Followers

Thursday, September 26, 2024

Matthew 17:21 - What's the Early Evidence Say?

In the Evangelical Heritage Version, Matthew 17:21 says, "But this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.”  The KJV, NKJV, EOB-NT, MEV, WEB, and 1995 NASB read similarly.  In the RV 1881, ASV, ESV, NIV, NLT, and NRSV, however, there is no such verse; the versification jumps from 20 to 22.  What has happened?

Bruce Manning Metzger
          Bruce Metzger did not spend many words explaining:  “Since there is no good reason why the passage, if originally present in Mathew, should have been omitted, and since copyists frequently inserted material derived from another Gospel, it appears that most manuscripts have been assimilated to the parallel in Mk. 9.29.”  (Textual Commentary on the GNT, p. 43)  His concise treatment is unsatisfactory for at least three reasons, first of which is the consideration that Matthew himself when using Mark’s Gospel (or something closely resembling it) had no discernible reason to skip over this statement of Jesus. 

          Second, the external evidence merits a closer look.  Neither the apparatus in the UBS GNT nor the Nestle-Aland NTG is sufficient.  We begin with their data, supplemented by Swanson:  verse 21 is absent in À* B Q 579 788 892* l253 ite  ff1 the Sinaitic Syriac, the Curetonian Syriac, Palestinian Aramaic, the Sahidic version, some Bohairic witnesses, an Ethiopic witness, and an early strata of the Old Georgian version.    Everything else favors the inclusion of τοῦτο δὲ τό γένος ούκ ἐκπορεύεται εἰ μὴ ἐν προσευχῇ καὶ νηστείᾳ (Àc reads ἐκβάλλεται instead of ἐκπορεύεται, 118 reads ἐξέρχεται, and 205 1505 l1074 read εξέρχεται) – including C D F G H K L Y O W Y Δ Σ Φ 0281 f1 f13 28 157 180 565 597 678 700 892c 1006 1010 1071 1241 1243 1292 1342 1424 Byz Lect ita itaur itb itc itd itf itff2 itg1 it1 itn itq Vulgate Peshitta Harklean Syriac Armenian some Georgian, and the patristic evidence is lopsided in favor of inclusion:  Origen Asterius Basil-of-Caesarea Chrysostom Hilary Ambrose Jerome Augustine.  Hort noted that daemonii is sometimes added in Old Latin witnesses.  The writer of an article at NeverThirsty stated, “The verse is not included in the newer Bibles because the older and better manuscripts of Matthew do not include it” and “Apparently in the process of copying the manuscripts, someone at a much later date copied the verse from the Gospel of Mark and added it to the Matthew account. “

 

         Now let’s zoom in on some patristic witnesses. 

          In 2010 Jonathan C. Borland presented a paper titled “THE AUTHENTICITY AND INTERPRETATION OF MATTHEW 17:21” at a gathering of the Evangelical Theological Society in Atlanta, Georgia.  He noted that 1604 2680 should be added to the list of MSS favoring non-inclusion, and that the percentage of Greek MSS favoring inclusion is 99.4%.  He also took a close look at some patristic witnesses:

          ● The author known as Pseudo-Clement, in Letters on Virginity (1:12) did not specify which Gospel he was quoting but the wording looks more like Matthew 17:21 than  Mark 9:29 when he wrote against individuals who “do not act with true faith, according to the teaching of our Lord, who hath said: ‘This kind goeth not out but by fasting and prayer,' offered unceasingly and with earnest mind.’”

          ● Clement of Alexandria, c. 200, in Extracts from the Prophets, wrote, “The Savior plainly declared to the believing apostles that prayer was stronger than faith in the case of a certain demoniac, whom they could not cleanse, when he said, ‘Such things are accomplished successfully through prayer.’”

          Tertullian, in de Jejun 8:2-3, without specifying whether he was citing Matthew or Mark, wrote the following:  “After that, he prescribed that fasting should be carried out without sadness.  For why should what is beneficial be sad? He taught also to fight against the more fierce demons by means of fasting. For is it surprising that the Holy Spirit is lead in through the same means by which the sinful spirit is lead out?”

          Origen, in his Commentary on Matthew (13:6-7) wrote, “That those, then, who suffer from what is called lunacy sometimes fall into the water is evident, and that they also fall into the fire, less frequently indeed, yet it does happen; and it is evident that this disorder is very difficult to cure, so that those who have the power to cure demoniacs sometimes fail in respect of this, and sometimes with fastings and supplications and more toils, succeed.”  And, “But let us also attend to this, ‘This kind goeth not out save by prayer and fasting,’ in order that if at any time it is necessary that we should be engaged in the healing of one suffering from such a disorder, we may not adjure, nor put questions, nor speak to the impure spirit as if it heard, but devoting ourselves to prayer and fasting, may be successful as we pray for the sufferer, and by our own fasting may thrust out the unclean spirit from him.”

          ● The Latin writer Juvencus wrote in Book 3 of Libri evangeliorum quattuor, “For by means of limitless prayers it is faith and much fasting of determined soul that drive off this kind of illness.”

          Although defenders of modern versions have claimed that “The verse is not included in the newer Bibles because the older and better manuscripts of Matthew do not include it,” antiquity in this case favors inclusion:  the oldest witness for inclusion is older than the oldest witness for non-inclusion.

          The scope of attestation also favors inclusion at least as much as it favors non-inclusion:  Western witnesses for inclusion far outnumber the Western witnesses for non-inclusion, and they are geographically widespread.

          We are left with the appeal to the “best” manuscripts as the basis for rejecting the verse.  But this is circular reasoning; the real question is “What are the best witnesses at this specific point?”, and generalizations simply do not answer that question. It is like deciding which football team wins the ballgame when the score is tied by asking which kicker has made the most field goals, instead of by actually scoring more points than the other team.  

          Third, this supposed harmonization doesnt yield a tight harmony.  Let’s compare the text of Matthew 17:21 to Mark 9:29.  Mark wrote, τοῦτο  τό γένος ἐν οὐδενὶ δύναται ἐξελθειν εἰ μὴ ἐν προσευχῇ καὶ νηστείᾳ.  (Regarding the Alexandrian text’s non-inclusion of καὶ νηστείᾳ, see my earlier analysis.)  Metzger’s plea that Mark 9:29 was transplanted into Matthew 17 is complicated by the distinct lack of verbal similarity:

          Matthew:  τοῦτο δὲ τό γένος ούκ ἐκπορεύεται εἰ μὴ ἐν προσευχῇ καὶ νηστείᾳ.

          Mark:  τοῦτο τό γένος ἐν οὐδενὶ δύναται ἐξελθειν εἰ μὴ ἐν προσευχῇ καὶ νηστείᾳ.

          This is not a verbatim harmonization – out of 12 words (in Matthew 17:21), nine are identical – and Metzger’s comment that “copyists frequently inserted material derived from another Gospel” fails to explain why a scribe with Mark 9:29 in front of him would change 25% of its wording when inserting it into the text of the Gospel of Matthew.  It should also be noted that the kind of harmonization Metzger referred to usually involved harmonization to the text of Matthew in Mark and Luke, not the other way around (the harmonization of Matthew 9:13 and Mark 2:17 to Luke 5:32 being a notable exception).

          I propose that an early Western scribe intentionally omitted the material we know as Matthew 17:21 out of concern that readers might think that the ability of the Son of God was limited depending on whether he fasted or not.  (The same concern motivated the omission of καὶ νηστείᾳ in Mark 9:29.)  This exclusion was subsequently adopted by scribes in the Alexandrian transmission-line, which led to the reading (or non-reading) in À B Q et al.

          Matthew 17:21 should be regarded as an authentic part of the Gospel of Matthew.  The oldest evidence, the most geographically diverse evidence, and the vast majority of evidence all point in favor of its inclusion.  The NIV, ESV, etc. should be corrected accordingly.




Thanks to Jonathan Borland for sharing his insightful research.


Sunday, September 8, 2024

John 4:1 - "Jesus" or "The Lord"?

Papyrus 75
           At the beginning of the fourth chapter of the Gospel of John readers of modern Bibles encounter a minor deviation from the usual text:  The Byzantine text reads “When therefore the Lord knew how the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John.”  Agreeing with the Byzantine text are versions such as the KJV, MEV, NKJV, and RSV.   The Tyndale House GNT, echoing Tregelles, also has “ὁ κύριος,” as did Scholz’s 1836 compilation, Nestle’s Greek New Testament in 1899, and Nestle’s 1948 Novum Testamentum Graece.  The 1881 compilation by Westcott and Hort also read ὁ κύριος.   

          In the Evangelical Heritage Version, the English Standard Version, the Christian Standard Bible, the Contemporary English Version, the Holman Christian Standard Bible, the Legacy Standard Bible, the NET, New International Version, the NRSV, and the New Living Translation, “Jesus” fills the place where “the Lord” appears near the beginning of the verse.

Codex 032 (W supplement)
          Have the ESV, NIV, NRSV, and NLT rejected the reading in the majority of manuscripts in order to conform to the earliest manuscripts?  No! Although Papyrus 66* and Codex Sinaiticus, 05, 038, 039, 086 (a Greek-Coptic fragment that contains
 John 1:23-26, 3:5-4:18, 4:23-35, and 4:45-49, assigned to the 500s) and f1 support Ἰησοῦς, Papyrus 66c, Papyrus 75, and Vaticanus support ὁ κύριος, as do A C L Wsupp 044 083 0141 33 700 892 etc.  You read that right:  the reading in the Byzantine text has earlier manuscript support than its rival.

          Versional evidence is quite divided.  The Vulgate, the Peshitta, the Harklean Syriac, the Bohairic, the Fayummic, and most Old Latin copies support Ἰησοῦς.  The Armenian and Georgian versions diverge:  the Armenian version supports Ἰησοῦς but the Georgian version supports ὁ κύριος.  The Sinaitic Syriac supports ὁ κύριος and the Curetonian Syriac supports Ἰησοῦς – and so does the Sahidic version, the margin of the Harklean Syriac, and one Bohairic copy. 

Codex Regius (L, 019)
          Ἰησους is read by Epiphanius and Chrysostom, whereas Cyril supports ὁ κύριος.  Augustine is inconsistent, supporting Ἰησους in three out of four cases but ὁ κύριος once. 

          The NET has a relatively long note arguing for Ἰησοῦς, but the annotator’s argument is somewhat presumptive:  the “immediate context” is simply asserted to outweigh John’s style, and Ἰησοῦς is simply asserted to be “the harder reading.”  There really is no reason to regard either Ἰησοῦς or ὁ κύριος as the harder reading expect the observation that Ἰησοῦς occurs later in the verse – so the adoption of Ἰησοῦς yields a slightly odd-sounding verse:  Therefore when Jesus knew that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John.”

          The scribe of Codex 039 (Λ) may have felt that the second occurrence of Ἰησοῦς seemed jarring; he left out the second Ἰησοῦς from the text.  Likewise in modern times only one occurrence of “Jesus” is in John 4:1 in the English versions CSB, CEV, EHV, HCSB, NET, NIV, NLT, although in the Greek base-text of these versions Ἰησοῦς appears twice.  In my opinion this shows the translators’ reluctance to have the word “Jesus” appear twice in close proximity – although that was done in the Rheims version, ESV, LSB, and NRSV.        

          Bruce Terry, in defense of the reading Ἰησος, has offered the theory that “Since “Jesus” occurs twice in the following clauses, copyists were more likely to change “Jesus” to “the Lord” to improve the style than visa versa.”  The UBS committee was divided (favoring Ἰησους with a C grade) but Metzger stated that Ἰησος was preferred on the grounds that “it is unlikely that a scribe would have displaced it [ὁ κύριος] with Ἰησοῦς.”   That is more of an assertion than an argument.  

          A better explanation is that early scribes in the Western transmission-line  anticipated that readers would be confused by the vagueness of “ὁ κύριος” – which could refer to the Father as well as to the Son – and decided to make the text more specific.  This was adopted in part of the Alexandrian transmission-line.  Considering that support for ὁ κύριος comes not only from the vast majority of witnesses but also from multiple transmission-lines and from very early witnesses, and that Ἰησος is supported by early Western witnesses in which exchanges from less specificity to more specificity is typical, the reading Ἰησος should be rejected in favor of the less specific reading.

 

Thursday, September 5, 2024

Against Dogmatic KJV-Onlyism: Three Debates

The Hoffner/Ferrando-Snapp Debate:
Should the Interpolation Known as the
Comma Johanneum Be Regarded
As Scripture?
     Earlier this year I had the pleasure of participating in three cordial debates online.  In the first one, in which Mike Hollner and Mike Ferrando also participated (and for which Donny Budinsky served as moderator), I defended the idea that the Comma Johanneum in First John 5:7 is not a genuine part of the First John and should not be regarded as part of Scripture.  The data in my earlier research on this textual variant came in handy (i.e., my presentation of the Greek manuscripts that contain, or do not contain, the Comma, my analysis of Cyprian's apparent (but not actual) use of the Comma and legitimate patristic references to it, an explanation of how the Comma originated in the Western branch of the Old Latin, and additional Comma-centric resources  

    In the second debate, - billed as "The Great King-James-Only Debate" - I defend the premise that there are imperfections in the King James Version, against brother Will Kinney who argued that the KJV is 100% perfect.  Donny Budinsky was our host on his channel Standing For Truth.  We investigated two shortcomings in the KJV in the Old Testament and then examined some flaws in the KJV New Testament.

The Kinney-Snapp Debate:
How To Repair Errors in the KJV
  In the third debate, moderated by Dwayne Green, I defend the premise that the KJV contains some non-original features (focusing on six specific passages in the New Testament) against brother Nick Sayers.  Those six passages were (1) Matthew 25:13, (2) Matthew 8:15, (3) Luke 2:22, (4) Eph 3:9, (5) Col 1:6, and (6) Acts 15:34.

    I am confident that viewers of all three debates will be educated and edified.  Each  debate can be accessed by clicking on the pictures.  


The Sayers-Snapp Debate:
Should We Usurp the Original Text?












Monday, September 2, 2024

Guest Christopher Yetzer: Is Mark Ward Listening?

Christopher Yetzer  
          Today I welcome a special guest to The Text of the Gospels:  KJV-defender Christopher Yetzer, who resides these days in Milan, Italy.  Now most of you know that I have never been, am not, and never will be a KJV-Onlyist, but while I am preparing a book review, I thought it worthwhile to give room for brother Christopher to share some thoughts regarding Mark Ward (Senior Editor for Digital Content at Logos Bible Study, host of the YouTube channel @markwardonwords, and author of Authorized: The Use and Misuse of the King James Bible) - specifically regarding the impasse KJV-defenders have when discussing issues pertaining to the quality of some modern Bible versions and their underlying base-texts.
         Take it away, brother Christopher!
Yetzer:  Thanks James.  Readers of The Text of the Gospels, I have a question:  who isn’t listening to who?

In a recent video Mark Ward complained that he wanted “to see a King James only defender listen hard to my viewpoint the way I’ve listened to theirs”. But who is the one who isn’t listening? Has Ward not been heard or is he just not listening to the response? Is it possible that it is Ward who is not listening “without the twisted ears of ideology blocking” his ability to understand? I will demonstrate that the opposite side has listened and responded. It is Ward who is not listening.
After I saw some of Nick Sayers’ review of Mark’s video titled “Is the NKJV Truly Based on the TR” (a three-hour video critique of Mark Ward's 34-minute video) I wrote to Mark on June 27, 2024 to let him know about an error he had made in the video. Doubting he would respond, I made a FB post asking people to contact him to let him know of the error.
Thankfully Mark got the message from a Patreon supporter and he made a correction below that video as well as corrected himself in a video about two months later (possibly he could have removed the previous video, but I’m sure it still generates income). Since he seemed to be listening, I sent him a list of several faults I see in the NKJV (that is for another post). None of my complaints were addressed in the new video. Ward acts as if the only difference between the NKJV and the KJV is the style of English (which is still important) Just to be clear that there are other issues being discussed by the pro-KJV side. The following are some examples of people from different theological perspectives critiquing the NKJV:
Jeff Riddle Nick Sayers (Mark Ward has reviewed part of Nick's website)
Robert Lee Vaughn and Peter Van Kleeck. Is Ward listening, or are his ears blocked by his own ideology?
While Ward raises high the flag of his apostleship (with the slogan "Edification Requires Intelligibility") he tramples on the Bibles and their editors (though ostensibly commending them).
The NKJV, for example, uses some non-English words and archaic words.
The literary stylist of the ESV (Leland Ryken) has argued against Ward’s use of Tyndale, stating, “The statement about the plowboy is not a comment about Tyndale’s preferred style for an English Bible. It is not a designation of teenage farm boys as a target audience for a niche Bible. Those misconceptions are the projections of modern partisans for a colloquial and simplified English Bible.” Is Ward listening, or are his ears blocked by his own ideology?
In Mark’s recent Video “Going on Offense for the NKJV” he made the claim that the KJV translation at Revelation 16:5 was “a guess based on zero evidence.” However this is not the case, and neither is the discussion anything new. Nick Sayers has written an entire book on this verse in 2019. Sayers’ website freely and quickly demonstrates that it was not a conjectural emendation. Sayers' page on Revelation 16:5 has been accessed 56,090 times as of this writing and yet Ward apparently hasn't seen it.
On the website Sayers demonstrates that Beza claimed to have a manuscript. (The fact that we do not have all manuscripts which were present in the 1500s is evidenced in that we also do not have two of Stephanus’ manuscripts for which we know various readings). Again: is Ward listening, or are his ears blocked by his own ideology?
Ward has announced that he served as the editor of an upcoming book, “King James Words You Don’t Know You Don’t Know”. Most likely it will include words like “commendeth” and “miserable” etc. A KJV translator himself described “miserable” (at 1 Corinthians 15:19) as being the perfect happiness of the soul. Mark on the other hand has his responsible modern lexicon which tells him otherwise. This is one of Mark Ward’s main problems. It appears again and again in his videos. See his recent video on the NKJV. Mark finds it hard to think outside the covers of his modern lexicons. He forces on those of the past the same definitions which he looks to today. Thus he comes to different conclusions than what was actually intended.
With the Genesis 4:25 example, the KJV translators, the Greek Old Testament translators, Jerome, Diodati, Rav Dario Disegni, and Dr. James Price (former executive editor of the NKJV Old Testament) oppose Mark Ward's opinion. Are they all wrong because they disagree with Ward’s modern responsible lexicon? Over four years ago we discussed many of these issues in the comments on his YouTube channel and yet nothing has changed! Is Ward listening, or are his ears blocked by his own ideology?
I must confess that I used to think that Ward said things like “Nobody has answered me regarding my….” as a sort of self-flattering signal to his supporters that nobody could respond to his arguments. But now I really think he is just not listening. After I replied to his YouTube videos, Mark Ward blocked me from commenting on his page in 2021. Last year I tried to post a critique of the many problems with the Parallel KJV website, only to be blocked by Mark Ward from his Facebook page.
Did the two scholars featured on the site’s homepage evaluate its value and accuracy? Apparently not. When someone properly does, he gets blocked for mentioning its faults. One of Ward’s video editors, Jonathan Burris, also blocked me from being able to leave any comment on his site. Does that sound like something someone would do who wants to listen to the other side? Mark Ward told me, “I have blocked you from commenting on my videos. That doesn't erase past comments, as I understand it. I have enjoyed some of our exchanges, and I want them to be available to others in the future who look at my videos.” In a video where Ward set up a straw man against Bryan Ross, Ward admitted that he only listened to some of Ross’ points on triple speed while doing yard work. I understand we are all busy, but Ward expects that academic deans and chancellors will listen to his videos and change their language on the TR, all the while his own calling is limited to doing prep work while taking care of the yard. Again: is Mark Ward listening, or are his ears blocked by his own ideology?
Let’s be clear, we have heard your message. We just disagree. We disagree on the amount of difficulties that exist in the KJV. We disagree that 1 Corinthians 14 is contextually talking about Bible translating and that the KJV is a different language. We disagree with the notion that saying "Edification Requires Intelligibility" is an excuse to pretend that difficulties in modern translations don't exist. We disagree with the idea that another attempt to update the KJV would bring better unity and more authority to the text. We disagree with the claim that the only differences in the NKJV are the forms of English that were used. We disagree with the claim that the KJV was modern-sounding in 1611. We disagree with the idea that "a few differences" is the same thing as "minor differences." We disagree with the canon that dictates that the oldest extant reading is best. We disagree with Mark Ward's claim that his approach has not been engaged. We disagree with his methods of interpreting KJV words.
We have heard you, Mark Ward - and we respectfully disagree.