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I think it was the year 2000 when I first heard someone quote Jeremiah 8:8 in order to say that something in Scripture had been corrupted by a lying scribe. I soon found out that anytime I’d go to a different Scripture, to try and show them their error, they’d just repeat the same about that text too: “Well that’s the lying pen of the scribes.”
What this abuse of Jeremiah amounts to is NOT trusting YHWH with all your heart, but instead leaning to YOUR OWN understanding. Any text this person liked, they’d quote authoritatively. Any text they didn’t like (that didn’t align with what they wanted) they’d again holler, “Lying pen of the scribes!” It was exhausting trying to reason with them, because they’d only accept texts that went along with their beliefs. What this position on Jeremiah 8:8 leads to - consistently - is a denial of the authority of the entire Bible. I’ve seen people who went down this road eventually lose their faith entirely - you know why? Because that’s the consistent thing to do when you start peeling away texts with no manuscript authority to back you. There are certainly interpolations in Scripture, but we have to be able to show such through textual criticism. We can’t just make stuff up. I’ve recently heard a couple fellows completely throw out the entire Torah available to us today, from Genesis to Deuteronomy. They claim that Moshe wrote a real Torah, but we don’t have that one anymore. They do this predominantly because they don’t like animal sacrifices, and the Torah we have speaks so much in favor of them, they end up throwing it all out. They then quote texts in Jeremiah, 2 Esdras, and some from the gospel of Matthew; texts which they believe are in their favor. But guess what? They don’t even consider it a possibility that these texts are the lying pen of the scribes. Why? Because that’s the texts they want to use. If they want a text, good scribe. If they don’t want a text, bad scribe. It’s so awful. If we slow down and exegete Jeremiah 8 properly, it’s not even saying that the scribes changed the Torah. It’s actually a condemnation of *people* who try to get around the Torah by *claiming* scribal lies. If you back up just a bit, 8:5 speaks of back-slidden Jerusalem, 8:6 says no man repented of his wickedness, and 8:7 says the people don’t know the judgment of YHWH. With this context, the key to 8:8 is right at the beginning of the verse. The prophet asks the people “How do *YE* say,” and then he goes on to quote what the backsliders are saying. It’s not YHWH saying the scribes are lying. It’s not the prophet saying the scribes are lying. It’s the unrepentant back-sliders that speak of the lying pen of the scribes. The unrepentant are claiming, “The law of YHWH is with us! The pen of the scribes is in vain!” They are trying to circumvent what is written by the scribes by claiming they have the truth and they are the authority. They say they have the law of YHWH, because they don’t want to go by what’s been written. So the present-day people that are trying to use this text in Jeremiah to get around the Torah (that we have today) are actually condemned by this very text. They are saying the same thing the back-sliders said way back then. I’ve seen this so much in my walk over the years. Some people get just enough information to hurt themselves, but they don’t know how to handle the Scriptures properly. They have something in their own mind or heart that they want to believe, so they twist the Scriptures to go along with what they want. They don’t love YHWH enough to trust His instructions and let His Torah change their heart and mind. It’s very sad. I’ve watched many of these same people veer off into believing pretty much nothing. They eventually stop serving YHWH, and just live their own life and do what they want to do. They have no stability and they wander from doctrine to doctrine like a spiritual vagabond. If you ever hear someone try to quote Jeremiah 8:8 in an attempt to discredit a Scripture, you are listening to a person why doesn’t want to submit to YHWH. They may say they do, but they’re no different than the people who say “Lord, Lord,” but at the same time practice lawlessness (Matthew 7:21-23). You do not love YHWH by trashing His word. That’s how you hate YHWH.
1 Comment
I certainly do not question the validity of the statement found in the KJV of Acts 8:37. The eunuch from Ethiopia has asked Philip what hinders him from being baptized? In all likelihood there was a response from Philip about belief/faith, repentance, confession, etc. I'm also sure much more discussion took place between the two fellows than is recorded for us by Luke in Acts 8:26-40. However, when we examine the textual evidence for Acts 8:37 we find that the oldest and best manuscripts of the Greek New Testament lack the verse. It is not found in any Greek manuscript before the 6th century A.D. Dr. Neil R. Lightfoot comments:
"Another passage of interest is found in Acts 8:37. The King James translation of this verse reads, 'And Philip said, if thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.' These words are represented as part of a conversation between Philip the Evangelist and the eunuch at the time of the eunuch's baptism. These are familiar words stressing the importance of faith in Jesus Christ. Yet the words are not found in the American Standard Version or the Revised Standard Version. These and other recent translations, on the basis of evidence, are compelled to omit theis verse from the Book of Acts. It is true that a sixth century uncial, some good minuscule manuscripts, and the Old Latin Version support the verse, but practically all the other manuscripts and versions stand opposed to it. Because no Greek manuscript earlier than the sixth century knows of this reading, beyond doubt it could not have formed a part of the original account of Acts." {Source: "How We Got the Bible" by Neil R. Lightfoot, Third Edition, 2003, pages 99-100} I was preaching about this text last evening and asked those in attendance if it was possible that something similar to Acts 8:37 was actually said by Philip. Most responded with a shaking of the head yes, or either answering affirmatively, and I agree. It is possible, and quite likely that Philip responded to the eunuch by telling him what he needed to do before baptism (belief, repentance, confession) but we can't just insert words into the text on the possible words of Philip. For example, we find that the Jailor asked Paul in Acts 16:30 what he needed to do to be saved. Paul's response was to believe in Yeshua (Acts 16:31), but the text goes on to say that after this response they spoke the message of the Lord to the Jailor. What was included in the message of the Lord? Many things I'm sure, but it would not be correct for us to insert a few verses in the text relying on the possibility of Paul teaching the Jailor about the death, burial and resurrection. There is nothing unorthodox about Acts 8:37 as found in the KJV. And, contrary to many staunch KJV ONLY advocates, the newer versions of Scripture like the ASV, RSV, or NIV are not trying to diminish from the person of Christ. There are many other verses in these newer versions of the Bible that show one must believe Yeshua is the Messiah, the Son of Yahweh (see Matthew 16:13-18 and 1 John 4:15). Matthew Janzen |
AuthorBlog by Matthew Janzen. Lover of Yahweh, Yeshua, my wife and 5 children. All else is commentary. Archives
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