Anglicans Reading the Bible Series – Part 3

Textual Issues

“Come, let us go down, and confuse their language there, so that they will not understand one another’s speech.” (Genesis 11: 7)

Is This Translation Okay?

Very probably. Unless you were one of those people who paid off the Jehovah’s Witnesses at the front door so they’d leave you alone, and are clutching the New World Translation in your hand, your translation is probably fine. Translations by groups of scholars are better than translations by one person. While many appreciate the majesty and poetry of the King James Version translation of 1611, on the whole, most people find modern translations easier to understand.

People often make decisions about which Bible to use based on price, or explanatory notes often available next to the text, or even what’s comfortable to hold in our hands.

We’re blessed today to have confidence with a high degree of accuracy that what we have in translation comes from what the original authors wrote down. If there’s any doubt, most modern translations will have the occasional footnote about it on the bottom of the page. If you’d like to learn more, the science of “textual criticism” can increase our confidence.
A large majority of Canadian Anglican parishes use the “New Revised Standard Version” translation.

Authorship

When this author was in theological college, a fellow student was expelled for plagiarism – for taking what was someone else’s writings, and claiming them to be his own. Today, plagiarism is a serious academic offense.

But it was different in the ancient world. At that time, it was considered a complement for a student to sign the name of his teacher to something he wrote. When the early Church was considering which books and writings were really inspired and belonged in the Bible (the “canon”), it was thought important to include only what was understood to be written by the apostles, because they had first-hand experience with Jesus in history. The authorship of the Letter to the Hebrews has been of some doubt from ancient times. Many Bible teachers today think that a section of Isaiah was added later. Granted that God can do miracles, but it seems highly unlikely that Moses wrote about his own death at the end of the Book of Deuteronomy, and so on. (Many people think that four authors contributed to the Bible’s opening books.)

But… does it really matter who actually held the pen? Most of all, while certainly all the human authors lived in the ancient Middle East, we believe that God inspired them all, and they have worthwhile material for us today – the gospel of Jesus Christ.

The Apocrypha

This is also known as “Why is my neighbour’s Bible bigger than mine?”

There were some devotional writings which were written in the period between the Old and New Testaments. Clearly written before the ministry of Jesus, they are often called the “Apocrypha.” Some of them contain proverbs or wise stories; some of them are a bit weird. Anglicans have customarily taken the position that apocryphal material can teach about being a good person, but aren’t on the same level as the New Testament and Old Testament (the Hebrew scriptures).