642 



NEW TESTAMENT, KE VISION OF THE. 



intelligible or obscure, and the more consistent 

 translation of proper names; and the mainte- 

 nance of consistency in translating the same 

 Greek words, and avoidance of confusion in the 

 translation of different ones. Jn carrying out 

 the hitter principles the revisers have adopted 

 the opposite course to that of the translators 

 of the authorized version, who sought to in- 

 troduce variety of expression into their work, 

 and have endeavored, except in those instances 

 where the context did not admit of it, to give 

 a single English word for the same Greek 

 word, wherever it might be found. A con- 

 spicuous instance in which this rule has been 

 applied, and one that has caused universal re- 

 mark, is in St. Paul's eulogy of charity (1 Cor. 

 xiii), where the word "love" has been substi- 

 tuted for ''charity." 



The number of alterations that have been 

 made is stated by Bishop Ellicott to represent 

 an average of between eight and nine changes 

 in every five verses for the gospels, about one 

 and a half of which are critical changes, and 

 about fifteen changes for every five verses, one 

 and a half of which, as before, are for critical 

 reasons, in the epistles. The whole number of 

 changes is about sixteen thousand five hundred. 

 While a majority of the changes may be so slight 

 that the effect to the general hearer or reader 

 may be regarded, as Bishop Ellicott asserts, as 

 really hardly perceptible, many of them at- 

 tract attention at once, and some of them have 

 been the objects of much criticism. Conspicu- 

 ous among these are the insertion of " deliver 

 us from the evil one" instead of "deliver us 

 from evil " in the Lord's prayer, and the change 

 in Acts xxvi, 23, from " Almost thou persuadest 

 me to be a Christian " to " With but little per- 

 suasion thou wouldst fain make me a Chris- 

 tian." The word " hades " has been retained 

 wherever it occurs, instead of being translated 

 into " hell," as in the authorized version. 



In the opinion of the majority of the critics 

 of the work, doctrinal points have not been 

 materially affected by the revision. Dean Stan- 

 ley has pointed out that, while no change has 

 been made in any of the doctrines which all 

 Christians alike hold, some of the views or con- 

 structions commonly called doctrines have been 

 placed in a new light. The great doctrine of 

 the Trinity is shown by another writer to be 

 set forth in some passages in a stronger light 

 than that in which it stood before. On this 

 point Bishop Ryle, of Liverpool, commends, 

 very emphatically, the "glorious testimony" 

 which the revision bears to the soundness of 

 the whole doctrinal system of Christianity, re- 

 marking that " after ten years of patient and 

 diligent investigation, after careful examina- 

 tion of versions and manuscripts not known 

 two hundred and fifty years ago, after the unit- 

 ed labor of the ablest committee of biblical 

 scholars that could be got together after all 

 this, the revised version comes forth from the 

 crucible without the loss of a single doctrine 

 of our most holy faith let me say with every 



doctrine more fully established than ever. . . . 

 Not a single stone in the fabric of Christian 

 truth has been disturbed. The Trinity, the 

 proper Deity of Christ, the personality of the 

 Holy Ghost, remain just where they were, and 

 are even more clearly brought out than before." 



A very noticeable feature in the volume is 

 the large number of marginal notes. Of these, 

 some are short notes bearing on differences of 

 reading in the Greek text adopted by the re- 

 visers, but the greater number specify differ- 

 ences of rendering to which it seemed proper 

 to call attention, either because other render- 

 ings than were adopted were preferred by a 

 minority of the company, or because they have 

 been advocated by scholars of eminence. 



The part which the American Committee 

 has contributed toward the shaping of the re- 

 vision is not shown in the finished work. The 

 volume as published embodies all the changes 

 suggested by the American Committee which 

 were finally agreed upon, without any distinc- 

 tive mark to indicate their American origin. 

 It is represented that a considerable propor- 

 tion of the readings and marginal notes adopt- 

 ed were suggested by the American revisers. 

 Other new readings proposed by the Ameri- 

 can Committee, which were not accepted, 

 were published in an appendix to the au- 

 thorized edition of the revision, to go out in 

 company with the accepted text, in order to 

 give the critical public an opportunity to de- 

 cide upon their merits and their fitness to be 

 finally adopted. The recommendations thus 

 embodied in the " American Appendix "' are 

 included in three categories, those described as 

 " Classes of Passages," the readings proposed 

 for particular passages, and suggestions for 

 marginal readings additional to those which 

 are given in the body of the volume. Among 

 the emendations recommended under the first 

 head are the elimination of the title " saint " 

 from the designation of the apostles ; the sub- 

 stitution of modern, well - established words 

 and forms of speech for ancient and antiquated 

 ones, as "Holy Spirit" for "Holy Ghost," 

 " who " for " which " when a person is desig- 

 nated, " know " and "knew " for "wot" and 

 "wist," "drag" and " dragging " for "hale" 

 and "haling"; to discard the use of "be" 

 where " is " or " are " is meant ; the substitu- 

 tion of " steadfastness " or " steadfast endur- 

 ance "for "patience"; the use of "demon" 

 instead of " devil " wherever the Greek word 

 is "daimon." The class of changes suggested 

 for particular passages includes a considerable 

 number of emendations proposed for the sake 

 of a more correct translation of the original, 

 and relative to cases where it was thought the 

 translation might be improved, even though 

 the rendering for which another was substi- 

 tuted might be regarded as sufficiently accu- 

 rate. The emendations relative to marginal 

 notes propose some renderings additional to 

 those already incorporated ; suggest the omis- 

 sion of some which have been adopted; and 



