An Embarrassment of Riches Kekayaan yang Sangat Berlimpah

The Bible “has evolved through countless translations, additions, and revisions. History has never had a definitive version of the book.” Alkitab "telah mengalami sangat banyak penerjemahan, penambahan, dan revisi. Sejarah tak pernah memiliki versi definitif dari buku ini.” Now, we all know that Dan Brown is a novelist, but he raises serious questions. Through his story-telling he subtly attacks the Christian faith. Two of my sons were in college at major universities when his book came out. They each had professors at school who declared, “This book proves that Christianity is based on myth!” Most Christians, even Christian leaders, are terribly ignorant about the transmission of the NT over the centuries.

Dua Sikap yang Perlu Dihindari Two Attitudes to Avoid Total Despair Absolute Certainty Dua Sikap yang Perlu Dihindari Keputus-asaan Total Kepastian Mutlak

Bart Ehrman, Misquoting Jesus: “Not only do we not have the originals, we don’t have the first copies of the originals. We don’t even have copies of the copies of the originals, or copies of the copies of the copies of the originals.” “Kita bukan hanya tidak memiliki naskah asli, kita juga tidak memiliki salinan pertama dari naskah asli. Kita bahkan tidak memiliki salinan dari salinan naskah asli, atau salinan dari salinan dari salinan naskah asli.” Bart Ehrman is a NT scholar at UNC Chapel Hill. He’s a Moody and Wheaton graduate. He earned his doctorate under Dr. Bruce Metzger, a solid evangelical professor. Ehrman lost his faith in the last few years and he has become the #1 media darling for his agnosticism. He’s a bona fide textual critic. He speaks on college campuses all over the country, and spreads the view that we simply can’t know what the original NT said since the scribes changed it so badly. His attitude is total despair about recovering the wording of the original text. His 2005 book, Misquoting Jesus, has challenged evangelical Christians. He infers from this that the originals are unknowable, that they were not originally ‘orthodox.’ MUSLIM APOLOGISTS have picked up on this and have been beating up Christians who don’t know the facts. Ehrman is their hero. I have found Muslim apologists better informed about the text of the NT than 95% of Christians. We need to be prepared to articulate reasons for the hope that is within us.

Absolute Certainty… Kepastian Mutlak… Held to tenaciously by many Christians. Destructive of the Christian faith. Kepastian Mutlak… Sikap yang gigih dipertahankan oleh banyak orang Kristen. Bersifat merusak bagi iman Kristen. Many Christians don’t know how to respond to KJV Only folks. Further, many Christians have simply never wrestled with the realities of the text of the NT. Do we have a sure word from God? Are there places where we are uncertain about the original wording? Once you start with a position of dogma, if there are any cracks in your armor, then the whole thing comes crumbling down. One of my missions in teaching at Dallas Seminary is to remind students that faith means faith; it doesn’t mean PROOF! More people have abandoned the Christian faith because they held to an unreasonable position in one area. They held to a domino doctrine. And when one falls down, all fall down.

Absolute Certainty… Kepastian Mutlak… Faith without reason is not a reasonable faith, not a truly Christian faith. And a faith that ignores history is no different than any non-biblical faith. Kepastian Mutlak… Iman tanpa akal budi bukan iman yang wajar, bukan iman Kristen sesungguhnya. Iman yang mengabaikan sejarah tidak berbeda dengan iman di luar Alkitab. Many Christians don’t know how to respond to KJV Only folks. Further, many Christians have simply never wrestled with the realities of the text of the NT. Do we have a sure word from God? Are there places where we are uncertain about the original wording? Once you start with a position of dogma, if there are any cracks in your armor, then the whole thing comes crumbling down. One of my missions in teaching at Dallas Seminary is to remind students that faith means faith; it doesn’t mean PROOF! More people have abandoned the Christian faith because they held to an unreasonable position in one area. They held to a domino doctrine. And when one falls down, all fall down.

Three Questions to Answer Quantity: How many scribal alterations are there? Nature: What kinds of textual variations are there? Issues: What theological beliefs depend on textually suspect passages? Tiga PERTANYAAN untuk dijawab Kuantitas: Berapa banyak perubahan karena disalin yang terjadi? Natur: Variasi tekstual jenis apa yang terjadi? Pokok Masalah: Kepercayaan teologis apa yang bergantung pada bagian Alkitab yang teksnya diragukan?

Don’t we have the original New Testament any more? No. All disappeared within a few decades of being written. Probably wore out from being repeatedly copied, repeatedly examined. There are more than 5000 Greek NT MSS today, yet no two of them agree completely. Thus, the science known as textual criticism is necessary because the originals are gone and the copies are corrupt. Apakah kita tidak lagi memiliki naskah asli Perjanjian Baru?

The Quantity of Variants Jumlah Varian Textual Variants: c.400,000 Varian Tekstual: c. 400.000 Greek NT: c. 140,000 PB bahasa Yunani: c. 140.000

The reason we have a lot of textual variants is that we have a lot of manuscripts. Kita memiliki banyak varian tekstual karena kita memiliki banyak naskah.

An Embarassment of Riches Greek manuscripts: 5700+ Latin manuscripts: 10,000+ Other ancient versions: 5000–10,000 Quotations from the New Testament by church fathers: over 1 million Kekayaan yang Sangat Berlimpah Naskah berbahasa Yunani: 5700+ Naskah berbahasa Latin: 10.000+ Versi kuno lainnya: 5000–10.000 Kutipan PB oleh para bapa gereja: lebih dari 1 juta

LITERATUR SEJARAH NASKAH TERTUA JUMLAH YANG MASIH ADA HISTORIES OLDEST MSS NUMBER SURVIVING Livy 59 BC – AD 17 Tacitus AD 56 – 120 Suetonius AD 69 – 140 Thucydides 460 – 400 BC Herodotus 484 – 425 BC 4th Century AD 9th Century AD 1st Century AD 27 3 200+ 20 75 LITERATUR SEJARAH NASKAH TERTUA JUMLAH YANG MASIH ADA Livy 59 SM – 17 M Tacitus 56 – 120 M Suetonius 69 – 140 M Thucydides 460 – 400 SM Herodotus 484 – 425 SM Abad ke-4 M Abad ke-9 M Abad ke-1 M 27 3 200+ 20 75

Comparison of NT Manuscripts with Other Ancient Histories Oldest MSS Number Surviving Livy Tacitus Suetonius Thucydides Herodotus 300 years+ after originals fewer than 400 collectively NEW TESTAMENT AD 100-150 (decades after) 5700+ in Greek 10,000 in Latin + other versions over 1 million quotations in fathers Perbandingan Jumlah Naskah PB dan Literatur Sejarah Kuno Literatur Sejarah Naskah Tertua Jumlah yang Masih Ada Livy Tacitus Suetonius Thucydides Herodotus 300 tahun lebih setelah naskah asli Total kurang dari 400 PERJANJIAN BARU 100 – 150 M (puluhan tahun setelah naskah asli) 5700+ dalam bahasa Yunani 10.000 bahasa Latin + versi-versi lain Lebih 1 juta kutipan oleh bapa gereja

The NT compared to the average classical work The average classical Greek writer has less than 20 copies of his works still in existence. Stack them up, and they’re 4 feet high. PB dibandingkan dengan rata-rata karya klasik Setiap penulis Yunani klasik rata-rata memiliki kurang dari 20 salinan karya yang masih ada saat ini. Jika ditumpuk, tingginya 4 kaki (sekitar 1,2 m).

The NT compared to the average classical work PB dibandingkan dengan rata-rata karya klasik Rata-rata Karya Penulis Klasik Salinan PB

The Date of NT MSS Tanggal Naskah PB The Discovery of P52 Penemuan P52

An ounce of evidence is worth a pound of presumption! Satu gram bukti sama nilainya dengan satu kilogram anggapan!

Has the Bible been translated and retranslated so many times that we don’t know what it originally said? Year Number of Greek manuscripts Earliest manuscripts 1611 (KJV) 6 12th century 2010 5700+ 2nd century Apakah Alkitab telah begitu banyak diterjemahkan dan diterjemahkan ulang sehingga kita tidak tahu lagi apa yang dikatakan aslinya? Tahun Jumlah Naskah Bahasa Yunani Naskah Tertua 1611 (KJV) 6 Abad ke 12 2010 5700+ Abad ke 2

Number of early copies of the NT Jumlah salinan-salinan tua PB 2nd century: 10 papyrus fragmentsm, perhaps a dozen. 3rd century: 51confirmed; as many as 71. 4th century: 101 confirmed; as many as 121. The entire NT is found in these MSS. Meanwhile, the average classical author has ZERO manuscript copies of his works through the first four centuries. Based on the manuscript evidence, if we have to express doubt about what the Gospel writers actually wrote about Jesus, that doubt needs to increase 1000-fold when it comes to most other ancient historians.

The bottom line Yang Terpenting As time goes on, we are getting closer and closer to the original wording. Yang Terpenting Seiring waktu, kita terus semakin dekat dengan naskah asli.