Correcting the 'Greek' with the English by Peter Ruckman
CORRECTING "THE GREEK" WITH THE ENGLISH or "Thank You Mario"
In our last issue we learned a number of important things documented
from two separate Greek texts. We chose Nestle's text, which the head
of the Bible Department at Bob Jones University said was infallible and
inerrant, and that he read it "every day" and would "defend EVERY WORD
OF IT." This was the text used for the NASV and the old ASV of 1901, as
well as the Liberal RSV and Modernistic NRSV of the National Council of
Christian Churches. We showed how any simpleton with a sixth grade
education could have used his King James Bible anywhere from two
hundred and fifty years before Nestle published his edition up through
all of Nestle's editions for a hundred years (1890-1990) to CORRECT
"THE GREEK TEXT." In one case, we showed where the "simpleton" would
have sinned against God if he HAD NOT CORRECTED "THE GREEK TEXT" with
the Authorized English Version.
We then took the Majority text--or at least the "eclectic" text of
the AV (Beza, Erasmus, and Stephanus combined)--and showed how ALL
modern apostate Fundamentalists correct it with the AV while claiming
that it is a "heresy" to do such a thing. In demonstrating this we had
to study SINCERITY and CONSISTENCY, and we learned that neither of
these qualities can be found in men like Bob Jones III, Curtis Hutson,
Al Jennings, Arthur Farstad, Donald Waite, Bobbie Scumner, or Doug
Kutilek when dealing with Biblical authority. These destructive critics
USE a Book they do not believe, sometimes altering it with "the Greek"
and sometimes altering the Greek with it. We gave as scientific proof,
their handling of Matthew 27:1, Romans 3:4, and Matthew 16:19, as well
as Acts 7:59 and 1 Corinthians 2:16.
The four things we learned were:
1. All Alexandrians correct any text with any other text (be it
Greek or English) when they want to assert their own authority and
establish their own opinions as THE oracle.
2. No Alexandrian will tell the truth about any English text every
time but will quote it as though he believed it when all the time he
thinks IT IS NOT THE RIGHT TRANSLATION OF ANY GREEK TEXT.
3. This constant shifting of authorities labels him as inconsistent;
and his refusal to tell the truth while pretending that he believes
what he is saying labels him as insincere.
4. Anyone really interested in getting THE truth out (after
believing that a certain thing is THE truth) is not only sincere--that
is, he believes what he is reading or saying is THE TRUTH (John
17:17)--but he is consistent. He will not keep switching authorities
after pretending he believes in one final authority.
This time we will stick with the "Textus Receptus Greek," that is,
the Greek text which apostate Fundamentalists finally adopted after
stating the "HISTORIC POSITION" that the Alexandrian text was the best
one. Sumner, for example, makes quotation after quotation to let you
know that the real "HISTORIC POSITION" of Fundamentalists and
Conservatives up to 1950 was ALEXANDRIAN, NOT RECEPTUS. It is only
stupid little children today who are pretending that they believed in
the Receptus "all along." They did not. It took Fuller, Hills, Burgon,
and Pickering to shake them out of their stupid "historic position"
which was no more correct than the "historic position" of the Reformers
on baptismal regeneration.
Here we show how all modern Baptist apostates who accuse Bible
believers of being "Ruckmanites" correct "THE GREEK TEXT" with the AV,
even when this Greek text is the TR or Majority Greek text. These
Baptists today are "fronted" by two ministerial blanks: a man named
Hymers in California and a child named Hudson in Florida. Both blanks
correct the Greek with the English nearly every time they preach, while
they have not yet learned a basic, fundamental truth of preaching;
i.e., that no Alexandrian can tell the whole truth about any verse in
the AV unless he stops to correct it two to seven times with "the
Greek." If HE FAILS TO DO THIS, he is "cheating" his congregation, for
he professes to be engaged in protecting them from falsehood and giving
them absolute TRUTH. I make that profession, and so does every Bible
believing preacher on earth. The difference is easy to see. We believe
that what we are reading and preaching IS THE ABSOLUTE TRUTH. We are
sincere. Furthermore, we judge all truths by THAT ABSOLUTE TRUTH, so we
are consistent. No Alexandrian can lay claim to either virtue, whatever
other virtues he may have, for when he reads or preaches the English,
he is GOING AGAINST SOME GREEK TEXT ALMOST EVERY TIME HE OPENS HIS
MOUTH, AND HE HAS ALREADY LET YOU KNOW THAT IT IS SUPERIOR TO WHAT HE
IS READING OR PREACHING.
Amazing, isn't it? I mean, the simplicity of it (Rom. 16:19).
Nothing hard for anyone to understand who has finished grammar school.
No one even has to know any Greek to see what is going on. An insincere
man who does not believe what he is preaching or teaching is doing it
with the mental reservation that it does not mean what is says every
place, because he thinks "the Greek" doesn't match what he is reading.
If he tells you what he thinks he knows, then you will know that he is
nothing but a habitual Bible correcting critic and has never been
called to preach anything but his own opinions. If he does NOT make
every correction he thinks should be made, he is a hypocrite
withholding the truth from you when he knows what "the truth" is.
Awesome, isn't it? Nothing is more awesome than fourth grade logic.
Witness: Hymers and Hudson quoting 2 Timothy 3:16 in an AV to prove
that "only the original autographs were inspired." "All scripture is
given by inspiration of God, and is profitabie for doctrine, for
reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness."
Every time they quoted that verse they corrected "THE GREEK TEXT"
with the English of the AV. There is no Greek manuscript on the face of
this earth that says God "INSPIRED" anything. Any fool knows that. The
word in "THE GREEK TEXT" is "theopneustos." It means "God breathed,"
and since "INSPIRATION," like exhaling, but it "breath" would have to
be "EXPIRATION," like exhaling, but is isn `t either one. It isn't
either one in ANY GREEK TEXT. There are no Greek manuscripts that say
"GIVEN BY INSPIRATION."
Why did Hymers and Hudson correct ALL OF THE GREEK TEXTS WITH THE
ENGLISH?
I'll tell you why. Because they are heretical, cultic "Ruckmanites."
Here we find Gaussen (Theopneustia) and John R. Rice (Our God
Breathed Book), and a vast company of dumbbells citing Isaiah 8:20,
Psalm 119, Galatians 3:8, Romans 10:14, 2 Timothy 3:16, Jeremiah 23,
Ezekiel 2:7, Proverbs 30:5-6, Revelation 22:19, and Psalm 12 to prove
that "THE ORIGINAL GREEK TEXT" and "THE ORIGINAL HEBREW TEXT" were
"inspired," and every quotation they got they took from a fallible,
errant TRANSLATION that they all claimed was not inspired. And every
time they quote a verse they had to ALTER the Hebrew and Greek "texts"
to give you the verse.
Ruckmanism, pure and simple. They just didn't profess what they
believed; Ruckman did. Ruckman said you could correct mistakes and
errors in the Greek texts if they were there, and further, you could
get advanced revelations from the English text that no Greek or Hebrew
scholar could find in any Greek or Hebrew text. Not being content with
saying it (or teaching it, or "claiming" it), he demonstrated it about
a dozen times in a row and will keep on till the Lord comes back.
Let the reader understand this matter. When we quote the BOOK we are
quoting God's authority. We believe the Book is God's authority. We
believe what we read, what we preach, and what we teach. We believe we
have GOD'S WORDS in our hands, and when we preach or teach these WORDS
we have no mental reservation about their correctness or authority.
When we say, "All scripture is given by inspiration of God," what we
actually mean is "All scripture is given by inspiration of God." That
is, "God breathed" MEANS "given by inspiration of God." This means that
"all scripture" means "all scripture," not "original autographs."
Do you see the difference? It is a matter of sincerity. We don't
have any doubts to pass along to you. DOUBTS are the stock and trade of
people like Curtis Hutson, A.T. Robertson, Zane Hodges, Arthur Farstad,
Spiros Zodhiates, Bobbie Scumner, Fred Afman, Marshall Neal, Stewart
Custer, J.G. Machen, Benjamin Warfield, Donald Waite, Philip Schaff,
and the faculties and staffs of BBC, PCS, SRCS, TTS, BJU, and LBU.
One more time: every time Hymers or Hudson (or Hutson, or Hindson,
or Hobbs, or Horton, for that matter) quoted Romans 10:1 ("Brethren, my
heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be
saved"), they knew it said nothing of the kind in any Greek text--
original or unoriginal. There was no "THAT THEY MIGHT BE SAVED" in any
Textus Receptus put out by anyone. The construction was "estin eis
sotarian," "it is unto salvation". You say "that is the dynamic
equivalent." Yes, but you have altered the Greek by giving it as it is
in the AV, and you did it making your congregation think you BELlEVED
the alteration was the ABSOLUTE TUTH, when the truth is, YOU BELIEVED
NOTHING OF THE KIND.
Insincerity. Amazing, isn't it? When we read the text (Rom. 10:1),
we believe the words of God are "that they might be saved." We preach
that because we believe it. We believe it because that is how it
reads...in the English!
Why do Hymers and Hudson (and all of their Greek teachers, and all
the teachers who taught the men who wrote the textbooks for their Greek
teachers) keep correcting "THE ORIGINAL GREEK"? They slam into Acts
3:19 after their peers have just translated the verse with the
expression, "so that the times of refreshing," teaching that the Jews
will repent and have their sins blotted out BEFORE "the times of
refreshing" come. The verse hinged on the Greek adverb "hopos", which
the AV translated as "WHEN the times of refreshing shall come," showing
that Israel's sins will not be blotted out until the time already
appointed in Romans 11 and Hebrews 8 and Jeremiah 31. The NKJV erased
all three cross-references to prophesy by USING "the Greek text"--this
time the Majority text of Donald Waite and Arthur Farstad.
But there has not been one soul winning pastor or preacher in
America since 1700 who did not read Acts 3:19 off just like it is in
the King James Bible, and without ever telling his congregation that
the "final court of appeals"--the final authority for the matter--was
"THE GREEK TEXT." They corrected "the Greek" with the English for 289
years (thank God), and it took the RV, ASV, NIV, and NKJV to "go to the
Greek" to teach a NONSCRIPTURAL, NON-BIBLICAL HEPESY that contradicted
more than fifty verses in the Bible.
If Hymers or Hudson corrected "the Greek" here (Acts 3) with the AV,
they were wise indeed. We trust they did. We always do. The apostate
Fundamentalists who corrected the AV with "the Greek" went to a lexicon
(instead of the scriptures) and consulted Trench, Thayer, and Robertson
(instead of the Holy Spirit) and got "whatever, how; i.e., in the
manner that (as adv. or conjunction of coincidence, intention, or
actual)..." which is just about as good as "Thank you, Mario, but our
Princess is in another castle," although not QUITE as good!
So we see that "correcting the Greek with the English" involves a
great deal more than some rabid, screaming, Baptist nut trying to
retain his scholarly status and Fundamentalist image by hollering
"BLASPHEMY"! Jackasses are born as well as made. Such slogans can be
used effectively by jackasses, but only where there is a field full of
jackasses who believe everything that's brayed in the pasture. A good,
close, hard, long, objective, piercing look at the matter (correcting
the Greek with the English) shows:
1. Everyone does it occasionally, including those who call it a
"heresy."
2. It can always be profitably done when dealing with such corrupt
texts as the ones that the NIV, ASV, and NASV came from.
3. It can sometimes be profitable when dealing with the Greek texts
published by Erasmus, Elzevir, Stephanus, and Beza.
4. Where the English gives information that one cannot find by
studying a Greek word vertically (that is, down into the lexicon), it
should always be used INSTEAD of the Greek, as it will enable one to
understand the word horizontally (by comparing scripture with
scripture) throughout the entire Book.
Those four facts (which can be proved anytime, anywhere, to any
jury) are called "HERESY" by a Nicolaitan who wants to keep his hold
over the Body of Christ by pretending there is something magical about
the Greek language or Greek texts.
Thank you Mario, but our Princess is in another castle!