Here is a good word from Bengel for your weekend.
Human selections of sayings and examples, taken from Scripture, have their use; the study, however, of the Sacred Volume, should not end here; for it should, both as a whole, and in its several parts, be thoroughly studied and mastered, especially by those who are occupied in teaching others. In order fully to accomplish which, we ought to distinguish the clearly genuine words of the Sacred Text, from those which are open to doubt or question, from the existence and authority of various readings, lest we should either pass by, and thus fail to profit by the words of the apostles, or treat the words of copyists as if they were those of the apostles. I have endeavoured to furnish such a text, with all care and fidelity, in my larger edition of the Greek New Testament, published at Tubingen, and in the smaller one published at Stuttgardt.
Gnomon, vol. 1, pp. 9-10
Peter,
ReplyDeleteFirst, thanks for the post. Second, I would argue that this motivation, to distinguish the clearly genuine words of the Sacred Text....treat the words of the copyists as if they were those of the apostles, is for believers the primary reason to establish the original text. The idea of a final product which achieves less than this is fruitful historically, but insufficient theologically. Of course, this is an ongoing endeavor, and all movement toward the initial text is valuable.