Contradictions in NEW testament Part 2 :Versions of the New Testament

Versions of the New Testament

The New Testament consists of 27 documents written between 60? - 150? AD. Although

some have argued that Aramaic originals lie behind some of the Gospels, especially the

Gospel of Matthew and the Epistle to the Hebrews all have been circulated in Greek. For

a period of time, some Christian scholars treated the Greek of the New Testament as a

special kind of religious language. It is now known that the language of the New

Testament was koine, i.e. common Greek that was used everywhere. The 27 books of

the New Testament are only a fraction of the Christian scriptures in their first three

centuries. The New Testament was widely copied and recopied. As many as 50 Gospels

were circulating during this time. Many of these non-canonical Christian writings have

been collected and published as New Testament Apocrypha, i.e. doubtful authority.

Existing Greek manuscripts of the New Testament - complete, partial, or

fragmentary - now number about 5000. It is important to know that none of these

manuscripts have the signature of its author. Probably the oldest is a fragment of the

Gospel of John dated about 120 to 140 AD. There are broad similarities among these

manuscripts. Discrepancies, however, involve omissions and additions. The more

significant of these variants usually appear in English translations as footnotes citing

what other ancient authorities say. For example, John 7:53 - 8:11 has a footnote saying

that the oldest and the best Greek copies do not have these verses according to the

Bible, Easy to Read Version. So, who added them, and why?

Tracing the history of the development of the New Testament by noting which of

the books were quoted or cited by the early Fathers of the Church is an uncertain

process. It seems that the earliest attempt to establish a canon was made about 150 AD

by a heretical Christian named Marcion, whose acceptable list included the Gospel of

Luke and Ten Pauline Epistles, edited in a strong anti-Jewish language. Perhaps

opposition to Marcion accelerated efforts toward a canon of wide acceptance.

By 200 AD, 20 of the 27 books of the New Testament seem to have been

generally regarded as acceptable. However differences still existed between the Eastern

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and Western Churches. Generally speaking, the books that were disputed for some time

but were finally included were James, Hebrews, 2 John, 3 John, Jude, 2 Peter, and

Revelation. Other books widely favored but finally rejected, were Barnabas, 1 Clement,

Hermas, and the Didache

As was mentioned before, the Jewish Bible was written in Hebrew, except for a

few sections in Aramaic. When Aramaic replaced Hebrew as the language of everyday

life, translations to Hebrew became necessary. This fact that the Old Testament was

written in Hebrew helped the Jews to reserve their Scriptures. On the other hand, the

New Testament was written in Greek and Aramaic. The present English translation of

the Bible came from a long history of translation, collection, and interpretations, as

outlined in the following:

Original Manuscripts

One would assume that the word of God that was delivered to Jesus would be recorded

somehow. Moses got the Ten Commandments written on tablets and Muhammad got

his revelations immediately recorded and memorized. So what happened to the original

New Testament? This is one of the biggest mysteries in Christianity. It is agreed upon

that the original manuscripts of the Christian Bible have perished!