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Appendix
A |
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Original Text of the Bible The Bible has two main sections. The versions of the Bible that Protestant churches (Christian churches, which have major beliefs that are different from Catholic churches) rely on 66 specific books. Those specific books are found in the King James Version (KJV) (also referred to as the Authorized Version (AV)) and many other versions of the Bible.The first section is the Old Testament, which has 39 books. The original text of the Old Testament is mostly written in Hebrew. The 39 books were written approximately between 1500 BC and 400 BC (Illustrated Dictionary and Concordance of the Bible, 1986; pp. 211-216). Please be aware that some of what is mentioned in the Old Testament is not to be done any longer such as many of the ceremonies. The New Testament (refer to the next paragraph) explains about the changes. The second section is the New Testament, which has 27 books. Its original language is Greek. The 27 books were written from about 49 AD and 150 AD. (Wikipedia contributors, "New Testament," Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Testament (accessed May 22, 2009)) (In 397 AD at the Council of Carthage, the selection of the 66 books were for the most part agreed on. (Illustrated Dictionary and Concordance of the Bible, 1986; p. 215) No Original Writings The original writings are referred to as autographs, but there are no original writings of the books in the Old or New Testament (Gunn, George. “King James and Other Versions.” Redding, California: Shasta Bible College and Graduate School. Webpage:www.shasta.edu/articles/gunn/kingjames.asp (accessed October 18, 2008)). Evidence shows that the NewTestament is accurate, because of the fact that the copies (manuscripts) of the original writings closely match one another and there are more copies of the original writings of the New Testament than copies of writings by Plato or Aristotle (even though they are more recent than the New Testament). (Refer to Matthew J. Slick’s article, “Manuscript evidence for superior New Testament reliability,” Escondido, CA: Christian Apologetics Research Ministry, 1995-2008. Webpage: http://www.carm.org/questions/textualevidence.htm (accessed September 25, 2008).) There are manuscripts with all 66 books of the Bible, but many of the manuscripts are just portions of the Old or New Testaments. The copies of the original writings of the books closely match one another, but when the text of the copies don’t exactly match each other, some questions can arise as to what was trying to be conveyed. This is part of the reason why there are different versions of the Bible. |
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Interpreting the Bible To properly interpret the Bible, we need to use the best text of the original writings available of the 66 books; the best current information on the Hebrew, Greek and other languages of the Bible; and the best current information obtained by science (including archeology) and other disciplines that provide more accurate understanding of the Bible.(Unfortunately, in this appendix, the word best is subjective. For example, there are different copies of the original writings, some are from the 4th century AD or earlier. There are different views (e.g., the main views are often called the Critical Text and the Majority Text) of which manuscripts are the closest to the original writings. So the best text depends on what information you have and your thoughts about that information.) But because most of us are not biblical scholars, we have to do our best to look to the resources that may provide the best understanding of what the Bible is saying. There are many versions of the Bible. Each version interprets the Bible differently. I believe it is okay to use various versions of the Bible, but we must believe what matches the best text of the original writings. I’ve read articles about different versions of the Bible in the English language. I believe a good English version is the King James Version. One of the disadvantages of the King James Version for people today is the fact that it is not written in the English used today--the King James Version was written in 1611. Another disadvantage is that the scholars, who produced that version of the Bible, didn’t have the information which has been acquired since then. The King James Version of the Bible is based on a Greek text of the New Testament often referred to by the Greek phrase Textus Receptus (or Received Text) published in the 1500’s. (Anderson, G. W. “What today’s Christian needs to know about The Greek New Testament.” London: Trinitarian Bible Society. Webpage: www.trinitarianbiblesociety.org/site/articles/grktxt.asp (accessed May 22, 2009).) “The Translators to the Reader,” which is the preface to the King James Version of the Bible, provides important insights about the version and about the mindset of the translators. (The preface is the equivalent of about 20 pages.) The Christian Classics Ethereal Library provides the text and some notes on it ( www.ccel.org/bible/kjv/preface/pref1.htm (accessed October 18, 2008)). The Received Text was based on certain manuscripts, which are part of a group of manuscripts sometimes referred to as the Majority Text. Some scholars believe the Majority Text is more reliable than another major group of Greek manuscripts, the Alexandrian Text (the text most modern English Bibles are based on). (Refer to the Preface of the The Holy Bible, New King James Version (NKJV) published by Thomas Nelson Inc. in 1982.) For those who would like to read a version of the Bible in modern English, the New King James Version (NKJV) may be a good choice. The New Testament of the NKJV is also based on the Received Text. The NKJV is not based on the Alexandrian Text, but it has many footnotes related to the Alexandrian Text. These footnotes are noted with the abbreviation NU. NU refers to a text of the Greek New Testament that is published in the Nestle-Aland Greek New Testament (26th edition) (N) and in the United Bible Societies’ Greek New Testament (3rd edition) (U). The abbreviation M refers to the Majority Text, which is similar to the Received Text. (For NKJV information on abbreviations NU, M and others, refer to the Preface of the NKJV.) I have heard that the Bible was inspired by God in such a way that if we are not sure of the right interpretation of a verse, there may be other verses in the Bible that will help us interpret it properly.
Understanding the Bible |
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Meaning in Life in the Framework of Eternity |