“Ancient Words, Ever True” – 9

 

 

                   UNDERSTANDING THE CONCEPT OF TEXTUAL CRITICISM

 

 

1.                  It has been our position that any variations which exist among the manuscripts do not erode our confidence in the text; rather, they can end up reinforcing it.  One of the reasons is the work we have referred to as “textual criticism.”

 

2.                  Textual Criticism the effort to ____________ the original Greek text.

 

a.                   We only have two options if we seek to know what the text is.

i.                    Select one manuscript and make it the standard.

ii.                  Compare a number of witnesses to discover what the original likely was.

 

b.                  The work we are discussing is what has to be done if that latter option is considered the proper course.

 

3.                  Though they were not the first to approach this task, nor has their thinking remained the last word on these matters, two of the best known scholars in this field were B.F. Westcott and J.A. Hort.

 

a.                   They worked together meticulously over a 30 year period to publish a reconstructed Greek text in 1881, along with notes on the readings they settled on and a detailed discussion of the principles they used to arrive at these conclusions.

 

b.                  They placed all their efforts in the context of the overall reliability of the text: “The proportion of words virtually accepted on all hands as raised above doubt is very great, not less, on a rough computation, than seven eighths of the whole.  The remaining eighth therefore, formed in great part by changes of order and other comparative trivialities, constitutes the whole area of criticism.”  They concluded by saying that “the amount of what can in any sense be called substantial variation is but a small fraction of the whole residuary variation, and can hardly form more than a thousandth part of the entire text.  Since there is reason to suspect that an exaggerated impression prevails as to the extent of possible textual corruption in the New Testament...we desire to make it clearly understood beforehand how much of the New Testament stands in no need of a textual critic’s labours.”  (Cited by Lightfoot, How We Got the Bible, 44)

 

c.                   The approaches they took to resolving the difficulties they did find provoked a great deal of thought and discussion.

i.                    They theorized that there are ________________, or families of manuscripts, and that this explains many of the variants among them.

ii.                  They believed some manuscripts are automatically ___________.  An example would be accuracy in copying.

iii.                They thought that the _____________ of the evidence is more significant than the quantity.

iv.                Their view was that it is better to put your trust in ___________, but ____________ manuscripts.

 

4.                  Those who disagreed most strongly with their conclusions argued that Divine providence would not have allowed what they espoused to take place.

 

5.                  Many important discoveries of materials which have provided further evidence were made after their time.

 

6.                  In general, scholars now believe that the____________ ______________ (content) should carry more weight than the text types in determining which readings are more reliable. (The Bible Almanac, 76)

 

7.                  The current theory and practice of textual criticism involves things like this:

 

a.                   The age of the text of a manuscript is more significant than the age of the manuscript itself.  The older reading is to be preferred because it is closer to the original.

 

b.                  Readings supported by ancient witnesses, however, especially from different groups, are generally preferable.

 

c.                   The reconstruction of the history of a variant is basic to judgment about it.

 

d.                  The quality, not quantity of witnesses, is mor important in determining a reading.

 

e.                   Identity of readings, particularly in errors, implies identity of origin.

 

f.                   The shorter reading is generally preferable.

 

g.                  Readings which bear the earmarks of stylistic or other improvements are suspect.

 

h.                  Variants combining the appearance of improvement with the absence of its reality are suspect.

 

i.                    The reading is preferred which best suits the author’s characteristic tendencies.

 

j.                    The reading is preferred which best explains the origin of all other variants in a given passage.

 

k.                  In parallel texts differing readings are preferred.

 

l.                    The more difficult reading is to be preferred, because scribes were more apt to smooth out difficult readings.

 

m.                The reading with the widest geographical support is to be preferred, because it is believed that such manuscripts are less likely to have influenced each other.  (These points are summarized by Max Patterson, An Outline History of the English Bible, 38-39)

 

8.                  Don’t forget these important points about the whole process:

 

a.                   All these questions about the text of the Bible occur “out in the open.”

 

b.                  Of all the variants, only a few are significant, and most have no bearing on the teaching of the New Testament or on the meaning of the text.

 

c.                   Always, when a doctrinal point is involved, there are other passages that teach the same thing and have never been under question.