(3.3) 用＂神＂还是用＂上帝＂？ How to Translate the Word "God"?

引起我注意的是，基督教教会就如何翻译God这个词无法达成一致。

在旧约圣经中是אֱלֹהִים (Elohim)，在新约圣经中是θεός (Theos)

• 希伯来文Elohim在旧约圣经共用2598次
• 希腊文Theos在新约圣经中共用1327次

天主

利玛窦(Matteo Ricci)用「上帝」称呼天主教的神，认为意义相当。这种作法引起了一些儒士的反对。他们认为儒家的天、上帝与天主教的天主有着本质的区别。

利玛窦的传教方式不但引起了当时儒士的反对，也引起了道明会等其他传教士以及罗马教廷的不满。 1715年教宗克勉十一世(Pope Clement XI)发布教宗敕令，禁止中国天主教徒祭天、祭孔、祭祖，并从今以后，不许用＂天＂字，亦不许用＂上帝＂字眼，只用＂天主＂二字，称＂天地万物之主＂为＂天主＂。

天主教会受梵蒂冈和教皇管辖，他们创造了＂天主＂一词来翻译＂God＂一词。这成为了现在所有中国天主教堂的标准。一旦你听到这个词，你就可以确定你是在与天主教打交道。

但是对于基督教来说，教会之间没有总教主。因为没有人拥有绝对的权威。各教会不能就翻译达成一致，各有各的观点。但他们一致认同一件事：不采用天主教的方式。

神

因为中国总体上是一个异教民族，有地方传统宗教。各有各的神，神是一个如此笼统的术语，它对不同的人意味着不同的神祇。人们不太关心God到底是谁。一些基督教团体倾向避开＂神＂这个词，以免人们将异教概念与圣经中唯一的真神混淆。

上帝

所以有些人选择了＂上帝＂，因为这是一个具有传统背景的术语。众所周知，北京有一座天坛祈年殿，里面没有佛像，只有一块写有＂皇天上帝＂字样的匾额。

在中国文化信仰中，上帝是中国君主（天子）所崇拜的至高神祇，又称天帝。对上帝的信仰起源于中国古代对天空（即北极星）的崇拜。远远望去蓝天。没有人比皇帝更受尊敬，他受天之托，所以天一定是神。对古人来说，上帝就是天，天就是上帝，

上帝这个词有利也有弊。一方面，大众现在已经习惯了这个词，可以直接将圣经中的＂上帝＂＝＂西方的神＂联系起来。上帝和佛陀并论。

然而在我们现代人的心目中，＂上帝＂这个词带有＂帝＂字，是老式帝国主义的概念，这在许多人的心中留下了怪味道。因此，他们可能更喜欢将God简单直译为神。

＂和合本＂和而不合

在 19 世纪，英国传教士普遍倾向使用＂上帝＂，美国传教士则倾向使用＂神＂。

辩论没有得出结论，直到今天，中文圣经都以两种方式印刷：有＂神＂字版，有＂上帝＂版。

如果我们退一步想，以圣经为中心，重新思考整个问题，圣经中的埃及人、巴比伦人、希腊人和罗马人，以及以色列人周围的所有文明，都是信奉多神的民族，但圣经从不回避使用神这个词，免得混淆，回避误解。

我们又为何不能处之泰然？

What caught my attention is that the Christian church can't agree on how to translate the word God.

אֱלֹהִים (Elohim) in the Old Testament, θεός (Theos) in the New Testament

• The Hebrew word Elohim is used 2598 times in the Old Testament
• The Greek word Theos is used 1327 times in the New Testament

God

Matteo Ricci used the term "上帝" to refer to the Catholic gods, thinking that the meanings were quite similar. This approach aroused opposition from some Confucian scholars. They believe that there is an essential difference between the Confucian Heaven and the Catholic God.

Matteo Ricci's method not only aroused the opposition of the Confucian scholars at that time, but also caused the dissatisfaction of other missionaries such as the Dominican Church and the Holy See. In 1715, Pope Clement XI issued a papal decree, prohibiting Chinese Catholics from offering sacrifices to heaven, Confucianism, and ancestors, and from now on, the word "天" and "上帝" are not allowed to be used. In the word, only the word "天主" is used, and the "Lord of all things in the world" is called "天主".

The Catholic Church is governed by the Vatican and the Pope, who coined the word "天主" to translate the word "God". This is now the standard for all Chinese Catholic churches. Once you hear this word, you can be sure that you are dealing with Catholicism.

But for Christianity, there is no hierarchy among the churches. Because no one has absolute authority. Churches cannot agree on translations, and each has its own point of view. But they all agreed on one thing: not the Catholic way.

Because China is generally a pagan nation with local traditional religions. There are different gods, and god is such a general term that it means different gods to different people. People in general don't really care who God is. Some Christian groups tend to avoid the word "神" lest people confuse pagan concepts with the only true God in the Bible.

God

So some people choose "上帝" because it's a term with a traditional background. As we all know, there is a Temple of Heaven in Beijing, there is no Buddha statue in it, only a plaque with the words "Emperor, God(皇天上帝)" written on it.

In Chinese cultural beliefs, God is the supreme deity worshipped by the Chinese monarch (the Son of Heaven). Belief in God originated from the worship of the sky (i.e. the North Star) in ancient China. No one is more respected than the emperor, he is entrusted by the sky, so the sky must be a god. For the ancients, God was heaven, and heaven was God,

The word 上帝 has both advantages and disadvantages. On the one hand, the general public is now accustomed to the wording and can directly associate the biblical "God" = "God of the West". God and Buddha were taken as on the same level.

However, in our modern minds, the word "上帝(God)" with the word "帝(emperor)" is an old-fashioned concept of imperialism, which leaves a bad taste in the minds of many people. Therefore, they may prefer a simple literal translation of God as 神.

CUV is "Union" but not United

In the 19th century, British missionaries generally tended to use "上帝", while American missionaries tended to use "神".

The debate did not come to a conclusion, and to this day, the Chinese Bibles are printed in two versions: the "上帝" version and the "神" version.

If we take a step back and rethink the whole matter with the Bible as the focus, the Egyptians, Babylonians, Greeks and Romans in the Bible, and all the civilizations around the Israelites, were polytheistic peoples, but the Bible do not shy away from using the word God to avoid confusion and misunderstanding.

Why can't we just take precedence from the Bible?

3.2 空一格 Blank Spacing in Chinese Bible

添加空格的做法是如何流行起来的？

过去在台湾写“总统”、“总统”、“蒋总统”或“蒋中正”时，必须留空格以示尊重。

但我们知道，在中国5000年的历史中，没有以“空一格”这样的书面汉语来表达敬意。

古时，为了表示对长辈、重要人物的尊敬，提到他时会另行书写，将他的名称和称呼放在另外一行的顶格——抬头。

那么，“空一格”是怎么来的呢？

原来，蒋介石作为基督徒，很可能是借鉴圣经，从和合本读圣经读“　神”而得的的启发，从此开始了空一格的做法。

蒋下了指示，凡蒋的头衔前得留一个格，以示尊重。

后来成了风气，为了表示对一般人的尊敬，写到阁下、台端时，会在前面留空一格，表示尊重。

蒋也被戏称为：“空一格”。

从此可见，当权者开新河并非难事。可是始于误解，却导致成了一种新的规矩。

到2015年台湾才正式取消“空一格”的写法。

这只可说是好心做坏事了。

但时至今日，一些中文圣经在线仍然保留着在文中神一词前加空格的传统。

为什么人们在这个数字年代还在圣经中保留这个印刷排版的做法？

当了解上个世纪的排版过程时，我们可以肯定，在“神”这个词前面加一个空格并不是出于尊敬。如果是为了敬畏，那么神的名字—“耶和华”也应该这样对待，那么“上帝”、“主”这些词前也该留空格了。这样的话，圣经会有很多空格。

这只是一个例子，我们需要有一个清醒的头脑，不被情绪所笼罩，也不要盲目地跟着传统走。

How did the practice of adding spaces catch on?

In the past, when writing "President", "President", "President Chiang" or "Chiang Kai-shek" in Taiwan, it was necessary to leave a space to show respect.

But we know that in China's 5,000-year history, there is no written Chinese style of leaving blank spacing to express respect.

In ancient times, in order to show respect for elders and important people, when he was mentioned, he would be written separately, and his name and salutation would be placed at the top of the other line.

So, how did the "empty one" come about?

It turned out that Chiang Kai-shek, as a Christian, probably drew inspiration from the Bible and read "God" with a blank spacing from the Bible in the Chinese Union Version. From then on, he began to practice adding blank spacing.

Chiang gave instructions that Chiang's title must be left a space before it to show respect.

Chiang is also nicknamed "adding blank spacing".

Later, it became a common practice. In order to show respect even for common people, when writing about your superior and add a blank space in front of it to show respect.

It can be seen from this that it is not difficult for those in power to start new traditions. What started as a misunderstanding led to a new kind of rule.

It was not until 2015 that Taiwan officially abolished the writing style of "adding blank spacing".

This can only be said that good intentions may lead to a wrong conclusion.

But to this day, some Chinese Bibles online still retain the tradition of adding a space before the word "God" in the text.

Why do people keep this typographical practice in the Bible in this digital age?

When we look at the typography process over the last century, we can be sure that putting a space before the word "God" is not out of respect. If it is for reverence, then the name of God - "Jehovah" should also be treated in the same way, then there should be spaces before the words "God" and "Lord" and so on. The Bible would end up with a lot of blank spacings.

This is just an example, we need to have a clear mind, not be clouded by emotions, and not to follow traditions blindly.

👮

3.1 第三个问题 The Third Issue

 中文圣经翻译的第三个问题是“神”字。

当福音传到中国时，其中最為人知的是罗马天主教神父利玛窦传教士，他于16世纪末来到中国。

他不仅要处理与中国人的紧张关系，还要处理不同教派之间的紧张关系。

利玛窦较为宽容，认为中国教徒继续传统的祭天、祭祖、祭孔的问题不大至拜偶像的地步。利玛窦主张以＂天主＂称呼创造主＂神＂。

他认为中国传统的＂天＂和＂上帝＂本质上与天主教所说的＂独一真神＂并无分别。而祭祀祖先与孔子，这些只属追思先人与缅怀哲人的仪式，与信仰并无什么干涉；只要不掺入许愿、崇拜、祈祷等成分，本质上并没有违反天主教教义。利玛窦的传教策略和方式，一直为之后到中国传教的耶稣会士所遵从，是为＂利玛窦规矩＂。

利玛窦所屬的耶稣会认为，这些中国仪式是世俗的禮仪，在一定范围内，基督教应该容忍。 然而，多米尼加和方济各会不同意并将这个问题报告给罗马。 争论在 16 和 17 世纪反覆进行。

辩论提出了三个主要争论点：

• 應确定＂神＂的中文单词为＂天主＂，而反對耶稣会士愿意允许中国基督徒使用＂天＂或＂上帝＂。
• 禁止基督徒参加祭孔仪式。
• 禁止基督徒使用牌位，禁止遵循中国祭祖仪式。

然后克莱门特十一世(Clement XI)在 1704 年禁止了＂利玛窦规矩＂。1742 年，本笃十四世(Benedict XIV)重申了禁令并禁止再辩论。

1939 年，两个世纪后，罗马教廷重新评估了这个问题。 庇护十二世(Pius XII)于 1939 年 12 月 8 日颁布新法令，基本上准許中国天主教徒进行祭祖和参加祭孔仪式。

对于新教基督徒来说，他们不接受天主教的說法。 然而，在印刷和合本圣经时，各宣教團體无法达成共识，結果圣经印刷了两种变体：一种是＂上帝＂版，另一种是＂神＂版。

那时，印刷是通过排版完成的。 最简单的解决方案是在单个单词 ＂神＂之前加一个空格，替换两个字符的＂ 上帝＂。这样可免去重新排版的大量工作。

但是对于在复印机和电脑時代长大的新一代来说，他们只能认为＂神＂这个词前的空格一定是表达对神的一种尊重方式，我什至看到一些文章在其他與神一字相關的词前，自以为聪明地加上了空格。这是由于无知而形成的＂新传统＂。空想像而创建新传统并不太难！

The third problem with Chinese Bible translation is the word "God".

When the Gospel reached China, one of the most well-known was Missionary Ricci, a Roman Catholic priest, who came to China at the end of the 16th century.

He has to deal not only with the tensions with the Chinese, but also with the tensions between the different sects.

Matteo Ricci was more tolerant, and believed that the problem of Chinese believers continuing to worship the heavens, ancestors, and Confucius in the traditional way is not to the level of worshipping idols. Matteo Ricci advocates calling the Creator "God" as "上帝" (Lord in heaven").

He believes that the traditional Chinese "天" and "上帝" are essentially the same as the "One True God" of the Catholics. The sacrifices to ancestors and Confucius, these are only ceremonies for remembrance of ancestors and Confucius, and have nothing to do with beliefs; as long as they do not incorporate ingredients such as making wishes, worship, and prayer, they do not violate Catholic doctrine in essence. Matteo Ricci's missionary strategies and methods have always been followed by the Jesuits who went to China to preach, and they are "Ricci Rules".

The Society of Jesus, to which Matteo Ricci belongs, believes that these Chinese ceremonies are secular rites that, within a certain range, should be tolerated by Christianity. However, the Dominicans and the Franciscans disagreed and reported the issue to the Vatican. The debate raged back and forth in the 16th and 17th centuries.

The debate raised three main points of contention:

• The Chinese word for "God" should be determined to be "God", while opposing the Jesuits' willingness to allow Chinese Christians to use "天" or "God".
• Christians are prohibited from participating in Confucian rituals.
• It is forbidden for Christians to use name tablets nor to participate in Chinese ancestor worship ceremonies.

Then Clement XI banned the "Ricci Rule" in 1704. In 1742, Benedict XIV reaffirmed the prohibition and prohibited further debate.

In 1939, two centuries later, the Holy See reassessed the issue. Pius XII issued a new decree on December 8, 1939, basically allowing Chinese Catholics to worship ancestors and participate in Confucian rituals.

Protestant Church

For Protestant Christians, they don't accept what Catholics say. However, when the United Bible was printed, the mission groups could not reach a consensus, and as a result, the Bible was printed in two variants: a "神" version, and a "上帝" version.

Back then, printing was done through typography. The simplest solution is to add a space before the single word "神", replacing the two-character "上帝". This saves a lot of work instead of resetting all the types.

But for the new generation who grew up in the age of photocopiers and computers, they can only think that the space before the word "God" must be a way of showing respect for God.

I even saw some articles with spacing added superfluously in matters relating to "God".  This is tradition in-the-making due to ignorance. How easy is it to build traditions in the thin air.

(2.5) 新约原文文本类型 Greek New Testament Text-type

怎么处理5800多份手抄本？

当然首先把它们排序人档，分类可能是按：

• 材料：纸莎草或羊皮纸，羊皮纸在 4 世纪开始取代纸莎草（虽然最新的纸莎草可追溯到 8 世纪）
• 书籍风格：卷轴或手抄本（书籍格式）
• 书写法： 大写（uncial script, majuscule）和小写（minuscule）。抄写员在公元 2 世纪至 8 世纪使用uncial书写，但在 7 世纪和 8 世纪，笔迹质量下降，手稿变得难以阅读。 9 世纪引入了小写，可以更快速书写的小写字母。
• 估计的抄写地点：在世界某个地方发现的手稿往往与来自世界该地区的其他手稿非常相似，这可能是由于来自同一来源。
• 预计抄写年份：
• 内容：

四本uncials是：

• Sinaiticus (א) (aleph)          四世纪   大英图书馆
• Alexandrinus (A)               四世纪　第梵蒂冈图书馆
• Vaticanus (B)                     五世纪　大英图书馆
• Ephraemi Rescriptus (C)   五世纪　法国国家图书馆

然后分析内容：

文本批判是对手抄本的研究分析，以便从所有变体中重建可能的原始文本。

归纳为文本类型

新约手抄本被归纳为三个主要的手稿传统（文本类型text-type）：

1. 亚历山大文本类型、
2. 西方文本类型
3. 拜占庭文本类型。

[source: https://biblequestions.info/2020/08/08/what-are-new-testament-text-types/]

• 亚历山大文本比其他类型的文本更短，也没有那么精致。在现存的近 6,000 份手稿中，大约 30 份属于亚历山大式，这往往是最简洁的。
• 西方文本起源于西地中海周围的拉丁语地区。尽管它比较古老，但学者普遍认为这种文本类型过于自由(liberal)。
  例：Bezae (D)     四世纪  部分福音书和使徒行传    剑桥
• 拜占庭文本佔大多数（约 90％），在传统中相对较晚。具有较优美的语法，以及对内容不清晰的神学问题，附加上解读改动。

What to do with the 5,800+ manuscripts?

Of course, first sort them into files, the classification may be according to:

• Material: Papyrus or parchment, parchment began to replace papyrus in the 4th century (although the latest papyrus dates back to the 8th century)
• Book Style: Scroll or Codex (book format)
• Writing Style: uncial script (or majuscule) and minuscule. Scribes used uncial writing from the 2nd to the 8th century AD, but in the 7th and 8th centuries handwriting quality declined and the manuscript became difficult to read. The 9th century introduced minuscule (lowercase) characters that were smaller and could be written more quickly.
• Estimated Location: Manuscripts found in one part of the world tend to be very similar to other manuscripts from that part of the world, possibly due to being from the same source.
• Estimated Transcription Year:
• Content:

The four uncials are:

• Sinaiticus       (א)              4th century    British Library 
• Alexandrinus (A)             4th century    Vatican Library
• Vaticanus       (B)             5th century    British Library
• Ephraemi Rescriptus (C) 5th century    National Library of France

Then analyze the content:

Textual criticism is the research analysis of manuscripts of all the variants in order to reconstruct a possible original text.

Generalized to Text-Type

The New Testament manuscripts are grouped into three main manuscript traditions (text types): 

1. the Alexandrian text-type, 
2. the Western text-type, 
3.  the Byzantine text-type.

• Alexandrian text-type is shorter and less refined than other types of texts. Of the nearly 6,000 manuscripts in existence, about 30 are of the Alexandrian type, which tends to be the most concise.
• The Western text-type originated in Latin-speaking regions around the Western Mediterranean. Although it is relatively old, scholars generally believe that this type of text is too liberal.
• e.g.:  Bezae (D)    c. 400     Gospels and Acts    Cambridge
• Byzantine text-type: Most manuscripts belong to this group (about 90%) and are relatively late in the tradition. It has a more elegant grammar, as well as additional interpretation changes for unclear theological issues.

(2.4) 教会历史上的重大事件 Major Events in Church History

一些重要的历史

当我们要解圣经的发展及其翻译时，我们需要先認識教会历史中的一些基本事件以及世界历史。

對教会历史，我们应该注意一些非常重要的事件：

• 公元 70 年，在提图斯的领导下，平息猶太人的動亂，耶路撒冷被毁，聖殿被焚。
• 132-135年 第二次犹太人反罗马起义（Bar Kochba Revolt），犹太人被禁止在耶路撒冷居住
• 早期教会屢受到迫害，基督徒殉道，手稿被焚毁。 （新约的原本基本上不可能保存下来。）

君士坦丁时代：

• 312年 米尔维安桥之战； 君士坦丁信基督。
• 313年 米兰敕令：“授予基督徒和每个人遵循他们选择的宗教的自由权力……”
• 324年　拜占庭古城改名为“新罗马”，君士坦丁宣布其为罗马帝国的新都
• 325年 尼西亚议会

• 394年 狄奥多西一世将帝国分给他的两个儿子，形成西罗马帝国（476 年沦亡）和东罗马帝国（即拜占庭，1453 年沦亡）。 基本上将帝国分为讲拉丁语的西方和讲希腊语的东方。
• 公元 7 世纪　中东和埃及的大部分地区沦入伊斯兰统治之下。 东羅馬版圖大縮。
• 1054年　罗马教会和拜占庭教会之间的大分裂
• 1204年　第四次十字军东征洗劫君士坦丁堡，东罗马国力从此大弱
• 1382-1395年　约翰威克里夫(John Wycliffe)制作了完整英文譯本。
• 1455年　古腾堡印刷了圣经（那是Vulgate，拉丁文圣经）
• 1516 年　伊拉斯谟(Erasmus)出版了希腊新约
• 1517年　马丁路德发表了他的九十五篇论文，标志着宗教改革的开始
• 1526 年　丁道爾(Tyndale) 开始将新约从希腊语翻译成英语並出版
• 1534 年　路德出版完整德文圣经。
• 1611 年　欽定本圣经出版，其主要来源是根據丁道爾。
• 1844 年　蒂申多夫（Konstantin von Tischendorf） 发现了西奈抄本
• 1882 年　Westcott 和 Hort 推出了新版本的希腊新約圣经
• 1919年　和合本出版

概括地说，从 4 世纪，东罗马帝国和西罗马帝国的分裂，到1054年 东正教从罗马天主教分出，都是重大的事件。

自 4 世纪以来，拉丁文武加大圣经 (Vulgate) 成为教会的主流圣经。

7世纪以后，中东和埃及都处于伊斯兰教的统治之下。随着 1054 年东正教教堂从罗马天主教分离，希腊手抄本只局限在讲希腊语的拜占庭中使用。西方教会使用拉丁文武加大圣经，直到宗教改革之前，很少关注希伯来文或希腊文手抄本。留存至今的拉丁文新约手抄本的总数几乎是希腊文的两倍（10,000 对 5,800）

希腊手抄本仅在希腊语地区有效使用，即东罗马（又名拜占庭）帝国。

在那个年代，抄写圣经是一项繁重的工作，文士（通常是僧侣）献身于这项繁琐的工作，而羊皮纸是用动物的皮制而成，为了书籍而专门制作的。这些书太贵了，以至于他们没有复制超过他们需要的数量。一个教会需要多少本？一本便足已。直到该抄本被使用并恶化到损坏状态，然后才会从中复制一个新抄本。中古期没有大规模生产书籍的方法，也实际上没有这个需要。

这就是为什么大量手稿（80-90%）的年代相对较晚，从 12 世纪到 14 世纪。估计它们都是拜占庭教堂的手抄本，在拜占庭帝国灭亡后，这些手抄本才传到了西方。

Some Important History

When we want to understand the development of the Bible and its translation, we need to recognize some basic events in church history and world history.

There are some very important events in church history that we should note:

• In AD 70, under the command of Titus, to quell the Jewish unrest, Jerusalem was destroyed and the temple burned.
• 132-135 Second Jewish uprising against Rome (Bar Kochba Revolt), Jews banned from living in Jerusalem
• The early church was repeatedly persecuted, Christians were martyred, and manuscripts were burned. (The original of the New Testament is basically impossible to preserve.)

Era of Constantine:

• 312 Battle of Milvian Bridge; Constantine believes in Christ.
• 313 Edict of Milan: "To grant Christians and everyone the right to follow the religion of their choice..."
• In 324, the ancient city of Byzantium was renamed "New Rome", and Constantine declared it the new capital of the Roman Empire.
• 325 Council of Nicaea

• 394 Theodosius I divides the empire between his two sons, forming the Western Roman Empire (fall 476) and the Eastern Roman Empire (Byzantium, fall 1453). Basically divide the empire into Latin-speaking West and Greek-speaking East.
• In the 7th century AD, much of the Middle East and Egypt was under Islamic rule. The map of Eastern Rome was greatly reduced.
• 1054 Great Schism between the Church of Rome and the Byzantine Church.
• In 1204, the Fourth Crusade sacked Constantinople, and the Eastern Roman Empire was weakened from then on.
• In 1382-1395 John Wycliffe and his followers produced English versions 
• 1455 Gutenberg printed the Bible (Vulgate, Bible in Latin)
• 1516 Erasmus publishes the Greek New Testament
• In 1517 Martin Luther published his ninety-five essays, marking the beginning of the Reformation
• 1526 Tyndale begins translating and publishing the New Testament from Greek into English
• 1534 Luther publishes the complete German Bible.
• The King James Version was published in 1611, and its primary source was based on Tyndale.
• 1844 Konstantin von Tischendorf discovers the Codex Sinaiticus
• 1882 Westcott and Hort published a new version of the Greek New Testament
• 1919 Chinese Union Version is being published

In a nutshell, from the split of the Eastern and Western Roman Empires in the 4th century to the separation of the Orthodox Church from the Roman Catholic Church in 1054, these were major events that we might not be aware of.

Since the 4th century, the Vulgate, the Latin Bible, has been the dominant bible of the church.

After the 7th century, both the Middle East and Egypt were under the rule of Islam. With the separation of the Orthodox Church from Roman Catholicism in 1054, Greek manuscripts were restricted to Greek-speaking Byzantine languages. The Western Church used the Latin Vulgate Bible with little attention to Hebrew or Greek manuscripts until the Reformation. The total number of surviving Latin New Testament manuscripts is almost twice that of Greek (10,000 versus 5,800)

The Greek manuscripts are used only in the Greek-speaking region, the Eastern Roman (aka Byzantine) Empire.

In those days, copying the Bible was a laborious task to which scribes (usually monks) devoted their lives, and parchment was made from animal skins and was specially treated for making books. The books were so expensive that they didn't copy more than they needed. How many copies does a church need? One copy is sufficient. when copy was been used and deteriorated to a poor state, then a new copy would be commissioned. There was no way of mass-producing books in the Ancient or the Medieval Ages. On the other hand, there was virtually no need for it.

This is one reason why a large number of manuscripts (80-90%) are dated relatively late, from the 12th to the 14th centuries. It is estimated that they are all manuscripts of the Byzantine church. After the fall of the Byzantine Empire, these manuscripts eventually made their way to the West 

第二个关键：圣经 (之 2.3) The Second Key: the Bible

新约手抄本中的变异

对于新约，现存有超过 5,778 份希腊文手抄本。 然而，没有两份手抄本是完全相同的（除了那些仅含几行字的小紙片），同样，在原文新約的 139,000 多字當中，在手抄本之间发现了超过 400,000 种不同的变体寫法。

手抄本故名思意，是人工抄写的，一个字母一个字母，一个字一个字地寫下來的。 对于其他抄写方式，也可以是一人大声朗读文本，抄写员会寫下他所听到的語句。 这是一个漫长而考人的过程，当然也大有可能发生人为错误。

有些变化是偶然的错误，遗漏了一个字母或一个单词，或者可能是读错了，听错了，写错了，有些可能是文士拼写上的错误。

其他错误可能是有意的，因为文士可能会遇到一些他认为不合适的句語，因此他“更正”了，寫在新手稿中，原意動機可能是好的，卻好心做了壞事，试图改进文本以使其更好，倒使後人不知所從。 

例如，约翰三书 1:4 G5485 χάρις charis 對比 G5479 χαρά chara

由于我们沒有原本，因此也无法把某一手抄本与原本來进行比较。

在幸存的手抄本中，没有人知道到底有多少变异。

这些错误中的大多数 (可能90% ），都是由于马虎失误造成的，并且微不足道。

但没有人知道这将如何与新约的原本相比對，因为原本已失去了！

Variations in the Greek New Testament Manuscripts

For the New Testament, there are over 5,778 Greek manuscripts. However, no two manuscripts are exactly alike (except for those small scraps of paper containing a few lines), and likewise, of the 139,000 words in the original New Testament, more than 400,000 different variations of writing have been found between manuscripts.

Manuscripts, as the name implies, are hand-written, letter by letter, word by word. For other methods of transcription, it can also be that one person reads the text aloud, and the scribe writes down what he hears. This is a lengthy and tedious process, and of course, there is a high chance of human error.

Some variations are accidental mistakes, missing a letter or word, or maybe due to mispronunciation or hearing, and some may be spelling errors by the scribes.

Other errors may be intentional, as the scribe may have come across some words or sentences that he thought were inappropriate, so he "corrected" them, and trying to improve the Text to make it better,  he wrote his improved text in the new manuscript The motive may be good, but caused a bad result, that we today don't know which to follow. 

For example, 3 John 1:4 G5485 χάρις (charis) vs G5479 χαρά (chara)

Since we do not have the original, it is impossible to compare a manuscript with the original.

In the surviving manuscripts, no one knows exactly how many variations there are.

Most of these variations (probably 90%) are due to sloppy mistakes and are trivial.

But no one knows how this will compare to the original of the New Testament, because the original is lost!

第二个关键：圣经 (之 2.2) The Second Key: the Bible

 旧约正典

希伯来圣经，基督徒称之为旧约，是 24 本书的集合，用希伯来语写成（一小部分用亚拉姆语写成).

虽然对于希伯来圣经正典是何时被确定，至今尚无学术共识，但一些学者认为，希伯来圣经正典早在公元 1 世纪或哈斯蒙尼王朝（公元前 140-40 年，有人却认为早在公元公元前4世纪从流放归来后。

圣经学者通常将文本集合称为希伯来圣经，注意不要把此术语与新约的希伯来书混淆了。

犹太人划分书卷与基督教的划分大不相同。犹太的分类是：

• 五本Torah “教导”；
• 八本 Nevi'im “先知”；
• 十一本Ketuvim “著作”，

总共 24 本书。

同样的书却被基督教细分为 39 本书来使用。

并且是以不同的顺序排列。此外，希伯来圣经以《历代志下》结尾，是记述犹太人回到耶路撒冷，作为这一段历史的结束。基督教圣经以《玛拉基书》结尾。

希伯来圣经手抄本

今天幸存下来的都是多份手抄本，最完整的是列宁格勒手抄本(Leningrad Codex, LC)，大约在 1008 年左右在开罗制作的。

列宁格勒手抄本Leningrad Codex

自 1863 年以来，该手稿一直收藏在位于圣彼得堡的俄罗斯国家图书馆（此地在1924- 1991 年间，称为列宁格勒），因此被称为“列宁格勒抄本”。

LC 是自 1937 年以来的希伯来圣经和其他版本的基本文本。

它是今天以希伯来语保存下来的最早的、最完整的希伯来圣经手抄本。

还有一本阿勒颇手抄本(Aleppo Codex)，于 920 年左右，可能书于提比里亚。此抄本比列宁格勒稍早，但在 1947 年失传了。其中一部分（占总数 487 页中的 294 页）重现，现存于以色列博物馆中，但大约 40% 丢失了，可能散在私人收藏家手中，可能被大火烧毁（它本来所在的犹太教堂于骚乱期间被烧毁 ）。这份手抄本在阿勒颇已经有将近 600 年的历史。阿勒颇是当时奥斯曼帝国的第三大城市（仅次于君士坦丁堡和开罗）。

对于希伯来圣经的文本，差异不大。

 整本Torah都是一样的！所有 304,805 个字母都被一字不差。

在雅伟的话网站上，我们展示了旧约与列宁格勒版本(LC) ，以便您可以轻松地将和合本 (CUV) 翻译与原文 LC 进行对比。

The Old Testament Canon

The Hebrew Bible, which Christians call the Old Testament, is a collection of 24 books written in Hebrew (with a small portion in Aramaic).

Although there is no scholarly consensus as to when the Hebrew canon was established, some scholars believe that the Hebrew canon dates back to the 1st century AD, or the Hasmonean dynasty (140-40 BC, others thought it could be as early as the returned from exile in the 4th century BC.

Biblical scholars often refer to the collection of texts as the Hebrew Bible, but we should not confuse this term with the New Testament book of Hebrews.

The Jewish division of the books is very different from the Christian division. The Jewish classification is:

• Torah ("teaching") of five books; 
• Nevi'im ("prophet") of eight books; and 
• Ketuvim ("writings") of eleven books), 

for a total of 24 books

The same books are subdivided into 39 books in the Christian Bible.

Besides, the listing order is also different. 

In addition, the Hebrew Bible ends with 2 Chronicles, which recorded the return of the Jews to Jerusalem as the end of this period of history. The Christian Bible ends with the Minor Prophet, Malachi.

Hebrew Bible Manuscript

What survives today are multiple manuscripts, the most complete and earliest being the Leningrad Codex (LC), produced in Cairo around 1008.

Since 1863, the manuscript has been kept in the State Library of Russia in St. Petersburg (the city was known as Leningrad from 1924-1991), hence the name "Leningrad Codex".

LC is the basic text of the Hebrew Bible and other editions since 1937.

It is the earliest complete manuscript copy of the Hebrew Bible that survived today in the Hebrew language.

There is also an Aleppo Codex, circa 920, probably written in Tiberias. This codex predates Leningrad by a few decades but was lost in 1947 due to a riot. A portion of it (294 of the total 487 pages) resurfaced and is now in the Israel Museum, but about 40% is lost, possibly in the hands of private collectors, and possibly destroyed by fire (the synagogue where it was originally housed was burnt during the riot). The manuscript has been in Aleppo for nearly 600 years. Aleppo was then the third largest city in the Ottoman Empire at the time (after Constantinople and Cairo).

For the text of the Hebrew Bible, there is little variant difference.

The whole Torah is the same! All 304,805 letters were written word for word.

On our website, we are presenting the Old Testament with a digital version of the Leningrad Codex (LC), so that you can easily compare the CUV translation with the original text, the LC.

第二个关键：圣经 (之 2.1) The Second Key: the Bible

 第二个关键问题是关于圣经的。

首先，我们必须清楚，当我们谈论原文圣经时，是指圣经的原始语文。即希伯来文的旧约和希腊文的新约。这里所指的并不是"原始手稿"(autographs)。

所有原稿手稿都丢失了。 （将来有没有可能再重新发现这些原稿手稿？）

我们没有原稿，旧约的没有，新约的也没有。基督教圣经的 66 本书中，连一本也没有。

事实上，我们今天拥有的圣经资料都是手抄本。

• 对于新约，最早的希腊抄本来自 4 世纪。
• 对于旧约来说，最完整的抄本是来自 10 世纪（当然还有公元前 2 世纪的《七十士译本》和《死海古卷》）。

至于《圣经》本身，《旧约(希伯来语经卷)》和《新约》的起源都不清楚，我们在很大程度上无法确定是谁写的，为什么写的，是怎么写的，什么时候写的 ，连人们为什么把它们编进圣经也没有记录。学者们对其中任何一个都没有确定的答案。

例如，摩西五经是谁写的？一般说是摩西，但摩西不可能是全卷的作者，因为其中记载了他自己死亡的记录（申 34:5-12）。

圣经正典

367 年的亚历山大主教亚他那修、及在奥古斯丁的影响下，393 年的希波会议和 397 年的第三次迦太基会议都列出了圣经的天主教圣经正典，包括旧约伪经和 新约27卷书。

然而，关于新约的争论还持续了一个世纪，特别是关于希伯来书和启示录。

最终，在 5 世纪左右达到共识，争议来才平息了。

天主教正典（有 73 本书）而希腊东正教（有 79 本书，但埃塞俄比亚东正教 Tewahdo 教会却有 81 本书）都有额外的书籍，源自七十士译本中包含了次经。

自宗教改革以来，新教徒（基督教）删除了伪经书，并重新回到希伯来圣经中作为圣经正典的清单，即39卷，加新约27卷。

这是圣经有 66 本书的来由。

The Second Key Issue is Concerning the Bible.

One thing we must be clear that when we talk about the Bible in original languages, we are not dealing with the original autographs (i.e., the original manuscripts). 

All the original autographs were lost.  (Is there a possibility that any of these autographs could be rediscovered in the future?)

We do not have the originals,, neither the Old Testament nor the New Testament. Not a single of the 66 books in the Protestant Bible.

As a matter of fact, the resources we have today are hand-copied manuscripts, for NT, the earliest Greek copies are from the 4th century. For OT, the most complete manuscripts are from the 10th century (besides, there are the Septuagint and the Dead Sea Scrolls from the 2nd century BC),

As for the Bible, there is obscurity concerning the origin of both the Hebrew Scriptures and the New Testament, we are not certain for a large part, who wrote them, why they were written, how they were written, when they were first written, when they became the collection of books as it is now... Scholors have no certain answers to any of them.

e.g., Who wrote the Pentetuah?  Popular answer is Moses, but Moses could not have written everything in the Pentetuch, for in it, his own death was being recorded (Deut 34:5-12).

 

The Bible Canon

The Alexandrian bishop Athanasius in 367, the Council of Hippo in 393, and the Third Council of Carthage in 397 (both Councils were under the influence of Augustine) had a listing of the Catholic Canon of the Holy Scriptures, including the Apocrypha of the Old Testament and the 27 books of the New Testament.

However, debates had carried on for another century regarding the New Testament, particularly concerning Hebrews and the Revelation. 

Eventually, the disputes subsided by general consensus around the 5th century.

The Catholic (has 73 books) and the Greek Orthodox (has 79 books, whereas the  Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahdo Church has 81) have additional books, derived from the Septuagint (the additional count is due to the inclusion of the Apocryphal books).

Since the Reformation, Protestants removed the Apocrypha books and reverted back to the list of books in the Hebrew Scripture as Bible canon. 

This is the short history of how we have 66 books in the Bible.

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圣经翻译的其中三个重要关键 (之 1.2) -- 3 Important Issues to Bible Translation

还好当外国传教士将《圣经》译成中文时，打破了英文圣经的传统壁垒，但受当代知识的限制，大多是采用了“耶和华”这个词。

《新旧遗诏全书》马殊曼(Joshua Marshman)译 1822年

出埃及记 3 章 15 节到 3 章 16 节

15神复谓摩西，汝言于以色耳勒之嗣，汝祖父亚百拉罕，以撒革，及牙可百之神耶贺华遣我至于汝所此我永远之名，此我遗志于世世者也。 16　往集会以色耳勒之老辈，且语之曰，汝祖父亚百拉罕，及以撒革，牙可百之神耶贺华，显于我曰，我已显汝，且见以至百多中之所行于汝矣。

《神天圣书》 马礼逊译  1823年

出埃及记 3 章 15 节到 3 章 16 节

15神又对摩西曰，尔将如是对以色耳勒之子辈说云，尔列祖父之神耶何瓦即亚百拉罕之神，以撒革之神，牙可百之神差我至尔等，是为我名于永远，又是为我记号至代代也。 16　去集会以色耳勒之老辈，对伊等曰，尔列祖父之神耶何瓦，即亚百拉罕，以撒革，牙可百之神，现与我曰，我固然临尔等，而见在以至比多所行及尔等。

在和合本中((CUV 1919) ，我们都知道神的名字YHWH被标准化为"耶和华"。大概也是按照 ASV 1901 的先例，将神名字音译为“Jehovah(耶和华)”。

吕振中

后来中国学者吕振中着手翻译，作为一名神学院教授，他可能更受西方学术界的影响，其中有许多人都喜欢法国人将YHWH表达为“l'Eternel”（永恒者）的方式。

例如 Louis Segond 法文圣经：创 2:4 Voici les origines des cieux et de la terre, quand ils furent créés。 Lorsque l'Eternel Dieu fit une terre et des cieux,

吕振中  创2:4 天地之被创造，的来历是这样：当永恒主上帝造天的日子，

吕振中  出3:15-16

15 上帝又对摩西说："你要对以色列人这么说：'永恒主耶和华你们祖宗的上帝、亚伯拉罕的上帝、以撒的上帝、雅各的上帝、差遣了我来找你们；这就是我的名到永远；这是我的称号、代代无穷。'

16 你去聚集以色列的长老，对他们说：'永恒主、你们祖宗的上帝、亚伯拉罕以撒雅各的上帝、向我显现，说："我实在鉴察了你们；你们在埃及怎样受虐待、我都鉴察了。"'"

吕振中把神的名字YHWH意译为：

• 永恒主 5883节
• 耶和华 67节

我们必须从历史中吸取教训：

要抗衡二千年的传统、主流的共识，绝非易事，以逆水行舟来形容毫不为过。许多人以前曾尝试过，要把圣经的初衷，神的名字YHWH恢复过来。这绝不是个人意见或喜好，因为在原文圣经中，很明显，神有一个专有的名字，神的名字是YHWH。

我们是否仅仅因为教会二千年来已经不采用这个名字，就停止宣扬这个名字？

我们该持守人的传统高于神的话语吗？人大多数基督徒不准确地认识他们所敬拜的神的名字，你不觉得奇怪吗？

当然，我们可以得到以下重要结论：

• 神有一个名字，他将自己显示为 YHWH（例如:出埃及记 3:14-16）
• 只有一位神，这是贯通整本圣经的启示（例如:申命记 6:4）
• 唯一的神，他的名字就是YHWH。
• 人们称神为“父亲”（即“父亲”是神的替代词，例如太 6:9）。
• “耶和华”是几百年前虚构的一个词，今天学术界普遍认同的音译是“Yahweh(雅伟)”。

参考:

• http://bkbible.fhl.net/ob/nob.html?book=1
• http://bkbible.fhl.net/ob/nob.html?book=166

Fortunately, when the missionaries translated the Bible into Chinese, they broke the barrier of the English Bibles and phonetically translated the name of God as "Jehovah", limited by the knowledge of those days.

We have to learn from history:

It is never easy to stand up against hundreds and thousands of years of church tradition, against popular familiarities and consensus.  Many have tried before, to bring back the original intention of the Bible.  This is not an issue of personal opinion or preference. But plainly in the Word of God, that God has a proper name, God's name is YHWH.

• Should we stop proclaiming the name just because the Church has obliviated the name for thousands of years?
• Should we keep human traditions over the Word of God?
• Don't you find it strange that most Christians do not know the name of their God accurately? 

Of course, this could lead to the following important conclusion:

• God has a name, and He reveals Himself as YHWH (eg Exo 3:14-16)
• There is only one God, revealed in the whole Bible (eg Deut 6:4)
• Then the only God is YHWH.
• Men call God "Father", (ie "Father" is a substitution for God, eg Mat 6:9).
• "Jehovah" is a fabricated word, today the generally accepted translation is "Yahweh" in the academic world.

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