Foundations of Faith

FOUNDATIONS OF FAITH IN JESUS
M. M. NINAN
CHAPTER EIGHT
VERSIONS OR TRANSLATIONS
We have other manuscript evidence for the New Testament in translations to various
languages very early as well:
We have more than 15,000 existing copies of the various versions written in many different
languages.
The Latin and Syriac (Christian Aramaic), some of which were written as early as 150 A.D.,
such as the Syriac Peshitta (150-250 A.D.) (McDowell 1972:49; 1990:47).
The Lain version includes:
• Codex Bobiensis (Latin; copied in the 4th century, but containing at least a 3rdcentury
form of text)
• Codex Vercellensis (Latin; copied in the 4th century)
Before St. Jerome’s translation, the Latin Vulgate, the Bible in Latin was termed Old Latin.
Vetus Latina is a collective name given to the Biblical texts in Latin that were translated
before St Jerome's Vulgate Bible (382-405 AD) became the standard Bible for Latinspeaking
Western Christians. The phrase Vetus Latina is Latin for Old Latin, and the Vetus
Latina is sometimes known as the Old Latin Bible. It was, however, written in Late Latin,
not the early version of the Latin language known as Old Latin. It is sometimes also known
as the Itala (as in the Quedlinburg Itala fragment).By A.D. 250, Latin was the language of
the Christian scribes and clerics, creating a need for a Latin Bible. The translation of the
Bible into Old Latin varied among the different versions - probably the work of several
different independent authors. These variations caused Pope Damasus I (345-420) to ask St.
Jerome, a Latin and Greek scholar to revise the Latin translation of the Bible. His translation
became known as the Latin Vulgate, which became the standard of the Catholic Church.
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