The Great (?) Uncials
The Dean Burgon Society's 2000 Annual Meeting
Pastor David L. Brown, Ph.D.
Posted 8/24/00
By way of review, I remind you that the Old Testament was
originally written primarily in Hebrew and the New Testament in Greek. Further,
it must be remember that there are no original autographs of either the
Hebrew Old Testament or the Greek New Testament. Yet, the Old and New
Testaments have been preserved in apographs (exemplars or copies) of the
originals. Since the focus in this paper is the New Testament it is important to
know that there are at least 5309 surviving Greek manuscripts that contain
all or parts of the New Testament. In addition there are more than 19,000
ancient New Testament manuscripts in Latin, Syriac, Armenian, and other language
versions. The oldest copies of the New Testament know to exist are NOT Greek
copies but the Syriac and the Old Latin versions (pre-Jeromes Latin Vulgate).
The Old Syriac "is a good translation from the Greek, and exists
practically complete in about 46 manuscripts." (General Biblical
Introduction by Herbert Miller, 1937; 240-41). The oldest of those
manuscripts is from the 4th or 5th century but the form of
text they preserved dates from the close of the second or the beginning of the
third century. "The Old Latin version was likely translated from the Greek
in roughly 157 AD." (A Plain Introduction to New Testament Criticism, II,
1894; Scrivner; pp.42-42). Finally, there are more than 24,000 handwritten
copies of the New Testament have survived.
MANUSCRIPT COPIES OF THE NEW TESTAMENT
There are some important facts that relating to the 5309
manuscripts that need to be considered at this point.
The Four Kinds of Greek Manuscripts
There are four kinds of Greek manuscripts that we have
in our possession today: 1) papyri, 2) uncials, 3) cursives,
and 4) lectionaries." (Defending The King James Bible by D.
A. Waite; p. 53). "The Greek manuscripts of the New Testament, so far as
known, were written on papyrus, parchment, or paper. The autographs, both of the
historical and epistolary writers, are supposed to have been written on papyrus.
The great uncials copies and the most valued of the minuscules and lectionaries
were written on parchment, while paper was employed largely in the making of the
later lectionaries and the printed texts of the New Testament." (Praxis
In Manuscripts of the Greek New Testament by Rev. Charles F. Sitterly; 1898;
p.15).
Papyri Manuscripts
 Papyrus is a brittle kind of paper made out of the papyrus
plant, which grows in Egypt. To my knowledge there are about 97 papyrus
fragment manuscripts of the New Testament. Most of those surviving early
texts only have a few verses on them. The most ancient example is the John
Ryland papyrus fragment p52, seen at the left, which includes portions of . It is housed in John Rylands Library, Manchester, England.
The fragment is believed to have been written some time between 98 and 138 AD. (The
Complete Text of the Earliest New Testament Manuscripts; Philip W. Comfort
& David P. Barrett; 1999 Baker Books; p.17-18).
There are six papyri that I am aware of, which record large
portions of the New Testament. P45, dated around 200 AD, contains portions of
all four Gospels and Acts. P46, from the second century, has almost all the
Paul's epistles and Hebrews. P47, also from the second century, contains
. These are from what is called the Beatty Papyri housed in
Dublin Castle in Dublin Ireland. Then there are three lengthy papyri from the
Bodmer Papyri. P66 is a second century papyrus that contains almost all of John.
P72, a third or fourth century papyrus, contains all of 1 and 2 Peter and Jude.
Finally, P75, dated between 175-200 AD, contains the most of .
The Uncials or Majuscules
 Uncial comes from the Latin word uncialis, which means
inch-high. It is used to delineate a type of Greek and Latin writing which
features capital letters. There are few, if any, divisions between words in
uncial manuscripts and no punctuation to speak of. The word majuscule, meaning
large or capital letter, is a synonym for uncial. There are some 267 uncials.
Three of the most famous uncial New Testament manuscripts are the fourth
century manuscripts Sinaiticus and Vatican-us and the fifth century Codex
Alexandrius. As an example of an uncial I have included a picture of Codex
Sinaiticus
 Cursives or Minuscules
Cursives or minuscules are Greek manuscripts written in
lower case letters, more like handwriting. The letters flow together, much like
writing of today. There are spaces between words and some degree of punctuation.
There are at least 2,764 cursive New Testament manuscripts known today. On the
left is a cursive manuscript of John 1 from about 1022 AD.
Lectionary Manuscripts
The word lection comes from a Latin root word meaning
"to read." Lectionaries are portions of Scriptures in Greek (or Latin)
Bibles that were read in the church services during the year. There are at least
2,143 known lectionaries in existence.
New discoveries are regularly coming to light and so it is
difficult to have exact, up to date figures.
J. J. Griesbach identified three New Testament text-types
calling them the Alexandrian, Western and Byzantine. He
first published his findings in 1775. H. B. Sweete writes that there are
basically three types of manuscripts, the Constantinoplian or Textus
Receptus; the Eusebio-Origen or Palestinain; the Hysychian or Egyptian
text type. (Introduction of the Old Testament in Greek by H. B. Swete,
pp. 76 & ff). More recently men like Lightfoot, in his book How We Got
the Bible, and Metzger in his book The Text of the New Testament,
have broken down the divisions further and identify four text streams or text
families; Alexandrian, Western, Caesarean, and Byzantine.
While I agree that it is possible to divide and subdivide and micro-divide text
types, depending upon the criteria you use, I have decided to look at the text
streams issue simply and follow the path of Benjamine G. Wilkinson. He wrote,
"anyone who is interested enough to read the vast volume of literature on
this subject, will agree that down through the centuries there were only two
streams of manuscripts. (Which Bible edited by Dr. David Otis Fuller;
from the chapter - Our Authorized Bible Vindicated by Benjamin G.
Wilkinson; p. 187).
The Traditional, Byzantine or Eastern Text Group of The
Reformation-Protestant Bibles
"The first stream which carried the Received Text in
Hebrew and Greek, began with the apostolic churches, and reappearing at
intervals down the Christian Era among enlightened believers, was protected by
the wisdom and scholarship of the pure church in her different phases: precious
manuscripts were preserved by such as the church at Pella in Palestine where
Christians fled, when in 70 A.D. the Romans destroyed Jerusalem; by
the Syrian Church of Antioch which produced eminent scholarship; by the Italic
Church in northern Italy; and also at the same time by the Gallic Church in
southern France and by the Celtic Church in Great Britain; by the pre-Waldensian,
the Waldensian, and the churches of the Reformation. (Ibid. p.187)
Here is why this is important. Nearly all ancient English
Bibles (except the Wycliffe & Douay-Rhimes Catholic Bible), and in fact all
the Reformation English Bibles follow the same text family. That family is
the Received Text, also called the Textus Receptus. It must be noted that Elzevir
first gave the title, Textus Receptus, to the Traditional Text in 1633. This
text type has been called by various names by Bible scholarsthe
Constantinoplian text, Antiochian text, Byzantine text, Traditional text,
Apostolic text, the Majority text and the Textus Receptus (Latin for Received
Text). The Textus Receptus belongs to the stream of early apostolic manuscripts
that were brought from Judea. The Textus Receptus was the Bible of early Eastern
Christianity. Dr. Hort admits this when he says, "It is no wonder that the
traditional Constantinopolitan text, whether formally official or not, was the
Antiochian text of the fourth century. It was equally natural that the text
recognized at Constantinople should eventually become in practice the standard
New Testament of the East." (Revision Revised, John Burgon, p.
134.)
Regardless of where you stand on the "textual debate," this is the
fact; the foundational text of all English Bible New Testament translations from
1525 to 1880 was from the Byzantine, Traditional or Majority Text group. The
sole exception was the Jesuit Rheimes New Testament of 1582.
I have used the term "Majority Text" several times
now, therefore I want to point out just how large this majority is. "This
first stream appears, with very little change, in the Protestant Bibles of many
languages, and in English, in that Bible known as the King James Version, the
one which has been in use for three hundred years in the English-speaking world.
These manuscripts have in agreement with them, by far the vast majority of
copies of the original text. So vast is this majority that even the enemies
of the Received Text admit that nineteen-twentieths of all Greek manuscripts
are of this class. (Which Bible edited by Dr. David Otis Fuller; from
the chapter - Our Authorized Bible Vindicated by Benjamin G. Wilkinson;
p. 187-88).
Indeed, the enormous majority of all Greek New Testament
manuscripts in existence are from the so-called Byzantine, Traditional text
group. When I began my study several years back, there were 5,255 known
manuscripts and portions. Of that number, the large majority, 5,210 of them,
more closely matched the Traditional Text group. Only 45 of them followed the
minority or Westcott and Hort tyhpe text group. So, more than 99% of all the
manuscripts that exist are of the Byzantine text family or Traditional text
family. "The remainder, representing the Western stream of manuscripts, are
clearly defective. Yet it is these defective copies upon which almost all
modern translators place their trust. But the Reformers of the sixteenth and
seventeenth centuries made no such error." (Modern Bible Translations
Unmasked by Russell & Colin Standish; p.37).
In fact, there is enormous support for the Majority Text
found in Armenian, Ethiopic, Gothic, Latin, and Syriac translations, some
predating the earliest Greek manuscripts we possess. But despite this fact, in
the nineteenth century, following the texts of the Codex Vaticanus and the Codex
Sinaiticus, many passages of the New Testament have been altered. Yet more
recently discovered papyrus fragments have confirmed the Majority Text.
"Nineteenth-century biblical scholars claimed that much of the first
fourteen chapters of the Gospel of John was corrupted by scribes in the later
Byzantine Era. This claim was shown to be utterly false by the discovery of
Papyrus Bodmer II. Dated about A.D. 200, prior to the commencement of the
Byzantine Era, this Papyrus verified many of the disputed passages attributed to
late Byzantine copyists and demonstrated that these passages were present in
very early manuscripts." (Modern Bible Translations Unmasked by
Russell & Colin Standish;p.37-38).
The Minority, Western or Alexandrian Text Group of The Roman
Catholic Bibles
The second stream is a small one of a very few manuscripts.
Less the 1% of all Greek New Testament manuscripts fit into this group. Here is
a brief overview of the three manuscripts considered to be the most important
within this group.
1. Codex Alexandrinus (A)
This codex was the
first of the so-called "great uncials" to become known to
western paleographers. "Walton, in his polyglot Bible, indicated it by the
letter A and thus set the fashion of designating Biblical manuscripts by
such symbols." (The Catholic Encyclopedia online; Codex
Alexandrinus; http://www. newadvent.org/cathen/04080c.htm). The codex came
to the knowledge of the western world when Cyril Lucar, the Patriarch of the
Greek Catholic (Greek Orthodox) Church in Alexandria was transferred in 1621 AD
to become the new Patriarch of Constantinople. He sent the codex as a gift to
King James I of England, but James I died before the gift was presented.
Finally, in 1627 AD Charles I accepted it in James I's stead. It seems probable
that Cyril Lucar had brought it with him from Alexandria. Concerning the
provenance of the volume, there is "a note by Cyril Lucar states that it
was written by Thecla, a noble lady of Egypt, but this is probably merely his
interpretation of an Arabic note from the 14th century which states
the MS was written by Thecla, the martyr (shortly after the Council of Nicaea in
325 AD). The article goes on to say that "another Arabic note by Athanasius
(probably Athanasius III., patriarch c. 1308 AD) states that it was given to the
patriarchate of Alexandria, and a Latin note of a later period dates the
presentation in 1098." Upon careful examination, scholars say it is clear
that more than one person worked on the volume. Actually, at some time in its
history the work was bound into four volumes, three Old Testament Volumes and
one containing the New Testament and 1 and 2 Clement. The Catholic Encyclopedia
says, "two hands are discerned in the New Testament by Woide, three by Sir
E. Maunde Thompson and Kenyon" and, "the greater part of Volume III
(last volume of the Old Testament) is ascribed by Gregory to a different hand
from that of the others." (The Catholic Encyclopedia online; Codex
Alexandrinus). The text of Alexandrinus is in double columns of 49 to 51
lines. It is the first codex to contain the major chapters with their titles. A
new paragraph is indicated by a large capital. But, there are some paleographers
that believe that the principal scribe who prepared this codex could not even
read Greek, because spaces sometimes appear in the middle of a word.
The Old Testament of Alexandrinus
I have often read that Alexandrinus contains a complete Old Testament. But
that is not an accurate statement. There are about 30 Pslams missing, , because along the line some place ten leaves of the Old
Testament were lost. There are various other lacunas (gaps) in the Old
Testament as well. "" are missing as well. (The Catholic Encyclopedia
online; Codex Alexandrinus). The order of the Old Testament books is
peculiar.
Not only are there Old Testament deletions, but there are numerous Old
Testament additions as well. It contains deuterocanonical books and in
addition to 1 and 2 Machabees it adds 3 and 4 Machabees which are apocryphal
books of a very late origin. I find it interesting that The Epistle to
Marcellius, which is attributed to Athanasius, is inserted as a preface to
the Pslater, together with Eusebius's summary of the Pslams. It contains Pslam
151 as well as 14 Odes or Liturgical Canticles.
The New Testament of Alexandrinus
The New Testament has lost from 19 to 25 leaves of the Gospel
of Matthew, as far as . Strangely there are two leaves missing from
the Gospel of John which cover the much disputed passage
about the adulterous woman. But, what is amazing is that the Gospels follow
the so-called Syrian type text, the ancestor of the Textus Receptus, which
is evidence that the traditional text type did have an early origin! There are
three leaves missing in . This manuscript
ends with , therefore leaving out 9-20. It omits (For an angel
went down at a certain season into the pool, and troubled the water: whosoever
then first after the troubling of the water stepped in was made whole of
whatsoever disease he had.) and (For there are three that bear record
in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one.).
There are additions to the New Testament as well. According
to the table of contents the New Testament once contained the Psalms of Solomon,
though it is now missing. Also added to the New Testament are the Epistle of St.
Clement of Rome and the II Epistle of Clement. In these two letters
"Clement of Alexandria teaches that: [1] Men are saved by works (2 Clement
2:12,15); [2] Christians are in danger of going to Hell (2 Clement 3:8);
[3]Christians don't get new bodies at the resurrection (2 Clement 4:2); [4] He
was a prophet who wrote Scripture (2 Clement 4:11); [5] The male and female in 9 were anger and concupiscence (when they were speaking of
Christ's being the head, then the husband, followed by the wife in order or
chain of authority). Not believing the Bible literally, Clement both fantasized
and spiritualized the Scriptures." (Which Version is The Bible? By
Floyd Jones Th.D, Ph.D; Published by Global Evangelism of Goodyear Arizona;
p.69).
In conclusion, I have to wonder why Codex A is considered so
valuable textually when it has so many problems? Copyist's errors are frequent.
I remind you that numerous paleographers believe that whoever prepared the text
could not even read Greek. Likewise it is agreed that two or three different
people worked on the manuscript. One author says it "is considered one of
the most valuable witnesses to the Septuagint." But, "it is found,
however, to bear a great affinity to the text embodied in Origen's Hexapla and
to have been corrected in numberless passages according to the Hebrew." And
in fact, "the text of the Septuagint codices is in too chaotic a
conditionto permit of a sure judgment on the textual value of the great
manuscript." (Codex Alexandrinus; The Catholic Encyclopedia; On
line edition). The New Testament is not much better because of its mixed origin,
not to mention the extra biblical material included in the volume. This early
5th century copy of the Bible (with some mutilations) is in the British Library
in London. Many scholars consider it to be 3rd of importance only to the next
two...
2. Codex Vaticanus (B) This codex is an uncial
manuscript thought to be from mid-4th century. It is made up of 759 leaves
written in three columns and has 42 lines to the column, except for the poetical
books where there are two columns per page. "It was written by three
scribes" according to the Encyclopedia Britannica which goes on to state
that later and then much later changes were made by two other scribes (Encyclopedia
Britannica - 11th Edition; vol.3; p879). It went unnoticed in the
Vatican library for many years until it became known to textual scholars in
1475. However, it was used by Rome. "Pope Sixtus V made it the basis of an
edition of the Greek Old Testament in 1580" (The New Archeological
Discoveries and Their Bearing Upon the New Testament by Camden M. Cobern;
published by Funk and Wagnalls 1922; p.136). It was not published to scholars
until it was issued in different volumes between 1828 to 1838 in 5 volumes. This
set proved to be very inaccurate. In fact, the Vatican kept the manuscript
sequestered and took great pains to be sure it was not readily available to
outsiders for about another 400 years! From 1843-1866, leading scholars
Constantine von Tischendorf and S.P. Tregelles were allowed to look at it for a
few hours, but not allowed to copy the MS.
How is this manuscript viewed? Though I cannot figure out
why, many consider this to be the greatest of Codex witnesses to the New
Testament. In fact, this parchment manuscript "was reckoned as the
chief authority among MSS. for the Greek Testament of Westcott and Hort."
(The New Archeological Discoveries and Their Bearing Upon the New Testament
by Camden M. Cobern; published by Funk and Wagnalls 1922; p.136). But there are
those who have questioned this evaluation and with good reason! In 1860, while a
temporary chaplain of an English congregation at Rome, John Burgon made a
personal examination of it and found some major problems with in the manuscript.
This has been confirmed by many others. Here are just a few of the problems.
"The entire manuscript has had the text mutilated, every letter has been
run over with a pen, making exact identification of many of the characters
impossible." (Vaticanus and Sinaiticus - ww.waynejackson.
freeserve. co.uk/kjv /v2.htm). Dr. W. Eugene Scott, who owns a large collection
of ancient Bible manuscripts and Bibles says, "the manuscript is faded in
places; scholars think it was overwritten letter by letter in the 10th
or 11th century, with accents and breathing [marks] added along with
corrections from the 8th, 10th and 15th centuries. All
this activity makes precise paleographic analysis impossible. Missing
portions were supplied in the 15th century by copying other Greek
manuscripts." (Codex Vaticanus by Dr. W. Eugene Scott, 1996).
I question the "great witness" value of any
manuscript has been overwritten, doctored, changed and added to for more than 10
centuries. Let me tell you more.
The Old Testament of Vaticanus
The first 46 chapters of Genesis are missing through are missing as well. are
omitted as well. "The order of the books of the Old Testament is as
follows: Genesis to Second Paralipomenon, First and second Esdras, Psalms,
Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Canticle of Canticles, Job, Wisdom, Ecclesiasticus,
Esther, Judith, Tobias, the Minor Prophets from Osee to Malachi, Isaias,
Jeremias, Baruch, Lamentations and Epistle of Jeremias, Ezechiel, Daniel; the
Vatican Codex does not contain the Prayer of Manasses or the Books of Machabees."
(The Catholic Encyclopedia On-line; Codex Vaticanus)
The New Testament of Vaticanus
Coming to the New Testament, Barry Burtons writes in
his book Let's Weigh the Evidence -- "it omits, the
Pauline Pastoral Epistles , and all of Revelation... in the gospels alone it leaves out 237 words,
452 clauses and 748 whole sentences, which hundreds of later copies agree
together as having the same words in the same places, the same clauses in the
same places and the same sentences in the same places." Floyd Jones further
notes that and are missing.
There is yet another strange thing about Vaticanus that John
Burgon tells us about relating to the last twelve verses of Mark.
"To say that in the Vatican Codex (B), which is
unquestionably the oldest we posses, St. Mark's Gospel ends abruptly at the
eight verse of the sixteenth chapter, and that the customary subscription (Kata
Mapkon) follows, is true; but it is far from being the whole truth. It
requires to be stated in addition that the scribe, whose plan is found to
have been to begin every fresh book of the Bible at the top of the next
ensuing column to that which contained the concluding words of the preceding
book, has at the close of St. Mark's Gospel deviated from his else
invariable practice. He has left in this place one column entirely
vacant. It is the only vacant column in the whole manuscript - a blank space
abundantly sufficient to contain the twelve verses which he nevertheless
withheld. Why did he leave that column vacant? What can have induced the
scribe on this solitary occasion to depart from his established rule? The
phenomenon (I believe I was the first to call distinct attention to it) is
in the highest degree significant, and admits only one interpretation. The
older manuscript from which Codex B was copied must have infallibly
contained the twelve verses in dispute. The copyist was instructed to
leave them out - and he obeyed; but he prudently left a blank space in
memoriam rei. Never was a blank more intelligible! Never was silence more
eloquent! By this simple expedient, strange to relate, the Vatican Codex is
made to refute itself even while it seems to be bearing testimony against
the concluding verses of St. Mark's Gospel, by withholding them; for it
forbids the inference which, under ordinary circumstances, must have been
drawn from that omission. It does more. By leaving room for the verses it
omits, it brings into prominent notice at the end of fifteen senturies and a
half, a more ancient witness than itself." (Revision Revised: The
Last Twelve Verses of the Gospel of St. Mark by John William Burgon; p.
86-87)
That's not all. I turn your attention to --
"No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is
in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him." Notice the phrase
I have underlined, "the only begotten Son." Both Vaticanus (B) and
Sinaiticus (Aleph) read "the only begotten God" instead of
"the only begotten Son." That clearly reflects the Arian
heresy! In fact, many textual authorities have identified Vaticanus and
Sinaiticus, the manuscripts so revered by modern textual critics, as two of the
copies of the Greek New Testament made by Eusebius. Frederick Nolan and other
authorities have charged Eusebius with making many changes in the Scripture.
Nolan wrotes, "As it is thus apparent that Eusebius was not wanting in
power, so it may be shown that he wanted not the will, to make those alterations
in the sacred text, with which I have ventured to accuse him." (An
Inquiry into the Integrity of the Greek Vulgate by Frederick Nolan; p. 35).
I bring this to your attention because, "it is no less true to fact than
paradoxical in sound, that the worst corruptions to which the New Testament has
ever been subjected, originated within a hundred years after it was composed;
that Irenaeus (A.D. 150), and the African Fathers, and the whole Western, with a
portion of the Syrian Church, used far inferior manuscripts to those employed by
Stunica, or Erasmus, or Stephens thirteen centuries later, when moulding the
Textus Receptus." (Scrivener, Introduction to New Testament Criticism, 3rd
Edition, 511, quoted in Wilkinson, p.18.).
Here is another interesting fact. "It contains the
Epistle of Barnabaswhich teaches that water baptism saves the soul." (Which
Version is The Bible? by Floyd Jones; published by Global Evangelism of
Goodyear Arizona; p. 68).
Finally, there are two important points that I want to make
before moving on. "Erasmus knew about Vaticanus B and its variant readings
in 1515 AD while preparing the New Testament the New Testament Greek text.
Because they read so differently from the fast majority of mss which he had
seen, Erasmus considered such readings spurious." (Which Version is The
Bible? by Floyd Jones; published by Global Evangelism of Goodyear Arizona;
p. 68). Further, as I understand it, Vaticanus was available to the translators
of the King James Bible, but they did not use it because they knew it is
unreliable..." It wasn't until 1889-1890 that a complete facsimile was
made. The manuscript remains in Vatican City to this day.
3. Codex Sinaiticus a (a or ALEPH) This codex (also mid-4th century) was discovered by
Tischendorf at St. Catharine's Monastery at the foot of Mt. Sinai on his third
visit there in 1859. Today, most of this codex is housed in the National British
Library. "The original provenance of the codex is debatable, but the two
likeliest contenders seem to be Egypt and Caesarea. It was certainly present in
the library at Caesarea sometime between the fifth and seventh centuries, where
it was corrected at one point against a manuscript that had been corrected
against the original Hexapla of Origen by the martyr Pamphilius. Although it
has frequently been suggested, it is unlikely that Sinaiticus (or Codex
Vaticanus, a very similar manuscript) was one of the fifty parchment books
ordered by the Emperor Constantine. The text of the OT reflects the Old Greek
(where it has been determined), though it is inferior to Vaticanus in most
books. In the NT, Sinaiticus is frequently cited as an Alexandrian witness.
However, in , at least, it contains a text more closely related to the
Western tradition." (Codex Sinaiticus by James R. Adair, Jr. -
Expanded by the author from his article in Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible)
This manuscript is written on thin vellum. The portion of the
manuscript that resides at the British Library contains 346 leaves
of that number 199 are Old Testament leaves. There are another 43 leaves at the
University Library at Leipzig and yet another 3 partial leaves at Leningrad. In
1975 the monks at St. Catherine's monastery discovered several leaves from
Genesis believed to be from Sinaiticus in a room whose ceiling had collapsed
centuries ago. The leaves measure 13 X 15 inches and are
written in uncial characters, without accents or breathings, and with no
punctuation except, at times, the apostrophe and the single point for a period.
It is written in four columns to the page, except in the poetical books, which
are written in two wide columns. There are 48 lines per column except in the
Catholic Epistles, which have 47 lines per column. Originally it must have
contained the whole Old Testament, but is "has suffered severely from
mutilation, especially in the historical books from Genesis to Esdras (Ezra)
inclusive. A curious oddity that occur is that Esdras (Ezra) 9:9 follows 1
Parlipomen (1 Chronicles) 19:17 without any break." (The Catholic
Encyclopedia On-line; Codex Sinaiticus). The article goes on to say that one
of the many later correctors has added a note that states that the seven leaves
of 1 Parlipomen (1 Chronicles) copied into the Book of Esdras (Ezra) because the
manuscript from which Sinaiticus was copied was incorrect as well. One has to
wonder about the scribe(s) doing the copying. Either he (or they) did not know
the Bible or he did not know the language or he was careless. Perhaps it was a
combination of all of these. But, I must say that errors like this lead me to
doubt that statement of the "scholars" who claim that this is one of
the "best" manuscripts. Speaking of scribes, Konstantin Von
Tischendorf identified the handwriting of four different scribes in the writing
of the original text. But that is not the end of the scribe problem! "He
recognized seven correctors of the text" (The Catholic Encyclopedia
On-line; Codex Sinaiticus). Others say there were as many as ten scribes
who altered the text. James R. Adair, Jr., author of the article on
Sinaiticus in the Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible says at one point the
codex was "corrected against the original Hexpala of Origen by the martyr
Pamphilius." He arrived at this conclusion because of a note that is the
manuscript. It reads --
"This codes was compared with a very ancient
exemplar which had been corrected by the hand of the holy martyr Pamphilus
[died 309 AD]; which exemplar contained at the end of the subscription in
his own hand: 'Taken and corrected according to the hexapla of Origen:
Antonius compared it: I, Pamphilus, corrected it.'"
The problem is that Origen was a Bible corrupter, who
"was moving away from the pure text of Scripture which had come from the
Apostles hands." (Rome and The Bible; by David Cloud; published by
Way of Life Literature, 1996; p. 22). And there is good reason to come to this
conclusion. Origin "cited the versions of Aquila, Symmachus, and Theodotion,
on the former part of the Canon, he appealed to the authority of Valentinus and
Heracleon on the latter. While he thus raised the credit of those revisals,
which had been made by heretics, he detracted from the authority of that text
which had been received by the orthodox. Some of the difficulties which he found
himself unable to solve in the Evangelsits, he undertook to remove" (Inquiry
into the Integrity of the Greek Vulgate by Frederick Nolan; published 1815;
p.432).
My point is simply this. The early corrections of the
manuscript are made from Origen's corrupt source. But that was just the
beginning of the tampering! As many as nine other scribes tampered with the
codex. Consider the observations of Tischendorf once again. He "counted
14,800 corrections in Sinaiticus." (Codes Sinaiticus by Navida
Shahid; www.beyond-the-illusion.com/files/Religion/Islam/research/codx0894.html).
Alterations, and more alterations and more alterations were made, and in fact,
most of them are believed to be made in the 6th and 7th
centuries. "On nearly every page of the manuscript there are corrections
and revisions, done by 10 different people." (Which Is The Right Version
of the Bible; www.waynejackson. freeserve.co.uk/kjv/v2.htm). He goes on to
say, "the New Testamentis extremely unreliableon many occasions
10, 20, 30, 40, words are droppedletters, words even whole sentences are
frequently written twice over, or begun and immediately canceled; while that
gross blunder, whereby a clause is omitted because it happens to end in the same
word as the clause preceding occurs no less than 115 times in the New
Testament."
There is one particular omission that made a real impact upon
my mind, that I believe is important to beings into the picture at this point.
Several years back I went to the British Museum,
specifically to take a look at Sinaiticus. To my surprise I discovered that,
while indeed was missing, it was clear to see that it had
originally been there, but had been pumiced (erased) out. The space was still
evident in the codex and the letters could faintly be seen.
My point is, it was
there originally. I could see it with my own eyes! It was at that point that I
realized that the note in my New International Version - "The two most
reliable early manuscripts do not have ", was not telling the
whole story! In reality, the verses were originally there! I should be noted
that the New Testament omits and about a dozen other entire verses. "The most
significant fact regarding these MSS it that in both Vaticanus B and Sinaiticus
Aleph, reads that Jesus was the only begotten "God" instead
of the only begotten "Son." God was not begotten at the
incarnation! God begat his "only begotten son who, insofar as his
deity is concerned, is eternal as we read in . That is the original
Arian heresy. The Arian heresy is believed by many to have resulted "from
Origen's editing the Greek manuscripts encountered in his travels and appears in
Vaticanus B and Sinaiticus a which were
derived from copying his work. (The Septuagint: A Critical Analysis by
Floyd Jones; published by Global Evangelism 1998; p. 10).
There are numerous other problems with this codex as well.
For instance, it includes two uninspired books in the New Testament. The entire
Epistle of Barnabas (which teaches baptizmal regeneration), except six leaves,
and the Shepherd of Hermas, which is incomplete.
Finally, I must point out something ironic about these two
alleged "oldest and best" manuscripts. They do not agree with each
other! "There are 3036 differences between the readings in Vaticanus
and Sinaiticus in the Gospels alone" (Codex B and Its Allies by
Herman Hoskier; volume 2, p.1). John Burgon points out that it is easier to
find two consecutive verses in which the two manuscripts differ, than two
consecutive verses in which they entirely agree. We should find that very
disturbing. My research has led me to conclude that the three "Great
Uncials" are at best unreliable. I am thankful that the Bibles of the
Reformation were based on what came to be called the Traditional text or the Textus
Receptus.
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