HOLY BIBLE

HOLY BIBLE

Campbell said: Facts are stubborn things. Perhaps that is why the Bible describes many things that actually took place in real time. Words may have different meanings in different contexts. Facts stand out to speak reality.

Campbell wrote: "We have, in writing, all the Hebrew and Greek that is necessary to perpetuate to the end of time, all the ideas which the Spirit of God has communicated to the world; and these languages, being dead, have long since ceased to change. The meaning of the words used by the sacred penman, is fixed and immutable; which it could not have been, had these languages continued to have been spoken..." The Sacred Writings, A. Campbell, 1826

[Campbell's Living Oracles New Testament is online for all to read at: www.mun.ca/rels/restmov/oracles4th/oracles4th.html]

Many are not aware of the human effort used to translate the Bible into language and form we can understand. The Original Bible was written all in capital letters with no space between the words, and with almost no punctuation. Chapter and verse divisions did not come until the 16th century. In ancient times few could possess a Bible. Manuscripts had to be copied by hand. Printing introduced a revolution where the common man could have his own copy of the Bible.

It is the Spirit's Bible!
Copyright every word!
Only His thoughts are uttered,
Only His voice is heard!
[William Luff]

Some years after the KJV translators had "handled aright the word of truth," a major discovery was made of ancient New Testament manuscripts in the Greek. language. J.W.McGarvey, a highly respected scholar of the Churches of Christ made this comment at the Missouri Christian Lectures in 1883 concerning the "corrected Greek Text of the New Testament." [He was speaking of the Greek text that became the basis of what we call the American Standard Version - the "gold standard" of translation.]

"The Canterbury Revision of the New Testament should now totally supplant the King James Version, not only because it is a great improvement as a version, but because it is the only representative in English of the corrected Greek text. A man is not safe in venturing upon the exegesis of a single passage by the aid of the old version until he shall have compared it with the new; and rather than be continually making these comparisons, it is better to at once adopt the new into exclusive use."

By Canterbury Revision McGarvey meant the English Revised Version of 1880. It is the version used in the margin of Johnson's Notes - The Peoples' New Testament. And it was the basis of the American Standard Version of 1901.

When the work was begun on the Canterbury Revision in 1870, sixty-five scholars were selected to do the work. A year later an American committee of thirty-four was chosen to cooperate in this project. These scholars made changes in the interest of clarity [because words had changed their meanings, etc.]. But, it is worthwhile to notice that although they had in their hands no less than 2000 manuscripts of the Old Testament and 3000 manuscripts of the New Testament, they did not find changes necessary which would alter a single historical fact or essential doctrine of Christianity. In other words, the Hand of God has been active down through the ages, working through devoted men, to transmit to our age the Word in an unchanged form.

When the American Standard Version is used as a basis of comparison for recent new versions, they will be seen to be more accurate than some have said. You can read the ASV online at www.keyway.ca/bibles/asvindex.htm

If you want to read about Greek NT texts, www.bible-researcher.com/kutilek1.html

If you want to read Westcott & Hort's Greek NT Text in Greek:: www.biblegateway.com/versions/index.php?action=getVersionInfo&vid=68

Campbell used Griesbach's edition of the Greek New Testament. This text survives in the Wilson Emphatic Diaglott of 1864. www.thedcl.org/bible/diaglott-nt/index.html
[note that the English subtitles reflect Wilson's opinions sometimes. He thought like a JW.]

On evidence for the longer ending of Mark see: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_16#The_Longer_Ending

Note: When I graduated from High School my Grandmother Rosa gave me an American Standard Version Teacher's Bible and an Underwood Portable Typewriter. I used both to good effect. But the most valuable thing she gave me was her faith in Christ.


The Best Translation Of The Bible
Four preachers were discussing the merits of the various translations of the Bible. One liked the King James Version because of its simple, beautiful English. Another liked the American Standard Version best because it comes closer to the original Hebrew and Greek. The third liked Moffatt’s translation best because of its up-to-date words. The fourth preacher was silent. When asked to express his opinion, he replied, "I liked my mother’s translation best." The other three expressed surprise and wanted to know what he meant. "Well," he explained, "my mother translated the Bible into her everyday life, and it was the most convincing translation I ever saw." -- Attributed to William Barclay, via Mark A. Copeland.