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Part 6 is a continuation of part 5, on the different verse wordings in the Westcott-Hort Greek text compared to that of the Textus Receptus.
I Corinthians 15: 47: Textus Receptus: o protos anthropos ek ges
choikos o deuteros anthropos o kurios ex ouranou
I Corinthians 15: 47: Westcott-Hort: o protos anthropos ek ges
choikos o deuteros anthropos ex ouranou
The Westcott-Hort Greek text leaves out "o kurios," the Christ.
This is fairly easy Greek. "O protos" is the first. "Anthropos" is
man, the Greek word from which we get our anthropology, the study of
man. "Ek ges" is out of earth. "Choikos," is made of dust. "O
deuteros anthropos" is the second man.
The Textus Receptus has at the end of the sentence "o kurios ex
ouranou," the Lord out of heaven. But the
Westcott-Hort text says at the end of the sentence only "ex ouranou,"
out of heaven. The literal translation of the entire sentence in the
Westcott-Hort might say "The first man (is) out of earth, made of
dust, the second (is) man out of heaven."
The Westcott-Hort wording does not say who this second man is. the
Textus Receptus identifies the second man as the Lord, and Christians
know that this is Jesus Christ.
For I Corinthians 15: 47 the King James Version says: "The first man
is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven."
The American Standard Version (1901) for I Corinthians 15: 47 has:
"The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is of heaven."
As expected, the New American Standard, the New Revised Standard and
the NIV all follow the Westcott-Hort Greek text and leave out Lord.
The Catholic Douay-Rheims also leaves out Lord. Following the Textus
Receptus the Young's Literal Translation and the Green translation
contain Lord.
According to the web site
Gnostic Corruptions in the Nestle-Aland Greek New Testament the
only Greek texts that omit Lord are the Sinaiticus, Vaticanus, and
Ephraemi Rescriptus. Lord is in most Byzantine texts as well as the
Alexandrinus. The papyrus fragment p46 replaces "the Lord" with "the
spiritual" (pneumatikos).
Remember that I Corinthians 15: 45, just a couple of verses before
verse 47, says
"And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the
second Adam was made a quickening spirit."
Paul in I Corinthians 15:45 says Christ as the second Adam was a
quickening spirit. Jesus Christ was incarnated in the flesh of sinful
man so that he could save those who accepted him and his truth from
the sentence of death (II Corinthians 1: 9). Romans 5: 21 states
that "That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign
through righteousness unto everlasting life by Jesus Christ our Lord."
And in Philippians 3: 9 Paul wants "...to be found in him, not
having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is
through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by
faith.
Christ as the second Adam paid the price for our sins when as fully
God he took on human flesh and died on the cross. As the replacement
of Adam as the head of
his people, he gives to us, on faith, his righteousness, so that we
might come to be on the right side of the plumb line of Amos (7:
7-8). And Christ as the second Adam at his appearing will give us a
body and a likeness somewhat like his own.
I John 3: 2 promises "...we know that, when he shall appear, we shall
be like him; for we shall see him as he is."
Leaving the word Lord out of I Corinthians 15: 47 could weaken faith
in the promises that Jesus Christ as the second Adam has made to his
people.
The omission of Lord, which identifies the second Adam as Jesus Christ
to Christians, fits with some gnostic ideas. Many gnostics of the
second and third centuries thought that man had a physical nature
(soul) and a spiritual nature. His spiritual nature was corrupted by
being in the dark and evil material world created by the Demiurge. The
spiritual, part of man could be liberated by gnosis - knowledge or
insight - and might join the Eternal Father in the spiritual realm.
This gnostic Eternal Father is not a personal being, but is some kind
of spiritual force (Daniel 11:38) ; he is not the God of the Bible.
In gnostic theology the Eternal Father created several spiritual
beings called Aeons. The lowest of these is Sophia and she rebelled
because of her low status and created the Demiurge who in turn created
the evil material world which corrupts the spiritual side of man.
Then, in some gnostic teachings, Sophia gave men, or some men, a spark
of spirituality to defy the evil demiurge. Another Aeon, the Christos
or the Christ of the gnostics, was sent into the world to bring gnosis
or secret knowledge to some men. He did not die to atone for our
sins, and in gnostic theology sin is not a problem. Man, or some men,
have a spark of spirituality or "god-nature" in them, and secret
knowledge can develop this spark and liberate them from bondage to the
material world. Though the gnostics used some of the terminoloy of
Christianity, their theology was really quite different from Biblical
doctrine.
Removing the Lord, referring to Jesus Christ, from I Corinthians 15:
47 could make the verse appear consistent with gnostic doctrine for
the gnostics and for a few Christians who were taken in by this
deception. If some gnostic influenced scribes did make this change to omit Lord
in a few New Testament copies duiring the two centuries before the
Alexandrian Vanticanus and Sinaiticus were copied out in the ny
changes like this in the Westcott-Hort Greek text are in line with
gnostic teachings, this is some evidence for the idea that gnostics
changed a few copies of Scripture. It may not be seen as decisive
proof to the followers of Westcott and Hort though.
If the second Adam is not identified as Jesus Christ, the gnostics
might have placed some doubt on the gospel itself which may be the
effect they desired.
The omission of Lord in this verse could throw it into partial
ageement with the gnostic teaching of the Apocryphon of John, part of
the Nag Hammadi manuscript find, that the first Adam was created with
soul (psyche), and the second Adam was created with spirit
(pneumatos). Maybe the omission of Lord in I Corinthians 15: 47 could
be read as supporting the gnostic teaching that the first man, the
psychical, was an earthly creation of the Demiurge, but that the
second man, who had pneuma or the spiritual, was from heaven,
because in the Gnostic system, all spirituality came from the Eternal
Father and from heaven. The change from "the Lord" to "the
spiritual" in the papyrus fragment p46 could also help change this
verse from a Christian to a gnostic view.
But the change from a Christian to a gnostic view is not found
consistently in the Westcott-Hort Greek text; this kind of
change is not found in all verses dealing with the deity and
incarnation of Christ. It is found is many verses, enough to justify
taking a close look at the possibility that gnostics tampered with
some verses of the New Testament. Perhaps if gnostics actually did
change some verses in some copies of Scripture, the effect of this
change was to create doubt in the minds of Christians using the new
translations about the Christian doctrines. Over time this doubt
could grow into apostasy. It looks like some in the Christian
churches may have become
hungry for spiritual experience because they are not being led into it
in most of the churches - and so get into a kind of gnostic spiritual
experience that masquerades as authentic Holy Spirit inspiration. The
Holy Spirit works through Scripture to bring us its truth, and if the
new translations
from the Westcott-Hort are too abbreviated and under some influence of
the gnostics, then the Holy Spirit would not work through these versions as
he has done with the Textus Receptus and KJV.
II Corinthins 4: 6: Textus Receptus: oti o theos o eipwn ek skotous
phws lampsai os elampsen en tais kardiais emwn pros phwtismon ths
gnoseos tes doxes tou theou en proswpps iesou christou
II Corinthians 4: 6: Westcott-Hort: oti o theos o eipwn ek skotous
phws lampsei os elampsen en tais kardiais emwn pros phwtismon ths
gnoseos tes doxes tou theou en proswpps christou
"Iesou" or Jesus is left out of the Westcott-Hort Greek text.
The King James version for II Corinthians 4: 6 says "For God, who
commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our
hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the
face of Jesus Christ."
In accord with the Westcott-Hort Greek text, the New American Standard
version and the NIV omit Jesus. But the American Standard version and
the New revised Standard do have Jesus, in agreement wioth the Textus
Receptus. The Dopuay-Rheims, the Young's Literal translation and
Green's translation all have Jesus.
Jesus is not found for II Corinthians 4: 6 in the Vaticanus, the
Alexandrinus (5th century), and in Southern Coptic (Egyptian) Greek
texts. It is found in almost all other Greek texts.
Leaving out Jesus is in agreement with the gnostic separation of the
earthly "Jesus" from the heavenly "Christ." The followers of Julius
Cassianus said the body of Jesus was only an illusion and not real, a
teaching based on the gnostic belief that matter is evil. For the
gnostics Christ or the Christos, but not Jesus, came to free man from
bondage to the material world and to become part of the spiritual
world of the Eternal Father.
Galatians 6: 17: Textus Receptus: tou loipou kopous moi medeis
parechetw ego gar ta stigmata tou kuriou ihsou en to somati mou
bastazo
Galatians 6: 17: Westcott-Hort: tou loipou kopous moi medeis
parechetw ego gar ta stigmata tou ihsou en to somati mou bastazo
"Lord" is left out of the Westcott-Hort Greek text.
The King James Version says for Galatians 6: 17 that "From henceforth
let no man trouble me: for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord
Jesus."
The American Standard version, the New American Standard, the New
revised Standard and the NIV all leave out "Lord," following
Westcott-Hort. But the Douay-Rheims, the Young's Literal Translation
and the Green translation all have "Lord Jesus."
The Vaticanus, Alexandrinus, Ephraemi Rescriptus, and papyrus p46
omit "Lord" according to
Gnostic Corruptions in the Nestle-Aland Greek New Testament
The Byzantine Greek texts all have "Lord."
Gnostics tried to make a distinction between the "Lord", meaning God,
and the earthly Jesus. For the gnostics the Aeon they called the
Christ from the spiritual world would not be called "Jesus." In
addition, for gnostics, especially the Docetist variety, the spiritual
"Lord" who had no real physical body, would not have left marks on
Paul. Again, the omission of "Lord" seems to fit gnostic theology.
I Corinthians 15: 47: Textus Receptus: o protos anthropos ek ges
choikos o deuteros anthropos o kurios ex ouranou
I Corinthians 15: 47: Westcott-Hort: o protos anthropos ek ges
choikos o deuteros anthropos ex ouranou
The Westcott-Hort Greek text leaves out "o kurios," the Christ.
This is fairly easy Greek. "O protos" is the first. "Anthropos" is
man, the Greek word from which we get our anthropology, the study of
man. "Ek ges" is out of earth. "Choikos," is made of dust. "O
deuteros anthropos" is the second man.
The Textus Receptus has at the end of the sentence "o kurios ex
ouranou," the Lord out of heaven. But the
Westcott-Hort text says at the end of the sentence only "ex ouranou,"
out of heaven. The literal translation of the entire sentence in the
Westcott-Hort might say "The first man (is) out of earth, made of
dust, the second (is) man out of heaven."
The Westcott-Hort wording does not say who this second man is. the
Textus Receptus identifies the second man as the Lord, and Christians
know that this is Jesus Christ.
For I Corinthians 15: 47 the King James Version says: "The first man
is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven."
The American Standard Version (1901) for I Corinthians 15: 47 has:
"The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is of heaven."
As expected, the New American Standard, the New Revised Standard and
the NIV all follow the Westcott-Hort Greek text and leave out Lord.
The Catholic Douay-Rheims also leaves out Lord. Following the Textus
Receptus the Young's Literal Translation and the Green translation
contain Lord.
According to the web site
Gnostic Corruptions in the Nestle-Aland Greek New Testament the
only Greek texts that omit Lord are the Sinaiticus, Vaticanus, and
Ephraemi Rescriptus. Lord is in most Byzantine texts as well as the
Alexandrinus. The papyrus fragment p46 replaces "the Lord" with "the
spiritual" (pneumatikos).
Remember that I Corinthians 15: 45, just a couple of verses before
verse 47, says
"And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the
second Adam was made a quickening spirit."
Paul in I Corinthians 15:45 says Christ as the second Adam was a
quickening spirit. Jesus Christ was incarnated in the flesh of sinful
man so that he could save those who accepted him and his truth from
the sentence of death (II Corinthians 1: 9). Romans 5: 21 states
that "That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign
through righteousness unto everlasting life by Jesus Christ our Lord."
And in Philippians 3: 9 Paul wants "...to be found in him, not
having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is
through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by
faith.
Christ as the second Adam paid the price for our sins when as fully
God he took on human flesh and died on the cross. As the replacement
of Adam as the head of
his people, he gives to us, on faith, his righteousness, so that we
might come to be on the right side of the plumb line of Amos (7:
7-8). And Christ as the second Adam at his appearing will give us a
body and a likeness somewhat like his own.
I John 3: 2 promises "...we know that, when he shall appear, we shall
be like him; for we shall see him as he is."
Leaving the word Lord out of I Corinthians 15: 47 could weaken faith
in the promises that Jesus Christ as the second Adam has made to his
people.
The omission of Lord, which identifies the second Adam as Jesus Christ
to Christians, fits with some gnostic ideas. Many gnostics of the
second and third centuries thought that man had a physical nature
(soul) and a spiritual nature. His spiritual nature was corrupted by
being in the dark and evil material world created by the Demiurge. The
spiritual, part of man could be liberated by gnosis - knowledge or
insight - and might join the Eternal Father in the spiritual realm.
This gnostic Eternal Father is not a personal being, but is some kind
of spiritual force (Daniel 11:38) ; he is not the God of the Bible.
In gnostic theology the Eternal Father created several spiritual
beings called Aeons. The lowest of these is Sophia and she rebelled
because of her low status and created the Demiurge who in turn created
the evil material world which corrupts the spiritual side of man.
Then, in some gnostic teachings, Sophia gave men, or some men, a spark
of spirituality to defy the evil demiurge. Another Aeon, the Christos
or the Christ of the gnostics, was sent into the world to bring gnosis
or secret knowledge to some men. He did not die to atone for our
sins, and in gnostic theology sin is not a problem. Man, or some men,
have a spark of spirituality or "god-nature" in them, and secret
knowledge can develop this spark and liberate them from bondage to the
material world. Though the gnostics used some of the terminoloy of
Christianity, their theology was really quite different from Biblical
doctrine.
Removing the Lord, referring to Jesus Christ, from I Corinthians 15:
47 could make the verse appear consistent with gnostic doctrine for
the gnostics and for a few Christians who were taken in by this
deception. If some gnostic influenced scribes did make this change to omit Lord
in a few New Testament copies duiring the two centuries before the
Alexandrian Vanticanus and Sinaiticus were copied out in the ny
changes like this in the Westcott-Hort Greek text are in line with
gnostic teachings, this is some evidence for the idea that gnostics
changed a few copies of Scripture. It may not be seen as decisive
proof to the followers of Westcott and Hort though.
If the second Adam is not identified as Jesus Christ, the gnostics
might have placed some doubt on the gospel itself which may be the
effect they desired.
The omission of Lord in this verse could throw it into partial
ageement with the gnostic teaching of the Apocryphon of John, part of
the Nag Hammadi manuscript find, that the first Adam was created with
soul (psyche), and the second Adam was created with spirit
(pneumatos). Maybe the omission of Lord in I Corinthians 15: 47 could
be read as supporting the gnostic teaching that the first man, the
psychical, was an earthly creation of the Demiurge, but that the
second man, who had pneuma or the spiritual, was from heaven,
because in the Gnostic system, all spirituality came from the Eternal
Father and from heaven. The change from "the Lord" to "the
spiritual" in the papyrus fragment p46 could also help change this
verse from a Christian to a gnostic view.
But the change from a Christian to a gnostic view is not found
consistently in the Westcott-Hort Greek text; this kind of
change is not found in all verses dealing with the deity and
incarnation of Christ. It is found is many verses, enough to justify
taking a close look at the possibility that gnostics tampered with
some verses of the New Testament. Perhaps if gnostics actually did
change some verses in some copies of Scripture, the effect of this
change was to create doubt in the minds of Christians using the new
translations about the Christian doctrines. Over time this doubt
could grow into apostasy. It looks like some in the Christian
churches may have become
hungry for spiritual experience because they are not being led into it
in most of the churches - and so get into a kind of gnostic spiritual
experience that masquerades as authentic Holy Spirit inspiration. The
Holy Spirit works through Scripture to bring us its truth, and if the
new translations
from the Westcott-Hort are too abbreviated and under some influence of
the gnostics, then the Holy Spirit would not work through these versions as
he has done with the Textus Receptus and KJV.
II Corinthins 4: 6: Textus Receptus: oti o theos o eipwn ek skotous
phws lampsai os elampsen en tais kardiais emwn pros phwtismon ths
gnoseos tes doxes tou theou en proswpps iesou christou
II Corinthians 4: 6: Westcott-Hort: oti o theos o eipwn ek skotous
phws lampsei os elampsen en tais kardiais emwn pros phwtismon ths
gnoseos tes doxes tou theou en proswpps christou
"Iesou" or Jesus is left out of the Westcott-Hort Greek text.
The King James version for II Corinthians 4: 6 says "For God, who
commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our
hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the
face of Jesus Christ."
In accord with the Westcott-Hort Greek text, the New American Standard
version and the NIV omit Jesus. But the American Standard version and
the New revised Standard do have Jesus, in agreement wioth the Textus
Receptus. The Dopuay-Rheims, the Young's Literal translation and
Green's translation all have Jesus.
Jesus is not found for II Corinthians 4: 6 in the Vaticanus, the
Alexandrinus (5th century), and in Southern Coptic (Egyptian) Greek
texts. It is found in almost all other Greek texts.
Leaving out Jesus is in agreement with the gnostic separation of the
earthly "Jesus" from the heavenly "Christ." The followers of Julius
Cassianus said the body of Jesus was only an illusion and not real, a
teaching based on the gnostic belief that matter is evil. For the
gnostics Christ or the Christos, but not Jesus, came to free man from
bondage to the material world and to become part of the spiritual
world of the Eternal Father.
Galatians 6: 17: Textus Receptus: tou loipou kopous moi medeis
parechetw ego gar ta stigmata tou kuriou ihsou en to somati mou
bastazo
Galatians 6: 17: Westcott-Hort: tou loipou kopous moi medeis
parechetw ego gar ta stigmata tou ihsou en to somati mou bastazo
"Lord" is left out of the Westcott-Hort Greek text.
The King James Version says for Galatians 6: 17 that "From henceforth
let no man trouble me: for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord
Jesus."
The American Standard version, the New American Standard, the New
revised Standard and the NIV all leave out "Lord," following
Westcott-Hort. But the Douay-Rheims, the Young's Literal Translation
and the Green translation all have "Lord Jesus."
The Vaticanus, Alexandrinus, Ephraemi Rescriptus, and papyrus p46
omit "Lord" according to
Gnostic Corruptions in the Nestle-Aland Greek New Testament
The Byzantine Greek texts all have "Lord."
Gnostics tried to make a distinction between the "Lord", meaning God,
and the earthly Jesus. For the gnostics the Aeon they called the
Christ from the spiritual world would not be called "Jesus." In
addition, for gnostics, especially the Docetist variety, the spiritual
"Lord" who had no real physical body, would not have left marks on
Paul. Again, the omission of "Lord" seems to fit gnostic theology.