142 Janus 1John 3;19

Posted on July 15, 2016 by

Prof. Bill Mounce (http://zondervanacademic.com/blog/whats-a-janus-1-john-319-mondays-with-mounce/) acquainted me to another interesting concept in the New Testament. He writes: “Every once in a while we come across a phrase that can either look back to the previous or forward to the next.

Sometimes the phrase or verse is truly a Janus, looking both directions. But other times it only goes one way or another.

Bruce Waltke introduced me to the expression ‘Janus’. It refers to a mythical god with two heads, one looking forward and the other looking back. Wikipedia comments, ‘In ancient Roman religion and myth, Janus is the god of beginnings, gates, transitions, time, doorways, passages, and endings. He is usually depicted as having two faces, since he looks to the future and to the past.’ Continue reading →

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141 Dating Ancient Papyri.

Posted on July 6, 2016 by

I recently came across this explanation by prof. Larry Hurtado of how ancient papyri are dated. I liked to share it with the readers of my blog.

You may read the full report with comments at: https://larryhurtado.wordpress.com/2016/06/24/dating-ancient-papyri/

Prof. Hurtado says:

“Further to my recent posts about recent proposals for the dating of certain NT papyri, let me briefly clarify the process of dating papyri, which might well seem a mystery to those not familiar with it.

There are two main types of papyri:  “documentary” (letters, official documents such as land-transfers, marriage contracts, shipping bills, etc.) and “literary” (treatises, poetry, history, fiction, etc.).  Documentary texts are often/typically dated by the writer, which makes dating the manuscript fairly straightforward.  But literary texts are hardly ever dated.  So in their case the only way forward is by estimating the approximate time-frame of the handwriting (often referred to as the “hand” of the manuscript). Continue reading →

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140 Signs of the Beginning of Sorrows Mark 13:8

Posted on June 3, 2016 by

Can you believe that on the last word of a sentence there could be no less than nine variations? That is the situation with Mark 13:8! How would one discern which could represent the original? Only one can be in accordance with the original autograph as inspired by the Holy Spirit.

Let us first look at what these variations are and how much support each has in the available manuscripts. Continue reading →

Posted in Causes for Variations, Context, External Criteria, Internal Criteria, Intrinsic Criteria, KJV/NIV Controversy, Uncategorized | 2 Comments

139 You who believe in the Name of the Son of God. 1 John 5:13

Posted on May 21, 2016 by

While at school, we often had to copy a lot of information from the blackboard. I remember how easily we would make a mistake when the eye jumped from one line to another, either duplicating a word or sentence (Dittography) or leaving out a word or sentence (Haplography). If such a mistake could happen so easily, the same thing might have happened during the copy of the Biblical Scriptures.

In 1 John 5:13 we have such a variation. Let us study it. Continue reading →

Posted in Causes for Variations, Desiderius Erasmus, KJV/NIV Controversy, United Bible Societies Text | 3 Comments

138 “Son of God” or “Son of man”? John 9:35

Posted on May 4, 2016 by

How did Jesus refer to Himself? As “Son of God” or as “Son of man”?

Jesus healed a man who had been born blind. This man was then banned from the temple by the Pharisees. When Jesus later met this man, He asked him an extremely important question. Did He ask him: “Do you believe in the Son of God?”, or did He ask him: “Do you believe in the Son of Man?”.

To find an answer to this question, we use three criteria, the first looking at the manuscripts that contain the two variations and see what we could derive from the evidence there. Continue reading →

Posted in Causes for Variations, External Criteria, Internal Criteria, Intrinsic Criteria, KJV/NIV Controversy | Leave a comment

137 Regarding the day or not; Romans 14:6.

Posted on April 10, 2016 by

In Romans 14 verse 6 some manuscripts have additional text concerning the Sabbath and other holy days, not found in most modern versions of the Bible. The New King James Version has the additional text. The words printed in bold are the words in question.

NKJV: “He who observes the day, observes it to the Lord; and he who does not observe the day, to the Lord he does not observe it. He who eats, eats to the Lord, for he gives God thanks; and he who does not eat, to the Lord he does not eat, and gives God thanks.

Note that most modern versions are without this second statement, like the New International Version:

NIV: “ Whoever regards one day as special does so to the Lord. Whoever eats meat does so to the Lord, for they give thanks to God; and whoever abstains does so to the Lord and gives thanks to God.”

Was the negative part of this statement, part of the original autograph or was it added to the text at a later time? Continue reading →

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136 Son or Donkey or Sheep in the well, Luke 14:5

Posted on April 10, 2016 by

Luke tells us of Jesus’ healing of the man who suffered of unusual swelling of the body due to water retention, also known as dropsy. This happened on a Sabbath day. Jesus defended Himself by asking the Pharisees who of them would not save something from a well on the Sabbath. What example did Jesus mention that had to be saved from the well?

KJV: “And answered them, saying, Which of you shall have an ass or an ox fallen into a pit, and will not straightway pull him out on the sabbath day?”

NIV: “If one of you, has a son or an ox that falls into a well on the Sabbath day, will you not immediately pull him out?”

In the manuscripts we find three versions. Continue reading →

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