Monday 23 January 2017

Question: "What is Verbal Plenary Preservation?"

Answer: “Verbal Plenary Preservation” is an argument from the discipline of study referred to as textual criticism, which is the study of what an ancient copy of an original manuscript says and from there determining what the author meant. Ultimately, biblical textual criticism seeks to determine what the original, divinely inspired autographs actually said. So to answer the question “which Bible translation is closest to the original?”, we must consider the texts from which the translation was rendered. 



Verbal Plenary Preservation (VPP) is an argument promoted by some (usually from the “King James Version Only” advocates), in support of the view that the Textus Receptus or TR, is the only New Testament text that is both divinely inspired and divinely preserved. Verbal Plenary Preservation (if true), would require generation after generation of handwritten copies to be produced without error of any kind from the original autographs in the first century, producing the later manuscripts known as the “majority text,” from which the TR was created. In doing so, VPP proponents incorrectly link the doctrine of inerrancy with inspiration and “providential preservation.” Their conclusion is that the Textus Receptus and the majority text (MT) from which the TR came are not only faithful, inerrant, identical, replicas of the original autographs, but that all other New Testament manuscripts from any location, language, or time period are not inspired of God and are therefore unworthy of use. 

The underlying problem with the doctrine of VPP is its basis in the false presupposition that God's inspiration of Scripture at a particular point in human history also requires His divine preservation of each and every jot and tittle ever written down by anyone who ever sought to do the work of a scribe. Further, that the majority text not only fits this description but must be the one preserved by virtue of the number of extant manuscripts—the majority rules—and is publicly accessible, which they say is evidence of its providential preservation. This idea, however, runs counter to the Bible’s own testimony, historical evidence, what constitutes a true “majority,” and the force of plain reason.

The Textus Receptus is a compilation/translation by Erasmus from manuscripts dating mostly from 900 A.D. to 1100 A. D. These manuscripts are referred to as the Majority Text (also referred to as the Byzantine Text). The name "Majority" however is a misnomer. Erasmus could have used manuscripts from numerous geographic locations to avoid any drifting in textual renderings inherent to a specific geography, people group, or scribal tradition. He also could have consulted manuscripts from varying time periods to identify any loss of scribal accuracy in copies over multiple generations, or considered the available Latin manuscripts which outnumbered the Greek two-to-one! Instead, he made use of none of these variables and instead used a very narrow group of texts. 

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