TEXTUAL CORRUPTIONS.
"The Bible does not contain the shadow of a shade of error from
Genesis to Revelation"--Cheever.
"Every book of it, every chapter of it, every verse of it, every word
of it, is the direct utterance of the Most High."--Bunyan.
Such are the dogmatic assertions of Bibliolaters. So much confidence
do they pretend to repose in the doctrine of the Bible's inerrancy
that they propose the most crucial tests for its submission.
The Rev. Jeremiah Jones, one of the highest orthodox authorities on
the canon, lays down this rule in determining the right of a book to
a place in the canon:
"That book is apocryphal which contains contradictions; or which
contains histories, or proposes doctrines contrary to those which are
known to be true; or which contains ludicrous trifling, fabulous,
or silly relations; or which contains anachronisms; or wherein the
style is clearly different from the known style of the author whose
name it bears" (New Methods, Vol. I., p. 70).
The Rev. T. Hartwell Horne, a standard authority in the orthodox
church, submits this test in determining the divinity of the Bible
as a whole:
"If real contradictions exist in the Bible, it is sufficient proof
that it is not divinely inspired, whatever pretenses it may make to
such inspiration" (Introduction to the Scriptures, Vol. I., p. 581).
I challenge the verity of Cheever's and Bunyan's claims and proceed
to apply to this book the tests of Jones and Horne. Instead of not
containing the shadow of a shade of error, I shall show that it is
so filled with the darkness of error that the truths existing in it
are scarcely discernible. Instead of being the direct utterance of
the Most High, I shall show that every book of it, every chapter of
it, every verse of it, every word of it, is the direct utterance of
man. I shall impeach the authority of the Christian canon and show
that all of its books are apocryphal; that they contain histories
and propose doctrines that are contrary to what is known to be true;
that they contain ludicrous, trifling, fabulous, and silly relations;
that they abound with anachronisms. If I have not already shown that
the style of these books is clearly different from the known style of
the authors whose names they bear, it is because the "known style" of
these authors is a myth. I shall adduce enough real contradictions from
the Bible to not only refute the claim that it is divinely inspired,
but to destroy its credibility even as a human authority.
Errors of Transcribers.
If the Bible were a divine revelation, as claimed, it would have
been divinely preserved. Not only the original writers, but the
transcribers, translators, and printers, also, would have been divinely
inspired. It is admitted that divine inspiration was confined to the
original writers. Consequently the Bible, as we have it, cannot be
an infallible revelation. If it be not an infallible revelation it
cannot be a divine revelation.
It is popularly supposed that the books of the Bible, as originally
written, have been preserved free from corruptions. That they are full
of textual errors--that the books as they were originally written
no longer exist and cannot be restored--is conceded even by the
most orthodox of the Lower Critics. The principal causes of these
corruptions are the following:
1. Clerical errors. The invention of printing made it possible
to preserve the original text of a writer comparatively free from
errors. With the works of ancient writers this was impossible. For a
period of from 1,200 to 2,200 years preceding the invention of printing
the only means of preserving the books of the Bible was the pen of the
scribe. However careful the copyist might be, errors would creep into
the text. But instead of being careful these copyists, many of them,
were notoriously careless. This is especially evident in the case of
numbers. Hundreds of errors were made in the transcription of these
alone. Probably one-half of the numbers given in the Old Testament,
and many in the New, are not those given in the original text, but
are errors due to the carelessness of transcribers and a want of
divine supervision.
2. Interpolations. There are thousands of interpolations in the
Bible. A considerable portion of the words printed in Italics in our
version are acknowledged interpolations. Many of them appeared first in
the shape of marginal notes intended to explain or correct a statement
in the text. Later scribes incorporated these into the text. And thus,
while God was engaged in watching sparrows and numbering the hairs
in his children's heads, additions in this and various other ways
were made to his word. In many instances whole chapters were added
to the original documents.
3. Omissions. Much matter was carelessly omitted. To quote the Bible
for Learners, "not only letters and words, but whole verses have fallen
out." Objectionable matter was intentionally omitted. Chrysostom
tells us that entire books were destroyed by the Jews. They were on
such familiar terms with the Deity that they could obtain other and
more desirable ones for the asking.
4. Textual changes. In innumerable places the text has been wilfully
changed to suit the religious and other notions of the priests. Let
me cite an example. In early copies, and probably in the original
text, Genesis xviii, 22, reads as follows: "The Lord yet stood before
Abraham." They thought it detracted from God's dignity to stand before
one of his creatures, and so they changed it to its present form,
"Abraham stood yet before the Lord."
Concerning the corruptions of the scribes, Dr. Davidson says: "They
did not refrain from changing what had been written, or inserting
fresh matter" (Canon, p. 34).
The facts that I have mentioned apply not merely to the Old Testament,
but to the New Testament as well. Westcott, a very high authority
on the canon, says: "It does not appear that any special care was
taken in the first age to preserve the books of the New Testament
from the various injuries of time or to insure perfect accuracy of
transcription.... The original copies seem to have soon perished."
Errors of Translators.
These errors of the transcribers have been immeasurably increased
by the translators. A perfect translation is impossible, and for
these reasons: 1. No language has words to express perfectly all
the words of another language. 2. Languages change with time and
the words of one age have a different meaning in the next. 3. Many
writers do not express themselves clearly, and it is often impossible
to fully comprehend their meaning. This is especially true of Bible
writers. 4. No two translators will grasp the meaning of a writer in
exactly the same manner, or convey it in the same words.
In regard to the Old Testament the Hebrew language, as anciently
written, was the most difficult of all languages to translate. It
was written from right to left; the words contained no vowels; there
were no intervening spaces between the words, and no punctuation
marks. Even with the introduction of vowel points many words in Hebrew,
as in English, have more than one meaning. Without these points,
as originally written, the number is increased a hundred fold. The
five English words, bag, beg, big, bog, and bug, are quite unlike
and easily distinguished. Omit the vowels, as the ancient Jews did,
and we have five words exactly alike, or rather, one word with five
different meanings. The Hebrew language was thus largely composed of
words with several meanings. As there were no spaces between words it
was sometimes hard to tell where a word began or where it ended; and
as there were no punctuation marks, and no spaces between sentences,
paragraphs, or even sections, it was often difficult to determine
the meaning of a writer after the words had been deciphered.
Here is the best known passage in the Bible printed in English as
the Jews would have written it in Hebrew:
bllwhtmcmdgnkhtmnhtbdllhnvhntrhchwrhtfR
vgrfwsstbdrsvgrfdndrbldrdshtsvgnvhnstshtrnnd
nkhtsnhtrflvmrfsrvldtbnttpmttntnsdldnsrtbdrn
nmrvrfrlghtdnrphtdnmdg
In the printed text there is little danger of mistaking one letter for
another; in the written text there is, especially if they resemble
each other. The Hebrew letters corresponding to our D and R were
nearly alike and easily confounded. Consequently in Numbers i, 14,
we have "Eliasaph the son of Deuel," and in Numbers ii, 14, "Eliasaph
the son of Reuel." Only God knows which is correct, and he does not
care to enlighten us. Therefore we must believe that both are correct
or be damned.
St. Jerome says: "When we translate the Hebrew into Latin we are
sometimes guided by conjecture." Le Clerc says: "The learned merely
guess at the sense of the Old Testament in an infinity of places"
(Sentim, p. 156). The Old Testament as we have it, then, consists
largely of guesses and conjectures.
The title page of our Authorized Version of the Bible contains these
words: "Translated out of the original tongues." The Old Testament
is declared to be a correct translation of the accepted Hebrew. In
its preparation, however, the Greek more than the Hebrew version
was followed. Referring to the King James translators, the historian
John Clark Ridpath says: "Following the Septuagint rather than the
Hebrew original, they fell into many errors which a riper scholarship
would have avoided" (Cyclopedia of Universal History. Vol. II.,
p. 763). Instead of being a collection of original guesses and
conjectures our Old Testament is, to a great extent, merely a bad
English translation of a corrupted copy of a spurious Greek translation
of the original (?) Hebrew.
On the title page of the Authorized Version of the New Testament
appears another falsehood: "Translated out of the original Greek." The
original Greek of the New Testament, it is claimed, belongs to the
first century. The "original Greek" out of which our version was
translated is less than 500 years old. The Greek version from which it
was translated was made by Erasmus in 1516. Referring to the materials
employed by Erasmus in the preparation of his work, the Rev. Alexander
Roberts, D. D., in his "Companion to the Revised Version of the English
New Testament," a work which the Committee on Revision delegated him
to write and which was approved, makes the following admissions:
"In the Gospels he principally used a cursive MS. of the fifteenth
or sixteenth century."
"In the Acts and Epistles he chiefly followed a cursive MS. of the
thirteenth or fourteenth century."
"For the Apocalypse he had only one mutilated manuscript."
"There are words in the professed original for which no divine
authority can be pleaded, but which are entirely due to the learning
and imagination of Erasmus."
Little do Christians realize how much of the Bible is due to the
imagination of theologians.
In view of the difficulties that I have mentioned, if the translators
had earnestly tried to give us a faithful translation of the Bible
their work would have teemed with imperfections. But they did not even
attempt to give us a faithful translation. We know that in numerous
instances they purposely mistranslated its words. A hundred examples
might be cited. One will suffice--sheol.
The translators themselves ought to be the best judges of each
other's work. Of Beza's New Testament, Castalio says: "It would
require a large volume to mark down the multitude of errors which
swarm in Beza's translation." Of Castalio's translation, Beza says:
"It is sacrilegious, wicked, and downright pagan." Reviewing Luther's
Bible, Zwingle writes: "Thou corruptest, O Luther, the Word of
God. Thou art known to be an open and notorious perverter of the Holy
Scriptures." Luther, in turn, calls the translators of Zwingle's Bible
"a set of fools, anti-Christs, and impostors."
Our Authorized Version is certainly as faulty as any of the above,
and its translators have been the recipients of as severe criticisms
as those quoted. The Committee on Revision, while compelled to treat
it respectfully, declared against its infallibility in the following
words: "The studied variety adopted by the translators of 1611 has
produced a degree of inconsistency that cannot be reconciled with
the principles of faithfulness" (Preface to N. V.).
Different Versions Contain Different Books.
That the charges that I have made concerning the corruptions of
the text of the Bible are true, one fact alone amply proves--its
many discordant versions and translations. Hundreds have perished,
all of them differing from the original and differing from each
other. A hundred still exist; no two of them alike. Excepting the
English versions, which are mostly revisions of the same version,
scarcely two of the principal versions contain the same books.
The received Hebrew contains 39 books (22 as divided), the Samaritan
6 (some copies but 5); the Septuagint about 50. Of the Christian
versions of the Old Testament, some contain the Apocryphal books,
others do not. The Gothic and Ethiopic versions exclude a part of
the canonical books.
The Syriac New Testament contains but 22 books; the Italic 24 (some
copies 25); the Egyptian 26; the Vulgate 27. The Ethiopic omits a
canonical book and includes an apocryphal book. The Sinaitic and
Alexandrian manuscripts each contain 29 books. Each contains two
apocryphal books, but the books are not the same.
The Roman Catholic and the Greek Catholic Bibles do not contain the
same number of books. The Roman Catholic and the Protestant Bibles
do not contain the same number; the Roman Catholic contains 75,
the Protestant 66.
Different Versions of the Same Book Differ.
No two versions of the same book are alike. The Samaritan Pentateuch
does not agree with the Hebrew Pentateuch; the Septuagint Pentateuch
agrees with neither.
The Hebrew and the Septuagint have both been accepted by Christians
as authoritative. In a single chapter may be found a dozen important
variations:
Hebrew.--"And Arphaxad lived five and thirty years and begat Salah"
(Gen. xi, 12).
Septuagint.--"And Arphaxad lived a hundred and thirty-five years and
begat Cainan."
Hebrew.--"And Arphaxad lived after he begat Salah four hundred and
three years" (13).
Septuagint.--"And Cainan lived a hundred and thirty years and he
begat Salah, and he lived after the birth of Salah three hundred and
thirty years."
Hebrew.--"And Salah lived thirty years and begat Eber" (14).
Septuagint.--"And Salah lived a hundred and thirty years and begat
Eber."
Hebrew.--"And Salah lived after he begat Eber four hundred and three
years" (15).
Septuagint.--"And Salah lived after he begat Eber three hundred and
thirty years."
Hebrew.--"And Eber lived four and thirty years and begat Peleg" (16).
Septuagint.--"And Eber lived a hundred and thirty-four years and
begat Peleg."
Hebrew.--"And Eber lived after he begat Peleg four hundred and thirty
years" (17).
Septuagint.--"And Eber lived after he begat Peleg two hundred and
seventy years."
Hebrew.--"And Peleg lived thirty years and begat Reu" (18).
Septuagint.--"And Peleg lived a hundred and thirty years and begat
Ragad."
Hebrew.--"And Reu lived two and thirty years and begat Serug" (20).
Septuagint.--"And Ragad lived a hundred and thirty-two years and
begat Serug."
Hebrew.--"And Serug lived thirty years and begat Nahor" (22).
Septuagint.--"And Serug lived a hundred and thirty years and begat
Nahor."
Hebrew.--"And Nahor lived nine and twenty years and begot Terah" (24).
Septuagint.--"And Nahor lived a hundred and seventy-nine years and
begat Terah."
Hebrew.--"And Nahor lived after he begat Terah an hundred and nineteen
years" (25).
Septuagint.--"And Nahor lived after he begat Terah a hundred and
twenty-five years."
Hebrew.--"And Terah took Abram his son and Lot the son of Haran, his
son's son, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, his son Abram's wife" (31).
Septuagint.--"And Terah took Abram and Nahor his sons, and Lot the son
of Haran his son's son, and Sarai and Melcha, his daughters-in-law,
the wives of his sons Abram and Nahor."
The early Christian versions and manuscripts contain an immense number
of different readings, at least 150,000. Dr. Mill discovered 80,000
different readings in the New Testament alone.
Origen, writing in the third century, says: "There is a vast difference
betwixt the several editions of the scripture, happening either through
the carelessness of the transcribers, or else the forwardness of some
who pretend to correct and adulterate the scripture" (Commentary on
St. Matthew).
Modern versions do not agree. The readings of the Catholic and
Protestant versions are quite unlike: The Protestant versions
themselves contain a great variety of readings. The New Version
is supposed to be simply a revision of the Authorized Version. The
committee that prepared it was governed by this rule: "To introduce
as few alterations as possible into the text of the Authorized Version
consistent with faithfulness."
How many alterations were made? More than one hundred thousand!
The following are some of the changes made in the New Testament:
Old Version.--"All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is
profitable for doctrine," etc. (2 Tim. iii, 16).
New Version.--"Every scripture inspired of God is also profitable
for teaching," etc.
Old.--"And Joseph and his mother marveled at those things which were
spoken of him" (Luke ii, 33).
New.--"And his father and his mother were marveling at the things
which were spoken concerning him."
Old.--"These things were done in Bethabara beyond Jordan" (John i, 28).
New.--"These things were done in Bethany beyond Jordan."
Old.--"God was manifest in the flesh" (1 Tim. iii, 16).
New.--"He [Christ] who was manifested in the flesh."
Old.--"No man, when he hath lighted a candle, putteth it in a secret
place" (Luke xi, 33).
New.--"No man, when he hath lighted a lamp, putteth it in a cellar."
Old.--"Because strait is the gate and narrow is the way which leadeth
unto life" (Matt, vii, 14).
New.--"For narrow is the gate and straitened the way that leadeth
unto life."
Old.--"Our Father, which art in heaven. Hallowed be thy name. Thy
kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. Give us
this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our
debtors, and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil:
For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen"
(Matt, vi, 9-13).
New.--"Our father, which art in heaven. Hallowed be thy name. Thy
kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so on earth. Give us
this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have
forgiven our debtors. And bring us not into temptation, but deliver
us from the evil one."
One would suppose that if Christians preserved any part of the Bible
free from corruption it would be the prayer of their Lord, a little
prayer containing but a few lines. And yet they have not. The so-called
Lord's Prayer that our mother's taught us is not the Lord's Prayer. The
prayer we learned contains sixty-six words. The Lord's Prayer contains
but fifty-five. The revisers have expunged fifteen words, added some,
and altered others.
The last twelve verses of Mark, the first eleven verses of John viii,
and 1 John v, 8, three important passages, are all admitted to be
forgeries.
Different Copies of the Same Version Differ.
Different copies of the same version contain different
readings. St. Jerome's version was declared a forgery, because
it differed so much from the Italic version then in use. Jerome
anticipated the charge and met the objection in his preface addressed
to Pope Damasus:
"Two things are my comfort under such a reproach: First, that 'tis you,
the Supreme Pontiff, that have put me upon the task; and secondly,
that by the confession even of the most envious, there needs be some
falsity where there is so much variety. If they say that the Latin
copies are to be credited, let them tell me which. For there are
almost as many different copies as there are manuscripts."
Prof. Wilbur F. Steele, a noted Christian scholar, relates the
following relative to our own version: "In 1848 there was such
confusion in the office of the American Bible Society, and such
impossibility of telling what should be the reading in many places,
that a man was set to work to bring order out of chaos. He took four
Bibles from as many leading Bible houses of England, a copy of the
American Bible Society, and a copy of the original edition of 1611,
all claiming to be the same. These were carefully compared throughout;
every variation, no matter how minute, was noted. The number of these
variations was about 24,000" (Central Christian Advocate). Twenty-four
thousand variations found in six copies of the same version!
Thus we see that different versions of the Bible do not contain
the same books; different versions of the same book do not contain
the same readings, while even different copies of the same versions
disagree. Which is the word of God?
If the Bible had originally consisted of authentic and credible
documents its credibility would have been greatly impaired by these
wholesale corruptions of the transcribers and translators. But if
we had the originals, it is doubtful whether their credibility would
be much greater than these distorted copies. Enough remains to show
the general character of them, and this is bad. They consist mostly
of historical and biographical narratives, interwoven with legends,
myths, and fables; crude poetical compositions; the ravings of diseased
religious minds, called prophecies and revelations; and theological
dissertations, no two of which agree in their doctrines. A few of the
books possess genuine merit and deserve a place among the literary
treasures of the world, but all of them are fallible.
Remarkable, as coming from a theological professor, but fraught with
truth and confirmatory of the statements made in this chapter, are
these words of Professor Steele:
"Evidently every letter of the English Bible has not been miraculously
watched over. He who has neither eyes nor conscience may affirm it,
but persons provided with these can not. If the affirmer hedges by
saying he did not refer to translations but to the 'original,' we
note that (1) translations are the only thing most people have to
go to heaven on; and (2) that scholars of truth and conscience find
equally as much fault with the 'original.'"
"There are hundreds, if not thousands, of places in which the scholar
finds conflicting testimony."
In discussing the credibility of the Bible the question of authenticity
will, for the most part, be waived. With Christians all of its books
are genuine--the writings of those to whom they are ascribed--and for
the sake of argument, as well as convenience, these ascribed authors
will be recognized.