THE QUESTIONABLE FOUNDATION OF MODERN VERSIONS SINCE 1881

Since the publication of the Revised Version there began a trickle of new versions of the Bible, which steadily increased to the flood we have today. Few would deny that they may be easier to read, but the fact is they are different from the A.V. and they are different from each other. All have copyright protection, and they are not the same.

1. From the birth of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ to 400 A.D. there were false prophets and teachers who wrote other gospels and other letters at the same time that the pure books of the New Testament were being written. Paul warns of this in 2 Corinthians 2:17. "For we are not as many, which corrupt the word of God..."

Peter also gives a similar warning in 1 Peter 2:1-3 about false prophets, false teachers and no doubt false writers and false copiers! We believe that under the guidance of the Holy Spirit and providential care of God these tainted manuscripts were cast aside, rejected and were not included in the Textus Receptus.

Some see allusion to this in the Westminster Confession:

".....and the New Testament in Greek, being immediately inspired by God, and, by His singular care and providence, kept pure in all ages....."
2. In 331 A.D. Constantine ordered that an ecumenical Bible be written that would be acceptable to every kind of Christian that was under his jurisdiction.

A man by the name of Eusebius was assigned to direct this undertaking. Eusebius was a follower of Origen who rejected the true deity of Christ. He claimed that Christ was a created being. The Jehovah's Witnesses and others today believe the same thing. This is called the Arian heresy.

3. In 1481 A.D. The Vatican manuscript now known as Codex B. was discovered in the Vatican Library. This manuscript repeatedly casts doubt upon the deity of Christ. It reflects the Arianism of Origen and is thought by scholars to be one of the surviving manuscripts produced by Eusebius at the command of Constantine. The date of its writing does coincide with the ecumenical Bible of Constantine.

4. In 1844 A.D.The Sinaiticus manuscript, now known as Codex A, was discovered at Mt. Sinai in the monastery of Saint Catherine. This also agrees in some parts with the Vatican manuscript, minimises the deity of Christ and again is Arian in nature. It is safe to suggest that these two manuscripts, Vaticanus and Sinaiticus, were two of the fifty that were written for Constantine.

These two manuscripts, from Sinai and the Vatican, were highly regarded by textual scholars because of their early origin. Whilst there were thousands of Greek copies agreeing with the Textus Receptus - consequently also called the majority text - Vaticanus and Sinaiticus, plus a few others, were assumed to be more accurate than the many copies of later dates.

5. The Westcott and Hort Text was first considered by Westcott in 1853 at the suggestion of Mr. Daniel Macmillan. It was therefore at least 25 years in preparation. It was given to the Revised Version Committee and greatly influenced the Revised Version of 1881-1885. The new Greek Text was published about the same time and clearly follows the Vatican and Sinai manuscripts in questioning the deity of Christ. Most scholars from every spectrum of Christianity have knowingly or otherwise promoted the Westcott and Hort text and its variations to this present time. (I was in fact taught Greek myself at a well known Evangelical Bible College using one of the versions of the Nestle Aland Text in 1952.)

6. The Jehovah Witness Bible entitled 'The New World translation of the Scriptures' was in fact translated from the Westcott and Hort Text of 1881. Their acceptance of this text is not surprising, since they too reject the deity of Christ and use that source to support their belief.

"The Greek text that we have used as the basis for the NEW WORLD TRANSLATION is the widely accepted Westcott and Hort text (1881)" (Foreword p.8-9. New World Bible Translation. 1985).
The Westcott and Hort Text (three editions) was adopted by Nestle / Aland in 1898 for the publication of their own Text. The Nestle-Aland Text has now gone through 27 editions. The United Bible Societies adopted the Nestle Aland Texts, now known as NU ( = Nestle/United Bible Societies). The NU Text itself has now been revised five times.

It should be realised that there are now over 30 Greek texts from which translators can and do choose when translating into English or any other language.

This selection from various textual resources constitutes a new method of translation called Eclecticism: "A liberal method of translation which enjoins its adherents to select the manuscript reading they choose for translation." The number of resultant changing, never final translations is endless.