1

HI STORY & HERI TAGE OF THE BI BLE

SESSI ON FOUR: TEXT TO TRANSLATI ON
INTRODUCTI ON
Thesis: In the last days a falling away from sound doctrine is predicted to occur. Acts
20:30-31; 2 Tim 4:3-4
AN EXPERIENTIAL EXEGESIS OF HOW APOSTASY WORKS
1. False ____________________ is exalted above the scriptures, 1 Tim 6:20
2. The ____________________ meaning of scripture is spiritualized away, 2 Tim 2:16-18
3. ____________________ is substituted for scripture, Col 2:8; Prov 22:20-21
Point 1. There are only two worlds: natural and spiritual, and all attempts to derive
propositional information from the ____________________ world are condemned in scripture.
Point 2. Any time you take away from the authority of the scriptures, you lose the
________________________ of the Spirit.
I . SCHOLARS AND SCRI PTURES GEN 18: 14; PSA 119: 89; PSA 100: 5
A. WHAT JESUS HIMSELF SAID HEB 10:7; JOHN 5:39; MATT 22:29
Point 3. You do not have Gods __________ if you do not have his words. Matt 21:42
B. WHAT THE DISCIPLES BELIEVED JOHN 2:22
Point 4. In the Bible there is no evidence of textual criticism, because the Levitical priests
had been practicing textual ______________________ all along. Luke 24:27,45,32; 1 Tim 5:18
C. THE ROLE OF SATAN GEN 3:1
Point 5. If Satan can get you to doubt Gods word then he has moved you away rom a
position of __________.
D. WHAT THE BATTLE IS ALL ABOUT 2 TIM 3:13; ROM 3:2-4; 2 TIM 3:15-16
Defn.: Scripture does not equal originals; scripture is that which was written and
____________________ as authoritative.
Point 6. Whenever we can identify scripture we have something breathed-into by God,
because just like God put his breath into dust and made it a living soul, God puts his breath into
the Bible and makes it his living ________.
SUMMARY PSA 119:89-90, 140, 144, 152, 160, 128

2

I I . SCRI BES AND SCROLLS
Point 7. There are not 200 choices because there are only two main sources: a God-
preserved text and a ______-________ one.
A. THE DEBATE: HISTORY OF TEXTUAL CRITICISM
1. THE GENEALOGICAL METHOD OF CLASSIFYING MANUSCRIPTS
Defn.: ____________________a copy room for scribes.
The Genealogical Method
TWO FAMILIES OF TEXTS PHANTOM FAMILY
Neutral Eastern Caesarean
Alexandrian
From Hesychius
Koine
From Lucian

Egyptian (Alexandria) Byzantine (Antioch)
Traditional or Received
Text (Textus Receptus)
Most current scholars
challenge its existence
Majority Text
5% of existing MSS 95% of existing MSS
Intentional corruptions Unintentional errors
NIV, Etc. KJV Mystery

2. CANONS OF TEXTUAL CRITICISM
Defn.: Canona ____________________ for the judgment of scholars.
Defn.: Conflationto confuse and then __________ two readings of a text into a composite.
A. External Canon: Manuscripts must be ______________, not counted
B. Internal Canon: The reading is to be preferred that best ____________ the others
C. Transcriptional Probabilities: Lectio difficilior lectio potior (the more ____________
reading is the more probable original reading) 2 Tim 3:8; 1 Tim 6:5; 2 Cor 2:17
D. Transcriptional Probabilities: Lectio brevior lectio potior (the ________________
reading is the more probable original reading)
ALANS CANONS ON THE CANONS
1) That the more absurd reading is the original is only right if you do not accept verbal
____________________
2) That the shorter reading is the original is only right if you do not accept continuous
____________________
3) That the older the reading is the more probable original is only right if you venerate
____________________
THE TRADITIONAL TEXT IS ORIGINAL BECAUSE
! It is ____________ to read, and the original was given by inspiration
! It is ____________ and every word was preserved in history
! It was used and worn-out, so copies we have are in the majority but _________ in date
3

C. THE DISASTER
Point 8. A new text must always result in a new ______________________.
TWO COMPETING PHILOSOPHIES OF TEXTUAL CRITICISM
1. The true text has never been _______ but was preservedIt believes in the supernatural,
trusts in Gods overriding providence, and observes the hand of the Holy Spirit through history
2. The text is part of an ________________________ process continuing todayWhatever
was true was lost very early.
Since textual criticism is an art as well as a science, it is inevitable that in
some cases different scholars will come to different evaluations of the
significance of the evidence.

Bruce Metzger, A Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament (New York:
UBS, 1975)
Defn.: ____________________ selecting what appears to be best from various sources.
Point 9. Centuries of persecution and destruction did not wipe out our English Bible, but a
few decades of manipulation and corruption has stolen its ____________________.
D. THE DILEMMA: WHICH BIBLE? 1 TIM 6:20
! Liberal scholars revised the Revised Version into the Revised Standard Version
! J.B. Phillips made a translation of the New Testament in 1958
! Fundamentalists revised the American Standard Version of 1901 into the New American
Standard Bible in 1971
! The Living Bible was paraphrased by an evangelical
! The liberal wing of Southern Baptists countered with the Good News Bible or TEV
! The conservative wing countered with the Holman Christian Standard Bible in 2004
! Evangelicals from all over the world produced the New International Version for the
International Bible Society in 1984
! Evangelical and Reformed scholars took the 1971 RSV text, changed its liberal
interpretations, and published the ESV or English Standard Bible in 2001
! CEV Contemporary English Version
! NCV New Century Version
! NAB New American Bible for Catholics
! REB Revised English Bible
! New Jerusalem Bible
! The Message translation

4

E. THE DEFENDERS: ARGUMENTS
F. THE DECISION: ANSWERS
1. The correct MSS are in the ____________________
2. The Received Text does go back ____________________ than the other text
3. The Received Text still has a variety of early ____________________ to back it
up: like versions, church fathers, and lectionaries
4. The Traditional Text was received and believed by Gods
____________________ for over a thousand years
5. The ______________________ is the MSS representing the Alexandrian text:
Sinaiticus leaves out 4000 words from the gospels alone; it adds 1000 words,
and changes the reading in another 1500 places
Point 10. Inspiration means ____________________ without preservation.
Point 11. Bad copies were rejected by Gods people but ____________________ by monks
and Popes.
G. THE DEAL: MODERN VERSIONS
THE PROBLEM WITH MODERN VERSIONS
1. They are not a product of the operation of the Holy Spirit through the
____________________ of believers
2. They have a faulty ________ to translate from
3. They have a false ______________________ of translating work

CONCLUSI ON PSALM 119: 31, 116, 159, 161; PROV 22: 20- 21

NEXT CLASS
Week Date Subject Hayden Due
5 Oct 5 REALITY IN HISTORY
Scribes & Scrolls
73-104 Quiz 1