“Ancient Words, Ever True” – 8

 

 

                                    THE PRESERVATION OF THE SCRIPTURES

 

1.                  Our conviction throughout this study is that the providence of God has allowed us to have a Bible that is dependable, despite the part that man has played in its preservation and history.  This part of our investigation offers one of the best examples of what we mean.

 

2.                  The genius of the Lord is that his word has been preserved _____ ____ _____ ________.  That is, he preserved his word in such a way as to guarantee that the Bible would be the most investigated, studied, and debated book in the world, and that in this way it would stand the test of time.

 

a.                   Periods of persecution tended to contribute to the guarding of the ___________ of the text.

 

b.                  The legalizing of Christianity in the fourth centuries encouraged the _______________ of the text.  It was freely collected, copied and preserved.

 

c.                   When this brought about an increase in manuscript quantity, but with a decrease in quality, it finally resulted in deeper _______________ of the text.

 

3.                  This point may be observed in multiplication not only of copies but also of versions of the text of the Bible.  Consider some of them:

 

a.                   There are Targums (Aramaic paraphrases) of the Old Testament which date from the intertestamental period.  Other Jewish writings include the Mishnah (200 A.D.), the Talmud (400), and the Midrash.

 

b.                  The Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible (often identified as LXX) is from about 250 B.C.

 

c.                   The Old Latin version is from about 150 A.D.

 

d.                  The Syriac Peshitta was produce between 150 and 200 A.D., and about 350 manuscripts are still existing.

 

e.                   The Latin Vulgate was translated by Jerome between 384 and 404 B.C.  Over 8000 manuscripts remain.

 

f.                   John Wycliffe and his associates produced the first English Bible in 1380-1384.  There are now 170 known copies of the Wycliffe Bible.

 

g.                  The first book of importance to be printed was the Gutenburg Latin Vulgate of 1456-1457.

 

h.                  The Hebrew O.T. was printed in 1482 and Erasmus’ Greek N.T. was printed in 1516.

 

i.                    William Tyndale’s version of the English N.T. (based on Erasmus’ early Greek texts) was printed in 1525 and 1535.

 

4.                  At least two important things happened in this process that we should notice.

 

a.                   One, obviously, is that the number of witnesses which could be compared to verify the original text became more numerous.

 

b.                  The other is that if and when a mistake was made it was likely to be repeated in subsequent copies or printings – therefore, there was a growing need for investigation.

 

5.                  Three fields of science were developing which could help discover whether the text was indeed being preserved.

 

a.                   The science of _________________ served to provide rich testimony about the oldest texts of the Bible.

 

b.                  The science of _____________ _______________ seeks to use these witnesses to build certainty about what the original text said.

 

c.                   The science of _______________ clarifies the meaning of the words.  It can determine the origin of a root, its development, and its meaning at different times and places in history.

 

6.                  To go along with the materials we have mentioned in a previous lesson, important older manuscripts of the scriptures written on vellum and collected in book form have been discovered. 

 

a.                   Codex Alexandrinus, from just after 375 A.D., contains all the books of the Old and New Testaments (with some pages of the N.T. missing).  It is in the British Museum, having come to England as a gift to the king in 1627.

 

b.                  Codex Vaticanus, from 350 A.D., has the Greek text of the O.T. and the N.T. down to Hebrews 9:14.

 

c.                   Codex Sinaiticus, from before 350 A.D., has all the books of the N.T. and most of the Old.  It was found in 1859, and is also in the British Museum.

 

 

7.                  What this means is that the evidence is public: any variations or debates which have ever existed are very much out in the open, and may be investigated by anyone, friend or foe of the scriptures.

 

8.                  F. F. Bruce, a scholar who has written widely about the text of the Bible, says, “The variant readings about which any doubt remains among textual critics of the New Testament affect no material question of historic fact or of Christian faith and practice.”  (The New Testament Documents, 20)

 

9.                  Archaeologist Sir Frederic Kenyon said, “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 through the centuries.”