#Textual criticism of the old testament how to#

Here is a chart that shows the number of textual variants that are noted in Acts by several translations: New Jerusalem Bible (NJB) Not all these passages have significance for the average Christian, so no translation marks them all. Bruce Metzger’s Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament lists more than 500 text-critically significant passages in Acts, whereas it lists less than 200 for Matthew. Acts is noted for the number of textual variants. For modern translations, a comparison of the textual information in Acts makes an interesting study. The King James Bible, for example, cites no variants. Unfortunately, some translations are not much help with this. Although several resources exist for scholars, most Bible students are at the mercy of their Bibles to tell them.

#Textual criticism of the old testament how to#

Nevertheless, the “serious” Bible student should be aware that some significant variants do exist and should know how to find out where they are. Douglas Stuart wrote, “It is fair to say that the verses, chapters, and books of the Bible would read largely the same, and would leave the same impression with the reader, even if one adopted virtually every possible alternative reading to those now serving as the basis for current English translations” (“Inerrancy and Textual Criticism,” in Innerrancy and Common Sense, ed. In the second place most of the variants do not concern significant differences. Waltke, “Old Testament Textual Criticism,” Foundations for Biblical Interpretation, B&H, 1994, 157). In the first place, about 90 percent of the Bible is the same in all manuscripts (B. This situation should not alarm or discourage a Bible student. This recreation does not match entirely any existing manuscript. Our New Testaments, on the other hand, translate a Greek text that is a scholarly recreation based on a comparative analysis of the various manuscripts. Translators waver from that codex, however, in many places and follow variants from the other manuscripts. The individual differences are known as “variants.” Our Old Testaments are largely translated from the Leningrad Codex, the oldest complete manuscript of the Hebrew Bible (AD 1008). Our Old Testaments are based on about 15,000 manuscripts, 11,000 of which are in Hebrew. The rest are manuscripts of early translations. However, about 25,000 ancient manuscripts of the New Testament exist, almost 6,000 of those being in Greek. But many are not aware that the underlying Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek text is uncertain in places, since some translations give little or no information about this. Most people are aware that English Bibles are translations from another language and that different translations are possible (and exist). But we all need to poke our heads up occasionally out of our neat little worlds and get smacked in the face with reality, which is usually a lot messier than we would like.

Not everyone is excited by terms such as “textual variants,” “eclectic text,” and “Alexandrian text-type”-and that’s ok. In the process you will gain an appreciation for the vast work that has been accomplished in preserving the text of Scripture and find a renewed confidence in its reliability.Sponsor Show Your Support Become a Patron Wegner gives you an overview of the history and methods, aims and results of textual criticism. In plain language and with ample illustration, Paul D. But if you are one of those interested in a general understanding of textual criticism, this book introduces you to textual criticism of the whole Bible-the Hebrew Old Testament and the Greek New Testament. That is why nearly every book on the subject focuses on the textual criticism of either the Old or New Testament. In fact, the task of textual criticism is so daunting and detailed that it is divided between Old Testament textual critics and New Testament textual critics. Sorting out the errors and determining the original wording is the task of textual criticism.

And despite the most careful and painstaking efforts of scribes and publishers down through the centuries, errors of one sort or another have crept in and have been reproduced. The Bible has been on a long historical journey since its original composition.