Easter Lamb or Passover Lamb-3

How or why is the Gospel of John so different from the other three gospels as it pertains to the last meal Jesus had with His disciples? We now have to come to some understanding of how subsequent translations of the original manuscripts were copied and maintained.

First, there are no originals of any of the books of the Bible. Second, we are told that the oldest available manuscript fragments are from the fourth and fifth centuries. While the dead sea scrolls were older, they only contained the Old Testament and for the most part were only fragments or partials manuscripts. Wikipedia is as good as any source to find this out as it lists many references and an extensive bibliography. Here is a reference on the manuscript history.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biblical_manuscript

Generally, not only are the subsequent copies in a variety of conditions, but also few are truly complete in any one book. While many copies exist, the vast majority of the New Testament copies come from the 4th to the 10th centuries.

So let us consider the Latin Vulgate, also referenced in detail at Wikipedia. Jerome in around 382 A.D. was commissioned by Pope Damasus I to produce one complete translation of the four gospels in Latin. Up to this time, there were many separate copies of a single gospel but none had dates, authors, or histories that could be verified. Jerome took many and cleaned them up enough to produce one readable Latin summation of all four gospels. He generally took the Latin copies and incorporated all the variations into one version.

Fast forward to the times of Wycliffe in 1382, when he translated the Latin Vulgate into English. By this time, Jerome’s work had been updated by others. Since the Church of Rome controlled all of these translations and revisions, we need to be wary of what they may have added or subtracted.

Interesting, that Wycliffe who was educated in Catholic Universities, used the Latin Vulgate as his source document. The later King James Version borrowed heavily from Wycliffe’s Bible. So we need to consider this fact that the Latin Vulgate, commissioned by the pope, found its way into the KJV!

Satan doesn’t need to change every word or doctrine to add to confusion in the Bible. You may have heard or even thought yourself, why are there ‘contradictions’ in the Bible? Creating doubt and confusion are just a few of the schemes of Satan.

So what can we conclude? By adding a few word like Passover meal the whole issue of the last meal Jesus had with His disciples becomes one of confusion. They all cannot be right. Which one do we believe? This then adds confusion among the many denominations and seminaries.

With that being said, I haven’t discovered another topic with these problems within the rest of the New Testament. But, sowing seeds of doubt can be used by Satan to divide the Bride of Christ.

More next Saturday.