Bible Translation Glossary of Terms

Manuscripts These are Handwritten Books as opposed to later books which are machine printed since the printing press was invented. When dealing with the Bible, some manuscripts may contain all of the Books of the Bible, while others contain only some books or even fragments of books.

Original Autographs These are the Actual Handwritten Books of the Bible that were written by the Apostles and Prophets such as Paul, Peter, Isaiah, and etceteras. These are Not Copies of the Originals. The Original Auto- graphs are no longer in existence and haven't been since shortly after they were penned, because they were handled so much and copied so much by so many people that they became worn out over time.

Extant Manuscripts These are the handwritten copies of the Bible or Books of the Bible which are currently available at any given time in history as opposed to the Original Autographs.

Textus Receptus / Majority Text This is the Name for the Bible Manuscript Family that became known historically as the "Received Text" by the Church. The reason it was called such is that this manuscript family has been historically received by true believers as being accurate and reliable copies of the Original Autographs. This term primarily refers to the Greek New Testament. The Byzantine Text, Traditional Text, and the Majority Text ( because the vast majority of manuscripts are from this family ) all refer to the same Text Family. This family also includes all translations which are based upon it's text exclusively.

Minority Text / Alexandrian Text This refers to the second basic "family" of New Testament Greek manuscripts called minority because there are only a handful of them relative to the Majority Text. The term Alexandrian Text refers to the fact that the two major manuscripts in this family came from Alexandria, Egypt from an Apostate "Christian" School in that city run by a man named Clement.

Eclectic Text This refers to the Westcott and Hort Text that was put together by the aforementioned two men and was based upon the Alexandrian Text and certain older incomplete manuscripts ( or partials ).

Inspiration The Doctrine of Inspiration comes from the Greek Word Theo-pneustos which means God Breathed. The doctrine holds that ALL of the Bible is the Direct Product of God's Creative Breath. The Bible was written by men Supernaturally Inspired in such a way that what they wrote were the Very Words of God - Not men II Timothy 3:16-17 . Inspiration technically refers to the Original Autographs as they were penned by the Apostles and Prophets of Both the Old and New Testaments. The result of Inspiration is Inerrancy in the Original Autographs, a term referring to the Absolute Perfection and Consistency of the Orbital Course of the various planetary bodies in the heavens & applied to the Penning of the Scriptures.

Preservation The Doctrine of Preservation refers to God's Providential Work in Preserving the Text of the Original Autographs through the copying process so that we can be assured that we have Today the Very Word of God in the Manuscript copies in existence today Psalms 12:6-7 . We Believe that God has Preserved His Word for Our Generation in the Majority Text of the Textus Receptus in the Greek New Testament and the Massor- etic Hebrew Text of the Old Testament. The result of Preservation is the Infallibility of the Manuscript Text Copies ( Infallibility referring to the fact that the Manuscripts convey the Words of the Original Documents in a basically flawless manner ).

Vaticanus & Sinaiticus are Two of the Oldest Complete Manuscripts that we have of the Greek New Testament Dating back to roughly 300AD. These are of the Alexandrian Family of Manuscripts. The Vaticanus was found in the Vatican Library in a very obscure place. The Sinaiticus was found in a Catholic Monastery in the Sinai in a Wastebasket. Both of these manu- scripts have been Edited Extensively by Several Different scribes. They Disagree with each other over 3,000 times in the Gospels Alone. Many Historians Believe that these manuscripts are two of the Original 50 Manuscripts that were Ordered by Constantine and secured by Erasmus from his Old School in Alexandria, Egypt to serve as the Scriptures for the Emporer's then newly conceived "Holy Roman Catholic Church." These manuscripts, later, served as the basis for Jerome's Latin Vulgate and the English Douay Version of the Catholic Bible.

Massoretic Text Refers to the Hebrew Manuscripts of the Old Testament Copied by the Jewish Massorite Scribes with such Care and Precision that their Accuracy & Integrity have Never Been Seriously Questioned.

Biblia Hebraica ... Refers to the Hebrew Version of the Old Testament Assembled by Rudolf Kiddel and used in Modern Versions of the Bible. Rudolf Kiddel was Antisemitic and had ties to the Nazis in World War II through his Son, Gearhardt, who was Heavily Influenced by Rudolf's Strong Anti-Jewish sentiments.

Gearhardt Kiddel was the Son of Rudolf Kiddel and the One who Edited an Encyclopedia of the Bible which became the Basis for many of Our Biblical Definitions and Historical Perspective Today Relating to Biblical Times, Places, and Events. Gearhardt Kiddel was Largely Responsible for Giving Adolph Hitler Justification for his Hatred of and Destruction of the Jews During World War II. After the war Gearhardt was tried for War Crimes Against the Jews and Convicted, yet his Antisemite View is Not seen by Liberal Theologians as a Legitimate Basis for Rejecting - or at least calling into Question the Wisdom of Accepting his Scholarship without Prejudice.

Formal Equivalency is a Method of Bible Translation used to Render the Exact Language of the Bible from the Original Greek and Hebrew into the New Language - in our case with the KJV English - in an Exact Word for Word manner.

Dynamic Equivalency is the Method of Bible Translation which does Not seek to Render a Word for Word Translation from the Original Languages to Another One but Rather Seeks to Communicate the Basic Meaning of the Passage as Understood by and Filtered by the Translator. Thus, we Don't Get the Word of God; we Get the Translator's Interpretation of the Word of God which is Not Really a Translation at all. This is the Most Dangerous Aspect of Modern "Scholarship," because the Reader of these Newer Bible Versions are Not being Sold a Translator's Paraphrase; their being sold a "Better and More Accurate Translation in an Easier to Read Modern Version of the Bible."

Westcott & Hort were two Anglican Priests ( Church of England which is Equivalent to the Episcopal Church in America ) who took the Vaticanus and Sinaiticus Greek Manuscripts and created the Modern Greek Text or Eclectic Text or the Critical Text in the late 1800s which became the Source for All of Our Modern English Translations of the Bible that we see Today. These men were Not Born Again Believers, and their Theological Views are Easily Found in Religious Encyclopedias. They were Spiritualists who Believed in Making Contact with the Dead. They Believed that Mary should be Worshipped. Westcott said : " No one now, I suppose holds that the first three chapters of Genesis, for example, give a literal history. I could never understand how anyone reading them with an open mind could think they did." Hort said : " The Pure Romish View ( Catholic ) seems to be nearer, and more likely to lead to the Truth than the Evangelical." They said : "The Doctrine of Substitution is Immoral." They claimed : If the Bible is to be taken Seriously, It becomes a Danger to Religion and Public Morals." They referred to the Textus Receptus as " That Vile Text." These are the men that gave Our World the Modern Greek Text. They were also two of the Most Prominent men on the Committee that "Translated" the Revised Version of the Bible in 1881.

Textual Criticism is the Method by which Liberal Scholars Seek Assess the Value of Various Bible Manuscripts. Using this Method they Discount the Textus Receptus in Favor of their Alexandrian or "Critical" Text. The Three Main Tenants of this Method are as Follows :

1. The Older Manuscript is Better than the Newer Manuscript. The Reasoning is that the Older is More Reliable, because it was Copied Closer to the Time of It's being Originally Penned.

ANSWER : Manuscript Copies were Valuable because they Took a Long Time to Copy by Hand. Good Copies were Used and Copied from Person to Person and Got Worn Out. Lesser Quality Copies were Set Aside and Not Used as in the Vaticanus & Sinaiticus but were Not Utterly Discarded, because they were Expensive to Produce.

2. The Shorter Reading is Better than the Longer Reading. They Reason that the Additional Text has been Added by Later Scribes.

ANSWER : The Same can be Said for Later Scribes such as Clement of Alexandria, Origin, and Eusebius who as Later Scribes Removed Portions of the Scriptures that Conflicted with their Pagan and NeoPlatonic Views.

3. The Difficult Reading is Better than the Easy One. They Reason that when One Manuscript or Manuscript Family Contains a Passage that Makes No Sense or is Contradictory to Another Passage, then, That is Probably the Right One, because Man Makes Mistakes, so That is Probably the Way it Happened.

ANSWER : This View Expressly Contradicts the Doctrine of the Direct Inspiration and Providential Preservation of the Scriptures by God in Spite of Man's Human Fallibility as in II Timothy 3:16-17 & Psalm 12:6-7.