10-06-2010, 10:16 PM
Bruce Metzger is a proponent of the Critical Minority Text of the New Testament assembled by scholars from Greek manuscripts of the Alexandrian type. This text is based primarily on two 4th Century manuscripts whose existence was discovered in the 19th Century: Codex Vaticanus (an ancient holding of the Roman Catholic Church) and the Codex Sinaiticus (found in a Catholic convent near Mount Sinai) which don?t always agree.
The superior Majority Text is the coherent Byzantine form of the Greek text that is based on the majority of the thousands of surviving Greek manuscripts and fragments of the New Testament. Bruce Metzger considers the Byzantine text to be ?corrupt ? since he considers it to be based on the?conflation? of ?divergent readings?. However he also states , ?It is characterized chiefely by lucidity and completeness.? [Bruce . Metzger, A Textual Commentary of the Greek New Testament, Second Edition, Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, D-Stuttgart, 2002].
In actuality, it is the Critical Minority Text of the New Testament that is an embarrading mess with hundreds of significant omissions, incomplete verses, defective verses, weird wordings, and outright errors in comparison to the New Testament Majority Text. For example, the Minority Text and the modern English New Testaments based on it are missing the following verses: Matthew 17:21, Matthew 18:11, Matthew 23:14, Mark 7:16, Mark 9:44, Mark 9:46, Mark 15:28, Mark 16: 9-20, Luke 17:36, Luke 23:17, most of John 5:3-4, Acts 8:37, parts of Acts 9:5-6, most of Acts 24:6-8, Acts 28:29, and Romans 16:24. In addition, over 1,000 other verses are missing important words or using incorrect and misleading words. The missing last line of the Lord?s Prayer in Matthew 6:13 of the Minority Text is the reason that Roman Catholics end the Lord?s Prayer at the word ?evil?. In the Minority Text the version of the Lord?s Prayer in Luke 11:2-4 is further flawed. The claim by Bruce Metzger that the NT in Greek is 99% certain is quite incorrect with respect to his favored Critical Text which has numerous divergent readings and missing verses.
According to Greek scholars Kurt Aland and Barbara Aland (The Text of the New Testament, 2nd Edition, William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, Grand Rapids, MI, 1989), more than one-third of the verses in the Greek Minority Text are significantly uncertain with at least two or more major words being different from other Greek versions. In many cases whole verses or important parts of verses are missing in the Minority Text. This doesn?t include the many important differences that depend on single words. For example, the addition of a single Greek sigma in Luke 2:14 in the Minority Greek Text significantly and theologically changes the message of the Angels! That great message of the Majority Text, ?peace and good will to men? turns into ? peace to men of good will? in the Minority Text. The Peshitta has "peace and good hope to mankind?.
The Aramaic Peshitta text of the New Testament is in considerable agreement with the Majority Greek Text of the New Testament but not with the quite faulty Minority text that is now being used for most English language translations.
My personal favorite English translation of the Aramaic New Testament is "The New Testament According to the Eastern Text"(1940) by George Lamsa. Used copies are usually available at Amazon.
For personal study of the English and Aramaic versions, I like "The Aramaic-English Interlinear New Testament",2nd Edition, 1992, three volumes, The Way International. You can only get that by telephone order to The Way International Bookstore in New Knoxville, Ohio 45871. They also have other useful study aids including "Lexicon to the Syriac New Testament", "The Concordance to the Peshitta Version of the Aramaic New Testament", and "English Dictionary Supplement".
Otto
The superior Majority Text is the coherent Byzantine form of the Greek text that is based on the majority of the thousands of surviving Greek manuscripts and fragments of the New Testament. Bruce Metzger considers the Byzantine text to be ?corrupt ? since he considers it to be based on the?conflation? of ?divergent readings?. However he also states , ?It is characterized chiefely by lucidity and completeness.? [Bruce . Metzger, A Textual Commentary of the Greek New Testament, Second Edition, Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, D-Stuttgart, 2002].
In actuality, it is the Critical Minority Text of the New Testament that is an embarrading mess with hundreds of significant omissions, incomplete verses, defective verses, weird wordings, and outright errors in comparison to the New Testament Majority Text. For example, the Minority Text and the modern English New Testaments based on it are missing the following verses: Matthew 17:21, Matthew 18:11, Matthew 23:14, Mark 7:16, Mark 9:44, Mark 9:46, Mark 15:28, Mark 16: 9-20, Luke 17:36, Luke 23:17, most of John 5:3-4, Acts 8:37, parts of Acts 9:5-6, most of Acts 24:6-8, Acts 28:29, and Romans 16:24. In addition, over 1,000 other verses are missing important words or using incorrect and misleading words. The missing last line of the Lord?s Prayer in Matthew 6:13 of the Minority Text is the reason that Roman Catholics end the Lord?s Prayer at the word ?evil?. In the Minority Text the version of the Lord?s Prayer in Luke 11:2-4 is further flawed. The claim by Bruce Metzger that the NT in Greek is 99% certain is quite incorrect with respect to his favored Critical Text which has numerous divergent readings and missing verses.
According to Greek scholars Kurt Aland and Barbara Aland (The Text of the New Testament, 2nd Edition, William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, Grand Rapids, MI, 1989), more than one-third of the verses in the Greek Minority Text are significantly uncertain with at least two or more major words being different from other Greek versions. In many cases whole verses or important parts of verses are missing in the Minority Text. This doesn?t include the many important differences that depend on single words. For example, the addition of a single Greek sigma in Luke 2:14 in the Minority Greek Text significantly and theologically changes the message of the Angels! That great message of the Majority Text, ?peace and good will to men? turns into ? peace to men of good will? in the Minority Text. The Peshitta has "peace and good hope to mankind?.
The Aramaic Peshitta text of the New Testament is in considerable agreement with the Majority Greek Text of the New Testament but not with the quite faulty Minority text that is now being used for most English language translations.
My personal favorite English translation of the Aramaic New Testament is "The New Testament According to the Eastern Text"(1940) by George Lamsa. Used copies are usually available at Amazon.
For personal study of the English and Aramaic versions, I like "The Aramaic-English Interlinear New Testament",2nd Edition, 1992, three volumes, The Way International. You can only get that by telephone order to The Way International Bookstore in New Knoxville, Ohio 45871. They also have other useful study aids including "Lexicon to the Syriac New Testament", "The Concordance to the Peshitta Version of the Aramaic New Testament", and "English Dictionary Supplement".
Otto