.
ciably affect
the authenticity of the
*
*io t ?
S>Oe.
text.
The
Bible
with
begins
article
Question:
"How
accurate is the Hoi) Bible that we
today 1 " Bui throughout ins entire
author wcxer answers that ques
But if he had. he would have h;id to
read
article the
lion.
answer
ihat as a whole the Bible is accu
and authentic.
what about the other points the
raie, true
But
article
ECENTLY
young man purchased a
King James Version Bible thtnfcmg
was without error. One day when glancing
through a back issue of Look magazine
came across an article emit led "The
*? he
^ Truth About the Bible,*" which said that
^ "as early as J720, an English authority
it
_j
-i
**
estimated that there were at least 20,000
errors in the two editions uf the New
Testament commonly
probacy
man was
50,000
by
read
a4.Qal ty?!* K Modern
are
Protestants
students say there
The young
errors."'
shocked. Mis faith
in
the Bible's
"How
was shaken.
can the
Bible be reliable when it contains thou
liands of serious discrepancies and inaccuracies?" he asks.
Bear in mind that the author's purpose
in presenting the material that appeareJ
in Look, February 26. 1952. was to show
why an intensive study of ancient manuscripts has been undertaken by scholars.
Hence his article deals with the errors that
have crept into the Bible text, rather than
authenticity
the general reliability of the test.
Me
cites
the
most outstanding errors and. by
stat-
ing
that
some students claim
KJrjg
James Version has 50,000
the
impression
errors occur in
the
errors, he leaves
50,000 such serious
the Bible, which, of course,
that
not true. Most of these so-calJed errors
have been corrected by modern translators.
is
The remaining
irciiiL-K
raises,
such
"Was
as,
there
really
time, an adulteress whose actus
were sternly told, 'He that is wrilhoui
sin among you, let him first cast a stone
at her'
? Did Jesus really say. 'Go ye
into all the world and preach the Gos
pel ... 'or 'He that belteveUi and ss bap
ti/ed shall tic saved"
? Did St. John
himself write the reference to the Holy
Trinity attributed to him'.'
rom informa
tion modern scholars ha\e developed, the
"
answer to each question is probably 'No,"
Mere again, the author ol ihe article. Mart
in Jesus'
w
)
discrepancies are or
art
ex
minor nature, which do not appre-
SFPTFMBEFK /W7"~^~>
*?
ers
*ell
Sperice,
The
among
is
only partly correct
"Me that is without
,
passage.
sin
him first cast a stone -it
her" J5_ not found in several ot the older
manuscripts of the Bible The New World
you,
let
Translation of the Bible sets aside_ the first
eleven verses from the rest of the text of
John chapter eight. It is given as a fool
which shows that the Sinaitic manuVatican MS. No. I20 1) and the
do not contain these
words. Keep in mind that the Sinaitic and
the Vatican No. 1209 manuscripts are two
or the oldest in existence, dating from tiie
fourth century, These verses are found in
note,
script, the
Sinaitic Syriac codes
Codex Bc/qe of the sixth century, the
Latin Vulgate of the fourth and fifth cen-
the
turies
the
and the Jerusalem Syriac version of
sixth
century.
But
Greek manuscripts do
verses their origin
since
the
contain
not
oldest
these
doubtful
John 8:7,
What about the next point, "Did Jesus
really say, 'Go ye into all the world and
is
The author quotes
preach the Gospel"
from the liist twelve verses of Mark chap
let sixteen, which have long been ehatlangcd The New World Truncation sets
those
apart
from
verves
luM
general
Ihe
h shows that certain uncicni matiu
text,
and versions of the Scriptures add
scripis
appeal
to
ihis
statement
the
modern
An
preached because
this text
containing such
However, in
God's Word this
same admonition is given, which passages
arc reliable. For instance, Matthew 24:14
fSvw Work/ TramJ: "And this good news
of the kingdom will be preached in all the
inhabited earth for the purpose of a witness to all the nations, and then the accomplished end will come." Also at Matthew
World Trans.) Jesui com28: 9 (New
mands: "Go therefore and make disciples
admonition
is
other
several
not
authentic.
places
in
people
ol
So
them."
of
scriptures.
in
baptizing
nations^
the
\i\\
other
questionable one
followers
C hi isi's
Mark,
are
to
Asides
this
prove
preach
hapti/e.
What aboul
write
this
the
point
"Hid
reference
St.
the
to
John
Holy
attributed to him?" The scripture
is
John 5:7*8. In comment
on this icxi a Greek Scripture transla
Benjamin Wilson, writes in his The
tor,
Fmpfwtic Diagitnt: "Thi s texj__ concern ing
|nmi\
referred to
ing
the
heavenly
any Greek
Hun
earlier
cited
by
writers;
witness
is
not contained
man uscript which was
the lil'teenih eentury
in
written
It
is
noi
any ot trie Greek ecclesiastical
nor by any of the early Latin
tru i h fulness
if
Roman
icxcepi
translations
Latin
ver-
not include the text.
extremely
modern
fifty
the
therefore
is
It
The
"
significant
translations
lhat
ijoim
is
have
already
this writer
Notice that the twenty
refers in his article-
thousand errors are accredited to
editions of the New Testament
read h> Protectants and Cath
Those would be the King James
"two
commonly
olics."
Version and the Catholic Douay Version.
which were produced in 1611 and 160(1
respectively. So thev were both more than
.300 years old.
When
made
these translations were
koine Greek
which the Bible was
in
was not so
day. So those
ten
well
understood as
translators
made
the
writ
to
is
it
errors
been corrected by
modern scholars. Archaeologists also have
contributed to Bible research by finding
many ancienl manuscripts oT the Scriptranslation
have
that
lures,
have
errors
liihli-
the
.
himself
do
most
ihat
and
Irornc out by the fad thai
is
eliminated the errors to which
to
The author leaves the impression that
gtxKl news or gospel is noi u; \k
authority.
its
Catholic translations from ihe
sions)
he
to
spurious
evidently
Vatican No. 1209, the Smaiiic Syriac code*
und the Armenian version, of the fourth
and fifth centuries, do not contain this
parage and hence ii is of doubtful am hen
even when ihe subjects upon which
would natural!* have led them
treated
they
a long conclusion, but that the Sinaitit:. the
liaty
fathers,
where
point
!e[uik-ie*~
.ire
the
been eliminated to
remaining minor dis
negligible
bralcne
>ir
ti.
KeTiyon. an outstanding linglish scholar,
his hcn)k
t'lif
Bible
3SK. 2KV. says
und Ardweohfiv,
"The
itnerv.il
then between
Ihe dates of original composition and
as
(o
ix'
in
fact
negligible,
foundation for any doubt
tures
as
the ?
evidence Incomes so small
evtarii
earliest
und
thai
ihe
last
the Scrip-
have come down 10 us substantially
were written has now been re-
they
moved -2^?
j^^Hte
Bible
(doulv)is God's
is
reliable
Word.
in
images
and
beyond
al!
