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 | | From: | admin | | Subject: | The Greek Text of Westcott & Hort | | Date: | Mon, 15 Nov 2004 14:43:20 GMT |
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 | The following is a continuing post from the Book "Which Version is the
Bible" by Floyd Nolen Jones. Chapter 5, pages 59-74
Which Version is the Bible?
Copyright 1995 · Floyd Jones Ministries, Inc.
All Rights Reserved. This book may be freely reproduced in any form as long
as it is not distributed for any material gain or profit; however, this book
JEROME AND THE LATIN VULGATE There is one more piece of the puzzle to be
added. Jerome, the hermit of Bethlehem, was commissioned by Pope Damasus to
revise the entire Latin Bible. Jerome completed the Gospels around A.D. 384.
About 386, he came to Jerusalem under the auspices of the Church at Rome and
began to update the Old Latin Bible. What did Jerome use as his standard for
this task? Jerome based his Old Testament primarily on the Hebrew text in
Origen's Hexapla and admits to using the other columns (his 5th and those of
the Ebionites) to "correct" the text. He relied heavily upon Origen's edited
New Testament to finish the revision. The entire work was completed c.405.
Jerome's Latin Vulgate, although maligned by the Roman church for years, was
accepted at the 1546 A.D. Council of Trent as that cult's official "Bible".
It is still being used today.
PUT IT ALL TOGETHER, PLEASE Now let us review. What is Jerome's Latin
Vulgate? It is a version derived from Origen's fifth column and his edited
New Testament. What are Vaticanus B and Sinaiticus Aleph? They were taken
from Origen's fifth column and his edited New Testament by Eusebius. What
was the Greek text used by Westcott and Hort? It was taken directly from
Origen as 90% is word for word from Vaticanus B and, of the remaining 10%,
about 7% is Sinaiticus Aleph. In other words, Westcott and Hort came to the
1881 Revision Committee, having worked in secret for over twenty years on a
Greek text which was derived from two (though mainly from one) of the copies
which Eusebius had prepared for Constantine, these manuscripts having been
produced from Origen's work! The translation was Origen's sole endeavor, his
private interpretation - and we have already examined his beliefs! Westcott
and Hort succeeded in getting the committee to accept almost word for word
this Greek text, replacing Erasmus' Greek text of the Reformation.
Thus we see that the text of Westcott and Hort, from which Nestle's text is
derived and all the modern translations have as their foundation, is the
same as the Catholic Vulgate - for Jerome, like Eusebius, relied upon
Origen's work! The point being made is that equals of equals are equal.
Thus, the readings in the new Protestant Bibles are almost the same as the
Roman Bible and most of the passages that militate against much of the Roman
heresies and errors are either altered or omitted, greatly facilitating the
ecumenical efforts to bring about the return to Rome.
The reader should discern therefore that the Latin Vulgate, Sinaiticus,
Vaticanus, the Hexapla, Nestle's Greek text (or the Aland-Nestle26 or UBS3),
Jerome, Eusebius, Origen, and Westcott-Hort are terms for ideas that are
inseparable.
VATICANUS B AND SINAITICUS ALEPH What is Vaticanus B? It is a Greek
manuscript written on vellum containing 759 pages, each being 10 1/2 x 10
1/2 inches. It adds to the Bible as it includes the Old Testament Apocrypha.
Yet God said "don't add." It contains the Epistle of Barnabas (part of the
Apocalyptic books of New Testament times) which teaches that water baptism
saves the soul, again adding to the Word of God. However, the Word of God
has also been deleted as Vaticanus B does not include Genesis 1:1-46:28;
Psalms 106-138; Matthew 16:2,3; Romans 16:24 and it lacks Paul's pastoral
epistles (1st and 2nd Timothy, Titus and Philemon). Missing are Revelation
as well as Hebrews 9:15 - 13:25 which teaches that the once for all
sacrifice of Jesus ended the sacraments forever. There is also a blank space
left at Mark 16:9-20 (see any standard reference such as ISBE).
Erasmus knew about Vaticanus B and its variant readings in 1515 A.D. while
preparing the New Testament Greek text. Because they read so differently
from the vast majority of mss which he had seen, Erasmus considered such
readings spurious. For example, Vaticanus B leaves out "Mystery Babylon the
Great", "the seven heads that are the seven mountains upon which the harlot
(the apostate religious system that began at Babel of which the Roman church
is a part) sits", and leaves out "the woman which is that great city which
reigns over the kings of the earth" which has seven mountains. All of this
is found in Revelation 17.
Sinaiticus Aleph, discovered in 1844, has 147 1/2 pages, each page being 13
1/2 x 15 inches. It is always stated that Aleph is a "complete" Greek New
Testament, but it is not. It adds, for example, the Shepherd of Hermas and
Barnabas to the N.T. It omits John 5:4; 8:1-11; Mat. 16:2,3; Rom. 16:24;
Mark 16:9-20; I John 5:7; Acts 8:37 and about a dozen other verses.
The most significant fact regarding these MSS is that in both Vaticanus B
and Sinaiticus Aleph, John 1:18 reads that Jesus was the only begotten "God"
instead of the only begotten "Son". Now, that is the original Arian heresy!
The most widely used Greek text in Bible colleges and seminaries today is
Eberhard Nestle's Greek text. Nestle likewise reads ... only begotten "God",
which means that God had a little God named Jesus who is thus a lesser God
than the Father. This means that at first there was big God and He created a
little "god".
Thus, Jesus comes out to be a created being, a God with a little "g", but at
the incarnation a god was not begotten. God begat a son who, insofar as His
deity is concerned, is eternal (Micah 5:2). This reading renders these MSS
as UNTRUSTWORTHY and DEPRAVED! The Arian heresy resulted from Origen's
editing the Greek manuscripts encountered in his travels and appears in
Vaticanus and Sinaiticus Aleph which were derived from copying his work.
Modern scholarship purports that these two codices were copied around
350-380 A.D. The reader can see how well that fits in with the fact that
Constantine told Eusebius to prepare the copies for him in 331. The material
that Jerome used (Origen's Hexapla and, in places, his edited New Testament)
was almost word for word like Sinaiticus Aleph and Vaticanus B, especially
the former.
Helvidius, a great orthodox scholar of the fourth century and a contemporary
of Jerome's, accused Jerome of using corrupted Greek manuscripts. Remember,
Jerome was using Origen's work and from that he produced the Latin Vulgate.
Likewise, Aleph and "B" have their roots in Origen. Thus Helvidius condemns
them all, for even in his day that "fountain" was known to be corrupt.
Moreover, whoever copied out Vaticanus obviously did not believe he had the
Word of God in his hands for there are misspellings, faulty grammar,
numerous omissions, whole lines recopied, and lines and clauses omitted.
According to nearly all scholars, Sinaiticus and Vaticanus are "close
brothers". They differ many times but they are of the same "textual type",
using as they did Origen's fifth column and his New Testament.
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