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| Lobegott (Praise God) Friedrich Constantin (von) Tischendorf |
V. Wescott-Hort’s Use of Tischendorf Became Nestle-Aland’s
Standard Text
Three giant steps took us away from the Traditional Text
of the King James Bible, Luther’s German Bible, and the concept of the Holy Scriptures
being the inspired Word of God, infallible and inerrant.[1]
From the perspective of its discoveries and promotions, the new basis for Greek
New Testament had all the authority and supremacy of the Piltdown Man, “discovered”
in 1912. The way in which people have become famous by finding and promoting
new evidence should give us pause to consider its veracity. My Notre Dame professor
in Judaism, Charles Primus, indelibly marked me with the habit of doubting all historical
claims. We learn the so-called facts in neat little packages and then express
alarm when someone challenges the man-made harmony. He often stated what we “knew”
about ancient Judaism and offered examples that overturned the claim.
Two contradictory views of the Bible are taught at the
same time. One views the Bible as the Word of God, the product of Holy Spirit
working through men to reveal God’s will. The other is often called the natural
view, which means the Bible is a man-made book, just like every other creation
of man, and should be studied from that perspective. The 20th
Century denominations replaced the traditional view and text with the natural
view and new text.
The modern Bibles, with very few exceptions and only a fraction
of the market, represent the natural view. Their New Testaments eliminate words,
verses, and interpretations with unholy glee. The omissions, when too obvious,
are given a footnote which deliberately confuses the matter. Changes in
translation are footnoted with the same result. For example, the Revised
Standard Version, a product of the National Council of Churches, translated the
Virgin Birth in Isaiah 7 as “a young woman will conceive.” The ferocious
backlash caused them to backpeddle, but only a little. The Virgin Birth was
restored but the footnote was added “or young woman.” Readers will find that
their modern Bibles remove the Virgin Birth with a footnote – “or young woman.”
Let us look at the passage in English rather than debate
the Hebrew word, almah, which does mean virgin. The Lord offered King Ahaz a
great miracle, anything he asked, whether in heaven above or below. But hypocritical
Ahaz refused God’s offer, a monumental toke of his arrogance.
Isaiah
7:13 And he said, Hear ye now, O house of David; Is it a small thing for you to
weary men, but will ye weary my God also? 14 Therefore the Lord himself shall
give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall
call his name Immanuel [God with us].
If we translate these
verses in harmony with the modernists, it makes no sense. Ahaz will not ask for
a miracle from God, so God will show him a direct miracle no one could ever
imagine – a young woman will have a baby. That does not sound like a great
miracle from God Himself; the baby’s name is not at all fitting – Immanuel, God
with us in Hebrew. The modern, rationalistic translation contradicts the
context and the implications of the statement. This is a perfect example of the
rationalists imposing their lack of faith on the text and translation. The Evangelical
Lutheran Church in America’s first bishop, Herb Chilsrom, did not believe in
the Virgin Birth and treated Mary as just another pregnant bride. The same is
true of the Braaten-Jenson Dogmatics, so we should not assume that the Bible
text, the Biblical translation, and the doctrinal statements are insulated from
each other. Apostasy is not atheism – it is far worse, those who once believed
turning back from the Truth and worshiping pagan idols, whether Marxist or
Marist.
The Piltdown Codices, Sinaiticus and Vaticanus –
Nida Dynamic Translator
Born in 1815, Lobegott[2] Friedrich Constantin (von)
Tischendorf made a name for himself by finding the text under the manuscript
called Ephraim Rescriptus[3]. His next great find, in
1844, was Codex Sinaiticus, almost as mystical as the Sword in the Stone, and made
more powerful with his leverage. He became a famous Greek text editor and named
his find Aleph, the first letter in the Hebrew alphabet. He designated Codex
Vaticanus as B, so his favorite, personal and highly recommended discoveries
were given automatic promotions, since they became the guidestones (like Joseph
Smith’s) for knowing the true nature of the original text of the New Testament.
The two discoveries were not identical but were advertised as the best,
earliest, and most accurate texts, dubious on all three counts.
Wescott
and Hort used Aleph and B to whittle down the Greek text of their edition,
which they did without including a critical apparatus to show their work, another
reason to suspect their motives. The critical apparatus is a way of telling the
public what words or phrases were used or omitted. The Revision of the KJV was
a failure, but the Wescott Hort text eventually became the norm. Young students
of the Greek New Testament bought a red plastic Greek New Testament from
the United Bible Societies. The impression given to us was the readings favored
by Aleph and B were the best.
Karl
Lachmann (1793-1851) declared his program in 1830 – “Down with the late text of
the Textus Receptus, and back to the text of the early-fourth century church.”[4] Tischendorf devoted his
work to accomplish this goal.
The
next step was the Nestle Greek New Testament text, which replaced the Textus
Receptus printings of the British and Foreign Bible Society, twenty years after
the Wescott-Hort edition was published. “This marked the final defeat of the
Textus Receptus, nearly four hundred years after it was first printed.”[5] In the 1940s, Kurt Aland
became associated with the work of Erwin Nestle, the son of the founder, Eberhard.
Aland’s second wife, Barbara, was involved in this Nestle-Aland project and
continued after Kurt’s death. Their institute is famous for the Nestle-Aland
edition – Novum Testamentum Graece - and the United Bible Societies’ Greek
New Testament. Significantly, Eugene Nida, who invented and promoted dynamic
equivalence Biblical translating, worked with the Aland institute.
[1] For
the longest time, infallible was enough to describe God’s Word as
without any error or contradiction, revealed by the Holy Spirit. In its birth
year 1947, Fuller Seminary was already watering down infallible to mean “only
in doctrine, not in geography or history.” Later they withdrew that mild,
compromising statement to state they did not have time to quarrel over
terminology when so much mission work needed to be done. If only the Apostles
had been so purpose-driven!
[2]
Lobegott means Praise God in German.
[3]
The Biblical text was erased to allow Ephraim’s timeless words to be saved.
Writing material were difficult to obtain, so some ancient documents became palimpsests,
rewrites.
[4]
Cited in Kurt Aland and Barbara Aland, The Text of the New Testament, 1981,
p. 11.
[5] The
Text of the New Testament, p. 19.
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| Eugene Nida - dynamic equivalence "translator" |
