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On 1 John 5:7 Francis Turretin in the Institutes Q. XI, Sec. X writes, “all the Greek copies have it [habent tamen omnia Exemplaria Graeca], as Sixtus Senensis[1] acknowledges: “they have been the words of never-doubted truth, and contained in all the Greek copies from the very times of the apostles” [et in omnibus GraecisContinue reading “William Evanson’s (1829) Translator’s Preface to the 1785 work of Francis Knittel (1721-1792) entitled, New Criticisms on the Celebrated Text, 1 John 5:7.”

Thomas Jackson, (1579-1640) Bachelor of Divinity, and Fellow of Corpus Christi College in Oxford deals in this excerpt with the authority of Scripture in relation to our teachers. As you read, please note that a foundation to accept or reject the teaching is known bv the believing student through the God’s word “immediately in itContinue reading “Thomas Jackson, (1579-1640) and Being a God unto All Other Men”

For those unfamiliar with the Textual Apparatus of the United Bible Societies (UBS) Greek text, the preferred student’s text of choice in America’s seminaries, a brief introduction to notation of the reading selected for the text is presented. This material, personally, was enlightening considering the boldness of the editors, Metzger, Martini, Wikgren, Black and AlandContinue reading “The UBS Greek Text and Degrees of Doubt”

One of the promises of Isaiah 59:21 is that the word will be the mouth of the covenant keeper. The four-fold reference to the words, in thy mouth, speaks of perpetual accessibility for edification, evangelism, meditation and conversation. But what about the illiterate adult or the young child who cannot read. Of what value isContinue reading “What About Children and the Illiterate Who Cannot Read the Scripture?”

Dean John William Burgon was a contemporary of Brooke Foss Westcott and Fenton John Anthony Hort and the formulation of The New Testament in the Original Greek published in 1881. This volume was followed by the Introduction to the New Testament in the Original Greek (New York: Harper and Brothers, 1882) which describes the scientificContinue reading “The Unanswered Dean John William Burgon (1813-1888) on the Last Twelve Verses of the Gospel of Mark, part 2.”

Turning to the work of statesman and theologian Abram Kuyper (1837-1920), we read of the attack of the historical critical method upon Scripture, the formal principium. Note the continuity of Kuyper’s argument with that of the Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 2:14-15. In erudite form, Kuyper laments, It is unfortunate, however that in the oldenContinue reading “Abram Kuyper’s Principles of Sacred Theology (1898) and the Rebellion Against God”

The first reason to love the TBS TR is because it is blue and not red. Probably no one else on campus will have a blue Greek text which opens countless opportunities to begin a didactic, polemic, or apologetic dialogue. Most seminarians don’t know that there is an alternative to the UBS Greek text, soContinue reading “A Seminarian’s Reason for Loving the Trinitarian Bible Society’s Received Text”

After reading Dean John William Burgon’s unanswered defense of the long ending of Mark and reflecting to the genius of his argument, several of his observations lingered with me this morning that apply to the transmission of all MSS to a greater or lesser degree. First, because the process is unquantifiable not knowing what theContinue reading “The Irrelevance of Counting Manuscripts (MSS)”

        The following is a brief excerpt of Dean Burgon’s 400 page defense of the authenticity of the long ending of the Gospel of Mark. This section is near the end of his erudite apologetic.  It being freely admitted that, in the beginning of the 4th century, there must have existed Copies of the Gospels inContinue reading “The Unanswered Dean John William Burgon (1813-1888) on the Last Twelve Verses of the Gospel of Mark”