Contradictions in New testament Part 3 :Ancient Versions

Ancient Versions

The rapid spread of Christianity beyond the regions where Greek prevailed necessitated

translations into Syrian, Old Latin, Coptic, Gothic, Armenian, Georgian, Ethiopian, and

Arabic. Syrian and Latin versions existed as early as the second century, and Coptic

translations began to appear in the third century. These early versions were in no sense

official translations but happened to meet regional needs in worship and preaching. The

translations were, therefore, conducted in local languages by unknown translators and

often included only selected portions of the New Testament.

The Septuagint and Other Greek Versions

The first major Greek version is called the Septuagint (from “seventy”) because of the

legend that seventy scholars in Alexandria translated the Torah in the third century BC.

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The legend narrated how seventy translators had worked in independent cells and had

all come up with the identical versions of the sacred text. Thus the Septuagint often

ranked as an inspired version. Some of the Fathers of the Church thought the legend

had been ridiculous, while others adhered firmly to it. Eventually other scholars, whose

skills and backgrounds differed, translated the remaining Hebrew Scriptures.

The most valuable versions of the Hebrew Bible are the translations into Greek.

In some instances the Greek versions actually offer readings superior to the Hebrew,

being based on older Hebrew texts. Many of the existing Greek manuscripts are much

older than the manuscripts of the Hebrew Bible; they were included in copies of the

Christian Bible that date from the fourth and fifth centuries. The oldest and the most

complete text of the Old and New Testaments are in the form of fragments as different

from scrolls, are:

• Codex Vaticanus is located in the Vatican Library and whose place of discovery is

unknown. It contains nearly all the Greek Bible, but lacks Mark 16:9-20.

• Codex Sinaiticus is located in the British Museum. It contains almost all the New

Testament (Lacks Mark 16:9-20, and John 7:53- 8:11), and over half of the Old

Testament. Tischendorf in the Mount Sinai Monastery discovered it in a wastebasket

in 1844. It was presented by the Monastery to the Russian Tsar, and bought by the

British Government for 100,000 pounds on Christmas Day 1933.

• Codex Alexandrinus is located in the British Museum. It is believed that it was

written in Greek in Alexandria, Egypt.

Numerous other Greek translations were discovered; most of them existing only

in fragments or quotations by the early Fathers of the Church and others.

Vulgate

During the fourth and fifth centuries, efforts were made to replace the old Latin versions

with more standardized and widely accepted translations. Missionaries perhaps

translated pieces of the Bible into Latin. Pope Damasus I in 382 commissioned St.

Jerome to generate a Latin Bible using many individual efforts. This Bible, known as the

Vulgate, (Latin vulgata, “popular edition”) aroused deep opposition. As is usually the

case, the new version slowly and painfully replaced the old versions.