“Ancient Words, Ever True” – 7

 

 

                             THE TRANSMISSION OF THE TEXT OF THE BIBLE

 

1.                  What amazing claim do the following passages make for the scriptures?

 

a.                   Isaiah 40:6, 8 –

 

b.                  I Peter 1:23-25 –

 

c.                   Matthew 24:35 –

 

2.                  We can easily see why this is no small claim.

 

a.                   We have ____ _________________ manuscripts of the Bible.

 

b.                  Obviously over time the materials would ____________________.

 

c.                   During times of __________________, manuscripts were probably destroyed.

 

d.                  Sometimes practices of believers added to the difficulty.

 

i.                    ______________ regulations demanded that books no longer suitable for use be destroyed so that they would not fall into perverted hands and then be used for unholy purposes.

 

ii.                  The _____________ __________ kept them from the hands of the masses, thinking that in the hands of the common people the scriptures “would do more harm than good.”

 

3.                  As we learned in an earlier lesson, the variety of writing materials which were developed and used, the numerous copies and translations, and the climate in which they were spread and kept, contributed to the passing along of the sacred writings.

 

4.                  There is evidence that the text of the Old Testament has been faithfully transmitted to us.

 

a.                   Three events endangered the existence of the Hebrew rolls: the destruction of Jerusalem in 586 B.C.; the order by Antiochus Ephiphanes in 167 B.C.; and the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus in 70 A.D.

 

b.                  When a copy of a Bible book was desired, a person either made a copy of someone else’s copy, or employed a ____________ (one who writes) to do it for him.

 

c.                   Despite great care, mistakes understandably crept into the resulting manuscripts.

 

i.                    Some changes were ________________ made.  For example, where the original text read “God” the word “Lord’ was sometimes added to make it read “Lord God.”

 

ii.                  _________________ changes are more numerous.

(1)               Sometimes there was a failure to see the ____________ of the passage. (Cf. Amos 6:12; Ps.  73:4)

(2)               There were mistakes due to the _________ – things like transposition of letters or words, or confusing one letter for another, or repetitions or omissions.

(3)               There could be errors due to the _________. (cf. Psalm 100:3)

(4)               Sometimes there was a failure of _____________ where the scribe, trying to remember the thought, used the wrong word. (Cf. Jer. 27:1, 3)

(5)               Errors could, of course, sometimes be due to _______________ or ignorance.  (Cf. 1 Sam. 13:1 might have been put “Saul reigned one year” when the correct reading was “Saul was forty years old.”

 

iii.                Notice that most of these mistakes are _____________, and most could be corrected by comparing copies or translations.

(1)               Some variant readings had doctrinal motivations behind them.

(2)               For example, scribes sometimes thought that by making changes they were protecting the majesty of God.

 

d.                  Some of these very practices in copying the scriptures helped to ensure the faithful transmission of the word.

 

i.                    Among the Jews there was a ______________ for the text.

 

ii.                  At the same time as the events which endangered the rolls were happening, the Jews were giving emphasis to the ______________ of Scripture.  They divided it into sections which were to be read publicly each year.

 

iii.                _____________ were charged with preserving the traditional text.  The Massoretes (who worked c. 600 - 900 A.D.), for example, were so meticulous that they even counted the number of letters each book used.

 

e.                   Materials like the Dead Sea Scrolls have confirmed the fidelity of the Masoretic text.

 

i.                    Gleason Archer showed that two copies of Isaiah are word for word with our standard Hebrew Bible more than 95 percent of the time, and the variations are mainly obvious slips of the pen or variations in spelling.

ii.                  Another writer has said, “It is a matter of wonder that through something like a thousand years the text underwent so little alteration.”  (Burrows)

 

5.                  One big difference between the transmission of the O.T. text and the transmission of the New Testament is that there are many more available manuscripts of the N.T. – more resources to be used to investigate the text.

 

a.                   We again have no original manuscripts, but some existing copies do reach back to the second and third centuries.

 

b.                  Carson said we have over 2100 lectionary manuscripts, over 2700 minuscules, over 260 uncials, and about 80 papyrus documents.  Only about 50 of these contain the entire N.T.

 

c.                   A few years ago Bruce Metzger catalogued 5366 manuscripts.  Today the number is more than that.

 

d.                  There are nearly 10,000 manuscripts of versions.

 

e.                   Obviously copies of the text of the New Testament were multiplied and spread widely.

 

6.                  Similar copying mistakes are, of course, even more observable because of the larger number of witnesses.

 

a.                   Intentional changes range from scribal “explanations” to clarify the text all the way to “corrections” to harmonize the text with what a copyist thought.

 

b.                  Unintentional mistakes might take the form of: repetition, the omission of a word or letter, vowel changes, putting letters in the wrong order, combining readings, rounding out phrases, or other expressions of humanness.

 

7.                  Since we do not possess the original manuscripts, but do have multiple witnesses which vary slightly from each other, how do we establish a text?

a.                   The science of _____________ _____________ is employed to try to arrive at the original text.

b.                  The first and most important thing is to examine the _____________ existing manuscripts.

c.                   Then, we can examine the ____________ which were translated directly from Greek.

d.                  We can compare this with the _______________ in the writings of the early church fathers and others.

e.                   When we have applied these tools to the variations, only about 50 are left that are significant, and most of them have no bearing on teaching.  Always, when a doctrinal point is involved, there are other passages that teach on the subject.