Holy Bible and Syriac Orthodox Church (Part II)

Holy Bible and Syriac Orthodox Church (Part II)


We have seen numerous differences in the translation of Bible in the first part.Now let us see how some of these changes affected the true faith. Please refer to the previous table shown in chapter ‘Holy Bible and Syriac Orthodox Church Part-1’ and see how each of these changes were used to twist the original church teachings. (You may please use a Bible to refer the verses where ever necessary)

Refer to Numbers From the Tables in Part I

CHANGES TO THE ORIGINAL BIBLE AND HOW THEY ARE USED TO CHANGE THE INTERPRETATION OF THE BIBLE
(How changes mentioned in previous table in the previous chapter are used to change the teachings of the original Church)

1 They had to prove that Mary had other children too, and so to prove

that she is not a virgin. Hence they use “brothers”

2 To prove that there is no position of Bishop or episcopacy

3, 42 To prove that Ordination (of Priests) is not necessary

4 To prove that there were only teachings from Apostles and no Doctrines

5 To prove there is nothing like church, only groups

6, 16 To prove that there was no breaking of bread, but just fellowship meals

9, 22 To prove that for salvation, no Church is necessary or that one need not be a member of the church.

10 To satisfy the section of people who believes that Jesus is not Son of God and there for not equal to God

12 To prove that there was no Deacon positions in the early church

13 To prove that there was no ordination, but just appointment

14 To prove no one confessed to the apostles and they have no right to absolve your sins

15 To prove that there is no importance to Sunday

16 To prove that those elders who were given position were not guided by the Holy Spirit

19 To give the impression that baptism does not absolve one's sins.

20, 21 To prove that Christ has no ministers or priests

25 To prove that fasting (and lent) is not required - they left the word fasting

26,28 Apostles has no right to command, but only to teach

27 The cup of blessing is not the communion of the blood of Christ

29 To satisfy the section who believes that Christ is not God

30, 32,33 Faulty translations

31, 41 To prove that the Apostles or their successors are not the representatives of Christ

34,39 To give impression that there were no deacons or Bishops in the early church

35 Proves that there is no need of external ceremonies

38 – 40 In early church there were no Doctrines or traditions

43 Church means just a fellowship

45 Added a word to prove that anyone can confess to anyone

46 Added a word to support another view

47 To prove that to receive Holy Spirit, no unction is necessary

Yes, it is shocking for any independent scholar to see all these changes in the different translations. All these changes were made for ones own selfish gains.
“Soul Winner’s New Testament Bible" has substituted the word ‘baptize’ with ‘immerse’. This book also uses the word ‘immerse in Holy Spirit’. In the Good News Bible, they use ‘Holy Spirit poured on you’. Again in Mark 11:3, it is written ‘The Lord has need of it [Colt]…," In Good News Bible it is written ‘He will return it soon’ ie. Christ will return the colt!

Ruthor Ford established the Jehovah Witness, in 1870. He was 29 years old at that time. They have their own New Testament with their own translations. In 1954, F.W. France, president of the Jehovah Witness group, revealed how they received their interpretation of the Bible. “They are passed by Holy Spirit who invincibly communicates with Jehovah’s witness” (see it is not the real original Bible!). This

section does not consider the Son and the Holy Spirit as God. Again, The Church of Christ of Latter-Day Saints, the fastest growing religion in the U.S., is based on a revelation to Joseph Smith in 1820 (Again not the real and original Bible!). They have their own Bible and their own interpretations. Orson Prat a famous scholar in that church asks, whether there is a single sentence in the Bible now,which is original? (The cults page 88). These 'churches' have their own New Testaments and their own interpretations.

Since most translations are distorted, which version is the original? As you will see in the table of next chapter, the different books of the New Testament were written during the period AD 60-100. It is widely accepted that some of the books were written in Aramaic and some in Greek (but used lots of Aramaic words), which was also the prominent language in Palestine at that time. [Some scholars are of the opinion that nothing was written in Greek, as no one knew Greek there. Jesus Christ taught in Aramaic, as common man understood no other language. So it is unlikely that anything would have been written in Greek. What is the use of writing in a language not understood by the people?] Josephus wrote (AD 42): “I have taken a great deal of pain to obtain the learning of the Greeks and understand the elements of the Greek language; although I have accustomed myself to speak our own tongue, that I cannot pronounce Greek with sufficient exactness. ……there have been many who have done their endeavors, with great patience, to obtain this Greek learning, there have yet been hardly two or three that have succeeded herein. (Antiquities XX, X1 2)” (George Lamsa’s Translation)
Many scholars believe that it is very unlikely that the Epistles targeted for common man, were written in a language understood only by a few. “Aramaic was the language of the common people during the time of Jesus Christ. It is certainly the language of the Semetic culture, the language of the Hebrew Patriarchs and in the older days, the lingua franca of the Fertile Cresecent. The term Hebrew was derived from the Aramaic word Abor or Habor, which means ‘to cross over’. This name was given to Hebrew’s because Abraham and the people who were with him crossed the river Euphrates and went to Palestine. Therefore they were known by those who lived east of the river Euphrates as Hebrews that is ‘the people across the river’ (Lamsa’s Peshitta Translation). Another view is “Aramaic was the mother-tongue of the region comprising of present Eastern Syria and Northern Iraq. This region was called ‘Aram’, after Aram, Sem’s fifth son. Aramaic is the oldest of the semantic languages. Aram, the father of Armenians, was the grandson of Noe, while Heber the Father of the Hebrews was the great great grandson of Noe.”

The earliest manuscripts of the Bible are in Aramaic, and different versions are available which dates back to 2nd, 5th and 7th centuries. “Astonishingly enough, all of the Peshitta Texts in Aramaic agree”. There is one thing the eastern churches can boast about. They copied their holy books diligently, faithfully and meticulously. Sir Frederic Kenon, the curator of the British Museum, in his book Textual Criticism of the New Testament speaks highly of the accuracy of the copying and of the antiquity of Peshitta MSS. “The versions translated from sematic languages into Greek and Latin was subject to constant revisions. Learned men who copied them introduced changes trying to simplify the obscurities and ambiguities, which were due to the work of first translators.

The present translators and Bible revisers does the same, when translating the Bible.” The Scriptures in the Church of the East, from the inception of Christianity to the present day, are in Aramaic and have never been tampered with or revised as attested by the present Patriarch of the Church of the East. The Biblical manuscripts were carefully and zealously handed down from one generation to another and were
kept in the massive stonewalls of the ancient churches and caves. They were written on parchments and many of them survive to the present day. When expert scribes copied these texts, they (the copies) were carefully examined for accuracy before they were dedicated and permitted to be read in churches. Even one missing letter would render the text void. Easterners still adhere to God’s commandment not to add or omit to a word from the Scripture. The Holy Script condemns any addition, subtraction or modification to the Word of God.

• “You shall not add to the commandments which I command you, neither shall you take form it, but you must keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you” (Deut. 4:2)

• "Everything that I command to you, that you must be careful to do; you shall not add nor take from it.” (Deut. 4:2)

• "Do not add to his words; lest he reprove you, and you be found a liar.” (Prov.30:6)

• “And if any man shall take away form the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his portion from the tree of life and from the holy city and from the things which are written in this book.” (Rev 22:19)

The term Peshitta means straight, simple, sincere and true, that which is the original. The name was given to this ancient and authoritative text to distinguish it from the other Bible revisions and translations which were introduced into some of the Churches of the East after the division at Ephesus and Chalcedon in 431 and 451 AD respectively. This Peshitta is still the only authoritative text of the Old and New Testament of all the Eastern Christians in the Near East and India, the Roman Catholic Church in the East, the Monophysites and Indian Christians. This was because this text was in use for 400 years before the Christian Church was divided to several sects.
(George Lama’s translation) “The originality of the Peshitta Text is strongly supported by the early evidence. Aphraates quoted it. St. Ephraim wrote a commentary on it and the doctrine of Addi placed it at apostolic times”
“The names Aram, Aramaeans and Aramaic were changed, during the course of time into Syria, Syrians and Syraic. The Greeks were responsible for this change. And Aramaic Christians gradually became reconciled with this change of name” (Syro-Chaldaic grammar by Fr.Gabriel)
Peshitta version of the Bibles existed in the 2nd Century. “The Peshitta version of the Bible was made about the first or second century.” (Helps to the study of the Bible – Oxford page 7) These isolated manuscripts were collected, examined, and approved by the early church fathers only in AD 389; and thus the New Testament became part of the Holy Bible. Soon after the New Testament was translated into Latin, this New Testament was in use till the 14th century. From the 15th century (see the list below) onward, different
protestant groups began to make their own Bibles through distorted translations to suit their arguments.

Syriac Bible

The Syriac Orthodox Church believes that the Holy Bible, which comprises of the Old Testament and the New Testament, is the divine word of God. The words of Christ were first transmitted in his native language, the Palestinian dialect of Aramaic, either orally or in a written form. It is from this Aramaic tradition that the Greek Gospels were derived. The Syriac New Testament as we know it today is an earlytranslation of the Greek, Latin and Aramaic (Refer to Part III) text back into Syriac, the Aramaic dialect of Edessa (Modern Urfa in Southeast Turkey). The Syriac Old Testament is a translation from the original Hebrew and Aramaic (a different Aramaic dialect from Syriac which is known by the name 'Biblical Aramaic'). Syriac Orthodox
Church insists on using only the Peshitta Bible. The close similarities between the Palestinian dialect of Aramaic spoken by Christ and Syriac offer us a unique understanding of some of the Biblical readings. For
example, in the English King James version of the Bible we read in Matthew 5:18 "Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled." What could jot mean? The Syriac Bible uses the word yod for jot in this verse. This word is the name of the tenth letter (out of the total 22 alphabets) of the Aramaic alphabet, shown below in the Syriac Estrangelo script (read from right-to-left;
yod is shown in red color. Syriac and Aramaic are read from right to left):
Note that yod is the smallest letter in size. The above verse means that not even the smallest of the letters shall pass from the law. This is rendered in the English New Revised Version as "not one letter. Another interesting reading appears in the Lord's Prayer. The King James reads "and forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors" (Matthew 6:12). The Syriac versions read “and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors." This implies that we must first forgive our debtors before asking forgiveness from God. The English New Revised Version agrees with the Syriac in this verse!
In many instances the Syriac language offers interesting interpretations of Biblical verses. An understanding of Syriac homonyms, for example, help us clarify the reading in Matthew 19:25 (also Mark 10:25 and Luke 128:25), when Jesus tells us how much easier it is for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God. The Syriac word corresponding to camel is gamlo whichmeans 'camel.' However, gamlo has other a meaning as well, one of which is given by the Syriac lexicographer Bar Bahlul (10th century) in his Syriac dictionary: "gamlo is a thick rope which is used to bind ships." Considering that Jesus was speaking to fishermen, this meaning of gamlo seems more appropriate.

The Syriac Fathers studied the Bible in a critical and scientific manner, though regarding it at the same time as a divine text. Witness to this are the numerous translations and revisions of translations and the massive body of commentaries that they have produced. Some of these translations were lost until they were discovered by
Western scholars in the past 150 years.

Many old Syriac manuscripts of the Biblical texts survive and can be found in the major museums and libraries of the world and of course in the ancient Syriac libraries of the Middle East as well. The Syriac Orthodox Church in India had many Peshitta Syriac Bibles and one of them, in 16th century, was transferred to the Oxford University library in fear of Roman Catholic Persecution, since the Portugal Roman Catholics were in search of all Syriac documents for destruction. The most famous manuscript is that of the Gospels which is written by a certain Rabbula, hence known as the Rabbula Gospels. It is famous for its decorative calligraphy and miniatures which are excellent representations of Syriac art.

The first printed edition of the Bible was an edition of the New Testament which was printed in 1555, soon after the advent of printing. It was published by Johann Widmanstetter, with the assistance of a Syriac Orthodox priest, Moses of Mardin. Moses was sent by the Patriarch of Antioch to meet with the Pope of Rome and served as a teacher of Syriac in Europe.

The Syriac Bible is available today from the United Bible Societies. The Peshitta Institute at Leiden is preparing a new annotated English translation of the Peshitta Old Testament (NEATSB, or The New English Annotated Translation of the Syriac Bible).

Questions to test your knowledge

1. What could be the reason (what is the impact) why there is a translational

difference in Good News Bible version from King James Version in Acts 1:14?

2. What could be the reason (what is the impact) why there is a translational

difference in Good News Bible version from King James Version in Acts 1:22?

3. What could be the reason (what is the impact) why there is a translational

difference in Good News Bible version from King James Version in Acts 2:42?

4. What could be the reason (what is the impact) why there is a translational

difference in Good News Bible version from King James Version in Acts 14:23?

5. What could be the reason (what is the impact) why there is a translational

difference in Good News Bible version from King James Version in Acts 2:47?

6. What could be the reason (what is the impact) why there is a translational

difference in Good News Bible version from King James Version in Phili 3:3?

7. What could be the reason (what is the impact) why there is a translational

difference in Good News Bible version from King James Version in 2 Tess

2:15?

8. What could be the reason (what is the impact) why there is a translational

difference in Good News Bible version from King James Version in Acts 19:18?

9. What could be the reason (what is the impact) why there is a translational

difference in Good News Bible version from King James Version in 1 Cori 7:5?

10. What could be the reason (what is the impact) why there is a translational

difference in Good News Bible version from King James Version in Phili 1:1?

11. When was Jehovah Witness established?

12. What was the language of the common men at the time of Jesus Christ?

13. Where (material) was the Biblical Manuscripts written in olden days?

14. What does the tern Peshitta means?

15. Which Bible is the original Bible?

16. Give an example to show how important it is to learn Syriac to interpret Bible?

17. How many letters are there in Syriac or Aramaic language?

18. Which is the smallest letter in the Syriac/Aramaic?

19. Where can we get Syriac Bible today?

20. According to the Syriac lexicographer Bar Bahlul, which is more appropriate

meaning of ‘Gamlo’ to interpret the Biblical verse in in Matthew 19:25?