Smith's Bible Dictionary.pdf - Online Christian Library

Smith's Bible Dictionary
•The number of readings which seem to have been altered for distinctly dogmatic reasons is
extremely small. In spite of the great revolutions in thought, feeling and practice through which
the Christian Church passed In fifteen centuries, the copyists of the New Testament faithfully
preserved, according to their ability, the sacred trust committed to them. There is not any trace of
intentional revision designed to give support to current opinions. (Matthew 17:21; Mark 9:29; 1
Corinthians 7:5) need scarcely be noticed.
•The great mass of various readings are simply variations in form. There are, however, one or two
greater variations of a different character. The most important of these are (Mark 16:9) and John
7:53 ... 8:12; Roma 16:25-27 The first stands quite by itself and there seems to be little doubt that
it contains an authentic narrative but not by the hand of St. John. The two others taken in connection
with the last chapter of St. John’s Gospel, suggest the possibility that the apostolic writings may
have undergone in some cases authoritative revision.
•Manuscripts, it must be remembered, are but one of the three sources of textual criticism. The
versions and patristic quotations are scarcely less important in doubtful cases. II. THE HISTORY
OF THE PRINTED TEXT.—The history of the printed text of the New Testament may be these
divided into three periods. The extends from the labors of the Complutensian errors to those of
Mill; the second from Mill to Scholz; the third from Lachmann to the present time. The criticism
of the first period was necessarily tentative and partial: the materials available for the construction
of the text were few and imperfectly known. The second period made a great progress: the evidence
of MSS. of versions, of the fathers, was collected with the greatest diligence and success; authorities
were compared and classified; principles of observation and judgment were laid down. But the
influence of the former period still lingered. The third period was introduced by the declaration
of a new and sounder law. It was laid down that no right of possession could be pleaded against
evidence, The “received” text, as such, was allowed no weight whatever. Its authority, on this
view, must depend solely on critical worth. From first to last, in minute details of order and
orthography, as well as in graver questions of substantial alteration, the text must be formed by a
free and unfettered judgment. The following are the earliest editions:
•The Complutensian Polyglot .-The glory of printing the first Greek Testament is due to the princely
Cardinal Ximenes. This great prelate as early as 1502 engaged the services of a number of scholars
to superintend an edition of the whole Bible in the original Hebrew and Greek, with the addition
of the Chaldee Targum of Onkelos, the LXX. version and the Vulgate. The volume containing
the New Testament was Printed first, and was completed on January 10, 1524. The whole work
was not finished till July 10, 1517. (It was called Complutensian because it was printed at
Complutum, in Spain.—ED.)
•The edition of Erasmus .—The edition of Erasmus was the first published edition of the New
Testament. Erasmus had paid considerable attention to the study of the New Testament, when he
received an application from Froben, a Printer of Basle with whom he was acquainted, to prepare
a Greek text for the press. The request was made on April 17, 1515 and the whole work was
finished in February, 1516.
•The edition of Stephens .—The scene of our history now changes from Basle to Paris. In 1543,
Simon Deuteronomy Colines: (Colinaeus) published a Greek text of the New Testament, corrected
in about 150 places on fresh MS. authority. Not long after it appeared, R. Estienne (Stephanus)
published his first edition (1546), which was based on a collation of MSS, in the Royal Library
with the Complutensian text.
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William Smith