Today, the Bible has been translated into thousands of languages, and there are many different versions of the Bible for major languages in the world. If people count the versions translated by heresies, they do not know which one is accurate translation. However, we have the original texts of the Bible which are the authoritative versions for us to interpret the Bible. When we state that the Bible is the inerrant and authoritative Word of God, we point to the original manuscripts of the Bible according to Faith Statement of EMTM.
The original text was composed with the ancient Hebrew scripture of the Old Testament and the ancient Greek scripture of the New Testament (also including the ancient Aramaic). In the fourth century A. D., the Eastern and Western churches had a meeting together for officially deciding the canon by selecting and compiling 39 Books for the Old Testament and 27 Books for the New Testament.
From 1950s to the new century, the scholars who study the original tests have given us a great help with their studies and works, so that we may get a better understanding of the original texts of the Bible and of the intertestamental literature in order to do a better job to interpret the biblical scripture. Therefore, when we encounter the scripture with arguments, or the scripture may cause different opinions, or the scripture is difficult for people to understand, we may use the original texts to study and explain those scriptures. When we face the hard time to compare different versions of the biblical translation, we should set aside all the scripture translations, and directly study the original texts so as to get the correct answer. As a result, the original texts of the Bible are the only authority for testing all versions of the translation and interpretation of the Bible. Friends, if you have the ability and conditions to study the original texts of the Bible, this is very worthwhile investment of time, money and energy on such a wonderful thing; because you study the highest knowledge and get the truth and wisdom from the Kingdom of God. We take this opportunity to commend you several books related to the original texts of the Bible: “The Text of The New Testament” Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co (USA), 1989; “A General Introduction To The Bible”, Zondervan Publishing House (USA ), 1990; “Multipurpose Tools for Bible Study”, Augsburg Fortress Press (USA), 1993. If you can read English, German or French books, you will get more materials and information to study the original texts of the Bible.
EMTM wrote this article. The first edition in Chinese was published on November 13, 2007.
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