Godfrey-Smith. Explicaciones funcionales en términos de historia reciente

Text of Scripture

Today there are primarily two families of Scripture manuscripts: the Received Text, called the Textus Receptus, which is what the King James and New King James Bibles are based on and the Critical Text, which is what most of the other English Bibles, (NIV, NASB, and others) are based on.

In modern times the Critical Text has been chosen over the Received Text because, overall, it is shorter.

The thinking is that a text closest to the original would have less words per sentence. Therefore, any text that is longer, must be dated later in time. The longer part of the text would be classified as an interpolation, meaning someone centuries later added what he wanted us to think was real Scripture to the text.

Many times you will see notes at the bottom of a page in a study Bible stating that all or part of a certain verse was not found in the earliest manuscripts. This is true because the oldest manuscripts are the corrupted Siniaticus and Vaticanus. See Heretical Manuscripts for more information.

The ancient church taught a very different view. They taught the Scriptures were complete and Gnostics cults were responsible for cutting out portions of the complete Scriptures that they did not like.

Heretics:

The three main heretics we are concerned with are Marcion, Tatian, and the Ebionites. Each created their own canons of Scripture by cutting out portions of Scripture to get rid of evidence that contradicted their teachings.

Passages of Scripture that were cut away show us what doctrines each of these heretics did not like. If we find an ancient manuscript or codex that follows that tradition, it is very possible that it was produced by the followers of those particular cults. It is also possible that they may have tried to add to portions of Scripture by adding other books to the original twenty-seven of the New Testament, such as Second Clement or one of the fake gospels of Paul, Judas, or Thomas.

Canons of the Heretics

^Marcion

^Tatian

The Ebionites

 Rejected the Old Testament

 Used a cut up version of Luke with references to Jesus being the Creator removed.

 Used cut up versions of some of Paul’s epistles.

^ Created the Gospel of Paul.

 Used a cut up version of the harmony of the

gospels called the Diatessaron, with references to Christ’s divinity removed.

 Rejected all the epistles of Paul.

^ Used Second Clement.

 Used a cut up version of the gospel of Matthew in Hebrew, called the Gospel of the Hebrews.

 Rejected all the epistles of Paul.

Jesus’ divinity or connection with the God of the Old Testament. His canon of scripture also contained Romans, 1st & 2nd Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1st & 2nd Thessalonians, Philemon, and Laodiceans, all tailored to fit Marcion's teachings. From Paul’s epistles, he removed all references to God creating the world, and Jesus as His son, and any predictions of Jesus’

birth. He changed Luke 2:33 to state “his father” instead of “Joseph,” trying to imply Joseph was the biological father of Jesus.

The Ebionite Conon

The canon of the Ebonite cult contained only one gospel, the Gospel of the Hebrews. This was a Hebrew version of the gospel of Matthew with parts removed in similar fashion to Marcion’s canon. In it, Mary was not a “virgin,” but a “young woman.” They removed references to Jesus being the Son of God, and changed the text in some places to make Joseph Jesus’ biological father. They rejected all the epistles of the apostle Paul, whom they called an apostate from the Law.

The Encratite Canon

Tatian, the founder of the Encritites, created the first harmony of the gospels and called it the Diatessaron; but when he apostatized and founded his Gnostic cult, he began cutting parts out of his harmony. In their canon, all references to Jesus’ divinity and pre-existence were removed, as well as all the epistles of Paul.

Irenaeus, AD 177

Against Heresies 3.11.7 – The Ebionites, who use only Matthew’s Gospel, are refuted out of this very same work, making false suppositions in regard to the Lord. But Marcion, mutilating the Gospel according to Luke, is still proved to be a blasphemer of the only existing God, from those pages which he still retains. Those, again, who separate Jesus from the Christ, alleging that Christ remained impassible, but that it was Jesus who suffered, prefer the Gospel of Mark. However, if they read it with the love of truth, they would have their errors rectified. Those, moreover, who follow Valentinus, make copious use of the Gospel according to John to illustrate their conjunctions. However, they, too, will be proved to be totally in error.

Tertullian, AD 200

Against Marcion 5.21 – Macrion rejected First and Second Timothy and began to tamper with the other epistles.

Conclusion

We will learn in the next sections that the long form of most of the verses in question are quoted in the ancient church fathers’ sermons, and that the “oldest” manuscripts have heretical books placed in their canons, with numerous spelling and other errors in the text. In short, there is no reason not to go with the Textus Receptus for the Greek New Testament.

It is my opinion, that since the current scholarship wants to view the manuscript with the fewest amount of words as closer to the original, in the near future Satan will cause a corrupted manuscript from the followers of Marcion, Ebion, or Tatian to be dug up. Since it will be notably shorter than anything else, it will be heralded as the original. I think this shorter version will be used by the Antichrist to “prove”

Jesus was not God, or born of a virgin, and that there is no hell. I believe such a manuscript will be the basis of the Antichrist’s new Christianity.

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Text of Scripture

Matthew 23:14*

Mark 16:9-20

Acts 8:37

Revelation 11:17*

* no quotes from the ancient fathers available