2014, Mike Parker http://bit.ly/ldsarc For personal use only. Not a Church publication.

New Testament Terms

A.D. Anno Domini (Latin: In the year of our
Lord), an abbreviation used to refer to dates after
the birth of Jesus. Many scholars prefer C.E.
(Common Era) to avoid a Christian-centered
calendar system. See B.C.
ALEXANDRIAN MANUSCRIPTS. See TEXT-TYPE.
APOCALYPSE. From the GREEK word
(apokalupsis) meaning uncovering or unveiling,
referring to Jewish and Christian prophetic literature
that revealed hidden information about Gods plans
for the future. The NEW TESTAMENT book of
Revelation is an example of an apocalypse.
APOCRYPHA. From the GREEK word
(apokrupto) meaning hidden, referring to books
some Jewish or Christian groups regarded as
scripture, but which were not widely accepted.
Fourteen specific OLD TESTAMENT-era apocryphal
books, originally written in Greek, are referred to as
the Apocrypha, and are found in some Protestant
Bibles. (See also PSEUDEPIGRAPHA.)
ARAMAIC., The language of the Babylonians that
became the day-to-day language of JEWS during their
exile in Babylon (587538 B.C.). Aramaic was the
language spoken by Jesus and his disciples.
AUTHORIZED VERSION. See KING JAMES VERSION.
B.C. Before Christ, an abbreviation used to refer
to dates before the birth of Jesus. Many scholars
prefer B.C.E. (Before the Common Era) to avoid a
Christian-centered calendar system. See A.D.
BIBLE. See CHRISTIAN BIBLE; HEBREW BIBLE.
BYZANTINE MANUSCRIPTS. See TEXT-TYPE.
CANON. From the GREEK word (kann)
meaning measuring rod, this word describes a list
of books considered to be authoritative scripture by a
particular religious community. For JEWS the
HEBREW BIBLE is canon; the CHRISTIAN BIBLE
includes both the OLD TESTAMENT and NEW
TESTAMENT as canon. Latter-day Saints also include
in our canon the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and
Covenants, and the Pearl of Great Price.
CHRIST. From the GREEK word (christos)
meaning anointed one, equivalent of the HEBREW
Messiah. In ancient Israel, the term applied to
kings, priests, and prophets who were anointed by
the high priest. It also referred to a future king, a
descendant of David who would save his people.
Christians believe Jesus is Christ, or Messiah.
CHRISTIAN BIBLE. The collection of 66 books that
have been bound into a single volume and accepted
as the Christian CANON. (See APOCRYPHA; HEBREW
BIBLE; NEW TESTAMENT; OLD TESTAMENT.)
CODEX (pl. codices). A series of sheets made of
PAPYRUS or PARCHMENT, bound on one edge like a
book, on which scripture and other ancient
documents were written. The codex format is more
convenient for reading than the SCROLL, and replaced
scrolls as the preferred NEW TESTAMENT MANUSCRIPT
format within a few centuries after CHRIST.
DYNAMIC EQUIVALENCE. A method of translating
scripture by rendering the essential meaning of the
text. It favors translating thought for thought,
rather than word for word, with the goal of making
the text more understandable for English readers.
(Compare FORMAL EQUIVALENCE.)
EPISTLE. In the NEW TESTAMENT, a letter of
instruction or counsel written by a Church leader.
Epistles written by the Apostle Paul are known as the
Pauline Epistles. The letters to Timothy and Titus are
called the Pastoral Epistles. The other letters are the
General Epistles.
FORMAL EQUIVALENCE. A method of translating
scripture by rendering the meanings of individual
words as closely as possible to their sequence in the
original languages. It favors translating texts word
for word, with the goal of transmitting the text as
faithfully as possible from the original. (Compare
DYNAMIC EQUIVALENCE.)
GENERAL EPISTLES. See EPISTLE.
GOSPEL. From the GREEK word
(euaggelion) meaning good news, referring to the
message of salvation through Jesus CHRIST. (See also
GOSPELS.)
GOSPELS. Books that contain accounts of the life
and teachings of Jesus. There were many Gospel
accounts that circulated in the 1st and 2nd centuries
A.D., four of which (Matthew, Mark, Luke, John)
were eventually accepted into the CANON of the
CHRISTIAN BIBLE. (See also SYNOPTIC GOSPELS.)
GREEK. The common (/Koine) form of the
Greek language evolved from Classical Greek starting
at the end of the 4th century B.C. Koine Greek quickly
spread throughout the Ancient Near East. JEWS
adopted its language and scholarship, and the
HEBREW BIBLE was translated into Koine Greek in
the 3rd and 2nd centuries B.C. (see SEPTUAGINT).
Koine Greek was the common tongue of the Roman
Empire at the time of CHRIST, and the language in
which the NEW TESTAMENT was written.
HEBREW. The language of Israelites up until the
6th century B.C., after which they spoke ARAMAIC.
After that, Hebrew became the language of the
HEBREW BIBLE and Jewish worship.
HEBREW BIBLE. The books of scripture accepted
by JEWS as their CANON. Called the OLD TESTAMENT
by Christians.
JEW. Strictly speaking, an Israelite from the tribe of
Judah. After the Assyrians removed the ten northern
tribes in 722 B.C., only the tribes of Judah and
Benjamin remained, and Jew eventually became
synonymous for anyone of Israelite descent.
JOSEPH SMITH TRANSLATION (JST). Joseph
Smiths revision to the KING JAMES VERSION of the
Bible, produced under inspiration. Two portions of
the JST have been CANONIZED in the Pearl of Great
Price as the Book of Moses and Joseph Smith
Matthew; other significant JST passages are included
2014, Mike Parker http://bit.ly/ldsarc For personal use only. Not a Church publication.
in the LDS edition of the Bible in footnotes and an
appendix.
KING JAMES VERSION (KJV). An early modern-
English translation of the CHRISTIAN BIBLE,
completed in A.D. 1611. The KJV is a FORMAL
EQUIVALENCE translation. It is the official Bible of The
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Also
known as the Authorized Version (AV).
KOINE GREEK. See GREEK.
LECTIONARY. An ancient CODEX MANUSCRIPT that
contained selected passages from the NEW
TESTAMENT, used for public reading in church
services. Over 2,000 lectionaries are still in existence,
one from the 4th century A.D., but most from the 9th
century or later.
LXX. See SEPTUAGINT.
MAJUSCULE. A type of ancient MANUSCRIPT written
on PARCHMENT in large uppercase GREEK letters.
Majuscules were produced between the 4th and 9th
centuries A.D.; about 270 of them exist today. Also
known as an uncial. (Compare MINUSCULE.)
MANUSCRIPT. A handwritten copy of a document.
About 5,700 ancient GREEK manuscripts of the NEW
TESTAMENT still exist today. (See TEXT-TYPE.)
MARCAN PRIORITY. The theory held by many
scholars that the GOSPEL of Mark was written first,
and then was used as a source text by the authors of
Matthew and Luke. (See Q; SYNOPTIC GOSPELS.)
MINUSCULE. A type of ancient MANUSCRIPT written
on PARCHMENT in small GREEK letters in a cursive
style. Minuscules were produced starting in the 9th
century. Most NEW TESTAMENT manuscripts available
today (nearly 2,700 of them) are minuscules.
(Compare MAJUSCULE.)
NEW TESTAMENT (NT). Twenty-seven books of
scripture, written in GREEK and published as part of
the CHRISTIAN BIBLE.
OLD TESTAMENT (OT). Thirty-nine books of
scripture, written mostly in HEBREW (with portions
in ARAMAIC). Published alone, it is called the HEBREW
BIBLE; published with the NEW TESTAMENT, it is part
of the CHRISTIAN BIBLE.
PAPYRUS (pl. papyri). Refers to an Egyptian plant
and the thick, paper-like material created by mashing
and drying its stem. The earliest NEW TESTAMENT
MANUSCRIPTS were written on papyrus SCROLLS; only
127 of them are known to exist today. (See
PARCHMENT.)
PARCHMENT. A thin, paper-like material made
from scraped and dried animal hide. Parchment
replaced PAPYRUS as the preferred writing material
after the time of CHRIST. Most NEW TESTAMENT
MANUSCRIPTS in existence today were written on
parchment. Parchment made from calfskin is called
vellum. (See SCROLL; CODEX.)
PASTORAL EPISTLES. See EPISTLE.
PAULINE EPISTLES. See EPISTLE.
PSEUDEPIGRAPHA. From the GREEK word
(pseudepigraphos) meaning false
inscription, referring to books attributed to famous
authors that were actually written by other people,
often much later. There has been much scholarly
debate over the authorship of some of the books in
the NEW TESTAMENT, including the GOSPELS and
some of the EPISTLES of Paul.
Q. A hypothetical GOSPEL account that scholars
believe was the source for stories found in both of the
books of Matthew and Luke, but not in Mark. Q is
an abbreviation of the German word Quelle, source.
(See MARCAN PRIORITY; SYNOPTIC GOSPELS.)
SCRIPTURE. See CANON.
SCROLL. A series of sheets made of PAPYRUS or
PARCHMENT, glued or pasted together, on which
ancient documents were written. The entire length of
a MANUSCRIPT was wound around two sticks, which
could be rotated to move the document as it was
read. (Compare CODEX.)
SEPTUAGINT (LXX): The GREEK translation of the
HEBREW BIBLE, completed by Jewish scribes in Egypt
in the 3rd and 2nd centuries B.C. The name for the
work comes from the Latin septuaginta (seventy),
which is a reference to a legend that the translation
was completed by 70 Jewish scholars in 70 days. The
Septuagint was the version of the OLD TESTAMENT
that the authors of the NEW TESTAMENT read and
quoted.
SYNOPTIC GOSPELS. The three GOSPELS of
Matthew, Mark, and Luke, which include many of the
same stories, often in a similar sequence and with
similar wording. The term synoptic comes from the
GREEK (sunopsis), see together. (See also
MARCAN PRIORITY; Q.)
TEXT-TYPE. A group or family of GREEK NEW
TESTAMENT MANUSCRIPTS that come from the same
time period and geographical region, and therefore
have similar readings. The three most important
text-types are the Alexandrian (most of the earliest
manuscripts, without many of the changes made by
later scribes), the Western (also early, but with
longer readings and more paraphrases and
harmonizing), and the Byzantine (which come later
and have fixed most of the difficult readings,
contradictions, and poor grammar, but are furthest
from the original versions). Most of the ancient
manuscripts we have today are MINUSCULES of the
Byzantine text-type. The KING JAMES VERSION of
Bible follows the Byzantine manuscript tradition,
while more recent Bible translations prefer readings
from the earlier Alexandrian manuscripts.
TEXTUS RECEPTUS (TR). The first printed version
of the GREEK NEW TESTAMENT, completed in
A.D. 1516 by Desiderius Erasmus, who used a handful
of late and inferior Greek MANUSCRIPTS of the
Byzantine TEXT-TYPE. The TR was the source for KING
JAMES translation of the New Testament.
UNCIAL. See MAJUSCULE.
VULGATE. The Latin translation of the CHRISTIAN
BIBLE completed at the end of the 4th century A.D.
Vulgate is the Latin word for commonly used,
referring to this translations status as the official
Bible of the Roman Catholic Church.
WESTERN MANUSCRIPTS. See TEXT-TYPE.