- Making CopiesCopies are us – the scribes:
Here are some claims about the bible I have heard several times from behind the pulpit:
Many people assume that scribes were perfect copyists because they did this all the time. We say, “how hard could it be to copy words and not do it right?” Which is easy to say when we have spell checking on our phones but notice how many spelling errors are still made (not counting texting shorthand). Copying a manuscript was a very labor intensive, tedious task back then.
Currently have around 5400 manuscripts or fragments of manuscripts from the Middle Ages and older. Of these manuscripts there is not one that is exactly the same except for the smallest fragments. Some of the changes are minor while some of them have a huge impact on what is being said.
The New Testament was written in Greek, which was all capital letters, with no spaces or punctuation marks, which made it very difficult to copy. You either copied it letter by letter or if you knew Greek you could go word by word. The reality is that scribes made mistakes when they copied manuscripts.
Most of the errors showed that the scribes couldn’t spell any better than most people today. This isn’t a big surprise considering that literacy rates peaked around 15% in those days and these were the aristocrats. The common man would be lucky to write their own name let alone read and write. Writing was pretty much restricted to the wealthy because it was very expensive. A scribe wasn’t necessarily wealthy or had a high level of education but was sponsored by someone who did.
Other errors happened with words that were similar to each other. For example, if two lines ended with the same word, it wasn’t uncommon for the scribe to come back to the wrong line after he had written down his text. By doing this he would omit sections of Scripture. The same thing could happen with words that were similar.
There are instances where a previous scribe wrote a marginal note that the next scribe inserted into the body of text thinking it was something that the previous scribe had missed (
1 Cor 14:34,35
1 Cor 14:34Let your women keep silent in the churches, for they are not permitted to speak; but they are to be submissive, as the law also says. 35And if they want to learn something, let them ask their own husbands at home; for it is shameful for women to speak in church. (NKJV)
is believed to be a marginal note that was inserted because it is contrary to the known Pauline epistles, even contrary of references to women earlier in 1 Cor).
We have examples where scribes insert text for clarification, to correct what they viewed as an error, to add a story, or to push a doctrinal agenda. For example
John 8:3-11
John 8:3Then the scribes and Pharisees brought to Him a woman caught in adultery. And when they had set her in the midst, 4they said to Him, “Teacher, this woman was caught in adultery, in the very act. 5Now Moses, in the law, commanded us that such should be stoned. But what do You say?” 6This they said, testing Him, that they might have something of which to accuse Him. But Jesus stooped down and wrote on the ground with His finger, as though He did not hear.
7So when they continued asking Him, He raised Himself up and said to them, “He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first.” 8And again He stooped down and wrote on the ground. 9Then those who heard it, being convicted by their conscience, went out one by one, beginning with the oldest even to the last. And Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst. 10When Jesus had raised Himself up and saw no one but the woman, He said to her, “Woman, where are those accusers of yours? Has no one condemned you?”
11She said, “No one, Lord.”
And Jesus said to her, “Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more.” (NKJV)
,
Mark 16:9-20
7So when they continued asking Him, He raised Himself up and said to them, “He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first.” 8And again He stooped down and wrote on the ground. 9Then those who heard it, being convicted by their conscience, went out one by one, beginning with the oldest even to the last. And Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst. 10When Jesus had raised Himself up and saw no one but the woman, He said to her, “Woman, where are those accusers of yours? Has no one condemned you?”
11She said, “No one, Lord.”
And Jesus said to her, “Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more.” (NKJV)
Mark 16:9Now when He rose early on the first day of the week, He appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom He had cast seven demons. 10She went and told those who had been with Him, as they mourned and wept. 11And when they heard that He was alive and had been seen by her, they did not believe.
12After that, He appeared in another form to two of them as they walked and went into the country. 13And they went and told it to the rest, but they did not believe them either.
14Later He appeared to the eleven as they sat at the table; and He rebuked their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they did not believe those who had seen Him after He had risen. 15And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. 16He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned. 17And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; 18they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.”
19So then, after the Lord had spoken to them, He was received up into heaven, and sat down at the right hand of God. 20And they went out and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the word through the accompanying signs. Amen. (NKJV)
, and
1 John 5:7
12After that, He appeared in another form to two of them as they walked and went into the country. 13And they went and told it to the rest, but they did not believe them either.
14Later He appeared to the eleven as they sat at the table; and He rebuked their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they did not believe those who had seen Him after He had risen. 15And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. 16He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned. 17And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; 18they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.”
19So then, after the Lord had spoken to them, He was received up into heaven, and sat down at the right hand of God. 20And they went out and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the word through the accompanying signs. Amen. (NKJV)
1 John 5:7For there are three that bear witness in heaven: the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit; and these three are one. (NKJV)
, do not appear in the oldest, most accurate manuscripts.
Though the exact date is not known, it is safe to say that Johannes Gutenberg introduced the movable type printing press to Europe around 1450 CE. Like any new technology, the process of copying manuscripts didn’t change immediately. With the invention of the printing press, this greatly increased the accuracy of what was being written. The printing press did not kill oral traditions but it gave the ability to capture oral traditions at one point in time and reproduce them consistently.
Lost in the translation:
When translating from one language to another many times we lose the meaning of different words. One glaring example is the word that is translated “love” from Greek. What we don’t see is that two different versions of love were used in the following verses. One word is agapeo which is an unconditional love. The other word is phileo which is the love that you would have for a friend. Note how the meaning of these verses are changed you don't recognize which version of love is being used where.
John 21:15 So when they had dined, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest [agapeo] thou me more than these? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love [phileo] thee. He saith unto him, Feed my lambs. 16 He saith to him again the second time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest[agapeo] thou me? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love[phileo] thee. He saith unto him, Feed my sheep. 17 He saith unto him the third time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? Peter was grieved because he said unto him the third time, Lovest[phileo] thou me? And he said unto him, Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love[phileo] thee. Jesus saith unto him, Feed my sheep. (KJV)
When we insert the correctly translated word for love you realize Peter did not understand unconditional love and the third time Yeshua asked "do you love me" he used phileo love, not agapeo love.
In the above example we see that some words do not have an English equivalent.
Another thing we need to consider in translations is that any time you have any translation you are getting someone’s, or a group's, interpretation. This is evident in all the different Bible translations that we have today. Notice that churches tend to use the version (translation) of the Bible that conveys what they are trying to say, not what the author was trying to convey. One Bible verse will be from the King James Bible (KJV) and then next verse will be from the New International Version (NIV) and the next verse will be from the Revised American Standard (RAS) version. I have seen versions of the Bible that I have never heard of.
I used to bring a Greek interlinear Bible to church and I stopped doing this because I was reading verses from it and I have no idea how it got translated to what they were displaying on the monitors. I even pointed this out to my wife and she couldn’t understand how they got that translation. Though the message the pastor was trying to convey was good, I spent more time analyzing the scripture compared to the Greek translation and then couldn’t follow the message the pastor was saying so I stopped bringing my Bible to church.
Another thing we do not take into account when it comes to Bible translations is linguistics; this is the study of languages. Languages are always in a state of flux and are ever changing. While the King James Bible was written in English nearly 500 years ago, many aspects of the language have changed words that meant something back when it was translated and has a completely different meaning now. This is where we need to have an understanding of the etymology of words; this is a knowledge of the origin of words. If we were to hear the King James version reading in it’s original dialect, most of us would not recognize it. That is how much 500 years changes a language.