A Plain Introduction to the Criticism of the New Testament
For the Use of Biblical Students
By The Late
Frederick Henry Ambrose Scrivener
M.A., D.C.L., LL.D.
Prebendary of Exeter, Vicar of Hendon
Fourth Edition, Edited by
The Rev. Edward Miller, M.A.
Formerly Fellow and Tutor of New College, Oxford
Vol. II.
George Bell & Sons, York Street, Covent Garden
London, New York, and Cambridge
1894
CONTENTS
Chapter I. Ancient Versions.
Chapter II. Syriac Versions.
Chapter III. The Latin Versions.
Chapter IV. Egyptian Or Coptic Versions.
Chapter V. The Other Versions Of The New Testament.
Chapter VI. On The Citations From The Greek New Testament Or Its Versions
Made By Early Ecclesiastical Writers, Especially By The Christian Fathers.
Chapter VII. Printed Editions and Critical Editions.
Chapter VIII. Internal Evidence.
Chapter IX. History Of The Text.
Chapter X. Recent Views Of Comparative Criticism.
Appendix To Chapter X.
Chapter XI. Considerations Derived From The Peculiar Character And
Grammatical Form Of The Dialect Of The Greek Testament.
Chapter XII. Application Of The Foregoing Materials And Principles To The
Criticism Of Select Passages Of The New Testament.
Appendix A. On Syriac Lectionaries.
Appendix B. Additional Bohairic Manuscripts In Egypt (1893).
Index I. Texts Of The New Testament Illustrated In This Treatise.
Index II. Of Subjects.
Footnotes
ADDENDA ET CORRIGENDA.
Page 167, l. 16. I am convinced that it is only just measure to a book,
which from a strong prejudice is not known nearly as much amongst
Textualists as its great merit deserves, to draw more attention to “The
Revision Revised” by the late Dean Burgon. Those who have really studied
it, to whichever school they belong, know how it teems with suggestion all
through its striking pages. The present book owes a vast debt to him.
P. 248, ll. 8, 9 from bottom, _for_ Sir Edmund Beckett _read_ Lord
Grimthorpe.
Some remains upon sacred Greek MSS. by Dr. Scrivener have been just
published under the name of “Adversaria Critica Sacra,” Cambridge:
University Press. Reference has been made in this edition to some of the
proof-sheets which were sent to the Editor. Vol. I. Appendix A.
CHAPTER I. ANCIENT VERSIONS.
[Transcriber’s Note: This book contains much Greek text, which will not be
well-rendered in plain text versions of this E-book. Also, there is much
use of Greek characters with a vertical bar across the tops of the letters
to indicate abbreviations; because the coding system used in this e-book
does not have such an “overline”, they are rendered here with underlines.
It also contains much text in Syriac, which is written right-to-left; for
the sake of different transcription methods, it is transcribed here in
both right-to-left and left-to-rights, so that regardless of the medium of
this E-book, one or the other should be readable.]
1. The facts stated in the preceding volume have led us to believe that no
extant manuscript of the Greek Testament yet discovered is older than the
fourth century, and that those written as early as the sixth century are
both few in number, and (with one notable exception) contain but
incomplete portions, for the most part very small portions, of the sacred
volume. When to these considerations we add the well-known circumstance
that the most ancient codices vary widely and perpetually from the
commonly received text and from each other, it becomes desirable for us to
obtain, if possible, some evidence as to the character of those copies of
the New Testament which were used by the primitive Christians in times
anterior to the date of the most venerable now preserved.
Such sources of information, though of a more indirect and precarious kind
than manuscripts of the original can supply, are open to us in the
Versions of Holy Scripture, made at the remotest period in the history of
the Church, for the use of believers whose native tongue was not Greek.
After the composition of the writings of the New Testament, it is evident
that the Church was in possession of Sacred Books which were of the utmost
value, both to those who were already members, and in the conversion of
such as had not yet come to the real knowledge of the Faith. The nearness
of Syria to Judea, and the growth of the Church at Antioch and Damascus in
the earliest days, must have produced a demand for a rendering into the
Syriac languages; and the bilingual condition of most of the Roman Empire
must have entailed a constant desire amongst vast multitudes to read in
their own tongue a verification of the truths taught them. Accordingly
translations, certainly of the New and probably also of the Old Testament,
were executed not later than the second century in the Syriac and Latin
languages, and, so far as their present state enables us to judge of the
documents from which they were rendered, they represent to us a
modification of the inspired text which existed within a century of the
death of the Apostles. Later on, the influence of Alexandria opened the
districts to the south and gave birth to the Coptic versions. And about
the time of the acceptance of the Christian Religion by the Empire a
further impetus was given, and the Vulgate and the Gothic and Ethiopic
versions were soon made, followed by others according as the demand arose.
Indeed, the fact that versions as a class go much further back than MSS.,
constitutes one of the chiefest points of their importance in Textual
Criticism; since the range of the ancient versions may be roughly
estimated as reaching from the second to the tenth century, whereas the
period of extant MSS. did not commence till the fourth century was well
advanced, and were continued into the sixteenth. Their respective ages,
too, are actually known, and do not rest upon probabilities, as in the
first kind of evidence. They are also generally authorized translations,
made either by a body of men, or by one eminent authority whose work was
adopted amongst the people for whose use the Holy Scriptures had been
translated. And they probably represented, either many MSS., or a small
body of accepted MSS.
On the other hand, versions as evidence are not without their special
drawbacks. It may be found as difficult to arrive at the primitive text of
a version, as of the Greek original itself; whether from variations in the
different copies, or from suspicions of subsequent correction. Besides
this, some are secondary versions, being derived not from the Greek, but
from some version of the Greek. Again, some are “sense-translations(1),”
rather than word-renderings, and it is in many cases difficult to infer
their real verdict. Of course, none but an expert, such as Dr. S. C.
Malan, or the several revisers of the succeeding chapters of this edition,
can pronounce upon the character of the verdict of a version in question.
It will be seen then that versions by themselves cannot be taken to
establish any reading, because manuscripts are necessarily first
authorities, and there is no lack of abundance in such testimony. Yet they
confirm, or help to decide, the conclusions or the leanings of
manuscriptal evidence: and taken in connexion with other witnesses, they
have much independent force, varying of course according to the character
of the version or versions, and the nature and extent of their agreement.
In this respect they possess great importance.
The experience of recent years has shown that it is misleading to
construct classes of versions in regard to their relative importance.
Fuller knowledge casts aside, and often with contumely, such adventitious
helps. Readers are therefore referred for information upon each version to
the chapter or section which is devoted to it, and are recommended to
gather their apprehensions of the several values of those versions from
the facts recorded therein, and from use of them in the various passages
of Holy Scripture where they are cited. But the following is a list of the
chief versions of the New Testament which were made before the
introduction of printing, and a few handposts are inserted here and there
for elementary guidance in the study of them:—
I. Peshitto Syriac (cent. ii), called “the Queen of Versions” (Hort, cent.
iii).
II. Latin version or versions(2) (ii, or ii-iv). Remarkable for age.
III. Bohairic (or Memphitic) (iii? Stern, iv or v), best of the Egyptian
versions.
IV. Sahidic (or Thebaic) (iii?), second Egyptian version.
V. Middle-Egyptian (iii?).
VI. Fayoumic (ii or iii?).
VII. Curetonian (iv), corrupt,—(Hort, ii).
VIII. Vulgate (iv), made by Jerome from the various Latin texts in vogue
at the time.
IX. Gothic (iv).
X. Armenian (iv).
XI. Jerusalem (v?).
XII. Ethiopic (v-vi). A large number of MSS. exist.
XIII. Georgian (v, vi?).
XIV. Philoxenian (A.D. 508), corrected by Thomas of Harkel, Harkleian
(A.D. 616); very literal.
XV. Arabic versions (ix-xvii), made from Greek, Syriac, Egyptian, &c.
XVI. Anglo-Saxon (x) of the Gospels, made from the Vulgate.
XVII. Frankish (ix).
XVIII. Two Persic, from the Peshitto (xiii), and from the Greek (xiv).
The last four, being secondary, are worth but little as critical helps.
It may be added, that from the literary activity of the last ten years in
the closer examination of ancient records, and through discoveries in
Egypt and elsewhere, a great deal has been added to the knowledge
previously existing upon this part of the subject of this book. Therefore
in the succeeding chapters much alteration has been found necessary both
in the way of correction, because some theories have been exploded under
the increased light of wider information, and by the insertion of
additions from the results of investigation and of study. The editor has
been readily and generously assisted by several accomplished scholars who
are experts in their respective departments; and the names of the various
writers who have contributed to the four succeeding chapters will form a
sufficient guarantee for the soundness and completeness of the information
therein supplied.