One in Messiah Congregation
קָּהָל אֶחָד בְּמָּשִׁיחַ
A part of the Congregation of Israel
עֲדַת יִשְׂרָאֵל
Our website:
Phone: 615 712-3931
Email: ministermalachi@comcast.net
Shabbat Shalom
שַׁבָּת
שָׁלוֹם
Our address is 101 Forrest
Crossing Blvd., Franklin Tn. 37064, suite 105A
Today
is Dec. 20, 2025
Yehovah has His own calendar:
We are now in the 9th month
called Chislev, Zach 7:1 - in English, scripture calls
it Chisleu –
day 28
Today’s topic:
Bible
versions
Many
so-called Greek scholars from the past, just like today often use the phrase “according to the original Greek”. This leads one to believe
that they have access to the original autograph manuscripts. They do not!
No one
today has the original writings themselves.
Let me
repeat that again: the original autographical manuscripts of the Gospels and letters no longer
exist.
They were
written on perishable material and it is unlikely that they lasted more than a
few years, let alone 21 centuries!
As you
know, some people say they have the original Greek and the original Bible.
First
of all, there was no original Bible.
At no
time did the
original autographical manuscripts of the 27 books known as the Gospels and
letters ever reside between the covers of one particular book.
The
Gospels and letters were not written as a book per se, it was written by eight
or nine different men, in a variety of locations and circumstances over a
period of about 60 years.
The
Gospels and letters were originally letters which were written to certain
congregations or individuals.
These
letters were written on papyrus in Koine Greek.
Koine Greek
was the language of the common man at that time.
It is
important to remember that the Gospels and letters were originally written
in Koine Greek, because later on we are going to
encounter manuscripts written in classical Greek.
As the
Gospels and letters were circulated from congregation to congregation, each
congregation would make a copy of the letter before passing it on.
Possibly,
each congregation had its own collection.
This
collection of letters would eventually be put together in a book form, after
the Gutenberg
press was
created. 1440
The development of
the Bible that splits into two separate lines of ascension:
This is
the line of ascension of the Authorized Version of 1611
The
underlying Greek text of the authorized version of 1611 is called the Textus Receptus or
Received text, Majority text.
It is
called the majority text because 95% of all manuscript evidence supports this text.
Here are
15 steps, Bibles from which the Authorized Version came from:
Milestones in the development of
this text include:
1. The Syrian peshito and the
old Latin (first and second centuries),
2. Papyrus readings of
the the Receptus (150-400 A.D,
3. The Uncial readings of
the Receptus (500-1500),
4. The Latin Bibles of
the Waldensians (1100-1300),
5. The Latin Bibles of
the Albigenses (1380-1550),
6. The Latin Bibles of
the Lollards (1300-1500),
7. Martin Luther's Bible (1530), and
8. The Receptus of 1615,
1534, 1550, and 1565.
English Versions included:
1. Tyndale's (1525),
2. Coverdale's (1535),
3. Matthew's (1537),
4. The Great Bible (1539)
5. The Geneva Bible (1560),
6. The Bishops Bible (1568), and
7. The Authorized Version (1611)
The
corrupt line of ascension starts with a man named Origen.
Origen
lived in the years 185 - 251 A.D., he was a Ebionite, one who accepts the teachings of
Messiah, but
denies the doctrine of salvation.
He
believed infant baptism, like the Catholics, universal salvation that is, that
all men would be saved, rather than are saved.
He
believes sin was forgiven through communion, he did not believe Messiah was our
high priest.
He does
not believe in the physical resurrection, nor did he believe the second coming
of Messiah.
He amended the Gospels and letters whenever
and wherever he felt like it. This is where everything started, the corruption of the
Gospels and letters.
After this
we have the Emperor Constantine of Rome. 325 A.D.
Then we
have Eusebius, he was a great admirer of Origen, he
was an Arian that denied the deity of Messiah and did not believe in a literal interpretation of
Scripture.
Unfortunately,
50 copies of the Bible he made up for Constantine were based on the corrupt
works of Origin.
Catholics
were creating in 350 A.D.
The
codices Vaticanus and Sinaticus were written around 350 A.D. they were written on
vellum in classical Greek
The next
step in the corrupt line was Jerome’s Latin Vulgate written about 400 A.D. it was based primarily on the
work of Origen
and Eusebius.
For the
next thousand years, this was the standard Bible the Catholic Church.
The
codex Vaticanus is still owned by the Catholic Church
The
codex Sinaticus was rediscovered 1859 in a trash basket at the monastery
of St. Catherine on Mount Sinai.
This codex
was supposedly corrected by over 10 different scribes in
different periods of time and is very significant to understand.
Next we
have the Rheims-Douay
Bible completed in 1610.
It is the
current Bible Catholic Church and of course the teachings of Origen, Eusebius, and Jerome.
Some
people will have you believe that there exists somewhere a single authorized Greek text from which all translations and
versions of made.
This is
not true.
What we
did have was over 5500 Greek manuscripts.
Today,
there might exist 5000 pieces of evidence, fragments.
Let’s talk a little about WESTCOTT AND HORT:
Just remember and take note: in every Bible today, the
Gospels and letters are the work of Wescott and Hort.
Until
the late 1800s, the Textus Receptus, or the “received text,” was the
foremost Greek text from which the Gospels and letters was derived.
The
King James Version is based on the Textus Receptus.
In
1881 two weasel scholars, Brooke Foss
Westcott and Fenton J. A. Hort, printed their New Testament in Greek,
later known as the Critical Text.
Dismissing the Textus Receptus as an inferior text rife with errors, Westcott
and Hort compiled a New Greek text, with special focus on two fourth-century manuscripts, the
Codex Vaticanus and the Codex Sinaiticus.
As a result of Westcott and Hort’s work, their Critical Text became
the standard Greek text used for modern interpretation and translation for
nearly two generations.
The Critical Text was the one chiefly used for the English Revised Version
and the later American Standard Version.
Today,
the updated and revised Critical Text is the Greek manuscript basis for the New
International Version, the New American Standard Bible, the English Standard
Version, and virtually every other modern English translation of the Bible.
Brooke Foss Westcott (1825-1901) and Fenton John Anthony Hort (1828-1892) produced a
Greek New Testament in 1881 based on the findings of Constantine Tischendorf,
one who discovered and deciphered rare ancient manuscripts.
One
was the Sinaticus codex.
In
1870, the southern convocation of the Church of England expressed desirability
of revising the Authorized Version.
Wescott and Hort were
the so-called Greek scholars at that time led the charge.
This
Greek NT was the basis for the Revised Version of that same year.
They
also developed a theory of textual criticism which underlay their Greek NT and
several other Greek NT since such as the Nestle's text
and the United Bible Society's text.
Greek
New Testaments such as these produced the modern English translations of the
Bible we have today.
So it
is important for us to know these two men who have so greatly influenced modern
textual criticism.
The Westcott and Hort theory states that the Bible is to be treated
as any other book written.
Westcott and Hort believed the Greek text which underlies the KJV was
perverse and corrupt.
Hort called
the Textus Receptus vile and villainous (Life and Letters of
Fenton John Anthony Hort, Vol. I, p.211).
If Westcott and Hort are the fathers of modern textual criticism and
the restorers of the true text, should we not know something of their beliefs
to see if they are consistent with Scripture?
Here's what Westcott and Hort said:
The Scriptures:
"I
reject the word infallibility of Holy Scriptures overwhelmingly." (Westcott, The Life and Letters of Brook Foss
Westcott, Vol. I, p.207).
"Our Bible as well as our Faith is a mere compromise." (Westcott,
On the Canon of the New Testament, p. vii).
"Evangelicals seem to me perverted. . .There are, I fear, still
more serious differences between us on the subject of authority, especially the
authority of the Bible."
(Hort, The Life and Letters of Fenton John Anthony Hort,
Vol. I, p.400)
"Dr. Wilbur Pickering writes that, Hort did not hold to a high
view of inspiration." (The Identity of the New
Testament Text, p.212)
Perhaps
this is why both the RV (which Westcott and Hort helped to translate)
and the American edition of it, the ASV, translated 2nd
Timothy
3:16 as, "Every scripture inspired of God" instead of "All
scripture is given by inspiration of God" (KJV).
The Deity of Christ:
"He
never speaks of Himself directly as God, but the aim of His revelation was to
lead men to see God in Him."
(Westcott,
The Gospel According to St. John, p. 297).
"(John)
does not expressly affirm the identification of the Word with Jesus
Christ." (Westcott, Ibid., p. 16).
"(Rev. 3:15) might no doubt bear the Arian meaning, the first thing
created." (Hort, Revelation, p.36).
Perhaps
this is why their Greek text makes Jesus a created god (John 1:18) and their
American translation had a footnote concerning John 9:38, "And he said,
Lord I believe and he worshipped him," which said, "The Greek word denotes an act of reverence, whether paid to a creature, as here, or to the
Creator" (thus calling Christ a creature).
Salvation:
"The
thought (of John 10:29) is here traced back to its most absolute form as
resting on the essential power of God in His relation of Universal
Fatherhood."
(Westcott, St. John, p. 159).
"I confess I have no repugnance to the primitive doctrine of a ransom paid
to Satan. I can see no other possible form in which the doctrine of a ransom is
at all tenable; anything is better than the doctrine of a ransom to the
father."
(Hort, The First Epistle of St. Peter 1:1-2:17, p. 77).
Perhaps
this is why their Greek text adds to salvation in 1st Peter 2:2.
And
why their English version teaches universal salvation in Titus 2:11, "For
the grace of God hath appeared, bringing salvation to all men" (ASV).
Hell:
"(Hell
is) not the place of punishment of the guilty, (it is) the common abode of
departed spirits." (Westcott, Historic Faith, pp.77-78).
"We
have no sure knowledge of future punishment, and the word eternal has a far
higher meaning." (Hort, Life and Letters, Vol. I, p.149).
Perhaps
this is why their Greek text does not have Mark 9:44, and their English
translation replaces "everlasting fire" [Matthew 18:8] with
"eternal fire" and change the meaning of eternal as cited
by Hort in the above quote.
Creation:
"No
one now, I suppose, holds that the first three chapters of Genesis, for
example, give a literal history.
I
could never understand how anyone reading them with open eyes could think they
did." (Westcott, cited from Which Bible?, p. 191).
"But
the book which has most engaged me is Darwin.
Whatever
may be thought of it, it is a book that one is proud to be contemporary
with..... My feeling is strong that the theory is unanswerable."
(Hort, cited from Which Bible?, p. 189)
Romanism:
"I
wish I could see to what forgotten truth the worship of the Virgin Mary bears
witness."
(Westcott, Ibid. )
"The
pure Romanish view seems to be nearer, and more likely to lead to the
truth than the Evangelical."
(Hort, Life and Letters, Vol. I, p. 77)
It is
one thing to have doctrinal differences on baby-sprinkling and perhaps a few
other faulty interpretations.
It is
another to be a Darwin-believing theologian who rejects the authority of
scriptures, Biblical salvation, the reality of hell, and makes Christ a created
being to be worshipped with Mary his mother.
Yet, these were some of the views of both Westcott and Hort.
No less significant is the
fact that both men were members of spiritualist societies (the Hermes Club and
the Ghostly Guild).
Westcott and Hort talked to Spirits of the dead.
A short line of corrupt people from the past:
Charles Robert Darwin 1809-1882
Brooke Foss Westcott 1825-1901
Fenton John Anthony Hort 1828-1892
This is where the corruption in evolution started in our schools
Thomas Henry Huxley 1825 -1895
Charles Lyell 1797 – 1895
Catholics 350 A.D.
The
codices Vaticanus and Sinaticus were written around 350
A.D. they were written on vellum in classical Greek
The
next step in the corrupt line was Jerome’s Latin Vulgate written about 400 A.D.
it was based primarily on the work of Origen and Eusebius.
For
the next thousand years, this was the standard Bible the Catholic Church.
The codex Vaticanus is still owned by the Catholic Church
The
codex Sinaticus was rediscovered 1859 in a trash basket at the
monastery of St. Catherine on Mount Sinai.
This
codex was corrected by over 10 different scribes in different periods of time
and is very significant to understand.
Next we have the: HEBREW
MATTHEW - Shem Tob - du Tillet – Munster
Are we to believe and trust these
references by Origen and his student Eusebius?
It was Origen was deceived by education and philosophy who upon receipt of
pure copies of scripture altered them to parallel his twisted thinking.
He is the father of all Bible critics and is not only responsible for the physical
manuscripts which delete such verses as:
Luke 24: [40] And when he had thus spoken, he showed them his hands
and his feet.
Acts 8:[37] And
Philip said, If thou believe with all thine heart, thou mayest. And he answered
and said, I believe that Jesus the Christ is the Son of God.
I John 5:7, But if we walk in the
light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the
blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanses us from all sin.
He is also responsible for the Alexandrian philosophy parroted by so
many of our fundamental scholars who claim that "The Bible is perfect and
infallible" with one breath and then state "The Bible has mistakes
and mistranslations" with the very next.
It is this demented ideology that gave birth to the corrupt Alexandrian
manuscripts in the first place.
"As having learned by
tradition concerning the four Gospels, which alone are unquestionable in the
Church of God under heaven, that first was written according to Matthew, who
was once a tax collector but afterwards an apostle of Jesus Christ, who
published it for those who from Judaism came to believe, composed as it was in
the Hebrew language." –
Origen (Eusebius, H.E. 6.25.4)
"Matthew collected the oracles (ta logia) in the Hebrew language, and
each interpreted them as best he could." –
Papias (Eusebius, H.E. 3.39.16)
The ESV, like the
NIV and the Holman Christian Standard
Bible have absolute agreement with
the Roman Catholic New American Bible and the Jehovah’s Witness New World
Translation.
The ESV is based on
the Masoretic text of the Hebrew Bible as found in Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia (Kittel, Rudolf, 1853-1929) (2nd ed., 1983), and on the Greek text in the 1993
editions of the Greek New Testament (4th corrected ed.), published by the
United Bible Societies (UBS), and Novum Testamentum Graece (27th
ed.), edited by Nestle and Aland.
From
the ESV official Website
Most people would be shocked to learn the theological positions of Kittel.
Rudolf Kittel despised Jews, denied that
salvation is through Yeshua the Messiah, denied the atonement, rejected the
inspiration of scripture, contradicted the words of Yeshua, and then put
all these views into writing, so as to be sure and leave a written record of
his personal hostility to Jesus Christ, Christianity, the Reformation, the
Bible and to Jews.
His Son Gerhard Kittel wrote the Theological
Dictionary of the New Testament (10 Volume Set) (also
so-called theologian, though both apostate) was tried for Nazi war crimes.
Both worked for the German Bible Society, which is also known
these days as UBS the United Bible Society.
The Copyright on both the Hebrew and the Greek base texts for translation
by UBS, is retained by the German Bible Society, which has a very
colorful and unrepentant history of its own activities during World War II.
Next:
Beware of those who present the Shem Tob version of
Matthew as an accurate representation of a manuscript.
Many believers in Messiah Yeshua are being led by unbelievers to
accept an unscriptural version of pseudo Hebrew Matthew which was found as a
part of a polemic document (a speech or piece of writing expressing
a strongly critical attack on or controversial opinion about someone or
something) entitled Eban Bohan.
This document was authored by Shem Tob, an unbelieving
Jewish theologian.
Many unbelievers are going around the country promoting this trash.
Quoting Professor George Howard, translator of Shem Tob:In regard to theology, Shem-tob’s Hebrew Matthew
is heretical according to the standard of traditional Christianity.
It never identifies Jesus with the Messiah.
John the Baptist is given an exalted role (even takes on messianic traits),
--- Shem-Tob’s text envisions the salvation of the Gentiles only in the Messianic
era.
Shem Tob ben
Shaprut of Tudela Castle - Spain
1385 - 14th Century
Here are some scriptural differences:
Never identifies Yeshua / Jesus as Messiah.
Mat 1:1 "the generation of Jesus Christ"
Shem Tob "the generations of Jesus ( )"
Never identifies Jesus as Messiah.
Mat 1:18 "now the birth of Jesus Christ"
Shem Tob "birth of Jesus ( )"
The fact that Yeshua / Jesus "shall save His
people" omitted
Mat 1:21 "thou shalt call his name Jesus: for he shall
save his people from their sins"
Shem Tob "he shall save my people from their sins"
Non-Biblical - Rabbinical reference
Mat 4:9 "all these things will I give if thou wilt fall down and
worship me"
Shem Tob "if you bare your head to me"
Reference to the coming kingdom removed
Mat 6:10 "Thy kingdom come"
Shem Tob "may your kingdom be blessed"
Forgiveness of sin by Yeshua / Jesus removed
Mat 9:2 "thy sins be forgiven thee"
Shem Tob "It is by the faith of God that your sins have been
forgiven"
The gospel set aside
Mat 11:5 "the poor have the gospel preached to them"
Shem Tob "the poor are aquited"
Elevation of John the Baptist over Yeshua / Jesus
Mat 11:11 - 11:13 "For all the prophets and the
law spoke concerning John" as opposed "prophesied until
John".
Mat 21:32 "Because John came to you in the way of righteousness and
you did not believe him.”
In Shem Tob - addressed to the disciples instead of
the chief priests and elders.
Quoting Professor George Howard, translator of Shem Tob:
In summary, this series of readings asserts that none is greater than John,
the prophets and the law spoke concerning John,
John (Elijah) is to save all the world, and Jesus’ own disciples are
disgraced for not having believed John.
In traditional Christianity such a description is usually applied to Jesus.
The application to John the Baptist in Shem Tobs Hebrew, elevates the
Baptist to a (salvation) role.
The temple greater than Yeshua / Jesus
Mat 12:6 "But I say unto you, in this place is one greater than the
temple"
Shem Tob "the temple is greater than this"
Mat 13:11 "it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom
of heaven, but to them it is not given"
Shem Tob "to know the kingdom of heaven"
Man sows seed instead of the son of man:
Mat 13:37 "He that soweth the good seed is the son of man"
Shem tob "the one who sows good seed is man"
Possible Talmudic influence - Toldoth Yeshu?
Mat 13:55 "Is this not the carpenters son? Is not his mother called
Mary?"
"Is this not the son of the smith and Mary?"
James is left out as brother of Jesus in the Shem Tob - Possible
elevation of James
Mat 14:6 In Shem Tob - Herods
daughter danced - not Herodias’ daughter –
Qumran scrolls condemn niece marriage - Jewish leaders of the time
practiced it.
Possible Talmudic Influence: Doctrine of the Pharisees
unquestioned
Mat 16:12 Told to beware the doctrine of the Pharisees..."
Shem Tob "beware of the behavior of the Pharisees..."
Salvation by Elijah rather than Yeshua / Jesus
Mat 17:11 "Elijah shall truly shall first come and restore all
things"
Shem Tob "Elijah will come and save all the world"
Salvation by way of "The Son of man" deleted
Mat 18:11 "The Son of man is come to save that which was lost"
Shem Tob "the son of man has stopped saving the enemy"
Possible Talmudic Implications:
Mat 18:18 "Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven
and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven"
Shem Tob applies this scripture to being bound or loosed from oaths taken
- Day of Atonement - Col Nidre Prayer …
Shem Tob "every oath which you shall bind on earth is bound
in heaven and every oath which you shall loose on earth will be
loosed in heaven."
Worldly material wealth rather than heavenly treasure
Mat 19:22 "Went away sorrowful for he had great possessions"
Shem Tob "went away angry because he did not have much
property"
Mat 19:28
"When the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his
glory"
"when man sits upon the throne of his glory"
Mat 20:30
"When they heard the Jesus passed by"
"the prophet Jesus from Nazareth is coming"
Mat 24:14-16 "And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all
the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end
come.
When you therefore shall see the abomination of desolation spoken of by
Daniel the prophet stand in the holy place (whoso reads, let him understand:)
Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains."
Shem Tob "And this gospel, that is, evungili,
will be preached un all the earth for a witness concerning me to all
the nations and then the end will come.
This is the Anti-Christ and this is the abomination which desolates. Then
those who are in Judaea let them flee to the mountains.”
“Son of man” replaced by “the bridegroom.”
Mat 25:13 …day not the hour wherein the Son of man cometh”
Shem Tob “…day nor hour when the bridegroom comes.”
Possible Talmudic implications
Mat 26:2 “…the Son of man is betrayed to be crucified”
Shem Tob “delivered into the hand of the Jews for the gallows”
Mat 27:23 “Let him be crucified”
Shem Tob “let them hang him”
Mat 27:31 “led him away to crucify him”
Shem Tob “gave orders to hang him”
“The Cross” is in parenthesis as if it needed to be
connected with the word gallows.
Mat 27:32 “him they compelled to bear his cross”
Shem Tob “compelled him to carry the gallows, that is “The Cross”
Mat 27:40-42 “Come down from the cross”
Shem Tob v.40 “come down from the gallows” – v.42 “come down from
the tree”
Mat 28:5 “ye seek Jesus who was crucified”
“Shem Tob “Jesus who was hung”
Not the King of the Jews but the King of Israel
Mat 27:37 “THIS IS JESUS THE KING OF THE JEWS”
Shem Tob “This is Jesus of Nazareth the King of Israel”
Mat 27:46 “with a loud voice”
Shem Tob “in the holy language” (Hebrew ?)
Mat 27:57 “a rich man of Arimathea”
Shem Tob “A rich man from Karnasiah came . His name was Joseph…”
Mat 27:59 “when Joseph had taken the body he wrapped it in a clean
linen cloth”
Shem Tob “wrapped it in a very fine silk garment”
Mat 28:9 – Shem Tob has Jesus substituting YHVH with “Ha Shem”
Traditional Jewish greeting rather than Greek/Roman
greeting as is found in majority manuscripts
KJV -"Jesus met them saying All Hail"
Shem Tob - "saying May the Name deliver you"
Shem Tob has 12 disciples going to Galilee after Judas was dead
Mat 28:16 "Then the eleven disciples went away unto Galilee"
"when his twelve disciples came to Galilee"
"I am with you alway, even unto the end of the
world" - left out
Mat 28:20 - Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have
commanded you: and, lo "I am with you alway, even unto the end of the
world" Amen
Shem Tob - and teach them to carry out all the things which I have
commanded you forever.
As you may see, portions of scripture are left out or changed.
In closing for today:
Be careful on the bible version you pick to read and live by.
This is a short study for now. May God bless you all…
Shabbat Shalom
שַׁבָּת
שָׁלוֹם