The Church History and VPP

The Earliest Manuscripts

The Alexandrian text-type, (also called Minority Text), 2nd-4th century CE, This family constitutes a group of early and well-regarded texts, including Codex Vaticanus and Codex Sinaiticus. Most of this tradition appears to come from around Alexandria, Egypt. It contains readings that are often terse, shorter, somewhat rough, less harmonized, and generally more difficult. The family was once thought to be a very carefully edited third century recension but now is believed to be merely the result of a carefully controlled and supervised process of copying and transmission. It underlies most modern translations of the New Testament. Bible version : NIV, TNIV, NASB, RSV, ESV, EBR, NWT, LB, ASV, NC, GNB

The Western text-type, 3rd-9th century CE, This is also very early and comes from a wide geographical area stretching from North Africa to Italy from Gaul to Syria. It much less controlled than the Alexandrian family and its witnesses are seen to be more prone to paraphrase and other corruptions. Bible version : Vetus Latina.

The Apologists and the Church Fathers

Who used these two types of earliest Manuscripts, the apologists and the church fathers used them.

Flavius Justinus, AD 100-165, he wrote the “Dialogue and Apology”

Irenaeus, AD 115-202, he wrote “Adversus Haereses, Against Heresies”

Quintus Septimius Florens Tertullianus, AD 150-225, he said that the believer’s blood is the seed of the church. He was the theologian of the church.

Origenes Adamantius, AD 185-254, he done the (Hexapla) ，Hexapla is an important proof that the early church was using LXX. This Hexapla is collections of few different translations put together in one book; Hexapla has Hebrew Old Testament, Septuagint LXX, and few other Greek translations.

He interpreted the scriptures into three types of meanings, body, soul, and spirit: somatic, psychic, pneumatic. Every word has a meaning of the word itself, then the morale value, and the spiritual meaning; the spiritual meaning is the Christian belief. This is the way Alexandrian interpreted their Bible. Origen was the church scholar.

Thascius Caecillius Cyprianus, AD 200-258, he was the Bishop of Carthage.
Constantine, AD 272-337, the first Christian Roman King, when he was young he conquered the Roman solders, Egypt, Persian, one day hw saw a sign of the cross in the sky, with that sign, “hoc Vince” he won three wars with the Rome. In the year 325, Constantine called the Council of Nicaea or Nice. The purpose of the council is to prove “Christ is God.”

Athanasius, AD 293-373, he was bon in Alexandria, Egypt. There was a saying about him, “Athanasius contra the whole world, the whole world contra Athanasius.” (Athanasius Contra Mundum, et Mundus Contra Athanasius).

That moment, Alexandria is the center of Christianity of the whole world; he was leading the Egyptian Church. He was called the “the father of fundamentalist,” his faith and belief is pure, Athanasius, said the belief of the church was send down by the Lord Jesus, preached by the Apostles, kept by the Church fathers.

After the Holy Spirit came down on the Pentecost, they started to spread the seed of the gospel. At the end of Apostle Area, the church had already been well established in Palestine (Jerusalem and Samaria), Rome, and Africa (Alexandria and Carthage).

Traditionally, it was Mark who preached the gospel to Africa, there in Alexandria, a business and cultural center, a famous city like Rome. It has a well-known library, contents a lot of books, a place where the Jew lived.

It was here in Alexandria, the Old Testament was translated into Greek, called the “Septuagint LXX,” and the earliest Latin version of the Bible, called “Itala.” They were not translated in Rome. Even the theology of the church was started to study at Carthage, especially the trinity.

St. Ambrosius, August Wilhelm, AD 339-397, he was raised up in Rome.

When you are reading the Bible, did you find that, the Lord and the Apostles, when they quoting the verses from Old Testament, their wordings are a bit different with our Old Testament wording? The meanings are the same, why it is so.

Do not misunderstand those are new revelations, nor another kind of translation, simply speaking is, at Jesus’ time, the Old Testament was written in Hebrew, but the Apostles was written the New Testament in Greek, they did not any other translations, so they used the well accepted Greek Septuagint, the LXX. That is why the Hebrew Old Testament was translated a bit different in New Testament!

Traditionally, at BC 3rd century, those Jew who lived in Egypt and Greek world, had called six men each from 12 tribes, in 70 days, they translated the Hebrew Old testament in Greek, and Septuagint means 70 in Latin, short form as LXX.

Some one said the work of translation is very important in preaching the Gospel, in another word; it is the leading of the Holy Spirit.

St. Jerome, Sophronius Eusebius Hieronymus, AD 342-420, he studied Latin and Greek in Rome. Jerome was the man who translated Old Testament and New Testament, from the Septuagint into Latin Vulgate Bible, and then the Romans Catholic accepted the Vulgate as the Authorized Version for the next 1000 years!

Before the Latin Vulgate, 100 years ago, in the north Africa, Alexandria, the first Latin Bible was already translated named “Itala,” Jerome was referring to “Itala” when he was translating the Vulgate.

Aurelius Augustine, AD 354-430, he was an African, born on November 13, at Tagaste, he went to study in Garthage. In AD 384, he went to Milan. There he heard a voice from a child, “Take up and read, take up and read.” (Tolle, lege; tolle, lege!), he went under a tree, and there he find a mss, and he opened it, and he look to Romans 13:13 “Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying.” He knew that verse spoke about him, the light and peace came into his heart. When he was a monk, he said, in the world, we could not find any man better than those in the Monastery cannot and in the Monastery, we can find the worse human being in the world.

1000 years later after the death Augustine, Augustine’s writing and teachings was deep influenced the church, there was a monk, called Martin Luther, a Christian Reformer, and another great Reformer, John Calvin both of them were inspired and influenced by Augustine, the church was under the teaching of Augustine generation after generations.

Conclusion:
The Alexandrian text-type, also called Minority Text, was well accepted by the Apologists and the Church Fathers in the first 4 century! None of them teach VPP!
1000 years later, the Alexandrian writings and teachings were still very much influencing the Reformers in 16th century reformation, how can you say that the Alexandrian texts are corrupted!