changed a single article of faith. His words are-" Not one of these 36,000 changes affects a single tittle or iota of the Christian faith." We must confess that we were rather amazed when we read this statement. But not knowing where to find the Bishop's utterance, we could not contradict it. At last we discovered it in Public Opinion, Nov. 5, 1881, and there found that the passage is followed by these words, which entirely alter the declaration :-" All faithful and devout Christians will rejoice to see that the Authorized Version, in all essentials, is fully to be relied on, and that after a severe critical examination of eleven years it has come forth triumphantly from the ordeal." The former statement, attributed to the Bishop, is very similar to the statement quoted in the House from the works of Archbishop Whateley, that the Archbishop considered that the Irish Church ought to be disestablished; but on examining the passage it was found that what the Archbishop had stated was that the Roman Catholics said the Irish Church ought to be disestablished—a very different thing! It is one thing to know that our Authorized Translation is in all essentials to be relied on relative to its statement of the Christian faith; and another to ascertain whether the Revised Version in its many thousand alterations may not have marred the accuracy, or at least diminished the force, of doctrinal statements, as exhibited in our Authorized Translation. We will now proceed to place some of the principal passages before the reader, leaving him to judge whether this is so. Only to those which contain internal evidence, for or against, will we add any remarks. MATT. i. 18.-"Now the birth of Jesus Christ was in this wise." -note, or generation, as in v. 1. The Greek word is different. Dr. Malan has shown the distinction between these words, yévvŋois, the word in our received text signifying natural birth, and yéveois, the word in MS. B, which signifies generation, or origin. "He who is from all eternity, one with the Father, 'very God of very God, begotten, not made,' can have no yéveσɩs, no origin, formation, or coming into existence . . . a word liable to the abuse made of it by heretics." For, as Isaiah says: Who shall declare his generation?" 23.—“ Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel."—the virgin Why did not the Revisers give capital letters? There is nothing to prevent it. As there is no authority for capital letters, so is there no authority for the definite article. Certainly the prophecy as given by Isaiah vii. 14, has nothing to do with a definite article; neither would it have been understood who "the virgin" could mean. What the prophet foretold was, the coming of Emmanuel; and the means of recognising Him would be His wonderful birth: but nothing was mentioned as to who the virgin should be, although it was well known that the Messiah would be of the seed of David. This passage then, like that now celebrated one in the Lord's Prayer, "Deliver us from evil," exhibits no reason in itself why the definite article should be used, except that it appears in the original in accordance with Greek idiom. It would take too long here to show the impropriety of introducing the definite article in an English translation, whenever it is found in a Greek idiom. Let 1 Plea for the Received Greek Text, pp. 1–31. the following instances suffice: If thou be Son of the God, Matt. xxvii. 40; and swallow the camel, Matt. xxiii. 24; the Word was with the God, John i. 1; Art thou the Master in Israel? John iii. 10; If the God so loved us, 1 John iv. 11; The God whom he hath not seen, 1 John iv. 20; The tongue is a fire, the world of iniquity, Jas. iii. 6. As the introduction of the definite article, therefore, is frequently opposed to English idiom, to sense, and common sense, so is it here objectionable on account of doctrine. Although it is quite clear that the Revisers as a body had no theological motive in inserting it, it is nevertheless certain that it may have a theological meaning attached to it by some readers of the Revised Version. Certainly none is to be gathered from St. Paul's manner of speaking of the event, "But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law." (Gal. iv. 4.) When the prophet announced that the Messiah should be born of a virgin, it was a proof, as the angel subsequently announced, Luke i. 35, that He must be "the Son of God" but if he had been announced as the son of The Virgin, it would naturally be supposed by some that He received His sanctity from His mother! v. 44.—" Bless them that curse you do good to them that hate you," totally omitted in Revised Version. vi. 12." And forgive us . . . as we forgive" -as we also have forgiven We fear that this clause of the Lord's Prayer is too often repeated in the same signification as the words given by the Revisers more definitely indicate. But who of us is able to use such a prayer? Who of us would be content with, and pray for, only that same degree of mercy to ourselves that we have shown to our fellow-creatures! Both here, and in St. Luke, the clause is in the present, not the past,-" as we forgive," "for we also forgive." As it is not in the past, so is it neither in the future -as we will forgive: for promises to do something on a future day which we are not willing to do in the present, are of no avail; but the clause is in the present, as if we said-As we undertake from this day forth to forgive our fellow creatures, Thou, God helping us. 13.-" And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.”—from the evil one. The interpretation of this clause of the Lord's Prayer, as given by the Revisers, is nothing new. It was so explained at a very early age, and has been supported by critics at different times. It has not, however, been accepted by the Greek Church, neither does it appear in the ancient liturgies. It occurs in several of the Uncials, but in none of the Cursives. Let us then examine the passage itself. The difference between the two interpretations is that in the Revised Version the adjective "evil," Tovηpòs, has the admitted article "the" in front of it, and the implied word one after it, "the evil one;""one" being in italics. Where a word does not exist in the original, it must be inserted in the translation only from necessity, to complete the sense. It does not follow, however, that in this instance such word must be "one;" it may be some other word. Thus we read— "All these evil things come from within, and defile the "And likewise Lazarus evil things." (Luke xvi. 25.) referring to vv. 1 and 11, the word supplied not being In all these instances a word is implied in the Greek, but has to be expressed in English. In other instances, a word is implied in both languages without being expressed, as "He maketh his sun to arise on the evil and on the good." (Matt. v. 45.) "And shall sever the wicked from among the just." (Matt. xiii. 49.) "Now the just shall live by faith." (Heb. x. 38.) "Ye have condemned and killed the just." (Jas. v. 6.) "And knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable." ... "But I say unto you, that ye resist not evil." (Matt. v. 39.) In this last passage, the gender being indeterminate, it may be either masculine or neuter. In the Authorized Translation it is neuter in the abstract; while the Revisers have with equal authority translated it, Resist not him that is evil, referring to the previous verse, though the words him that is should have been in different type. In others the word "one" is implied, and the sense shows it to be the Evil One, or the Wicked One, except in 2 Thess. ii. 8, where" the Wicked" (one) represents the "Man of Sin." See p. 62. "The tares are the children of the wicked one." (Matt. xiii. 38.) "Wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked" (one). (Eph. vi. 16.) "Ye have overcome the wicked one." (1 John ii. 13, 14.) 'Not as Cain, who was of that wicked one." (1 John iii. 12.) In the following, not only the sense, but the construction shows that the word is masculine, and therefore that the Devil is referred to Then cometh the wicked one." (Matt. xiii. 19.). Called "Satan" in Mark iv. 15. "And that wicked one touched him not." (1 John v. 18.) In the instance which follows the construction shows the word to be neuter, and that it signifies evil in the abstract (Rom. xii. 9.) "Abhor that which is evil." While in the following we have the word "evil" occurring three times; the first time having the word "man" added to it, the second time having another substantive, and the third time being neuter “And an evil man, out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil." (Luke vi. 45.) But in other examples, where the construction does not help us, owing to the oblique cases, the gender is indeterminate, and therefore may be either masculine or neuter 'For whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil.” lit. of (Matt. v. 37.) the evil. I pray. that thou shouldst keep them from (John xvii. 15.) "The Lord shall stablish you, and keep you from evil," lit. from the evil. (2 Thess. iii. 3.) |