It
is common to hear and read catholic comments that Protestant editions of the
Bible are wrong, especially the King James version in English and the Reina Valera
version in Spanish. However, in the
editions of the New Jerusalem Bible, a heretical translation long time
discarded has been brought back to the gospel text of Luke 3:22; where the
voice of YHWH comes down from Heaven and speaks to our Lord coming out of the
Jordan River.
In
all Protestant and old Catholic Bibles, the passage reads like this:
“And the
Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form, like a dove; and a voice came from
heaven, “YOU ARE MY BELOVED SON; WITH YOU I AM WELL PLEASED.”
(Luke
3:22, ESV)
But
the New Jerusalem Bible translates:
“And the
Holy Spirit descended on him in a physical form, like a dove. And a voice came
from heaven, 'YOU ARE MY SON; TODAY HAVE I FATHERED YOU’.”
(Luke
3:22 NJB)
Nestle
Textus:
“Σὺ
εἶ ὁ Υἱός μου ὁ ἀγαπητός, ἐν σοὶ εὐδόκησα.”
Textus Receptus 1550
“Σὺ εἶ ὁ υἱός μου ὁ ἀγαπητός ἐν σοὶ ἠυδόκησα”
“Σὺ εἶ ὁ υἱός μου ὁ ἀγαπητός ἐν σοὶ ἠυδόκησα”
In all the accepted and canonized
translations, it reads “I am well pleased”, and not “Today I have fathered you”.
The translators of the New Jerusalem have
chosen to revive a very obscure version of a single manuscript, the Bezae Codex
that dates from the fifth century, the only one using the wording “I fathered
you”, instead of the majority version “I am well pleased”. The catholic commentators chose that version,
because they think it reflects the prophecy of Psalm 2:7: "You are My Son;
today I have become Your Father”; and they see it as the most probable wording
during the event.
But this does not explain why the other
versions of the event in Matthew 3:17 and Mark 1:11 where it reads “I am well
pleased” is still kept in their editions. If they believe the words that came
from Heaven at the Lord’s Baptism was a repetition of Psalm 2:7; then the most
logical consequence, would be to change the wording in the other two sections
of Matthew and Mark; but if no mention of that is given by authors of the
narrative, then there is no reason to choose a heretical adoptionist version
over the others already canonized, especially when the text we all have of
Second Peter 1:17, also says of the same event: “I am well pleased”.
The reason why the wording of the Bezae Codex
was discarded, it is because it suggests that Jesus of Nazareth, was a common
human being, and “became” the Son of God, only after YHWH “adopted” him as such
after his Baptism. This heretical idea is called Adoptionism, and to choose a
version like the Bezae Codex, over the overwhelming testimony of the other
codices, it is an erroneous decision, especially coming from a prestigious team
like the one that produced the New Jerusalem Bible.
Omar Flores
As I was working thru the daily office using Tickles work Lk 3:22 that caught my eye. Thanks for taking your time to clarify.
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