Increasing Learning
  • Home
  • Blog
  • Books
  • Speaking
  • Free Resources
  • Contact Us

Textual Criticism (part 2)

3/17/2015

2 Comments

 
Picture
Without fail, anytime that I bring up my preference for the Textus Receptus and the King James Version, I receive responses from people who assume that my position is based solely on a philosophical argument.  I suppose that they are somewhat justified in coming to that conclusion, for most defenders of the TR and the KJV deal only with the philosophical arguments and seem to forget that their position has some very strong evidential support.  The thing that I enjoy about Burgon's work is that he does not make this mistake.  Burgon presents the philosophical arguments as a means of revealing the premises of both sides' arguments, and then he focuses most of his effort on testing those premises against the available evidence.  In part 2 of my series, I presented Burgon's evidential analysis of Luke 2:14.  My outline of Burgon's argument is provided below, and you can read his full statement beginning on page 41 of The Revision Revised.

I.  The English Text
    A. KJV – “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.”
    B. ESV – “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is
         pleased!
”

II  The Greek Text
    A. TR
– “ἐν ἀνθρώποις εὐδοκία”
    B. CT
– “ἐν ἀνθρώποις εὐδοκίας”
    C. Only a single letter is different.

III.  On the Critical Text Reading
– “ἐν ἀνθρώποις εὐδοκίας”
    A.
εὐδοκίας (good will) is a noun not a verb
    B. There is no legitimate way to make this phrase say “among those with whom he is pleased!”
    C. Literal translation: “toward men of good will” or “toward good will’s men.”

IV.  A Possible Explanation for the Origin of the CT Reading
    A. At  some point in the past, someone forgot to write the ἐν at the beginning of this phrase.
            - We have Latin translations of this error.
    B.  The ς was added at the end of εὐδοκία to try to make sense of this error.
.    C. Then the ἐν was added back in when the source of the error was realized.
            - But they forgot to take out the ς.

V.  Manuscript Support for the CT Reading
    A. The ς is found only in: Sinaiticus, Alexandrinus, Vaticanus, and Bezae.
    B. In the verses leading up to 14, these four disagree with each other 56 times and they disagree
         with all of the other manuscripts 70 times
.
    C. The four manuscripts with the ς are the oldest manuscripts.
            - They are not the oldest witnesses.

VI.  Evidence Supporting the TR Reading
    A. Sinaiticus and Vaticanus were physically corrected in this passage.
    B. Alexandrinus also contains an old Christian hymn which quotes the phrase without the ς on the
         end
.
    C. Most of the versions or ancient translations agree with the Textus Receptus.
            - Syriac, Coptic, Armenian, Georgian, Ethiopic, Slavonic, and Arabian all agree.
            - Latin and Gothic do not.
    D. All of the ancient lectionaries agree with the TR.
    E. All of the church fathers agree with the TR.
            - 2nd century: Irenaeus.
            - 3rd century: Origen and the Apostolical Constitutions.
            - 4th century: Eusebius, Gregory of Nyssa, Chrysostom,  and 9 others.
            - 5th century: Cyril, the Council of Ephesus, and 5 others.
            - A total of 47 between the 2nd and 8th centuries.
2 Comments
Clark Eide link
12/24/2015 09:15:38 am

Interesting question. I have always found the CT translation more sensible, peace being a product of goodwill. The genitive of the noun εὐδοκίας always kind of sealed the deal for me. Regards.

Reply
John
12/6/2024 09:14:57 am

The NET Bible notes list six Greek witnesses for this reading.
Burgon at times has outdated numbers. Newer finds and better cataloguing of the data is our present gift.

Reply

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Picture
    Bill Fortenberry is a Christian philosopher and historian in Birmingham, AL.  Bill's work has been cited in several legal journals, and he has appeared as a guest on shows including The Dr. Gina Show, The Michael Hart Show, and Real Science Radio.

    Contact Us if you would like to schedule Bill to speak to your church, group, or club.

    "Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be yet wiser: teach a just man, and he will increase in learning." (Proverbs 9:9)

    Search


    Topics

    All
    Abortion
    American History
    Apologetics
    Archaeology
    Atonement
    Benjamin Franklin
    Bible
    Bible Contradiction
    Buddhism
    Calvinism
    Children
    Christmas
    Citizenship
    Coaching
    Context
    Covid
    Creation
    Debate
    Doctrine
    Evolution
    Geography
    Government
    Homosexuality
    Immigration
    Islam
    James Wilson
    John Adams
    Marriage
    Masks
    Meditation
    Morality
    Mormonism
    Open Theism
    Parenting
    Politics
    Sacrifice
    Sam Harris
    Science
    Self Defense
    Self-Defense
    Slavery
    Solon
    Soteriology
    Strategy
    Tactical Faith
    Textual Criticism
    The KJV
    Theology
    Vaccines
    Video

    Archives

    May 2025
    April 2025
    March 2025
    February 2025
    January 2025
    December 2024
    November 2024
    October 2024
    September 2024
    June 2024
    April 2024
    March 2024
    January 2024
    December 2023
    November 2023
    April 2023
    February 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    April 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    April 2019
    February 2019
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    April 2018
    February 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    November 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014

    RSS Feed

  • Home
  • Blog
  • Books
  • Speaking
  • Free Resources
  • Contact Us