Christian Publishing House Blog
Apologetic Defense of the faith, the Bible, and Christianity
Jesus did not fast as the Mosaic Law required, the record of the Gospels does not show him being known for fasting. However, neither Jesus nor the apostles commanded that the disciples had to fast. There are a few accounts of first-century Christians fasting. (Acts 13:2, 3; 14:23) However, early Christians were under no obligation to fast. Nevertheless, ...
What are the original words, what is the correct translation, and what is the correct meaning? Why is it somewhat more significant than might be thought? The original wording in Matthew 8:21 is ...
The meaning is changed when the fourth και (“and”) is included in this sentence or excluded from the sentence. This is not a significant change in meaning. Nevertheless, it is a change in translation and meaning. What are the original words, what is the correct translation, and what is the correct meaning?
One of the vital and until recently, more tedious, tasks in the work of textual criticism was that of collating every extant Greek manuscript or fragment of the New Testament. We may be overjoyed at the abundance of sources available to us, which include the papyri, the codices, and even citations in the fathers; without collation, however, we would have no practical way to access and use them.
It is no easy task here in deciding which reading was the original one. Both readings have early and weighty manuscript support and neither of the could be considered a difficult reading because they both make perfect sense. What tipped the scales ...
Explore the method behind verifying ancient texts and its impact on modern faith. Dive into the evidence that shapes belief.
Explore the timeline of Greek New Testament variants: could they predate 200 A.D.? Discover the origins.
An Eastern form of text, which was formerly called the Caesarean text, is preserved, to a greater or lesser extent, in several Greek manuscripts (including Θ, 565, 700) and in the Armenian and Georgian versions. The text of these witnesses is characterized by a mixture of Western and Alexandrian readings. (Bruce M. Metzger)
The chief characteristic of Western readings is fondness for paraphrase. Words, clauses, and even whole sentences are freely changed, omitted, or inserted. Sometimes the motive appears to have been harmonization, while at other times it was the enrichment of the narrative by the inclusion of traditional or apocryphal material. (Bruce M. Metzger)
Variant Reading(s): differing versions of a word or phrase found in two or more manuscripts within a variation unit (see below). Variant readings are also called alternate readings.
