O God, You have taught me
from my youth;
and to this day I
declare Your wondrous Works.
Now also when I am
old and grayheaded
O God, do not forsake me,
Until I declare Your strength
to this generation,
Your power to everyone
who is to come.
Psalm 71:17-18
The Bible makes it plain and clear that to train up a child, that is when the child is a child, young, teachable, then that child will even if he goes astray, will return to the truth: "Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it" (Proverbs 22:6). This fact then places upon the parent to teach the truth and if what is being taught is not the whole truth, and has imbedded in their teaching, even from lack of knowledge, innocence due to not knowing the truth themselves, what may be taught is misleading in some fashion and will mislead a person to worship, to understand God, to have a Christology, that is not Scriptural. It is not that they cannot know God, nor is it that God has not elect them to salvation, it is how they live their life, their exercise of their faith: this many of us who have traveled life for awhile can testify as being true: God had to chastise us in ways that are very unpleasant. God does chastise those He loves for He gives correction to His children "For who the LORD loves he chastens, and scourges every son whom He receives" (Hebrews 12:6; cf. Proverbs 3:11-12). What will be the chastening from God to correct us will be due to how much chastening will be needed when we have a belief, an action, a manner in which we have exercised our life according to our beliefs, or lack of belief; when we have not come to the truth, only that we think we have the truth. Even cults believe they have the truth, but true sons of God are not satisfied with some tacit knowledge, they search the Scriptures, they compare the versions, and they pray for guidance which God will give in their search and desire to know Him, and to know Him in truth. An analogy will help us to understand what it means to miss the target: Shoot for the moon but be off target 1/10" and you will miss by miles, the trip may be pleasuable, but you may end up on Uranus. If you want to hit the target, aim carefully, correctly and you will hit the bullseye.
Gnosticism found its way into many Churches and into the thinking of many people and did and has affected their transcriptions as they either inserted a belief or omitted certain portions that would speak against their beliefs. Here is one such omission that changes the meaning and impact of a verse: John 3:13: καὶ οὐδεὶς ἀναβέβηκεν εἰς τὸν οὐρανὸν εἰ μὴ ὁ ἐκ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ καταβάς ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου ὁ ὤν ἐν τῷ οὐραν: The terxtus Receptus reads: (And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down form heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven. I place the omitted words in bold red. Just for further clarification I will give the literal Greek: "And no one has gone up into Heaven, except He having come down out of Heaven, the Son of Man, who is in Heaven." To give more understanding I will give the parsing of this Greek word that is found in this verse: ἀναβέβηκεν, It is in the perfect tense and is indicative, that is when a word is in the perfect tense the meaning is that this event happened and has continuing results now and forever. Also the Greek word: καταβάς, is in the Second Aorist and means that an event happened in the past and the results are still present. But, notice the words in bold/red: ὁ ὤν ἐν τῷ οὐραν: Who is in heaven. The manuscripts that contain these words are:
Support for the Textus Receptus reading
- Codex Alexandrinus (5th c. uncial)
- K (9th c. uncial)
- Delta (9th c. uncial, Alex.)
- Theta (9th c. uncial, Caes.)
- Pi (9th c. uncial)
- Psi (8th-9th c. uncial, Byz. in John)
- f1 (12th-14th c. family of mss.)
- f13 (11th-13th c. family of mss.)
- 28 (11th c. miniscule, Caes.)
- 565 (9th c. miniscule, Caes.)
- 700 (11th c. miniscule, Caes.)
- 892 (9th c. miniscule, Alex.)
- The large majority of the Byzantine textual set
- The large majority of the Greek lectionaries
- Most of the Old Latin mss.
- The Latin Vulgate mss. set
- The Peshitta Syraic mss. set (5th c.)
- The Harclean Syraic mss. set (7th c.)
- Possibly in the Palestinian Syraic mss. set (5th c.) - unconfirmed
- Some Northern Coptic mss. (4th c.)
The Nestle/Aland NA21 who transcribed the Critical Text, the one that most all "modern" versions use is: καὶ οὐδεὶς ἀναβέβηκεν εἰς τὸν οὐρανὸν εἰ μὴ ὁ ἐκ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ καταβάς ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου: ("No one has eve gone into heaven, except the one who came from heaven - the Son of Man." (New International Version). Support for the Critical Text reading:
- p66 (c. 200 AD)
- p75 (3rd c.)
- Codex Sinaiticus (4th c. uncial)
- Codex Vaticanus (4th c. uncial)
- L (8th c. uncial, Alex. in Gospels)
- W (5th c. uncial, Alex. in John)
- 083 (6th-7th c. uncial)
- 086 (6th c. uncial)
- 0113 (5th c. uncial)
- 33 (9th c. miniscule, Alex.)
- 1010 (12th c. miniscule)
- 1241 (12th c. miniscule, Alex.)
- Most of the Coptic mss. sets (3rd-5th c.)
This alteration involves the removal of a statement of omnipresence concerning the Lord Jesus Christ while He was on the earth. While both affirm that Christ came down from heaven, the Alexandrian reading removes the statement about the Son being concurrently IN heaven. This reflects the general Gnostic view that while the Savior "alien god" was in the material world, he was completely separated from the Unknown Everlasting in the realm of Light, just as were the lost bits of Light within each man and woman whom the alien Savior came to restore to the realm of Light (see H. Jonas, The Gnostic Religion, pp. 75-80). In Gnostic theorem, the Savior had to be separated completely from the Everlasting Father to be able to enter into the realm of the material world, and the Byzantine reading of this verse would suggest just the opposite, that the Savior was both on earth in His physical body, yet also contemporaneously in heaven.
This is but one such verse, there are thousands and they do affect Christology, they diminish Jesus Christ and the Gospel. I will not even attempt to give all those variants and corruptions, but will give some more so that your appetite will be wet, so to speak, to want more, to know more, and to examine the Bible you carry, read, and expect to be the whole truth, not having some heretical insertions. God reveals Himself to us by means of the Scripture, and nature, but it is the Scripture that teaches us about Him; therefore it is the Scriptures we must trust. The Scriptures are God-given which correct our faulty spiritual visions, our wrong views of Him, enable us to Him as He is and what He has revealed to us. The Bible is more for it teaches us the history of God's dealing with men from creation unto the final judgment. In the Scriptures God reveals Himself as the covenant keeping God. God makes promises and keeps them. He requires of us faith and obedience. The Psalmist writes:
"All the paths of the LORD are mercy and truth unto such as keep His covenant and His testimonies" (Psalm 25:10). Moses after his meeting with God on Mt. Sinai read and spoke to the Israelites: "And he took the Book of the Covenant, and read in the audience of the people: and they said, All that the LORD hath said will we do, and be obedient" (Exodus 24:7).
Will you agree to do all that God as asked? Are you willing to be obedient to all that God has said to do? This is what this blog is all about: Changing from the Inside/Out. I do hope and pray that this study of the Scriptures, those various versions, will be faith building and life changing, so that we will stand before God on the Last Day and here: "....'Well done, good and faithful servant, you have been faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord" (Matthew 25:23).
Then the King, will
say to those
on His right hand,
'Come, you blessed
of My Father, inherit
the kingdom prepared
for you from the foundation
of the world.
Matthew 25:34
Pour Out Your Heart To The Lord
Richard L. Crumb
This is but one such verse, there are thousands and they do affect Christology, they diminish Jesus Christ and the Gospel. I will not even attempt to give all those variants and corruptions, but will give some more so that your appetite will be wet, so to speak, to want more, to know more, and to examine the Bible you carry, read, and expect to be the whole truth, not having some heretical insertions. God reveals Himself to us by means of the Scripture, and nature, but it is the Scripture that teaches us about Him; therefore it is the Scriptures we must trust. The Scriptures are God-given which correct our faulty spiritual visions, our wrong views of Him, enable us to Him as He is and what He has revealed to us. The Bible is more for it teaches us the history of God's dealing with men from creation unto the final judgment. In the Scriptures God reveals Himself as the covenant keeping God. God makes promises and keeps them. He requires of us faith and obedience. The Psalmist writes:
"All the paths of the LORD are mercy and truth unto such as keep His covenant and His testimonies" (Psalm 25:10). Moses after his meeting with God on Mt. Sinai read and spoke to the Israelites: "And he took the Book of the Covenant, and read in the audience of the people: and they said, All that the LORD hath said will we do, and be obedient" (Exodus 24:7).
Will you agree to do all that God as asked? Are you willing to be obedient to all that God has said to do? This is what this blog is all about: Changing from the Inside/Out. I do hope and pray that this study of the Scriptures, those various versions, will be faith building and life changing, so that we will stand before God on the Last Day and here: "....'Well done, good and faithful servant, you have been faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord" (Matthew 25:23).
Then the King, will
say to those
on His right hand,
'Come, you blessed
of My Father, inherit
the kingdom prepared
for you from the foundation
of the world.
Matthew 25:34
Pour Out Your Heart To The Lord
Richard L. Crumb
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