The Holy Quran with Five Volume Commentary (Vol 1) — Page lxix
GENERAL INTRODUCTION result of a comparison with the Greek copy and of a change in Latin terminology. These confusions remained until Jerome's revised version, prepared under orders of the Pope between 383 and 400 A. D. , took the place of the old Latin version among Christians. (vii) Similarly we have: More important than these external matters are the variations which in course of time crept into the text itself. Many of these variations are mere slips of the eye, ear, memory, or judgement on the part of a copyist, who had no intention to do otherwise than follow what lay before him. But transcribers, and especially early transcribers, by no means aimed at that minute accuracy which is expected of a modern critical editor. Corrections were made in the interest of grammar or of style. Slight changes were adopted in order to remove difficulties, additions came in, especially from parallel narratives in the Gospels, citations from the Old Testament were made more exact or more complete. That all this was done in perfect good faith, and simply because no strict conception of the duty of a copyist existed, is especially clear from the almost entire absence of deliberate falsification of the text in the interests of doctrinal controversy. To detail all the sources of various readings would be out of place; it may suffice to mention, in addition to what has been already said, that glosses, or notes originally written on the margin, very often ended by being taken into the text, and that the custom of reading the Scriptures in public worship naturally brought in liturgical additions, such as the doxology of the Lord's Prayer; while the commencement of an ecclesiastical lesson torn from its proper context had often to be supplemented by a few explanatory words, which soon came to be regarded as part of the original (Enc. Brit. 12th edition, p. 646, Vol. III). (viii) Again we have: It appears from what we have already seen, that a considerable portion of the NT is made up of writings not directly apostolic (Enc. Brit. 12th edition, p. 643, Vol. III). (ix) And again: Yet, as a matter of fact, every book in the NT, with the exception of the four great Epistles of St. Paul, is at present more or less the subject of controversy, and interpolations are asserted even in these (Enc. Brit. 12th edition, p. 643, Vol. III). (x) The New Testament is not free even today from interpolations and alterations. As examples we have the following: xliii