UNDERSTANDING THE TIME, WORLD AND POWER OF THE NEW TESTAMENT.

NT COMPARISON NT COMPARISON The NEW TESTAMENT HAS MORE THAN 5,000 DOCUMENTS BACKING IT UP MANY OF WHICH ARE DATED TO WITHIN 90 YEARS OF THE ACTUAL EVENTS THEY REPORT.

NT HISTORY NT HISTORY The first GREEK NEW TESTAMENT in modern times showed up Jan. 10, Vol. 5 of a polyglot Bible project commissioned by Cardinal Primate of Spain, Francisco Ximenez de Cisneros ( ).

NT HISTORY NT HISTORY The first PUBLISHED GREEK NEW TESTAMENT - Desiderius Erasmus ( ), a Dutch scholar from Rotterdam. It was completed in Not a good copy but a good start to a trend in GREEK TXT revival.

NT HISTORY NT HISTORY Instead of using only the LATIN VULGATE, now scholars were digging into the Greek and building a FOUNDATION for the translation that we benefit from today.

NT HISTORY NT HISTORY By 1881, more and more Greek manuscripts emerged. It was a literal revival of GREEK NEW TESTAMENT work. This brought the advent of TEXTUAL CRITICISM.

NT TEXTUAL CRITICISM NT TEXTUAL CRITICISM TEXTUAL CRITICS began to organize all the early evidence to try and capture as much of the original meaning of the New Testament documents.

NT TEXTUAL CRITICISM NT TEXTUAL CRITICISM - Local transcripts in the ancient cities discovered. - Portable transcripts that were sent from one church to another. - Looked at local culture and archeological evidence.

NT TEXTUAL CRITICISM NT TEXTUAL CRITICISM - FRENCH PRIEST – Richard Simon at the end of the 17 th century, a key figure. - The Reformation unleashed an aggressive effort to unlock the Bible both to the people and the theologians.

NT TEXTUAL CRITICISM NT TEXTUAL CRITICISM -John Mill, Anglican theologian, finally produced a Greek New Testament that became known as the “TEXTUS RECEPTUS” meaning the “RECEIVED TEXT” in 1707.

NT TEXTUAL CRITICISM NT TEXTUAL CRITICISM -Johann Albrecht Bengel – published another GREEK NEW TESTAMENT based upon more evidence found in the early material and published it in This became a very important edition of the foundational texts.

NT TEXTUAL CRITICISM NT TEXTUAL CRITICISM - “BENGEL RULES” - Numbers are not everything. Lots of early texts do not always produce accurate translations. - How many “TEXT TYPES” say the same thing and come to the same conclusion?

NT TEXTUAL CRITICISM NT TEXTUAL CRITICISM - “BENGEL RULES” - Which reading text is more likely to have generated other copies? - The more difficult or technical the reading, the more authority because it was probably produced by a scribe.

NT TEXTUAL CRITICISM NT TEXTUAL CRITICISM - “BENGEL RULES” - Which errors are intentional and which are unintentional? - Intentional errors motivated by attempting to “improve” the meaning of the text. - Unintentional errors are spelling problems, for example.

NT TEXTUAL CRITICISM NT TEXTUAL CRITICISM - “BENGEL RULES” - Try to get familiar with the author and his culture. - Look and pay attention to the TRENDS of the author. - Look at both the internal and external evidence for the text.

NT TEXTUAL CRITICISM NT TEXTUAL CRITICISM - WHY IS HISTORICAL BACKGROUND IMPORTANT? “Pls Tx Me DIR” “Trn Rt on 2 nd go 2 3 rd go Lft. 2 km” “Wll u b there?” “Ys will c u there, TTYL” The advent of TXT language.

NT TEXTUAL CRITICISM NT TEXTUAL CRITICISM - WHY IS HISTORICAL BACKGROUND IMPORTANT? The advent of TXT language. The advent of new terms. The culture communicates meaning. The culture often defines meanings of customs.