JUNE 25, 1971

"THE CASE FOR THE RECEIVED TEXT OF HEBREW AND GREEK UNDERLYING THE KING JAMES VERSION--
A SUMMARY OF THE EVIDENCE AND ARGUMENT"

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By

Rev. D. A. Waite, Th.D., Ph.D.

Director, THE BIBLE FOR TODAY, INCORPORATED

900 Park Avenue

Collingswood, New Jersey 08108

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Copyright, THE BIBLE FOR TODAY, INCORPORATED, 1971
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTORY COMMENTS

  1. THE WRITER'S QUALIFICATIONS AND INTEREST IN THE SUBJECT

  2. LIFE IN A REVOLUTIONARY AGE

  3. PRESERVING THE HEBREW AND GREEK TEXTS

  4. THE WORK OF TRANSLATING

  5. DIVISIONS OF WHAT HEBREW AND GREEK TEXTS TO USE

  6. THE TRINITARIAN BIBLE SOCIETY OF LONDON

  7. THE VANISHING "RECEIVED TEXT" OF BOTH HEBREW AND GREEK
    1. The Masoretic Hebrew Text Being Edited Away
    2. The Textus Receptus Greek Text Today

  8. THE PLAN OF THIS PAPER--SUMMARIZING THREE BASIC BOOKS
    1. Believing Bible Study, By Edward F. Hills, 1967.
    2. God Wrote Only One Bible, By Jasper James Ray, 1970.
    3. Which Bible?, By Dr. David Otis Fuller, 1970.
    4. Method of Referring To The Three Books In Quotations
    5. Why Make A Summary Of "Evidence And Argument"?

  9. ORGANIZATION OF THE REMAINDER OF THE PAPER

CHAPTER II
A PANORAMIC VIEW OF TEXTUAL MATTERS IN HEBREW AND GREEK
  1. The Masoretic Text Is The Received Text Of The Hebrew
    1. The Hebrew Text Of Christ's Day Was Reliable
    2. The Masoretic or Traditional Hebrew Text Was Used From The First Century To The
      Reformation
    3. Even Critics Of The Masoretic Hebrew Text Agree That Rabbi Aquiba Put It In Its
      Final Form
    4. The Hebrew Received Text Or Masoretic Text Was Not Even Tampered With By The English
      Revisers
      Of The English Revised Version Of 1881
    5. Linguist And Scholar, Robert Dick Wilson, Put His Unqualified Stamp Of Approval On
      The Masoretic Text Of The Hebrew Old Testament
    6. The Dead Sea Scrolls Also Bear Witness To The Masoretic Text Of Hebrew {12}

  2. THE APPROXIMATE NUMBERS AND TYPES OF GREEK NEW TESTAMENT MANUSCRIPTS IN EXISTENCE TODAY
    1. Growth In The Discovery Of New Testament Greek Manuscripts And The Cataloging Of
      Them Through The Years {12}
    2. Thiessen's Estimate In 1948--4,411 Manuscripts {13}
    3. Ken.'s Estimate In 1940--4,489 Manuscripts {13}
    4. Met.'s Estimate In 1964--4,969 Manuscripts {13}
    5. Ala.'s Estimate In 1967--5,255 Manuscripts {13}

  3. TEXTUAL MATTERS IN GENERAL {13}
    1. Critical Apparatus Of Some Kind Is Necessary To Show Variant Readings {13}
    2. Westcott and Hort's Absence Of Many Footnotes Was Tragic And Indicated They Thought
      They Had The "True text," Thus Rejecting The MAJORITY Of Manuscript Evidence {14}
    3. To Be Entirely Acceptable, A Greek Text Should Record Practically EVERY VARIANT
      READING Of The Manuscript Or Verse Being Examined {14}
    4. J. W. Burgon's Seven Tests Of Truth In Weighing New Testament Manuscripts {14}

  4. THE THREE TYPES OF GREEK MANUSCRIPT FAMILIES IN GENERAL {14}
    1. The Traditional, Byzantine, Majority Text, Or Textus Receptus, Received Text {14}
    2. The Western Text--The Latin Vulgate, And Others, A Much Longer Text {14}
    3. The Alexandrian Text--"B" and "Aleph" Of Westcott And Hort, A Shorter Text {14}

CHAPTER III {15}
THE TRADITIONAL (OR MAJORITY, OR RECEIVED) TEXT UNDERLYING THE KING JAMES VERSION
  1. The Traditional Or Majority Text In General {15}
    1. A Chronology Of Attempts To Corrupt The Traditional Text {15}
    2. Belief In Divine Preservation Of The Bible Is As Important As Belief In Divine
      Verbal Plenary Inspiration Of The Bible In The Original Languages {15}
    3. Attacks On The King James Version And The RECEIVED TEXT Which Underlay It {15}
      1. A Period Of Concerted Attack {15}
      2. Specific Enemies Of The King James Version And The Texts Which Underlay It {16}
    4. The Traditional, Majority, Received Text Triumphed For Over 1800 Years, From Its
      Writing Until About 1831 {16}
    5. The Versions, Texts, Translations And Areas Of The World Which Have Helped To
      Preserve The Traditional, Majority, Received Text Through The Years {16}
      1. The Regions And Groups With Some Versions Listed {16}
      2. The Specific Versions Containing Mostly The Traditional or Majority Text {16}
      3. Some Of These Versions, Being In The 2nd Century, Antedate "B" And "Aleph" {16}

  2. THE TRADITIONAL OR THE RECEIVED TEXT MAKES UP THE MAJORITY OF ALL GREEK NEW TESTA-
    MENT MANUSCRIPTS NOW IN EXISTENCE TODAY! {16}
    1. Hodges Estimated 80% to 90% Of The Greek New Testament Manuscripts Extant Today Are
      Of The Traditional, Majority Textual Variety {16}
    2. Wilkinson Estimated That 19/20ths [or 95%] Of The Greek New Testament Manuscripts
      In Existence Were Of The Traditional, Received Text Variety {17}
    3. Of The Thousands Of Manuscripts Discovered Since The 1611 King James Version, The
      Great Majority Are In Substantial Agreement With The Traditional, Received, Majority
      Text Underlying The KJV {17}
    4. The Majority Text Held Sway Definitely From 312-1453 A.D. And Beyond {17}
    5. The Fact That This Majority Text Held Sway For So Long Attests To The Doctrine Of
      The DIVINE PRESERVATION Of The Text {17}
    6. Zane Hodges Showed That The Received Text, Being The "MAJORITY TEXT" Is The Text
      "NEAREST THE AUTOGRAPH" Of The New Testament {18}

  3. THE HISTORY OF THE TEXTUS RECEPTUS, OR RECEIVED, MAJORITY, TRADITIONAL TEXT {18}
    1. The Origin Of The Term, "TEXTUS RECEPTUS," Or Received Text {18}
    2. The History Of The Textus Receptus From Erasmus And Onward {18}
      1. Erasmus Helped In The Divine Preservation Of The Bible {18}
      2. Various Versions Of The Textus Receptus Delineated {19}
      3. How Erasmus Arrived At His Greek Text Or Received Text {19}
      4. The Influence Of Erasmus On William Tyndale's English Translation Of The Bible {19}
    3. Testimonials To The Authenticity Of The Textus Receptus Or Received Text {20}
      1. Rev. G. Van. Smi., A Uni. Member Of The English N. T. Rev.
          Com.
      Commented On The Received Text {20}
      2. Dr. A. T. Robertson's Comment On The Received Text {20}
      3. Abraham Kuyper (1894) Commented On The Received Text {20}

  4. THE HISTORY, USE, AND VALUE OF THE KING JAMES VERSION OF 1611 {20}
    1. Trinitarian Bible Society's Secretary, Rev. Terence H. Brown, Pointd Out The King
      James Version Translators Believed In The "Inerrancy Of The Holy Scriptures" {20}
    2. The Scholarship Of The King James Translators {21}
    3. The Method Used By The King James Translators {21}
    4. Conclusions On The Usefulness And Value Of The King James Version {21}

CHAPTER IV
THE WESTERN TEXT FAMILY OF MANUSCRIPTS {21}
  1. THE WESTERN TEXT FAMILY IS USUALLY CHARACTERIZED BY ADDITIONS {21}

  2. AN IDENTIFICATION OF THE WESTERN TEXT BY VERSIONS AND MANUSCRIPT TITLES {22}

  3. JEROME'S LATIN VULGATE COMMITTED TO THE INFLUENCE OF ORIGEN {22}

  4. EVEN ROMAN CATHOLIC SCHOLARS POINT OUT THE MANY ERRORS OF THE LATIN VULGATE {22}

  5. THE REFORMERS REJECTED THE LATIN VULGATE IN FAVOR OF THE RECEIVED TEXT {22}

  6. SOME OF THE MEN WHO FAVORED THE WESTERN TEXT LISTED {22}

CHAPTER V
THE ALEXANDRIAN TEXT FAMILY OF MANUSCRIPTS--"B" AND "ALEPH" {22}
  1. AN INTRODUCTION TO THE ALEXANDRIAN FAMILY OF MANUSCRIPTS {22}

  2. DEFECTS IN MANUSCRIPTS "B" AND "ALEPH" {23}

  3. WESTCOTT AND HORT AND OTHER TRANSLATORS OF THE ENGLISH REVISED VERSION OF 1881 {25}

  4. "B" AND "ALEPH" WEIGHED AGAINST THE RECEIVED TEXT OF THE KING JAMES VERSION {30}

CHAPTER VI {34}
CORRUPTION IN THE "B" AND "ALEPH" FAMILY MANUSCRIPTS
  1. "B" AND "ALEPH" CORRUPTION IN GENERAL {34}
    1. A Chronology Of Attempts To Corrupt The Traditional Text {34}
    2. The Antiquity Of "B" Or "Aleph" Provides No Security That It Was Not CORRUPTED By
      Heretics At An Early Age {34}
    3. "B" And "Aleph" Contain False Readings Due To Deliberate Falsification And To Ef-
      forts To "Improve The New Testament Text" {34}
    4. Burgon Charged "B" And "Aleph" With Being Products Of "SEMI- ARIAN" Opinions {34}
    5. Hoskier Believed "B" And "Aleph" Contained The False Textual Criticism And Specula-
      tive Philosophies Of Origen {34}
    6. At Least 80 Heretical Parties Were Prevalent In The Early Church To Corrupt The Manuscripts {35}
    7. Wilkinson Names Four Men As Being The Leaders In Corrupting "B" And "Aleph" {35}
    8. The Heresy Of Gnosticism Was A Cause Of Corruption In Some Texts Also {35}

  2. SPECIFIC EXAMPLES OF TEXTUAL CORRUPTION IN THE "B" AND "ALEPH" FAMILY OF ALEXANDRIAN
    MANUSCRIPTS IN MATTERS OF DOCTRINAL IMPORTANCE {35}
    1. Some Of The Editions Of The Bible Which Have Followed "B" And "Aleph" In Their
      Doctrinal Corruptions {35}
    2. Some Of The Editions Of The Bible Which Have Followed The Original Textus Receptus
      For The Most Part, And Which Do Not Have These Specific Doctrinal Corruptions {35}
    3. The Plan Of Ray's Book {36}
    4. Specific Examples Of Corruption Of The Text of "B" And "Aleph" For The Most Part,
      Involving Doctrinal Changes Or Omissions {38}
    5. Conclusions About These Verses Which Are Omitted In The "B" And "Aleph" Alexandrian
      Family of Manuscripts {44}

CHAPTER VII
CONCLUDING REMARKS {45}
  1. WE MUST REVIVE THE HEBREW AND GREEK RECEIVED TEXTS {45}

  2. THE TRINITARIAN BIBLE SOCIETY HAS WISELY CHOSEN TO USE THE KING JAMES VERSION IN ENGLISH
    AND VERSIONS BASED ON ITS HEBREW AND GREEK RECEIVED TEXTS {46}

  3. ANY AMERICAN BRANCH OF THE TRINITARIAN BIBLE SOCIETY MUST FOLLOW THE HOME BRANCH IN
    THIS MATTER {46}

  4. THE PRESENCE OF THE UNI. BIB. SOC.'S GREEK TEXT ARGUES ALL THE MORE TO RE-PRINT
    AND RE-PUBLISH AND WIDELY DISTRIBUTE THE GREEK RECEIVED TEXT {46}

  5. THE TIME HAS NOT COME TO TEAR THE KING JAMES BIBLES FROM EVERY FUNDAMENTAL PULPIT AND
    PEW IN AMERICA! {46}