"They confessed that they Were STRANGERS and PILGRIMS on the earth." (Hebrews 11:13)

THE HYPOCRITE AND HIS HOPE

Text: "For what is the hope of the hypocrite, though he hath gained, when God taketh away his soul? Will God hear his cry when trouble cometh upon him? Will he delight himself in the Almighty? Will he always call upon God?" --- (Job 27:8-10)

THE HYPOCRITE --WHO HE IS: The hypocrite spoken of here is one who has gained the admiration and applause of men. He has succeeded in this world and therefore expects to succeed in the next. He has made it with men and thinks he shall make it with God. He is in good standing here and hopes to be in good standing there. He thinks he is as fit for Heaven as anyone. But he is here called a hypocrite because he has no delight in God.

WHAT HE WILL DO SOMETIMES: The hypocrite will sometimes call upon God. So long as it is fashionable to appear religious, so long he will continue his religion. So long as someone stands constantly behind him pleading with him, he will continue in the way he should. So long as his conscience remains sensitive, so long he will call upon the Lord; but once his convictions cool, he will fall away into other company.

WHAT HE WILL NOT DO ALWAYS: Here is the line of demarcation clearly separating the precious from the-vile –the bastards (Hebrews 12.8) from the sons ---the hypocrite will not always call upon God. The religion of the hypocrite offers him no real comfort, and therefore he will not always call upon the Lord. He will not continue in the things of God forever, but will shortly leave them.

Worship is drudgery to him. He finds no delight in God: his delights are in the profits and pleasures the world gives.

Trouble will come upon him in the form of hardships, sickness and death. Then he will cry unto the Lord but the Lord will not hear. God considers as abomination the prayers of all who turn away their ears from hearing His Word. (Proverbs 28:9) He refuses the prayers of them who regard iniquity in their heart. (Psalm 66:18)

WHAT IS HIS HOPE? What good is the hope of the hypocrite? He hopes to go to Heaven. He considers himself to be as acceptable to God as any one. But it is a false hope because God will take away his soul. "For what is the hope of the hypocrite, though he hath gained, when God taketh any his soul?"

Reader, if anyone, or anything can cause you to forsake the things of God --again, hear me well, if anyone or anything can cause you to leave off calling upon God --know for certain you are a hypocrite and not a true believer. "Great peace have they which love Thy Law: and nothing shall offend them." (Psalm 119:165) "He that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved." (Matthew 24:13) Such a person gives evidence of really being born again.

THE AUTHENTICITY OF THE LAST TWELVE VERSES

OF THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MARK

demonstrated by the evidence of the ancient manuscripts

In the Revised Version of 1881 a space is left between the end of the 8th verse of Mark 16 and the beginning of verse 9, and a marginal note reads --"The two oldest Greek manuscripts, and some other authorities omit from verse 9 to the end. Some other authorities have a different ending to the Gospel. Many more recent versions have a similar note, and as a result, modern readers are inclined to assume that these verses are spurious.

Since the time of Griesbach’s second edition of the N.T. (1806) it has been increasingly the fashion for biblical scholars to question the genuineness of Mark 16:9-20. It has been alleged that the testimony of the Greek manuscripts and early Christian writers makes it impossible to regard these verses as Mark’s. It has also been argued that difference of vocabulary and style lead to the same conclusion.

It is suggested that the last portion of the Gospel was lost at an early date and that the present ending was added by a later hand. Before Griesbach scholars left these verses in text and defended their genuineness; e.g. Mill (1707), Bengel (1734), Wetstein (1751), Alter (1787). Birch (1788) raised the question but retained the verses in his text; Matthaei (1788) strenuously defended them.

Griesbach suggested that before the end of the 2nd century the present termination was added by an unknown writer and that a whole family of manuscripts descended from this source. Other copies existed, according to Griesbach, without these verses and gave rise to the group of manuscripts in which the Gospel ends with the words --"For they were afraid". In his opinion only these copies represented the authentic text.

Hug (1808) and Scholz (1830) both defended the genuineness of the verses rejected by Griesbach. Lachmann adopted the principle of relying upon a small group of the most ancient manuscripts (notwithstanding the unsatisfactory character of these witnesses), and disregarding all the later evidence. His text appeared in 1842 without the disputed verses they were not to be found in the Codex Vaticanus and a few other ancient copies. He was followed by Tischendorf, Tregelles and Dean Alford. Tregelles would not dispute their inspiration, but denied that they were part of the original Gospel --an impossible position.

Archbishop Thompson in his Bible Dictionary, T. S. Green in his Developed Criticism, Prof. Norton in his Genuineness of the Gospels, Prof. Westcott in his Introduction to the Study of the Gospels, and Meyer in His Critical Commentary --all deny the genuineness of these verses. Their example has been followed by many twentieth scholars and their hostile verdict has been accepted without question by many who profess to be evangelical Christians with a reverent garb for the inspiration and authority of the Holy Scriptures.

A re-examination of the evidence demonstrates that the verdict was wrong and that the disputed verses are abundantly entitled to their place in the Gospel according to Mark. It is evident that some copyist of the 3rd century left a copy of Mark unfinished and that the imperfect copy became the source of the small number of defective copies which have been preserved to our times. The vast majority of the manuscripts contain the verses in question.

Apart from a few fragments, our oldest manuscripts are of the 4th century, but the writings of a hundred or more writers of a much earlier period are available to testify to the contents of copies of the N. T. much earlier than any we now possess. We have comparatively few copies of the N. T. from the period A.D. 300-600, but about 2OO writers of that period quote from manuscripts then in existence but which have not survived.

It is true that many of these writers quote loosely and from memory, but even a very general allusion to these verses would be sufficient proof that the ancient writer was familiar with the words and found them in copies then in use. Such allusions are to be found in the writings of: --Papias A.D. 100; Justin Martyr A.D. 151 quotes the last verse within fifty years of the death of the last Apostles: Irenaeus quotes and comments on verse 19 in A.D. 180; Hippolytus quotes verses 17 and 18 in the period A.D. 190-227; Vincentius quoted verses 17 and 18 at the Seventh Council of Carthage, A.D. 256, in the presence of (87) African Bishops; about 150 years later Augustine quoted the same passage; the 3rd century "Gospel of Nicodemus" contains verses 15,16,17,18; the "Apostolical Constitutions" of the 3rd or 4th century quote verse 16 as it stands in the Received Text; Eusebius, A.D. 325, was familiar with the last twelve verses; the Homily of Aphraates, A.D. 337 quotes verses 16, 17, 18; Ambrose, Archbishop of Milan, A.D. 374-397, quotes verses 15, 16, 17, 18 and 20; Chrysostom, A. D. 400, quotes verses 19 and 20 and adds "This is the end of the Gospel"; Jerome, A. D. 331-320, retains the disputed passage; Nestorius the heretic quotes verse 20 and Cyril of Alexandria accepts the quotation and comments on it some time before A.D. 430; Victor of Antioch, A.D. 425, bears emphatic testimony to the genuineness of this passage.

These authorities belong to every part of the ancient Church and at least seven of them are of more ancient date than our oldest manuscripts.

Modern critics quote Gregory of Nyssa, Hesychius, Severus of Antioch, Eusebius, Victor of Antioch and Jerome as hostile to Mark 16:9-20, but Gregory and Severus merely quote the words of Hesychius, Victor quotes Eusebius and refutes him, and Jerome only translates but does not approve the words of Eusebius. We are thus left with Eusebius only, and an examination of his testimony indicates that he did not deny that the disputed words were in many manuscripts of his time. Eusebius mentioned that, because of apparent discrepancies between the concluding portions of the Gospels, some people were inclined to exclude the final verse of Mark. Victor clearly states that the words were to be found in the Palestinian copy of Mark.

-To be Continued-

(Reprinted by the permission of the Trinitarian Bible Society, 217 Kingston Road, London SN 19 3NN, England, through its Canadian branch at 26 Gracey Blvd., Weston, Ontario, M9R 1Z9)

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