Considering the extent to which the changes and editions
have dramatically altered parts of the New Testament, even among books that
recite the same stories, I believe the Bible could suffer from a loss in its
legitimacy. That is not to say the
New Testament contains no spiritual or factual foundation; on the contrary, I
believe the Bible to be best understood as a metaphorical guideline to live a
moral life. However, I believe
that both accidental and intentional changes only give ammo to critics of biblical
literalism, among others.
For
instance, the accidental changes brought about by scriptura continuo encourage doubt. Indeed, the incident of homoeoteleuton in Luke 12: 8-9 where
“before the angels of God” is repeated is not nearly as controversial as John
17:5 : “I do not ask that you keep them from the world, but that you keep them
from the evil one”.[1] Because of errors by the scribe, it
originally reads Jesus as praying “I do not ask that you keep them from the
evil one.”
Similarly,
intentional changes bring about even greater threats to the New Testament’s
authenticity. I take greatest
issue with scribes’ decisions to edit or delete text in order to remove
possible doctrinal problems. In
Matthew 24:36 the original text read Jesus as stating that no one knew the end
of the world, “not the angels, nor even the son, but the Father alone”; scribes
later deleted “nor even the show” for fear of offending or blaspheming.[2]
If
any particular scribe could change the text of the bible, whether intentionally
or by accident, how can the Bible’s legitimacy and authenticity not be brought
into constant question? Compound
this issue with the fact of the +5,700 manuscripts most are only fragments and
were written in the 9th century, I find it difficult for the Bible
to retain any factual or historical foundation.[3] However, I also believe that we should
not look to the Bible for historical interpretation. Instead, we should look to the Bible for a guide to morality
and piety; a way in which we can strive to be closer to God.
Ehrman, Bart D. The New Testament. Fourth Edition. New York: Oxford, 2004
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