How We Got Our Bible Part 3 -- Preservation and Transmission

Grateful acknowledgement to Dr. Richard Keltner and Pastor Daryl Hilbert for some of the material upon which this study is based.

INTRODUCTION

• From the original autograph to the modern Bible extends an important link in the overall chain from “God to us” known as transmission. (Geisler & Nix, General Introduction to the Bible)

• It provides a credible answer to the question: Do Bible scholars today possess an accurate copy of the autographs?

• In support of the integrity of the transmission, an overwhelming number of ancient documents must be presented.

• There are not only countless manuscripts to support the integrity of the Bible (including the Old Testament since the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls), but a study of the procedures of preparation and preservation of the biblical manuscript copies reveals the fidelity of the transmission process itself.

• For the New Testament, beginning with the second century ancient versions and manuscript fragments and continuing with abundant quotations of the Fathers and thousands of manuscript copies from that time to the modern versions of the Bible, there is virtually an unbroken line of testimony.

• In fact, it may be concluded that no major document from antiquity comes into the modern world with such evidence of its integrity as does the Bible.

ORIGINAL AUTOGRAPHS

• “Original autographs” are the very originals that were penned by the prophets and apostles or their amanuenses (i.e. scribal secretary) – (Barach) Jer. 36:27-32; (Tertius) Rom. 16:22; (Paul) Gal.6:11. These are the writings that were under the divine process of inspiration. When the inspired autographs went from the originals to copies, the process is referred to as “transmission.”

• It is almost universal among evangelical orthodox individuals and churches to make a distinction between inspiration and transmission in their position and doctrinal statements.

– We do not assert that the common text, but only that the original autographic text, was inspired. (Archibald A. Hodge and Benjamin B. Warfield, Inspiration, pg. 42)

– The original autographs of the Scriptures were infallibly correct. (John R. Rice, Our God-Breathed Book -- The Bible, pg. 88)

– The supernatural power involved in the process of inspiration, and in the result of inspiration, was exerted only in the original production of the sixty-six Canonical books of the Bible (2 Pet. 1:20-21; 2 Pet. 3:15-16). Statement of Faith, Trinitarian Bible Society

– Thus, the orthodox doctrine that the Bible is the infallible, inerrant Word of God in its original manuscripts has maintained itself from the first century to the present. (Geisler, N. L., & Nix, W. E. A General Introduction to the Bible, pg. 156).

• The copies that we possess cannot be technically said to be inspired. However, in conformity to God's purpose, promise, and command, faithful and accurate copies were made (Deut. 17:18; Prov. 25:1) and, through God's special providential care, His Word has been preserved in all generations (Psalm 119:152; Matt. 5:18; 24:35; Luke 16:17; 1 Pet. 1:25). Thus, our copies can be considered “virtually” inspired.

PRESERVATION OF TRANSMISSION

• The Masoretic Text

– Masoretes were Jewish textual scribes of the fifth through ninth centuries A.D. who standardized the Hebrew text of the Old Testament.

– The Masoretes understood the significance of God’s revelation to man in the form of the Scriptures. Because of such understanding, they were meticulous in copying the Scriptures. In fact, they had incorporated rules to guarantee that there were no errors in the transmission process.

• The Masoretes were so convinced that when they finished transcribing a MS they had an exact duplicate that they would give the new copy equal authority.

• Sir Frederic Kenyon says: “The Masoretes undertook a number of calculation which do not enter into the ordinary sphere of textual criticism. They numbered the verses, words, and letters of every book. They calculated the middle word and the middle letter of each. …These trivialities, as we may rightly consider them, had yet the effect of securing minute attention to the precise transmission of the text: and they are but an excessive manifestation of a respect for the Sacred Scriptures which in itself deserves nothing but praise. The Masoretes were indeed anxious that not one jot nor tittle, not one smallest letter nor one tiny part of a letter, of the Law should pass away or be lost."

• The Lord Jesus Christ and His Apostles received the preserved and standard Hebrew text of the Old Testament as Scripture (Luke 4:16-19,21; 2 Tim. 3:16). This serves as our pattern for accepting the historically received text of the New Testament also as Scripture. (2 Pet. 3:15)

• Comparison to Classical Greek Manuscripts:

– In contrast to the total number of the more than 5,300 partial and complete New Testament manuscripts known today, the Iliad of Homer has only 643, The Peloponnesian War of Thucydides only eight, while Tacitus’s works rely on but two manuscripts. (Geisler & Nix, A General Introduction to the Bible)

– The abundance of biblical evidence would lead one to conclude with Sir Frederic Kenyon that “the Christian can take the whole Bible in his hand and say without fear or hesitation that he holds in it the true word of God, handed down without essential loss from generation to generation throughout the centuries.”

– Or, as he goes on to say, The number of manuscripts of the New Testament, of early translations from it, and of quotations from it in the oldest writers of the Church, is so large that it is practically certain that the true reading of every doubtful passage is preserved in some one or other of these ancient authorities. This can be said of no other ancient book in the world.

– In addition there are more than 19,000 ancient New Testament manuscripts in Latin, Syriac, Armenian, and other language versions, many of which predate the known Greek manuscripts.

NEW TESTAMENT MANUSCRIPTS

• Papyri

– A New Testament papyrus is a copy of a portion of the scripture made on papyrus. Papyrus is a brittle kind of paper made out of the papyrus plant, which grows in Egypt.

– To date, over 130 such papyri are known. In general, they are considered the earliest witnesses to the original text of the New Testament, typically dating from the 2^nd and 3^rd centuries. Because of the fragile nature of papyrus, most of them are simply fragments. Most of those surviving early texts only have a few verses on them.

• Uncials

– Uncial is a majuscule (written entirely in capital letters) manuscript commonly used from the 4th to 8th centuries AD by Latin and Greek scribes. These were generally written on parchment (sheep skin) or vellum (calf skin), and thus have been preserved much better than papyrus.

– Parchment had some obvious drawbacks: to transcribe the entire NT onto parchment would require the killing of a good sized flock of sheep or goats! Therefore, parchment manuscripts could only be commissioned by those who were very wealthy.

– Not only were these manuscripts written in all capital letters, but there were no spaces between the words and no punctuation to speak of.

– Three of the most famous uncial New Testament manuscripts are the fourth century manuscripts Sinaiticus and Vaticanus and the fifth century Codex Alexandrius.

– There are about 275 known uncial manuscripts.

• Minuscules

– A New Testament minuscule is a manuscript written in a cursive Greek script. The text is mostly lowercase, with some uppercase. There are spaces between words and some degree of punctuation.

– This style was common from the 9^th century on.

– Many of these were written on parchment, but after the 12^th century, the process for making high-quality paper had become sufficiently advanced that it was commonly used instead.

– There are about 3,000 cursive New Testament manuscripts known today.

Conclusion

• One of the most amazing testimonies to Scripture’s truth is its preservation over thousands of years despite sometimes intense efforts to destroy it.

• Jesus Christ made an amazing prophesy about this preservation of His Word: “Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away” (Mark 13:31; also Matthew 24:35).

Saturday, February 17, 2018

How We Got Our Bible, Part 3 -- Preservation and Transmission

INTRODUCTION

• From the original autograph to the modern Bible extends an important link in the overall chain from “God to us” known as transmission. (Geisler & Nix, General Introduction to the Bible)

• It provides a credible answer to the question: Do Bible scholars today possess an accurate copy of the autographs?

• In support of the integrity of the transmission, an overwhelming number of ancient documents must be presented.

• For the New Testament, beginning with the second century ancient versions and manuscript fragments and continuing with abundant quotations of the Fathers and thousands of manuscript copies from that time to the modern versions of the Bible, there is virtually an unbroken line of testimony.

• In fact, it may be concluded that no major document from antiquity comes into the modern world with such evidence of its integrity as does the Bible.

ORIGINAL AUTOGRAPHS

• It is almost universal among evangelical orthodox individuals and churches to make a distinction between inspiration and transmission in their position and doctrinal statements.

– We do not assert that the common text, but only that the original autographic text, was inspired. (Archibald A. Hodge and Benjamin B. Warfield, Inspiration, pg. 42)

– The original autographs of the Scriptures were infallibly correct. (John R. Rice, Our God-Breathed Book -- The Bible, pg. 88)

– The supernatural power involved in the process of inspiration, and in the result of inspiration, was exerted only in the original production of the sixty-six Canonical books of the Bible (2 Pet. 1:20-21; 2 Pet. 3:15-16). Statement of Faith, Trinitarian Bible Society

– Thus, the orthodox doctrine that the Bible is the infallible, inerrant Word of God in its original manuscripts has maintained itself from the first century to the present. (Geisler, N. L., & Nix, W. E. A General Introduction to the Bible, pg. 156).

PRESERVATION OF TRANSMISSION

• The Masoretic Text

– Masoretes were Jewish textual scribes of the fifth through ninth centuries A.D. who standardized the Hebrew text of the Old Testament.

– The Masoretes understood the significance of God’s revelation to man in the form of the Scriptures. Because of such understanding, they were meticulous in copying the Scriptures. In fact, they had incorporated rules to guarantee that there were no errors in the transmission process.

• The Masoretes were so convinced that when they finished transcribing a MS they had an exact duplicate that they would give the new copy equal authority.

• The Lord Jesus Christ and His Apostles received the preserved and standard Hebrew text of the Old Testament as Scripture (Luke 4:16-19,21; 2 Tim. 3:16). This serves as our pattern for accepting the historically received text of the New Testament also as Scripture. (2 Pet. 3:15)

• Comparison to Classical Greek Manuscripts:

– In addition there are more than 19,000 ancient New Testament manuscripts in Latin, Syriac, Armenian, and other language versions, many of which predate the known Greek manuscripts.

NEW TESTAMENT MANUSCRIPTS

• Papyri

– A New Testament papyrus is a copy of a portion of the scripture made on papyrus. Papyrus is a brittle kind of paper made out of the papyrus plant, which grows in Egypt.

• Uncials

– Uncial is a majuscule (written entirely in capital letters) manuscript commonly used from the 4th to 8th centuries AD by Latin and Greek scribes. These were generally written on parchment (sheep skin) or vellum (calf skin), and thus have been preserved much better than papyrus.

– Parchment had some obvious drawbacks: to transcribe the entire NT onto parchment would require the killing of a good sized flock of sheep or goats! Therefore, parchment manuscripts could only be commissioned by those who were very wealthy.

– Not only were these manuscripts written in all capital letters, but there were no spaces between the words and no punctuation to speak of.

– Three of the most famous uncial New Testament manuscripts are the fourth century manuscripts Sinaiticus and Vaticanus and the fifth century Codex Alexandrius.

– There are about 275 known uncial manuscripts.

• Minuscules

– A New Testament minuscule is a manuscript written in a cursive Greek script. The text is mostly lowercase, with some uppercase. There are spaces between words and some degree of punctuation.

– This style was common from the 9th century on.

– Many of these were written on parchment, but after the 12th century, the process for making high-quality paper had become sufficiently advanced that it was commonly used instead.

– There are about 3,000 cursive New Testament manuscripts known today.

Conclusion

• One of the most amazing testimonies to Scripture’s truth is its preservation over thousands of years despite sometimes intense efforts to destroy it.

• Jesus Christ made an amazing prophesy about this preservation of His Word: “Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away” (Mark 13:31; also Matthew 24:35).

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Baptism

– This style was common from the 9^th century on.

– Many of these were written on parchment, but after the 12^th century, the process for making high-quality paper had become sufficiently advanced that it was commonly used instead.