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I am not scared by the fact that there are small differences between the ancient manuscripts from which the Bible is translated. What would scare me is if there were differences, someone knew, and intentionally kept me from knowing.
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On one hand, we have God inspiring humans to transmit a message to other humans. On the other hand, we have--well, the humans. As a result, Bible scholars can point to many places where one ancient copy of a biblical text differs from another. (These are called variants, by the way.) I am okay with that. I am fine that the humans involved in the process used "on" in one text and "onto" in another (for example). Why am I okay with that? Let me opine further.
I am teaching New Testament Introduction at VISIBLE SCHOOL College of Music and Worship Arts. In a text on the New Testament, D. A. Carson and Douglass J. Moo make the case that, receiving the texts, early Christians were so excited to spread the good news that they, at times, relied on lay persons (as opposed to professional scribes in scriptoriums) to make copies of the texts.
Can you just imagine? First century Bob is holding a letter from Paul. His wife reads it with him.
"Bob, your mother would love a copy of that! Here, let me make a copy. We'll send it to her!"
(NOTE: I know Bob is not likely the name of anyone holding a letter from Paul. I am going for making a point, not recounting historical anecdotes.)
As a result, the laypeople making copies created tiny variations, and some of those variations have survived the millennia and can be seen now in the twenty first century. But these variation do not shake my confidence in the Bible at all!
What they do is convict me.
I'll come back to that point in a moment. First a few bits of information about the New Testament...
Two seminal scholars of New Testament text, Barbara and Kurt Aland, report that over 5000 ancient documents containing some portion of the New Testament exist. Comparing EVERY significant document, they report that over 62% of the verses in the New Testament are identical. Not similar. Identical. Their words are "variant free." Carson and Moo summarize it this way: "The overwhelming majority of the text of the Greek New Testament is firmly established. Where uncertainties remain, in no case is any doctrinal matter at issue." Walter A. Elwell and Robert W. Yarbrough in their New Testament text claim that, "experts agree that none of the points of [disagreement] affect the gospel message or even any single Christian doctrine."
I could go on. Trust me that my summary is but a dot of affirmation in an opus of evidence!
So--now, my interpretation follows--we have variant texts because of the passion by which the early Christians were driven to spread the good news. So eager were they to make sure that Aunt Betty and Uncle Joe had a copy, up the way in the next town, that they used whatever means they could to create copies to pass along. The value and authority of the texts compelled them to spread the good news.
Enter the conviction. How easy is it for us (okay, ME) to blog or email or...
Cut... Paste... Bam! Good news sent!
I have a WHOLE SHELF of DIFFERENT translations of the Bible. I have at least eight PRINTED Bibles in the original languages! My computer has... never mind. Point made, I hope.
Yet there are people around the world--yes, today in the twenty first century--clinging to a shred of a page from an English Bible making their own translations by hand and passing them on to their friends and families. There are people who so cherish the Bible they literally risk running afoul of their governments to possess God's word.
That there are variant texts, to me, is a witness to this same passion to spread the Good News--as Mark said it, "...tou euaggeliou Iesou Christou huiou Theou." The variant texts proclaim, in my opinion, how urgent and important the early Christians viewed the spreading of the message to be.
So, as I told my students in class today, here's where the invitation music begins and you get the chance to respond. I hope you will respond with me in adopting some of the same enthusiasm for sharing dᵉbar ha’ᵉlohım, logon tou Theou, pitgama’ dayᵉya, melto’ da’loho’, the word of God, mot de Dieu, palabra de Dios, Wort des Gottes.
So, here are a few worth passing on...
John 3:16 “For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. 17 God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him. (NLT)
2 Cor 5:17 So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new! (NRSV)
John 13:34 “I give you a new commandment: love one another. Just as I have loved you, you must also love one another. 35 By this all people will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” (HCSB)
1John 3:11 For this is the message that you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another. (ESV)
Gal. 3:28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. (NIV)
Copyright 2009, Bill Snodgrass. All rights reserved.
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