New Testament, Preface (1900)
This edition of the Revised New Testament of 1881 embodies a purpose entertained by many members of the American Revision Committee almost from the publication of the work. The list of passages in which the New Testament Company dissented from the decisions of their English associates, when it was transmitted to them, bore the heading, “The American New Testament Revision Company, having in many cases yielded their preference for certain readings and renderings, present the following instances in which they differ from the English Company as in their view of sufficient importance to be appended to the revision, in accordance with an understanding between the Companies.”
The knowledge of the existence of these suppressed deviations naturally stirred a desire that they should be made accessible to at least the American public. This desire, especially on the part of those whose generous interest in the work from its inception had enabled the American revisers to meet the pecuniary outlay its preparation involved, they were not unwilling to gratify. The obligation they felt, however, to guard as far as they might the purity and integrity of the version, led them to pledge their support for fourteen years to the editions issued by the U Diversity Presses of Oxford and Cambridge. But the reiterated suggestion to the Presses to publish an edition especially for American readers not having met with favor, they acceded to the overtures of the Messrs. Nelson and engaged in preparing gratuitously the desired edition, to be issued when the expiration of the period specified should open the way for its honorable publication. The publishers, on their part, agreed to protect the version in its integrity, and to sell the book at a price not exceeding a fair profit on its cost.
In the preparation of this edition no attempt has been made to preserve a full record of the other readings and renderings-than those that appeared in the work as published in 1881 which were preferred by the American revisers. The Appendix of that edition, however, was not only hastily compiled under pressure from the University Presses, but its necessarily limited compass compelled, as the original heading intimated, the exclusion of many suggestions that the American Company held to be of interest and importance. These, amounting in the aggregate to a considerable number, have been incorporated in the present edition. The opportunity has been taken also to introduce not a few alterations, individually of slight importance, yet as a body contributing decidedly to the perfection of the work. But the survivors of the New Testament Company have not felt at liberty to make new changes of moment which were not favorably passed upon by their associates at one stage or another of the original preparation of the work.
Respecting details, but little need be added to the ample statements made in the Preface prefixed to the work on its first appearance.
In the delicate matter of rendering the names of the several coins that occur in the New Testament, we have departed somewhat from our English brethren. For the Greek λεπτόν the term “mite” has been re-tained; and for κοδράντης the rendering “farthing” (see Mk. xii. 42). But ἀσσάριον has been translated “penny” (Matt. x. 29; Lk. xii. 6); while in thirteen out of the sixteen instances where in the edition of 1881 the Greek δηνάριον was represented by this English word, the term “shilling” has been substituted, not only as corresponding more nearly to the coin’s relative value, but also because “penny,” according to its modern use, is in some eases highly inappropriate (see Matt. xx. 2; Lk. x. 35; Rev. vi. 6). In the three remaining instances (Matt. xxii. 19; Mk. xii. 15; Lk. xx. 24), the Greek name of the coin has been introduced, in order to meet the obvious requirement of the context. Where the English value of coins is given in the margin, we have added the equivalents in our national currency; but in the case of the talent (Matt. xviii. 24) what is believed to be a more accurate valuation has been given.
In formal particulars, this new edition will show but slight and infrequent deviations from its predecessor. The division of the text into paragraphs in that edition has not been often departed from; and then chiefly in cases where the same matter is found in more than one of the Gospels, and hence uniformity of division seemed desirable. Further, in the Epistles and the Revelation the more decided transitions to a new topic have been indicated by leaving a line blank. The somewhat ponderous and peculiar system of punctuation of the original edition has been in the main adhered to; although, pursuant to the principle there followed, a comma has here and there been dropped which seemed likely to obstruct the reader, and the gradations of thought have been occasionally indicated more distinctly by substituting a semicolon for the overworked colon. The titles of the books, which in the former edition were given as printed in 1611, have been somewhat abbreviated, at the dictate of convenience, and agreeably to usage, ancient as well as modern. They have been altered only in the few instances where the former heading was erroneous (as in the case of the Epistle to the Hebrews), or apt to mislead (as in the case of the Book of Acts), or hardly intelligible to the ordinary reader (as the “General” in the heading of some of the shorter Epistles), or founded in a misapprehension (as in the case of “Saint” prefixed to the names of the Evangelists). Moreover, the alternate title of the New Testament, and the mode of printing the headings of the Four Evangelists’ narratives, are designed to recall to mind the inherent signification and primitive use of the terms “Testament” (compare Hebrews ix. 15 f.) and “Gospel.” In the Book of Revelation, also, the “Glorias,” “Trisagia,” etc., have been marked typographically.
In dealing with the Language, the American revisers have endeavored to act with becoming deference and reserve. A few archaisms, such as “how that,” “for to,” “the which,” “howbeit,” etc., which are becoming uncouth to a modern ear, have been generally although not invariably discarded. Not a few of the instances of the superfluous use of “do” and “did” as auxiliaries, of “that” as equivalent to “that which,” and the like, have also been removed; and current usage has been recognized in the case of forms which King James’s revision employed indiscriminately, as “beside” and “besides” (see Luke xvi. 26; xxiv. 21). But in making these and other slight changes, the American editors have not forgotten that they were dealing with a venerable monument of English usage, and have been careful not to obliterate the traces of its historic origin and descent.
Notwithstanding the caution—as wise perhaps as prudent—which led the English Company wholly to omit the headings of chapters and pages, and in spite of the disfavor which has been the fate of many attempts to furnish them from the days of Mr. Blayney, who, with four assistants, produced a set which speedily fell into neglect, it has been deemed best to equip the present edition with running headlines, which may serve in some sort instead of a detailed Table of Contents, and as landmarks to a reader familiar with the text. In preparing them it has been the constant aim to avoid as far as possible all pre-commitments, whether doctrinal or exegetical; and with this object in view, the forms of statement employed have been drawn in the main from the Biblical text. Often a fragmentary quotation which might serve as a catchword or reminder of a well-known passage has been deemed sufficient. The limitations of space have frequently compelled a partial selection from the contents of a given page, the continuation of a heading from one page to the next, or even the entry of the kernel of a statement on a page adjoining that on which it appears in the text. Slight displacement in such a ease seemed preferable to total omission.
It is not superfluous to mention expressly the fact that in this edition the variant readings and renderings are placed at the foot of the pages, but in as close juxtaposition as possible with the passages to which they relate. The reader’s attention is thereby drawn to the circumstance that some degree of uncertainty still cleaves, in the judgment of scholars, either to the text of the passage before him, or to its translation, or to both. Accordingly, when he remembers that, by the rule of procedure which the Committee followed, the translation of 1611 held its place in every instance until an alteration commanded the votes of two-thirds of the revisers, it will become evident to him that a rendering given in the margin may have commended itself to a majority, while still falling short of the degree of approval necessary to enable it to supplant the text. It is known that this was the case in a considerable number of instances, of which the established term “Comforter” as the appellation of the Holy Spirit in the fourteenth chapter of the Gospel of John is a notable representative.
The present volume, it is believed, will on the one hand bring a plain reader more closely into contact with the exact thought of the sacred writers than any version now current in Christendom, and on the other hand prove itself especially serviceable to students of the Word. In this belief the editors bid it anew God-speed, and in the realization of this desired result they will find their all-sufficient reward.