THE CRITICAL TEXT IN
AMERICAN SEMINARIES
In his helpful lecture entitled “The Authenticity of Mark 16:9-20“ available at http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=7107144434
, Rev. Brian Schwertley points out how almost every
professing reformed and Presbyterian seminary in the USA, with the possible
exception of Puritan Reformed Seminary in Grand Rapids, advocates the critical
text rather than the received text. He
indicates that even Puritan Reformed Seminary bases its New Testament Greek
course in the critical text. Some other
seminaries he did not mention, but that also appear to adhere to the received
text, include the Protestant Reformed Seminary in
Rev. Schwertley objects to this advocacy of a flawed text by so many seminaries, and explains why he and denominations like the WPCUS and Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland endorse the received text instead. The only exception I would take to Rev. Schwertley’s presentation is his placing the KJV and New KJV in the same category with respect to the critical text issue. My objections to the New KJV with respect to the critical text are found at http://www.puritans.net/news/bibletext070805.htm .
Those seminaries promoting the critical text are unwittingly undermining the foundational Protestant tenet that “the Old Testament in Hebrew (which was the native language of the people of God of old), and the New Testament in Greek (which, at the time of the writing of it, was most generally known to the nations), being immediately inspired by God, and, by His singular care and providence, kept pure in all ages, are therefore authentical.” In so doing, they are contradicting such Bible texts as Matthew 5:18 (“For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.”). They are violating the divine principle that no part of God’s word be excised from Holy Writ (“…if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and [from] the things which are written in this book…”), even if that is not their intention. If God’s word were not “kept pure in all ages” for His Church on earth, then the Church that relied upon sola scriptura would be on shaky ground. Thankfully, however, God has “by His singular care and providence, kept pure in all ages” the word of God, the critical text is flawed, and those seminaries which teach otherwise are wrong and on this point heretical.