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Is God Dead?
We have engaged with Bart Ehrman in past articles. He has been one of the most prolific critics of Christianity over the last 20 years, and we have considered several of his arguments when looking at the Christian resurrection narrative. It is Ehrman who claims the resurrection accounts in the Gospels are written long after the actual event, that the Christian resurrection narrative violates Ockham’s razor, and that the Gospels are deceptive Christian propaganda.
However, there is one criticism that he has made very popular in recent years. Ehrman proclaims, “There are more errors in the [Gospel] manuscripts than there are words in the New Testament.” New Testament scholar Timothy Paul Jones, commenting on Ehrman’s claim, writes, “This statement is technically true, but... it’s a bit misleading.” To be exact, Ehrman claims there are some 400,000 errors in the Greek manuscripts. And there are only 138,000 words in the Greek New Testament. Nonetheless, it is critical to understand that the number of variants comes from adding up every difference in every surviving manuscript from the Greek New Testament. For instance, take a misspelled word. For example, say there are 2,000 manuscripts and each one has the same particular verse. Now, say the word “prayer” appears in this verse, and say the word “prayer” is misspelled as p-r-a-y-a-r in only one of the 2,000 manuscripts, while the remaining 1,999 manuscripts have no such variant. In other words, the spelling of the word “prayer” is correct in all 1,999 copies. But this is how that single variant is calculated: A misspelled word in a single manuscript that is different from 1,999 other manuscripts is counted as 2,000 variants, not one. Today, we have about 5,800 Greek New Testament manuscripts in our possession. With numbers like these, it does not take long for the number of variants to add up. Even so, spread across millions and millions of words in more than 5,000 manuscripts, the variations represent a small percentage of the total.
Naturally, one asks, “What exactly constitutes a variant (and they are identified as variants, not errors)? Well, it turns out that spelling differences make up the overwhelming majority of all variants at about 320,000 instances. That is about 75 percent of the total variants observed. Synonym differences are another common variant. These variants involve whether the definite article is used with a proper noun or not, like “The Mary,” as opposed to just Mary, or “The Joseph,” as opposed to just Joseph. Or changes in the order of words. In koine (biblical) Greek, word order is not nearly as critical as in English. This group of variants also includes variants derived from the flexibility of the language. For example, there are 16 ways to say “Jesus loves John” in Koine Greek. Another group of variants is those that are meaningful but not viable variants. This category of variants includes a reading that is different from other alternate readings. These types of variants generally do not have very good supporting textual evidence. Finally, there are a small number of meaningful variants. This includes variants like Romans 5:1, where some manuscripts translate, “Let us have peace with God,” and others say, “We have peace with God.” Across all the manuscripts containing this passage, about half have it one way, and half have it the other. However, it is important because there is a theological distinction between the two readings. Even so, keep in mind that the Bible has a beautiful system of internal redundancy. Several passages support both readings. In other words, both are theologically sound statements. In all, only about one percent of the variants, or 4,000 of the 400,000 variants, are meaningful. Therefore, there are no variants that alter the core doctrines of the New Testament.
Whoa, wait a minute! Cries the skeptic. What about biblical inerrancy? Doesn’t Christian doctrine hold that the Holy Spirit inspired the New Testament writers, enabling them to produce the original autographs without error? Yes, that is precisely what Christians hold to be true; the Holy Spirit did inspire the apostles and their selected associates’ writings. So, what about these alleged “errors” in our Bibles? Christians hold the Bible to be the authoritative, inspired, inerrant, sufficient, and final authority in all matters of faith and salvation. That has been Christian doctrine from the beginning of Christianity, and it was upon this foundation that Martin Luther protested the Romish church and Popery in his 95 Theses. That protest sparked the Protestant Reformation, which officially began on October 31, 1517, becoming the most significant post-apostolic event in Christian history.
No doubt a lot of good information has been presented here, but what does it all really mean? Well, it all comes back to what Michael rejects: biblical authority. The crux of the matter is simply this: “Is the Bible authoritative?” One could rightly consider that all of the previous articles in this column have ultimately led to this question. It is an important question. A question that very much needs attention. To that end, join us again next week as we begin to unpack this pivotal and critical question of biblical authority. Until then, ponder the supreme question in life: Is God dead?
Gloria in excelsis Deo!
Ty B. Kerley, DMin., is an ordained minister who teaches Christian apologetics and relief preaches in Southern Oklahoma. Dr. Kerley and his wife, Vicki, are members of the Waurika church of Christ, and live in Ardmore, OK. You can contact him at dr.kerley@isGoddead. com.
