Bruce Metzger: Icon of Textual Criticism

Hello Friends!

Princeton Theological seminary professor, Bruce Metzger is said to have been "the greatest American New Testament critic and biblical translator of the twentieth century." Mr. Metzger is quoted by modern biblical scholars more than perhaps any other single source, being considered the final authority on matters of textual criticism by many in the academic world. 

So, what is textual criticism? Is it really that big of a deal? Who is Bruce Metzger and why should Bible believing Christians be concerned about the answers to these vitally important questions? Let's take a closer look at these and other concerns and decide for yourself...

Bruce Metzger: Icon of Textual Criticism

What exactly did Bruce Metzger (1914-2007) believe about the Bible? Was it his opinion that the Bible is the inspired Word of God? Or a collection of myths and legends? And what sort of impact has his contribution had on the true Christian Church in our time?

 

The following comments are from an official ecumenical Biography of Mr. Metzger from the Society of Biblical Literature:

Bruce M. Metzger is the George L. Collord Professor of New Testament Language and Literature Emeritus at Princeton Theological Seminary. A past president of the Society of Biblical Literature and the Studiorum Novi Testamenti Societas, he has made valuable contributions to the areas of textual criticism, philology, paleography, and translation.

He took great satisfaction in the expansion of the NRSV to include all the texts viewed as canonical by Roman Catholic, Greek Orthodox, and Protestant Christians, and was pleased to present copies of it to both Pope John Paul II and His All Holiness Demetrios.

Most widely influential is his handbook on The Text of the New Testament (1964; translations include German, Japanese, Korean, Chinese, Italian, and Russian; 3d, enl. ed. 1992; 4th ed. with Bart Ehrman, 2005), from which multiple generations of textual critics learned their craft...

The Holy Scriptures ensure us that a man is blessed if he does not walk in the counsel of the ungodly:

Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful; but his delight is in the law of the Lord and in His law he meditates day and night – Psalm 1:1

Mr. Metzger's modernism was also made plain in the notes to the New Oxford Annotated Bible RSV (1973). Metzger co-edited this volume with Herbert May. It first appeared in 1962 as the Oxford Annotated Bible and was the first Protestant annotated edition of the Bible to be approved by a Roman Catholic authority. It was given an imprimatur in 1966 by Cardinal Cushing, Archbishop of Boston, Massachusetts. Metzger wrote many of the rationalistic notes in this volume and put has editorial stamp of approval on the rest. Consider some excerpts from these notes from Mr. Metzger (emphasis & brackets mine):

INTRODUCTION TO THE OLD TESTAMENT: "The Old Testament may be described as the literary expression of the religious life of ancient Israel. …The Israelites were more history-conscious than any other people in the ancient world. Probably as early as the time of David and Solomon, out of a matrix of myth, legend, and history, there had appeared the earliest written form of the story of the saving acts of God from Creation to the conquest of the Promised Land, an account which later in modified form became a part of Scripture. But it was to be a long time before the idea of Scripture arose and the Old Testament took its present form. …The process by which the Jews became 'the people of the Book' was gradual, and the development is shrouded in the mists of history and tradition”

NOTES ON JOB: "The ancient folktale of a patient Job (1.1-2.13; 42.7-17; Jas. 5.11) circulated orally among oriental sages in the second millennium B.C. and was probably written down in Hebrew at the time of David and Solomon or a century later (about 1000-800 B.C.)."

NOTES ON PSALM 22: "22:12-13: ...the meaning of the third line [they have pierced my hands and feet] is obscure." [No! It is not obscure; it is a prophecy of Christ's crucifixion!]

NOTES ON JONAH: "The book is didactic narrative which has taken older material from the realm of popular legend and put it to a new, more consequential use."

INTRODUCTION TO THE NEW TESTAMENT: "Jesus himself left no literary remains; information regarding his word and works comes from his immediate followers (the apostles) and their disciples. At first this information was circulated orally. As far as we know today, the first attempt to produce a written Gospel was made by John Mark, who according to tradition was a disciple of the Apostle Peter. This Gospel, along with a collection of sayings of Jesus and several other special sources, formed the basis of the Gospels attributed to Matthew and Luke." [The Gospels, like every part of the new Testament, were written by direct inspiration of the Holy Spirit. This nonsense of tying to find 'the original source' for the Gospels is unbelieving heresy!]

NOTES FROM "HOW TO READ THE BIBLE WITH UNDERSTANDING": "The opening chapters of the Old Testament deal with human origins. They are not to be read as history...These chapters are followed by the stories of the patriarchs, which preserve ancient traditions now known to reflect the conditions of the times of which they tell, though they cannot be treated strictly as historical. ...it is not for history but for religion that they are preserved...When we come to the books of Samuel and Kings... Not all in these books is of the same historical value, and especially in the stories of Elijah and Elisha there are legendary elements. …We should always remember the variety of literary forms found in the Bible, and should read a passage in the light of its won particular literary character. Legend should be read as legend, and poetry as poetry, and not with a dull prosaic and literalistic mind."

Bruce Metzger is a classic unbelieving Liberal. This is the same type of rationalistic wickedness that also appears in Metzger's notes in the Reader's Digest Condensed Bible. This modernistic Jesuit foolishness is of course a complete misrepresentation of the Holy, inerrant, all-sufficient and inspired Word of God. In a direct word – lies. The Pentateuch – the first five books of the Old Testament – was written by the hand of God through Moses and was completed during the 40 years of wilderness wandering – hundreds of years before Samuel and the kings. The Old Testament did not arise gradually from a “matrix of myth and history” but is inspired revelation delivered to holy men of old by the Almighty Creator God Himself! The Jews were a "people of the book" from the perfect will of God. The Jewish nation did not form the Bible – the Bible formed the Jewish nation!

 

In Metzger's "introduction to the New Testament" in the New Oxford Annotated Bible, he completely ignores the inspiration of the Holy Spirit and claims that the Gospels are composed of material gathered from oral tradition. The Bible says nothing about this, but Jesus Christ plainly tells us that the Holy Spirit would guide the Apostles into all truth:

Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you. And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: of sin, because they do not believe in Me of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more; of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged. I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you. All things that the Father has are Mine. Therefore I said that He will take of Mine and declare it to you – John 16:7-15

The Word of God is the product of Divine Revelation – not some happenstance editing of oral tradition!

 

Is it possible that the Church in America has suffered for following the counsel of unbelieving, ecumenical academia know as “Textual Criticism” by such men as Mr. Metzger and Bart Ehrman?

 

May the Lord Jesus Christ open the eyes of the lost – naturally and spiritually – before it is too late…

 

Keep looking up and sharing the Gospel while there is still time… Hallelujah and Maranatha – come quickly Lord Jesus!

We are not guaranteed tomorrow – tomorrow may be too late! If you haven't yet made that most important decision of your life, won't you make Jesus Christ your personal Lord and Savior today - before it's too late? Today is the day of Salvation!

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