Why is Romans 11:6 shortened in the ESV?
ESV:
Rom 11:6 But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works; otherwise grace would no longer be grace.
KJV:
Rom 11:6 And if by grace, then is it no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then is it no more grace: otherwise work is no more work.
I suspect this is a textual issue. ESV followed another Greek text edition than KJV.
Harald
Yes, this is an issue of textual criticism. The ESV generally follows the Nestle-Aland text and NA follows P46 and some other manuscripts which do not contain the longer reading. This is one of the manuscripts they tend to follow most of the time and the shorter reading is also usually assumed to be the original. The majority of the manuscripts available do contain the reading.
For whatever strength of arm he may have who swims in the open sea, yet in time he is carried away and sunk, mastered by the greatness of its waves. Need then there is that we be in the ship, that is, that we be carried in the wood, that we may be able to cross this sea. Now this Wood in which our weakness is carried is the Cross of the Lord, by which we are signed, and delivered from the dangerous tempests of this world.--St. Augustine
What are your thoughts about the various scripts?
Dave
God has preserved all of the extant manuscripts in such a way that none of them are so corrupted that any of the major doctrines of the Bible are chained and all can be regarded as infallible. However, only the autographs which nobody possesses can be said to be inerrant. Because I believe that God has providentially preserved His text I also believe that when doing textual criticism it is better to accept the witnesses of many manuscripts over the witnesses of one or a few and so I hold to a Majority text/Byzantine priority position. The Byzantine text is also that text which was recognized as canonical by the church and preserved through the church by God. There is even reason to believe that rather than the recension that Westcott and Hort suggested where a local text was just chosen and copied many times, that due to the location they may have had access to the original autographs and corrected their own texts from them. For a more scholarly and less theological defense of the Byzantine priority position read http://rosetta.reltech.org/TC/vol06/Robinson2001.htmlOriginally Posted by Yoder
For whatever strength of arm he may have who swims in the open sea, yet in time he is carried away and sunk, mastered by the greatness of its waves. Need then there is that we be in the ship, that is, that we be carried in the wood, that we may be able to cross this sea. Now this Wood in which our weakness is carried is the Cross of the Lord, by which we are signed, and delivered from the dangerous tempests of this world.--St. Augustine
As for now I hold that no one single GNT edition is without error. That is, no one single edition perfectly represents the very original Greek Testament. But I lean towards believing that among the textual traditions are to be found every word that was originally give. So, from them it is theoretically possible to perfectly reconstruct the very original GNT. But I suspect in practice it will never come to pass.
Harald
Posting Permissions
Bookmarks