Mr. George M. Lamsa, a graduate of the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Mission College in Persia and of the Virginia Theological Seminary in Alexandria, has published “The Four Gospels According to the Eastern Version: Translated from the Aramaic,” and his more striking remarks have been used as “copy” by some of our newspapers. Without having read the book, it is not fair to criticise it on the basis of Press quotations, but it is necessary to rectify certain impressions. (I make one recommendation to those who are interested: they should not miss reading the article by “Artifex” on the subject in the Manchester Guardian Weekly of April 27th.) The Sunday Express tells us that Dr. Lamsa’s translation is from the ancient Aramaic text, and that it is generally accepted that the language used by Jesus was Aramaic, the suggestion being that this text therefore is more likely to record exactly what our Lord meant.
Upon this we are referred to the well-known words, “My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me?” and are told that the word “why” does not appear in the ancient Aramaic manuscript, and that with another emendation, what Jesus really said was: “My God, my God, for this was I kept,” or “My God, my God, my destiny is accomplished.” Now what are we to say to this? Well, let us first add that the Daily Telegraph, more precise, states that Dr. Lamsa’s translation is from the Peshitto version of the Bible. Paterson Smyth, in “How we got our Bible,” divides the sources of the Scriptures into three classes: (i) the Manuscripts, “the copies of the Scripture in the original tongues,” which include the now popular Codex Sinaiticus; (ii) the Ancient Versions, translations of the Bible into the languages of early Christendom; and (iii) the writings of the early Christian fathers. In section ii, the Peshitto version is the most ancient. But, although representing very nearly the language of the people among whom our Lord moved, it is itself a translation. The manuscripts, which are the more authoritative, are in Greek. The explanation is, that whatever language the people of those early days spoke, they wrote in Greek. The Scriptures which Jesus quoted were the Greek Septuagint, written not in the classical Greek, but in what has been described as a Judaeo-Greek dialect representing the idiom of the people. A translation of the Codex Sinaiticus into English is as likely to be as correct as one into the dialect of the Peshitto. We are told the word “lama” is not in the Peshitto version. But neither are the whole of 2 Peter 2; 3 John; Jude; and the Book of Revelation! And, surely, the front-page sensation of the Sunday Express is dispelled when we remember that the passage “My God, My God why has thou forsaken me” is a quotation from the Hebrew Psalmist, and is not dependant upon either Aramaic or Greek.
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Author: Edgar Taylor
Keywords: Camel, Camel and the Eye of a Needle, Camel rope, Rope, Eye of a needle, Needle, Needle's eye, Easier for a camel to pass through eye of a needle, Rich man, Riches, Hard for a rich man, Hard for a rich man to enter kingdom of God, Hard for a rich man to enter kingdom of heaven
Bible reference(s): Mat 19:23-26, Mar 10:24-27, Luk 18:24-27
Source: “The Camel and the Eye of a Needle,” The Testimony, Vol. 4, No. 41, May 1934, pp. 173-4.
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