THE NEW TESTAMENT

Its Name. — The New Testament forms the second and concluding portion of the Revelation given to the world in the line of Jewish history. It derives its name from an expression used by the Lord Jesus Christ in the institution of the rite which was designed to commemorate His death — "This cup is the new testament in my blood" — more correctly, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood " (R.V.), in contrast with the old covenant made with Moses (Luke xxii. 20; Matt. xxvi. 28; I Cor. xi. 25; cf Exod. xxiv. 8). The use of the word "testament " in this sense was due to the Latin testamentum, which was early adopted as an equivalent for the Greek word meaning "covenant."

Its Language. — A period of about four hundred years had elapsed after the last of the Old Testament Scriptures was written before the New Testament was commenced. In the interval. the Jewish people, spreading far and wide in the pursuit of arts and commerce, had become familiar with the Greek tongue, which was the intellectual. bond of the civilised world, as the Roman empire was its bond in a social. and political. sense. Into this language the Scriptures of the Old Testament had been translated from the Hebrew, about 200 B.C., at Alexandria, the great meeting-place of Rabbinical. learning and Hellenic culture. From the amalgamation of these and other elements there resulted a form of Greek known as the " common " or Hellenistic Greek. It was in this language that the New Testament was written — a language marvellously fitted for the purpose, both because of the wide prevalence of Greek among the civilised nations of the time (resulting from the conquests of Alexander the Great), and on account of its unrivalled clearness, richness, and flexibility. Hence the New Testament has been aptly described as having "a Greek body, a Hebrew soul, and a Christian spirit that animates them both."

Its Contents. — The New Testament Scriptures consist of twenty-seven different books, varying in their form and character — the first in order mainly historical, the next doctrinal, and the concluding portion relating to vision and prophecy. This is an order somewhat analogous to that found in the Old Testament, many of whose characteristics alike as regards thought and expression are reflected in the New Testament. The twenty-seven books are the work of nine different authors (assuming the Epistle to the Hebrews to have been written by some other person than St. Paul), each book having its special. characteristics corresponding to the personality of its writer and the circumstances in which it was written, but all. forming part of one divine whole centred in the Lord Jesus Christ and essentially related to an unseen world. They were written at various times, but all. in the latter half of the first century — except perhaps the Epistle of James, which was probably written before 50 A.D.

Its Manuscripts. — The original. MSS. have all. perished. If written on papyrus for ordinary use they would not last, while the more durable would be in frequent danger of destruction at the hands of persecutors. Hence the vast majority of extant MSS. are of a comparatively modern date — anterior, however, to the invention of printing in 1450, when the copying of MSS. practically ceased. A few precious copies written on vellum or parchment have come down to us from a very early period, the most important of which are (1) the Vatican, styled Codex B, preserved in the Vatican Library at Rome, and daring from the fourth century;¹ (2) the Sinaitic (Codex א), discovered by Tischendorf in St. Catherine's Convent at the foot of Mount Sinai in 1859, now deposited at St. Petersburg, likewise of the fourth century; (3) the Alexandrine (Codex A), preserved in the British Museum, and dating from the fifth century. These and other ancient MSS. to the number of about a hundred are called Uncials, because written with capital. letters without any separation between the words, — the others of a more modem character being called Cursives, because written in a running hand. Of the latter there are about 2000 — an immense array of witnesses compared with the few MSS. of classical. works preserved to us, which can generally be counted on the ten fingers. Owing to the greater liability to error in copying with the hand than in the use of the printing press, about 200,000 Various Readings have been discovered in the extant MSS. of the New Testament. Happily the differences between the readings are for the most part so minute that they do not affect the substance of revealed truth. As it is the duty of the Church, however, to ascertain, as far as possible, the exact words of the sacred writers, a special. department of study has been instituted commonly known as Biblical. Criticism or Textual. Criticism, which has for its aim to adjudicate on the rival. claims of the various readings, with due regard to the age and special. characteristics of the several. manuscripts, as well. as to the common risks of misapprehension and inadvertence to which all. copyists were liable.

Other Witnesses. — In the performance of the difficult and delicate task just mentioned attention must be paid to two other valuable sources of information, (1) Those writings of Church Fathers — ranging from the end of the first century to the fourth or fifth century of the Christian era — which contain quotations from the New Testament. The value of the Fathers as a help in determining the exact text of Scripture is a good deal. impaired by the fact that, not having the advantage of a Concordance, or of our divisions into chapters and verses (an invention of the sixteenth century), they frequently quote from memory and not with strict accuracy. This is of less moment, however, when the object is not so much to ascertain the precise language of Scripture as to prove the existence and general. reception of the books of the New Testament at an early period in the history of the Church. (2) Ancient Versions or Translations, some of which (for example the Syriac and Old Latin) were made within a century after the time of the apostles.²

English Versions. — The first English Version was completed by John Wycliff in 1383. It was, however, only the translation of a translation (the Latin Vulgate of St. Jerome). The first English translation from the Greek was finished by William Tyndale in 1525, and put in print the following year at Worms. This was followed by Miles Coverdale's translation of the whole Bible in 1535, the Great Bible, usually called Cranmer's (for use in Churches), in 1539, the Geneva Bible in 1557, the Bishops' Bible in 1568, and King James's Bible (the Authorised Version) in 1611. The most recent and reliable results of Biblical. criticism are embodied in the Revised Version of 1881, which has in this respect, as in regard to accuracy of translation, an unquestionable superiority over the Authorised Version, the latter having been made at a time when the science was still. in its infancy, and before any of the three great MSS. above referred to were available for reference. Possibly the next generation may see further improvements, as the result of a closer examination of MSS.. Versions, and other ancient writings, as well. as through an enhanced appreciation of the language of the New Testament, in the light of the Greek translation of the Old Testament (the Septuagint) and other Hellenistic literature; but after all, any points in which our English Bible is capable of improvement are infinitesimal. compared with the general. trustworthiness of its contents. Of its imperfections as a translation it may be said, with scarcely less truth than of obscurities in the original, that " like the spots upon the surface of the sun, they neither mar the symmetry nor impair the glory of the great Source of our Life and Light which is imaged in them. "

1) A papyrus fragment of Matthew's Gospel, recently found at Oxyrhynchus, is assigned to the third century.

2) For Notes on the Canon, MSS. and Versions, and Textual. Criticism, see enlarged edition of this book, pp. 8-18.