PREFACE TO THE BIBLE STUDY
NEW TESTAMENT
A STATEMENT OF PURPOSE
July 1974
The motto of World Radio, West Monroe , Louisiana
the Bible in archaic
language which is less intelligible and more easily misunderstood.” [A.
Campbell 1826] An accurate translation will transmit the message of
the original writers in the usage, style, and idiom of
the language of translation. In other words, one who reads a translation today should
receive the same understanding from the language that a citizen of the First Century world
did from reading the original manuscripts in Koine’ Greek.
In this book will be found
the thinking of the Pioneers of the Restoration. The People’s New Testament by
B. W. Johnson serves as a pattern, but this is not a revision or even a
paraphrase, it is completely new. Almost a century has passed since Johnson
completed his work. Manuscripts more ancient have been discovered since then
(such as the Dead Sea Scrolls). More is
known about some questions. A strong case can be made linking the thieves
crucified with Jesus to the Zealots, who were armed terrorists. Some new study gives light to the thorny
problem of 1 Cor. 14:34-35. More
emphasis has been placed on the sacrifice of Christ extrinsic to ourself,
and how we reach out through faith to seize it and make ourselves part of it.
Some new thinking on the Book of Revelation penetrates the veil which the
Middle Ages placed over this book. I have adopted the overall view
called “synchronistic,” which to me seems the most logical and reasonable
explanation of this book [which was obviously written to suffering Christians
in the last ten years of the First Century].
Twenty-five years of my personal ministry, over five hundred books (many
by the Restoration Pioneers), plus thousands of papers, tracts, magazines,
etc., of widely varying religious communities, have been distilled in this
book. I have made a conscious attempt to avoid the language of any one group,
and as much as possible, to avoid “technical church language.” The style grows
out of spending three and a half years trying to pack as much meaning as possible
into a daily five-minute radio program. I have used a conversational approach,
and you will sometimes find an unusual grammatical construction, either to
conform to current usage, or to stress some special fact. I have made an effort
to conform to the vocabulary of the Today’s English Version, Third Edition. In this book are the two most important
translations of our time. When Good News for Modern Man first
came out, I recognized in it the same empathy as the Authorized
Version of 1611. This makes it unique among the new versions. I believe
that Good News for Modern Man (The Today’s English Version) has already become
the New Authorized Version, and that this is God’s will. It has
had its “baptism of fire,” survived, and gained strength. This same phenomenon
has taken place in many other languages, and we have the counterpart of
“Today’s English Version’’ in Spanish, Russian, Chinese, etc., - a flood of
new versions making God‘s Truth available in spoken language of common people.
I believe God is using these new versions to call men to himself - just as He
used the German version by Luther, the English version by Tyndale, etc.
The New International
Version is described as a worthy
successor to the American Standard Version of 1901. Pat Patterson calls it: “A
careful new translation.” It is an “evangelical” version, made in scholarly
style. This makes for both strengths and
weaknesses. This version has yet to undergo its “baptism of fire,” but will
certainly survive to take its rightful place.
The name of this book shows
its purpose: “The Bible Study New Testament.” There can be no “short-cut” to
spirituality! God has revealed himself to us in a book - the Bible - and we
must STUDY to find him. Paul said
(in the language of King James): “Wherefore I will not be negligent to
put you always in remembrance of these things, though ye know them, and be
established in the present truth. ”
Written from Lynchburg , Virginia
R. D. Ice
Bible Study New Testament - May 27, 2003.
Greetings from Wild & Wonderful West Virginia,
the scene of much history. This has been
my home since 1986. I am the preacher
and an elder of the Union Church of Christ, about five miles SW of
Philippi. I will be 74 on June 25th,
2003.
I wrote the final material for the Bible Study New
Testament from 1974-1976. College Press
in Joplin , MO
I followed the general outline of Johnson's Notes [The
People's New Testament, B. W. Johnson], but the material is all my
own. I did careful research from the
original languages and made careful comparison with what others have
written. [I wrote, commenting on James
4:1. "For this reason I have not
relied on my own scholarship, but have drawn heavily from the minds and
abilities of many individuals.] I used
Young's Analytical Concordance, The Expositor's Greek Testament, Alford's Greek
Testament, La Sankta Biblio translated by Zamenhof, many other writings, plus
my years of experience.
I did a poor job of proofreading. I had onIy a typewriter, no wordprocessor or
spellchecker. I wrote waste for
water in one reference (waste and the Spirit); and cased for chased in
another. Please excuse such errors. I could plead that only someone who has dealt
with writing and printing can appreciate all that goes into searching for printing
errors, misspellings, and wrong words.
Yet the Lord allowed me to get this into print.
A one-volume edition of the BSNT was printed shortly
after the two-volume, and some of the errors were corrected. Also I wrote a new introduction for the
one-volume edition, and added a longer word-subject list.
I have written extensively in brotherhood
publications, especially The Bible Herald, Parkersburg ,
WV (when Clifton Inman was editor) and The
Firm Foundation, Austin ,
TX
Yours in Christ, R.D.Ice. Written from Barbour County , West Virginia
P.S.: I have included a copy of the Adobe 5 reader to
read the books in .pdf format. I am also
including some things I found of interest and use. P.P.S: Church of Christ Ministry Manual. http://cofcministrymanual.blogspot.com/
P.P.S: College
Press has now made the Bible Study New Testament available as a PDF download.
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