Bible Inspiration and Preservation - Part 3

The lesson on June 27, 2021 was part 3 of the "Bible Inspiration and Preservation" study. Wayne took time to review the previous lessons before he focused on the primary content of this lesson, which was the apparent Lucian recension. Wescott and Hort believed that from the very beginning the traditional (Byzantine) text was an official text with official backing and that this was the reason why it overcame all the rival texts and ultimately reigned supreme in the usage of the Greek church. The regarded the "Traditional Text" as the product of a thorough-going revision between 250 A.D. and 350 A.D. They believed that this text was a deliberate creation of certain scholarly Christians at Antiock and that the presbyter Lucian (d. 312) was probably the original leader in this work. We then looked at an example of a wrong reading in the Greek text of the "best manuscripts" in John 5:2 KJV "2 Now there is at Jerusalem by the sheep market a pool, which is called in the Hebrew tongue Bethesda, having five porches.". There was a copper scroll found from cave 3 Qumran that contains a Hebrew form of the name Bethesda. This was dated A.D. 35, 65. Yet the uncials don't have this and they disagree among themselves. The oldest manuscripts surviving record the incorrect reading and are therefore themselves a result of a recension. So, the KJV reading correct using Βηθεσδά and the critical text is wrong using the Greek Βηθζαθὰ. This was reflected in a letter by one of the church fathers where they quoted this scripture way before the critical text does. We will look at more examples like this in our next lesson. The scripture reading was from 1 Thessalonians 2:13 KJV

"13 For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because, when ye received the word of God which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe."