A “Pearl” Hidden in Secluded Monastery

In 1844, Konstantin von Tischendorf, in search of ancient copies of the Bible, entered the library of the monastery at the foot of Mt. Sinai south of Palestine. His eyes were attracted by a large basket of book pages. A closer look left him stunned!

Here were pages from a copy of the Bible in Greek far older than any he had ever seen. Hardly containing himself, he inquired about these pages. His heart sank. They were used to start fires! Two heaps had already been burned! The monks gave him 43 pages, but they refused to cooperate further.

He made a second trip to the monastery—no success. A third trip—again all appeared lost. He made arrangements to leave, considering it a hopeless search. Three days before departing, he was talking to the steward, or caretaker, of the monastery who invited him into his small room. The steward remarked that he had read an old copy of the Bible and abruptly pulled down a heap of loose leaves wrapped in a red cloth.

As he opened this bundle, ah! here was the “pearl” Tischendorf had been searching 15 years to find. This Bible manuscript, now called the Codex Sinaiticus, contained all the “New Testament.” Believed to have been written around 350 C.E., it was over six centuries older than authoritative manuscripts at the time. Did it reveal any tampering with the text?

Tampering Discovered and Corrected

It was obvious from the start that the text of Tischendorf’s discovery was basically identical with that which was the foundation for today’s Bibles. Yet it revealed evidence of tampering.

An example is the familiar account at John 8:1-11 (Authorized Version) about an adulterous woman about to be stoned, and that reports Jesus as saying, ‘Let him that is without sin cast the first stone.’ It was not in this early manuscript. So later editions of the Bible have removed it or put it in a footnote to refine the Bible text. Other additions were also found and deleted.—Matt. 17:21; 18:11; Acts 8:37.

In more serious cases, tampering had been done with the text to support a false teaching, such as at 1 Timothy 3:16. The Authorized Version states, “God was manifest in the flesh,” as opposed to “He who was manifested in the flesh.” (American Standard) Quite a difference! Which is correct? If the first is, it would appear that Jesus is God, contrary to passages that say he is God’s Son.—Mark 13:32.

In older manuscripts the words for “God” and “who” (masculine) were similar (Greek letters—who, masculine) (Greek letters—God). Recent manuscripts usually had Greek letters or the equivalent. But in the manuscript found by Tischendorf it is Greek letters, or “who,” referring to Jesus, not God. A scribe had changed the term so it read “God.” The Alexandrian manuscript of the fifth century makes us wonder if it was an innocent mistake. At first glance, it appeared to be Greek letters, but by examination with a microscope it was found to have been originally Greek letters, and ‘a much later hand’ added the lines to change it. Recent versions have refined the text by reading properly, “He who was manifested in the flesh.” (See interlinear word-for-word reading, Interlinear Greek English New Testament, Nestle; also Emphatic Diaglott.)

A blatant example of tampering was also found at 1 John 5:7 where the phrase: “in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one,” (Authorized Version) was added. Not only were the words not in the Sinaiticus, but they could not be found in any Greek manuscript before the 16th century. The evidence indicates that a manuscript now found at Trinity College, Dublin, was purposely written about 1520 to insert that spurious verse! Basically, all modern versions have omitted this glaring tampering.

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Where copyists had tampered with the text, this was exposed through discoveries made by men such as Tischendorf, who found the Sinaitic manuscript at St. Catherine’s Monastery