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John Darby was a
Forerunner of the Modern Bible Versions Movement
 John Nelson Darby (November 18, 1800 – April 29, 1882) was
the most influential leader of the original Plymouth Brethren movement. It might
surprise you to learn that this man—regarded by biographers as the Father of Dispensationalism—was
at the forefront of the modern bible versions movement.
In 1867 John Darby
completed a new
translation of the New Testament that is filled with
texts and footnotes that contradict the
Received Text:
"Darby did not feel such a need
for a new translation in English, because he considered the King James
Version to be adequate for most purposes, and he encouraged his followers to
continue to use it. But, he decided to produce a highly literal English
version of the New Testament for study purposes. This New Testament was
first issued in parts, beginning with the Gospel according to Matthew in
1865. The New Testament was completed in 1867. The version is exceedingly
literal, based upon modern critical editions of the Greek text, and
abundantly supplied with text-critical and philological annotations.
The annotations are by far the most comprehensive and detailed to be found
in an English version." [Bold emphasis added.] (1)
The Darby Translation is based on
modern critical editions of the Greek text:
The
Gospels, Acts, Epistles, and Book of Revelation: Commonly called the New
Testament. A New Translation from a Revised Text of the Greek Original.
London: G. Morrish, 1867. Second edition 1872. Third edition 1884. [bold emphasis added] (2)
John Darby's Bible was so liberal the
modernists who translated the
1881 English Revised Version consulted it:
"It was consulted by the
translators of the English Revised Version of 1881 (see F.F. Bruce,
History of the Bible in English, 3rd ed., 1978, p. 132)." (3)
John Darby highly regarded
modernists of his day:
In my first edition my
translation was formed on the concurrent voice of Griesbach, Lachmann,
Scholz, and Tischendorf: the first of soberer judgment and critical
acumen and discernment; the next with a narrower system of taking only the
very earliest MSS, so that sometimes he might have only one or two; the
third excessively carelessly printed, but taking the mass of
Constantinopolitan MSS as a rule; [emphasis added] Revised Preface
to second edition of the New Testament (1871) (4)
"Meanwhile,
since my first
edition, founded on the concurrent judgment of the four great modern
editors, [he referenced Griesbach, Lachmann, Scholz, and Tischendorf]
following the received text unchanged where the true reading was a disputed
point among them, the Sinaitic MS has been discovered; the Vatican
published; Porphyry's of Acts and Paul's Epistles and most of the Catholic
Epistles and the Apocalypse, and others, in the Monumenta Sacra Inedita of
Tischendorf, as well as his seventh edition." Revised Preface to second
edition of the New Testament 1871 [bold emphasis added] (5)
Darby gave honorable mention to
modernists who "enlarged the field of criticism":
"Mill, Bengel, Wetstein (who
greatly enlarged the field of criticism), then Griesbach, Matthei (the
last giving the Russian Codices, which are Constantinopolitan so called),
Lachmann, Scholz, Tischendorf, and quite recently Tregelles. I name only
those of critical celebrity." [emphasis added] (6)
John Darby's assertion that the Textus Receptus
"had no real authority" corresponds with the fact that his alleged "recovered truths"
are not found in the Authorized Version (KJV). He stated:
"My plan was, where the chief
editors agreed, to adopt their reading, not to attempt to make a text of my
own. My object was a more correct translation: only there was no
use in translating what all intelligent critics held to be a mistake in the
copy. For, as is known, the Textus Receptus had no real authority, nor was
indeed the English Version taken from it, -- it was an earlier work by some
years." [emphasis added] (7)
In view of the fact that the bulk
of John Darby's "recovered truths" are prophetic in nature, it is revealing that
he rejected the manuscripts the King James translators used for Revelation:
"I have always stated the Textus Receptus in the margin where it is departed from,
except in the
Revelation, Erasmus having translated that from one poor and imperfect
MS., which being accompanied by a commentary had to be separated by a
transcriber; and even so Erasmus corrected what he had from the Vulgate, or
guessed what he had not." [bold emphasis added] (8)
Plymouth Brethren Translations Agree on Modern Version
Doctrines
QUESTION: Why does the John Darby
Bible (which is based upon critical editions of the Greek Text) often
precisely match Thomas
Newberry's George
Ricker Berry English Interlinear in modern version doctrinal teachings?
ANSWER:
The John Darby Bible often matched Thomas Newberry's Interlinear because
both Plymouth Brethren leaders were
AGAINST THE RECEIVED
TEXT and for the Critical Greek Text!
Notes:
(1) Unknown and Well Known ~ a biography of
John Nelson Darby compiled from reliable sources by W. G. Turner, edited and
revised by E. N. Cross; pages 143, 144
(2) Unknown and Well Known ~ a biography of John Nelson Darby compiled
from reliable sources by W. G. Turner, edited and revised by E. N. Cross; page
143
(3) Unknown and Well Known ~ a
biography of John Nelson Darby compiled from reliable sources by W. G. Turner,
edited and revised by E. N. Cross; page 144
(4) Unknown and Well Known ~ a biography
of John Nelson Darby compiled from reliable sources by W. G. Turner, edited and
revised by E. N. Cross; page 145-6 (Revised Preface to second edition of the
New Testament 1871)
(5) Unknown
and Well Known ~ a biography of John Nelson Darby compiled from reliable
sources by W. G. Turner, edited and revised by E. N. Cross; page 146 (Revised
Preface to second edition of the New Testament 1871)
(6) Unknown and Well Known ~ a biography
of John Nelson Darby compiled from reliable sources by W. G. Turner, edited and
revised by E. N. Cross; page 145 (Revised Preface to second edition of the
New Testament 1871)
(7) Unknown
and Well Known ~ a biography of John Nelson Darby compiled from reliable
sources by W. G. Turner, edited and revised by E. N. Cross; page 145 (Revised
Preface to second edition of the New Testament 1871)
(8) Unknown and Well Known ~ a biography of
John Nelson Darby compiled from reliable sources by W. G. Turner, edited and
revised by E. N. Cross; page 148 (Revised Preface to second edition of the
New Testament 1871)
John Nelson Darby:
Freemason
Return to:
John Darby MAIN INDEX:
Dispensationalism:
Masonic Roots (many articles)
Thomas Newberry MAIN INDEX:
George Ricker
Berry Interlinear: Corrupt |