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NASB | 2 Thessalonians 2:2 that you not be quickly shaken from your composure or be disturbed either by a spirit or a message or a letter as if from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | 2 Thessalonians 2:2 not to be quickly unsettled or alarmed either by a [so-called prophetic revelation of a] spirit or a message or a letter [alleged to be] from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has [already] come. |
Bible Question:
I have a Interlinear Bible by Jay P. Green, Sr. that has, in the Greek, "Day of Christ" for this verse. In researching the Majority Text Notes in the Appendix, the word "Christ" is found in 61-79 percent of all manuscripts. He considers this to be a distinct majority but not so strong as say some words that are in 80-100 percent of the available texts. In the context of the verse, I believe that the word "Lord" seems to be more accurate for the meaning, so why if the Greek word for "Christ" is found in the majority of manuscripts would the manuscripts that have the Greek word for "Lord" be used in most translations? If you look at the KJV, Thomas Nelson Pub., you will also find the word "Christ" used. |
Bible Answer: Greetings TP! Great question my friend! Basically, textual criticism says that texts should be weighed not counted. For instance, let's use an easy hypothetical to make a point. Suppose that you and I were both copyists. You were a trained and careful copyist who produced a copy of the original NT in the 2nd century. Over the years, only 100 copies of your copy were ever made. I was not a careful copyist, and I produced a copy with many mistakes. However, I had lots of friends, so a 1,000 copies were made of my copy. Which family of copies would be more reliable, my family of a 1001 or your family of 101? This is why one cannot simply count the manuscript copies. The Majority text used the approach of simply counting the texts. However, the majority of the texts were from later dates and not as accurate (broadly speaking). So, in this case, the 'majority' reading may be quite inferior to the 'minority' reading. This seems to be the case in that the textual apparatus does not even list a variant reading for 2 Thes. 2:2. I hope this helps! p.s. - The text of the KJV is basically just the majority text. Your Brother in Christ, Tim Moran |