Lesson 5: Ancient Versions: the New Testament How We Got the Bible.

Lesson 5:

Ancient Versions: the New Testament

How We Got the BibleHow We Got the Bible

How We Got the

Bible, 3rd ed.

by

Neil R. Lightfoot

2

Greek = Papyrus ~ “biblios”

Greek = Papyrus scroll ~ “biblion”

Greek = Papyrus scrolls ~ “biblia”

English = is from “biblia” ~ Bible

TransmissionManuscripts

TranslationsVersions

The ancient versions of the NT

The versions are translations: hence the English translations called

KJV[ersion], ASV[ersion], RSV[ersion], NIV[ersion], ESV[ersion]

“Something is always lost by way of translation”

• However, they are very important as secondary witnesses to the text of the New Testament

• As the church expanded throughout the world, Christians (whether skilled or not) began translating the Scriptures into the local languages

The ancient versions of the NT

• Thus, the versions are an independent line of evidence to the text of the New Testament

The ancient versions of the NT

Three Early Translations ….

SyriacCoptic

Latin

Syriac versions

Spoken in regions of Syria and Mesopotamia

Much like Aramaic

One of the earliest translations

Syria

Tatian’s Diatessaron

Means “four” = the four gospels

Combined the four gospels

About 170 A.D.

Widely used in Syria

Condemned by many

Removed in the 5th century

Tatian’s Diatessaron in Greek

First half 2nd cent. A.D.; fragment of heavy parchment; 4 1/8 by 3 3/4 inches; found at Dura Europos, a Roman border-town destroyed A.D. 256 by the Persian troops of King Shapur I; only surviving Greek witness of Tatian’s Diatessaron, an edition of the four Gospels in a continuous narrative; Beinecke Library, Yale University, New HavenBruce M. Metzger, Manuscripts of the Greek Bible: An Introduction to Greek Palaeography (New York: Oxford University Press, 1981), pl. 8

Ephraem’s “Keep Watch”To prevent his disciples from asking the time of his coming, Christ said: About that hour no one knows, neither the angels nor the Son. It is not for you to know times or moments. [words from the Diatessaron] He has kept those things hidden so that we may keep watch, each of us thinking that he will come in our own day. If he had revealed the time of his coming, his coming would have lost its savor: it would no longer be an object of yearning for the nations and the age in which it will be revealed. He promised that he would come but did not say when he would come, and so all generations and ages await him eagerly.

http://www.catholicradiodramas.com/SaintsWorksEthruH/Ephrem_-_keep_watch.htm

Dura-Europas

Many important discoveries come from an ancient town on the eastern edge of the Roman frontier

H.E. Hahn, “Dura-Europos,” The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, vol. 1: A-D (rev. ed., Geoffrey W. Bromiley, ed.; Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1979), 996.

The visit of the wise men [Matthew 2] is described as taking place in Nazareth, not Bethlehem.

The account of Christ’s baptism contains a strange element because he relates that after the baptism the Jordan was suddenly illuminated by a mysterious light.

The Genealogies of Jesus are omitted. [Matt. 1 and Luke 3]

Matt. 19:4-6 is different. It says: “And Jesus answered them thus: ‘Have you not read that in the beginning, when God had made male and female, he joined them together; and Adam said, “Because of this bond shall a man leave father and mother, …”

Luke 2:36 is made to read as though Mary remained a virgin for seven years with her husband instead of Anna the prophetess.

Tatian founded a sect or group called “Encratites”.

Rejected Marriage as adulterousTatian said marriage is “whoredom and

corruption”

In Luke 15 when the prodigal son returns home, his father kisses him on the mouth.

Early fathers opposed to Tatian’s Harmony

Labeled as a False apostle.

Tatian’s Diatessaron

Main value is that it proves there were four gospels in the early years

Syriac versions

• The Diatessaron

• The Curetonian Syriac– Gospels - 5th Century 80 Leaves– British Museum– Dr. William Cureton– Includes Long Ending of Mark 16:9-20

Syriac versions

• The Diatessaron

• The Curetonian Syriac

• The Sinaitic Syriac

Two women on a mission

Mrs. Agnes Smith Lewis Mrs. Margaret Dunlop Gibson

Identified a document now known as the Sinaitic Syriac

A Syriac Manuscript

Syriac Manuscript depicting Moses before Pharaoh

http://www.clas.ufl.edu/users/sterk/HistXnty/Images/Images2.17.htm

Syriac versions

• The Diatessaron

• The Curetonian Syriac

• The Sinaitic Syriac – Does not include long ending of Mark

• The Peshitta (“common” Syriac)– 5th Century – More than 350 copies

Coptic versions

Coptic - Aigypt or Egypt

Egyptian written in an alphabet based on the Greek.

Many Dialects - Two most ImportantSahidic VersionBohairic Version

Egypt

Mississippi Coptic Codex IIVK 783,

Mississippi Coptic Codex II,

4th centuryhttp://www.solagroup.org/vkc/ancient.html

Sahidic Version

Southern Egypt - Thebes

Documents dating back to 3rd / 4th century

Dozens of these manuscripts

Bohairic Version

Northern Egypt - Alexandria – Delta

Documents from 4th to 5th century

Hundreds of these manuscripts

Latin versions

Old Latin

Latin Vulgate

Rome

Old LatinOld Latin

Speratus – what do you have in the chest?

“books and letters of Paul, a just man”

180A.D.

If the letters of Paul then likely had the gospels as well

Codex Bobiensis

a palimpsest; 4th-5th cent.; Old Latin

01 Bobiensis.jpg

The Shorter Ending of Mark

• Following Mark 16:8 in Codex Bobiensis

• And all that had been commanded them they told briefly to those around Peter. Afterward Jesus himself sent out through them, from east to west, the sacred and imperishable proclamation of eternal salvation. (NRSV)

Codex Bezae

Portion of the page; Mark 16:15-20; Greek on left, Latin on right

Codex Laudianus

(Ea)Acts 8:36-38; Greek on right, Latin on left

Bruce M. Metzger, Manuscripts of the Greek Bible: An Introduction to Greek Palaeography (New York: Oxford University Press, 1981), plate 22

The Latin Vulgate

4th to 5th century A.D.

Vulgatus - “common” “commonly accepted”

JeromeAge 12 sent to Rome - Latin & GreekBecame an AsceticDevoted his life to study of scriptures

Jerome (c. 345-c. 419)

Albrecht Dürer on “Jerome in the Wilderness”http://itserver.footscray.vic.edu.au/visualart/Artists.pre.1/Artists/Durer/pages/durer_jerome_wilderness.jpg

Codex Amiatinus (late 7th cent.)The oldest extant copy of the Latin Vulgate

amiatinus.jpg

The value of the Vulgate

• The Old Latin was the first to be made in the Latin tongue, important for Latin-speaking Christians and important wherever they carried the gospel.

• As for its kind of text, the Old Latin is typically “Western.”

The value of the Vulgate

• The Vulgate now numbers 10,000 or more manuscripts.

• It has been copied more than any other book in the Christian era.

• Historically speaking, it ranks next to the Septuagint as the most important translation ever made.

The value of the Vulgate

• The Vulgate New Testament was not based on the Greek.

• It was Jerome’s assignment to revise the existing Old Latin, but thankfully he did check the Greek manuscripts.

• We do not know what these manuscripts were, but in the Gospels, for example, he seems to rely mainly on a text similar to that of the Vatican and Sinaitic Manuscripts.

The value of the Vulgate

• The Vulgate reigned as the Bible of Western Europe for a thousand years.

• When at the end of the Middle Ages demand for the knowledge of Scripture increased dramatically, it was the Vulgate that was first translated into the languages of the people.

The value of the Vulgate

• The Vulgate was the first book of importance to be printed.

• About 1450 Johann Gutenberg of Mainz, Germany, perfected the use of movable type.

• In 1456 the “Gutenberg Bible” was issued. It was a beautiful Latin Bible, whose appearance marked a new epoch.

The value of the Vulgate

• The Vulgate for English-speaking people remains of special interest.

• Many words used in English translations are due to the Latin Vulgate.

• A short list of such terms includes “congregation,” “consecration,” “conversion,” “exhortation,” “justification,” “ministry,” “sanctification,” “testament,” even “Olivet” and “Calvary”

The value of the Vulgate

• Eventually the Vulgate was made the official Bible of the Roman Catholic Church, and so it remains today.

• The result is that the Roman Catholic Bible in English is a translation of a translation and is not a translation from the original languages.

An illuminated Vulgate

Close-up of vellum leaf from an illuminated Medieval ManuscriptItaly; Early 14th CenturyLatin Text; Transitional Rotunda Script23.5 by 17 cm

http://vandyck.anu.edu.au/work/teach/context/wally2.rit.edu/cary/manuscripts/vulgate_bible19.html

A comparison of documents

Three Latin versions. Left: The final page of k (Codex Bobiensis), showing the "shorter ending" of Mark. Middle: Portion of one column of Codex Amiatinus (A or am). Shown are Luke 5:1-3. Right: The famous and fabulously decorated Book of Kells (Wordsworth's Q). The lower portion of the page is shown, with the beginning of Luke's genealogy of Jesus (Luke 3:23-26).

http://www.skypoint.com/~waltzmn/Versions.html

Latin versions

Old Latin

Latin Vulgate

The ancient versions of the NT

Three Early Translations ….

SyriacCoptic

Latin

Other ancient versionsArmenian, Gothic, EthiopicGeorgian

Questions for review

• How important is the evidence of the ancient versions?

• What three languages were most important in the translation of the Bible?

• Why is the Vulgate important for English speaking people?

Questions for review

• What was the Diatessaron ?

• A translation is called a _________

Next weekNext week

Lesson 6:

The Text of the New Testament &

Significance of Textual Variations