. c. A.D. 900 c. 1300 years 7Caesar Gallic Wars 100-44 B.C. c. A.D. 900 c. 1000 years 10Tacitus Annals A.D. 100 c. A.D. 1100 c. 1000 years 20

Date Written Earliest Copies Time Gap No. of CopiesA.D. 50-100 c. 114 (fragment) 50+ years 5366

c. 200 (books) 100 yearsc. 250 (most of NT) 150 yearsc. 325 (Complete NT) 225 years

New TestamentBook

AlexandrianWestern

Byzantine

3 Different Text Groupings

Western Text

Byzantine Text – KJV & NKJV

Alexandrian Text – All other Translations

Oldest New Testament FragmentJohn Rylands Papyrus1st half of the 2nd century

Pilate said to them, "Take him yourselves and judge him by your own law." The Jews said to him, "It is not lawful for us to put anyone to death." This was to fulfill the word that Jesus had spoken to show by what kind of death he was going to die. So Pilate entered his headquarters again and called Jesus and said to him, "Are you the King of the Jews?" (John 18:31-33 ESV)

Bodmer Papyrus (3rd Century)Contains parts of the Gospel of John

Similar to our oldest two Bibles the Codex Vaticanus and Codex Sinaiticus (most like Alexandrian and Western)

Chester Beatty Papyri (3rd Century)Fragments of several N.T. books

100 Papyri

Uncials (3rd to 10th Century)

Codex VaticanusEarliest complete N.T. are Alexandrian

Uncials (Alexandrian and Western)

PAULASERVANTOFCHRISTJESUSCALLEDTOBEANAPOSTLESETAPARTFORTHEGOSPELOFGODWHICHHEPROMISEDBEFOREHANDTHROUGHHISPROPHETSINTHEHOLYSCRIPTURESCONCERNINGHISSON

280 Uncials

Minuscules (9th Century on)

• Byzantine• Closing in on 3000

AlexandrianWestern

Byzantine

2. But aren’t there are so many text variants (200,000)?

Vast majority are unintentional

• Misspellings

• Interpolations of words and lines

• Orthographic variants (theater and theatre)

If a certain word in a certain verse is misspelled in 587 copies, that would count as 587 errors or variants.

3. But there are intentional errors too. What about them?

Mark 1:1-3 (ESV) The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. As it is written in Isaiah the prophet (the prophets; NKJV), "Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way, the voice of one crying in the wilderness: 'Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight,' "

Mal. 3:1Isa. 40:3

Textual critics generally prefer the more difficult reading. Do you agree?

Typical Small Differences

John 3:13 (ESV) No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man (who is in heaven).

John 8:57 (ESV) So the Jews said to him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?” (has Abraham seen you)

John 9:35 (ESV) Jesus heard that they had cast him out, and having found him he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” (Son of God)

4. So how certain are we about the New Testament text?

• 97-99 percent certain

• 400 words

• 40 verses

• Little doctrinal significance

Problem Passages

2 Camps: NASB or KJV/NKJV

Best considered case-by-case

5. I’ve heard that Mark 16:9-20 is not in some Bibles?

Codex Vaticanus Codex Sinaiticus

Alexandrian Text

But ….CodexVaticanus

All other Manuscripts include Latin Vulgate Irenaeus mentions in the 2nd Century Space in both Codex Vaticanus and

Sinaiticus (??) as if something is missing Many scholars say internal evidence is

against it (33% of the Greek words not used anywhere else in Mark)

McGarvey provides a good argument for its inclusion

My best guess --- Scripture but possibly not written by Mark

6. What about John 7:53-8:11 (the woman caught in adultery)?

Most agree that the story is factual

One early manuscript (Western Text)

No other Greek manuscripts till the 8th Century

The Latin Vulgate

Included in Luke in some manuscripts

Scripture but not written by John

7. What about 1 John 5:7?

Only 4 or 5 very late Greek manuscripts

Watch for the NKJV text note – NU and M text omit (numerous variations in Revelations --- 13 minor variations in Rev. 22)

1 John 5:7 (NKJV) For there are three that bear witness in heaven: the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit; and these three are one.

NKJV follows the KJV text too strictly

8. What about Acts 8:37?

Acts 8:37 (NKJV – Most translations omit) Then Philip said, "If you believe with all your heart, you may." And he answered and said, "I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God."

NKJV Note - NU and M text do not include verse

No early MS evidence --- Only later Greek MS

J. W. McGarvey concurs but provides a lengthy defense for the teaching

9. I’ve heard that there is some dispute about Matt. 19:9. Some seem to think it has doctrinal significance.Matthew 19:9 (NKJV) And I say to you, whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery; and whoever marries her who is divorced commits adultery."

Not in the Codes Sinaiticus though it is present in some early MS

Matt. 5:32 includes the disputed phrase

Not smart to base a conjecture on that phrase being omitted !!!

How many horsemen did David capture, 1700 or 7000?

2 Sam. 8:4; 1 Chron. 18:4

How many baths, 2000 or 3000?

1 Kings 7:26; 2 Chron. 4:5

Was Ahaziah 22 or 42 when he began to reign?

2 Kings 8:26; 2 Chron. 22:1

Undoubtedly copyist errors. Numbers were difficult in Hebrew.

14

Used letters for numbers

Leters and word are differen.

Do not be too alarmed when you encounter number contradictions in the Old Testament (i.e. Differences between Ezra 2 and Neh. 7).

Further Canonicity Questions

10. Isn’t the Catholic Bible different than ours?

Yes and No.

Catholic Bibles contain the same 66 books as our Bibles. Often they will contain an additional 15 books written between 200 B.C. and 100 A.D. Only a smidgen was written after Christ (4 chapters in 2 Esdras).

11. Isn’t it right that Catholic doctrine depends on the Apocrypha?

Not very much.

These are Jewish books … Not Catholic books. They mostly consist of Jewish history, additions to the book of Daniel, warnings against idolatry, etc. There is no reference to confession, the so-called mass, transubstantiation, the priesthood, praying to Mary, etc.

12. How do you know that the Catholic Apocrypha isn’t Scripture?

Jesus didn’t consider it Scripture.Luke 24:44 (ESV) Then he said to them, "These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled." Jesus identifies the Tanakh as being Scripture.

Even though the New Testament is written after the Apocrypha … The New Testament never quotes the Apocrypha. The New Testament quotes the Old Testament on nearly every page.

13. But I thought Jude quoted from the Apocryphal book of Enoch???But not the Catholic Apocrypha !!!

Pseudepigraphal - Writings falsely ascribedJude refers to events written in the Assumption of Moses and the Book of Enoch. Neither is a direct quote. It likely just confirms the factual basis of a traditional story.

14. What about those suppressed New Testament books like the Gospel of Thomas and the Gospel of Judas?

Apocrypha means “things hidden” or “works that were not divinely inspired or authoritative”.

Not part of the Catholic Apocrypha !!!

Dan Brown Says:

The earlier gospels were outlawed, gathered up, and burned … Fortunately for historians some of the gospels Constantine attempted to eradicate managed to survive. The Dead Sea Scrolls were found in the 1950’s hidden in a cave near Qumran in the Judean desert. And, of course, the Coptic scrolls in 1945 at Nag Hammadi.

Counterfeit Gospels

Mary Phillip Thomas Judas

• Written in the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th Centuries• Not authentic• Few copies (none in the Dead Sea Scrolls!!!)

From The Gospel of Thomas

Peter: Let Mary go away from us because women are not worthy of lifeJesus: Lo, I shall lead her to make her male, so that she too may become a living spirit, resembling you males. For every woman who makes herself a male will enter into the kingdom of heaven.