THE GREEK NEW TESTAMENT
Produced at Tyndale House Cambridge
Edited by Dirk Jongkind and Peter Williams
Crossway / Cambridge University Press.
540 pages. £29.37
ISBN 978 1 433 552 175
One of the great blessings of the Reformation, which we celebrated last year, was that rather than relying on the Latin Vulgate, Christians could now hear and read the Bible in their vernacular.
Furthermore, English-speaking Christians rejoiced that William Tyndale’s New Testament was directly translated from the original Greek. We should remember that the latter was the original tongue of the New Testament and it is always best to study a text in the language in which it was first written.
The other consideration relates to textual criticism, since all written works, sacred and secular (and despite Muslim claims to the contrary, this includes the Qur’an) suffer some alterations, however accidental or minor they may be, so a critical edition of such a work examines existing manuscripts to get back to the original wording.
Attractive layout
Often, Greek New Testaments with a critical apparatus are very dense in appearance and can be off-putting, even intimidating for those who are not professional scholars. One of the achievements of this edition is its attractive layout, which is very easy on the eyes. Indeed, the edition itself states that it ‘aims to present in an easily readable format the best approximation to the words written by the New Testament authors, within the constraints of the documentary evidence that survives’ (p.505). This goal is securely realised.
Surprising order
This edition is a thorough revision of that by Samuel Prideaux Tregelles (1813–75), which we are told ‘has been undeservedly ignored’ (ibid.). The readings in this new edition have been ‘attested in two or more Greek manuscripts, at least one being from the fifth century or earlier’ (p.506). Hence, a reliable critical edition has been produced. One area which might surprise some non-academic readers is that, following Acts, the Catholic Epistles are placed before the Pauline corpus, and this reflects the historical predominance of this order in the manuscripts (p.vii).
We are greatly indebted to Tyndale House for this superb work. Its publication should also raise some questions for non-academic people. Whenever Jehovah’s Witnesses come to the door, it is noticeable that they will try to convince you that the Greek of John 1.1 does not mean that Jesus was divine. At this point, I always take out my Greek NT and ask them to show me – and I might as well have handed them something in Sanskrit! Furthermore, Muslims are now using the same techniques, in relation to several verses, and also making outrageous claims in relation to textual criticism. Just recently, a Muslim tried to convince me that John 3.16 was not in the original text, and I was able to use this new Tyndale edition to show him the facts.
Greek for all?
At this point, we may need to learn something from Muslims. In most mosques these days – especially larger ones – they have Arabic lessons for the young so that they can read the Qur’an in the original. Surely it is time that we should be having lessons for our vulnerable young people in the original language of the New Testament so that they may better be able to defend the faith when challenged? Granted, many congregations do not have anyone who could teach Greek, but surely a group of churches in an area could co-operate and find someone to do so? This would equip them to read this excellent edition by Tyndale House – not only to stand their ground when JWs or Muslims confront them, but also for their own edification.
