Tuesday, December 31, 2013

How we got our Bible



A SHORT HISTORY OF THE AV NEW TESTAMENT


These articles were first published in Waymarks from August 1993 to date. They may therefore appear repetitive and disjointed, for which I apologize.

It has been argued by some Bible critics that Christians were not well educated in the 1st Century AD and therefore they were not able to copy the New Testament documents without making many errors. They relied, therefore, on unconverted monks and scribes. We regard this as misinformation.

The New Testament documents reveal that reading was common in the 1st. century AD, as the following verses indicate:

Have ye not read? (Matt.12:3; 19:4); Have ye never read? (Matt.2l:l6); Thus the chief priests, Pharisees and Scribes could read.
 The elders could read (Matt.21:42);
 The Sadducees could read (Matt.22:31);
 A certain lawyer could read (Luke lO:26);
 The Jews could read (John l9:26);
The Ethiopian also (Acts 8:28); and Philip (Acts 8:3O.);were able to read.        
 The ministers of every synagogue could read (Acts l3:2l: 15:21);
Simon (Acts l5:l5); and the saints at Corinth could read (2Cor.l:15);
The saints at Ephesus (Eph.3:4); and the saints at Colosse (Col.4:,16); also could read.
at least some at Thessalonica were able to read. (1 Thes.5:27).
 All of these could read, and many more.

Many of those converted at Ephesus destroyed their Spiritist books (Acts l9:l9). Paul had many books and parchments (2 Tim.4:13). Peter, a Fisherman, could read and write. The apostles, elders and brethren wrote letters (Acts 15:23). The Corinthian believers wrote letters (1 Cor.7:1; 18:.3). Others were used of God to write the books of the New Testament. These were not all intellectuals and scholars. We conclude that the standard of literacy was high in Apostolic days.
 It is quite wrong to suggest that most believers were illiterate in those days.
Literacy was high throughout the Roman Empire and Grammar Schools were found in every city. Roman children however were normally taught at home and those of the ruling classes learned to read and write in Greek as well as Latin.

Early in church history the centre of Christian activity and missionary endeavour moved from Jerusalem to Antioch (Acts 11:19). Antioch was a highly cultured city of some half a million souls. It was the third largest city in the Roman Empire. Being in Syria. the language was Syriac ( very closely related to Aramaic). The New Testament Scriptures were first written in Greek but a Syriac translation was made from the original manuscripts which is considered by reliable scholars to be a 1st Cent. or early 2nd Cent. work. (J.N.D. agrees). This translation is known as the Peshitta, of which copies are extant, and agree remarkably with the Received Text, and hence with the A.V.

Eusebius tells us that the Apostle John began to collect together the writings of our N.T. and his disciple Polycarp completed the task in the 2nd. century. The writers knew they were writing Scripture of course, even as they wrote it Peter confirms this,(2 Peter 3: 16)
 Believers did not need a convention of apostate clerics to tell them what was inspired of God and what wasn't.

The last of the New Testament writers was the apostle John.  Thus his writings completed the canon of Scripture and he began to collect all the N.T. writings together into one book.

Further developments from the 2nd Cent. AD

Believers were making their own copies from the available manuscripts, and believing in verbal inspiration, were very careful in their copying. Any individual mistakes would have been quickly remedied when they gathered together for their Bible studies

A complete Bible was available from the middle of the 2nd Century. All believers knew what was Scripture and what was not. At the this time, the first version (translation) was produced. It was the Syriac Peshitta. Antioch in Syria had become the Church Headquarters. Still in the 2nd. C, came the Italic, the Gallic, and the Celtic (British) versions in Old Latin, and the Greek Catholic version. The Old Latin version was used by the Waldensian believers for the next 1000 years. All these were based on a common text described as Byzantine, which is identical to the Received Text of the A.V. The Greek mss. which had lain hidden for 1000 years came to light subsequent to the fall of Constantinople in 1453. The vast majority of these Greek mss. were found to be Byzantine in character.
Erasmus used a representative selection of these to produce his first Greek N.T. in 1516. Stephens followed on in 1550, then Beza, 1598, and then Elzevir produced his Greek N.T. In 1624. This text became known as the Received Text and has been shown to be consistent with the text existing in the 2nd.C.
English versions were then produced from the works of Erasmus and Stephens, viz., Tyndale's (1534), Coverdale's (1535), Matthews' (1537), The Great Bible (1539), Geneva (1560) and Bishop's (1568). In 1611 the King James Bible (A.V.) was produced. This was not strictly a revision, but a fresh translation of the Stephens text and diligently compared with all the other versions including Luther's. The language was kept as close to Tyndale's as possible. From Apostolic days the Church has never been without a Bible. An unaltered one too, because God is faithful, Who promised to preserve His own word for all generations (Ps.12:6,7).
Wycliffe produced an English translation in 1380, but it was based on Jerome’s Latin Vulgate.

From the beginning falsified copies of Scripture were made. Paul warned against the many which corrupt the word of God (2Cor.2:17). Others who would send out letters with his forged signature on them (2Thes.2:2). The few of such which have been found come mainly from the hot sands of Egypt, far, far away from the true source of Byzantine Gospel activity. (Remember Byzantium is the old name for Constantinople.) These corrupted mss. became the basis for the Jesuit Rheims Bible of 1582 which was an attempt at thwarting the work of the A.V. translators.
Greisbach, Lachman, Tischendorf and Tregelles all produced Greek N.T.'s based on the Jesuit Bible and its two underlying mss., Vaticanus and Sinaiticus. Then, at the end of the 19th C., Westcott and Hort used the work of these men to concoct a further Greek Text for the Revised Bible. Almost all modern versions are based on the work of these latter two men, both of them Mariolators.
There are therefore in effect two bibles. The A.V. with its pedigree going back to the autographs and regarded by many as the Book of the Reformation; and all modern versions, which are essentially Romish.
We are thankful for all the Lord's servants down through the ages who have laboured to place in the hands of the Lord's people a Bible in their own tongue. For the English speaking nations tist work was completed in 1611 A.D. The meanings of the handful of archaic words can be discovered from any good modern dictionary.

Friday, December 20, 2013

More anti-Bible stuff from Precious Seed Magazine



John Bennett and 1 Thess 5: 22

There has been much discussion amongst commentators about how
the verse above ought to be translated in our English version. Should
we accept the KJV word ‘appearance’, when reality is meant rather
than a mere semblance? I suspect that when William Tyndale worked
on translating the Bible into English his desire was not to generate a
discussion of semantics. Too often we can use our command of the
English language as a cover for dabbling in things that we know we
would be better leaving alone. Sailing close to the wind can cause
even the experienced sailor to capsize!
It would be good if we allowed the simplicity of this verse to challenge
our hearts. Does what we see, our first impressions, give us a sense
of unease about pursuing a matter further? Is there an ‘appearance
of evil’? If so, let us heed the advice of Paul to Timothy and flee. We
can be reasonably sure that what is for our good will not have the
appearance of evil .̶       Precious Seed Magazine:Vol.68, issue 4, 2013, Editorial


Mr Bennett thinks it would be good if we allowed the simplicity of this verse to challenge our hearts. He has done his best to destroy its simplicity. The Authorized Version accurately translates eidos to read appearance. There are no Greek variants. Westcott and Hort therefore also had eidos in their Greek text. The word carries both literal or figurative interpretations depending on the context.
Bennett’s “semblance” introduces confusion. Semblance may mean “an assumed or unreal appearance; a copy or imitation” Thus if semblance were used in John 5: 37, where eidos appears we would have a seriously heretical statement.
And the Father himself, which hath sent me, hath borne witness of me. Ye have neither heard his voice at any time, nor seen his shape (eidos). We fear that Bennett  stands where these Jews, addressed by the Lord, stood. The next verse certainly condemns Bennett and his co-Bible haters: and ye have not his word abiding in you: for whom he hath sent, him ye believe not.

Bennett seems to think that Tyndale produced the Authorized Version. Certainly our AV Bible is largely based on Tyndale’s work, but if Bennett was only slightly interested in the truth he would know that Tyndale’s  translation of I Thessalonians 5: 22 reads “Abstain from all suspicious things.”

By suggesting that appearance implies semblance, Bennett mocks Christ.

Tuesday, December 17, 2013

Brethren apostasy continuing.



This is found on the Spencer Bridge Road Gospel Hall website, where one is invited to come and here (sic) the gospel.  If their message is accepted within popery then there can’t be much truth left in Northampton. The apostasy of this Northampton Brethren assembly has been previously documented.

“It gives me great pleasure to express my feelings about the impact you have had on all the staff and children over the years at The Good Shepherd Catholic Primary School.
Since you both started visiting us I believe we have developed a special kind of friendship. We all look forward to your visits and the children in particular see your Assemblies as something' special' and as a 'treat'. They always listen intently and very often relate the bible stories you have told them to their own lives and situation."
Anne Walker,
Head, The Good Shepherd Catholic Primary School”

Know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.  James 4: 4.

Tuesday, December 10, 2013

Come Ye Out....

The last but not least of John Ritchie's points of separation

Separation from Ecclesiastical Evil.

Not the least in importance — yet, alas! one of the last to be regarded — is the Lord's call to His people who are found in unholy associations, and alliances to "come out from among them, and be ye separate" (2Co_6:17). This applies very specially to religious associations and church fellowships, where the ungodly are admitted, and where doctrines and practices are tolerated and defended which are opposed to God and His Word (see 2Ti_2:18-21). Any circle in which the Word of God is disregarded, its authority set aside, and its power to deal with evils and evil doers rendered inoperative, is clearly no place for one who fears God and desires to obey Christ as Lord. At whatever cost, he must be separate from all that would hinder him from yielding himself up to God as His servant, and from obeying all that the Lord has commanded.
Practical Separation unto God.
Like any other truth of Holy Scripture, this truth of separation may be held and spoken of in theory, apart from the living manifestation of it in the life and ways. To make much of separation from evil doctrine and ecclesiastical evil, and yet to live in other forms of worldliness, is virtually to deny in the life what is taught by the lips. The truly separated one will live as becometh a "saint" at all times and in all circles. His person, his dress, his walk, his home, his business, will all bear the stamp of practical holiness or separation to God.

I believe what John Ritchie taught one hundred years ago. Do you? One thing is certain, none at J Richie Ltd. today appear to uphold his teaching.

Read on below

Thursday, December 05, 2013

A warning to the Bible mockers among us.



There are many Bible teachers who move among us who by rejecting the Authorized Bible and quoting from modern versions such as RV  NIV ESV etc, charge Christ with sin. 
These bible teachers (so-called) are enemies of the truth. It requires only one verse of Scripture to expose their deceit   
We give one verse, out of many, and it is not even necessary to state the textual evidence, which is plentiful for the received text behind the AV reading. 
If the Critical Text should be true, where would this leave Christ?

Mark these Bible corrupters and withdraw from them


Matthew 5: 22
But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment;

The words without a cause are missing from most modern versions. 

This is a very wicked omission, charging the Lord with sin, we read at Mark 3: 5,and when he had looked round about on them with anger, being grieved for the hardness of their hearts, he saith unto the man, stretch forth thy hand….