![]() There is evidence that the original Greek read 'ος' but was modified by the addition of a strikethrough to become 'θς' (see the excerpt from the Codex Sinaiticus, above). This change increases textual support for trinitarianism, a doctrine to which Newton did not subscribe. He attempted to demonstrate that early Church writers in referring to the verse knew nothing of such an alteration. Newton argued that, by a small alteration in the Greek text, the word "God" was substituted to make the phrase read "God was manifest in the flesh" instead of "which was manifested in the flesh". The shorter portion of Newton's dissertation was concerned with 1 Timothy 3:16, which reads (in the King James Version):Īnd without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory. ![]() However, some argue that the verse is not a later corruption. Finally, Newton considered the sense and context of the verse, concluding that removing the interpolation makes "the sense plain and natural, and the argument full and strong but if you insert the testimony of 'the Three in Heaven' you interrupt and spoil it." Today most versions of the Bible are from the Critical Text and omit this verse, or retain it as only a marginal reading. He argued that it was first taken into a Greek text in 1515 by Cardinal Ximenes. He noted that "the Æthiopic, Syriac, Greek, Armenian, Georgian and Slavonic versions, still in use in the several Eastern nations, Ethiopia, Egypt, Syria, Mesopotamia, and Eastern European Armenia, Georgia, Muscovy, and some others, are strangers to this reading". He then attempts to demonstrate that the purportedly spurious reading crept into the Latin versions, first as a marginal note, and later into the text itself. Using the writings of the early Church Fathers, the Greek and Latin manuscripts and the testimony of the earliest extant manuscripts of the Bible, of the Bible, Newton claims to have demonstrated that the words "in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one", that support the Trinity doctrine, did not appear in the original Greek Scriptures. In the King James Version of the New Testament, 1 John 5:7 reads:įor there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one. Such scholarship was suppressed, and Newton kept his discoveries private. Newton's work on this issue was part of a larger effort of scholars studying the Bible and finding that, for example, the opinion that Trinity is not found in the original manuscripts in explicit view. He adds that "the more learned and quick-sighted men, as Luther, Erasmus, Bullinger, Grotius, and some others, would not dissemble their knowledge". He blames "the Roman church" for many abuses in the world and accuses it of " pious frauds". Newton describes this letter as "an account of what the reading has been in all ages, and what steps it has been changed, as far as I can hitherto determine by records", and "a criticism concerning a text of Scripture". The account claimed to review all the textual evidence available from ancient sources on two disputed Bible passages: 1 John 5:7 and 1 Timothy 3:16. The text was first published in English in 1754, 27 years after his death. ![]() ![]() Newton's work also built upon the textual work of Richard Simon and his own research. 7 was quite out, but as I remember in all of them the end of the eighth verse was "tres unum sunt." 7 was also, but differently from the old copy and in two other old manuscripts, also, ver. 7, was quite wanting, and the end of the eighth verse ran thus, "tres unum sunt " in another old copy the seventh verse was, but with interlining in another much more modern copy, ver. Wo very old manuscripts of the New Testament, the newest of which was, as appeared by the date of it, at least 800 years old, in each of which 1 John, ch.v. While living in France, Locke made a journal entry, dated 20 December 1679, where he indicates that while visiting the library at Saint-Germain-des-Prés he saw: In fact, Newton may have been in dialogue with Locke about this issue much earlier. This was sent in a letter to John Locke on 14 November 1690. An Historical Account of Two Notable Corruptions of Scripture is a dissertation by the English mathematician and scholar Isaac Newton.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |