CARM
Let me know when you have read Edward Freer Hills and come up to speed on the back-and-forth on the Sabellian issues. You demonstrate that you have jumped to a wrong opinion when you incorrectly assume that I have not read Edward Freer Hills' books. You should know that I have quoted from...
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Rick Norris
In the 1956 first edition of his book
The King James Version Defended, Edward F. Hills maintained that "the special providence of God has operated in the sphere of the Greek Church and expressed itself in its usage and that therefore the Byzantine text, found in the vast majority of the extant manuscripts, is a trustworthy representative of the divinely inspired original text and the best of all extant texts" (pp. 140-141). I did not notice any mention of 1 John 5:7 in this first edition.
In the expanded 1984 fourth edition of his book printed after the death of Edward F. Hills (1912-1981) with the 1984 copyright by Marjorie J. Hills, someone may have done some editing and even someone may possibly have added some sentences that Edward F. Hills himself may not have written. Some claims in the fourth edition could be considered to conflict with statements in the first edition.
In this fourth edition, a mere speculation is suggested. This edition suggested: "It is possible, therefore, that this Sabellian heresy brought the
Johannine comma into disfavor with orthodox Christians" (p. 212). No direct quotations from the 2nd and 3rd centuries are provided to support or prove this claimed "possible" speculation.
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Steven Avery
Without your comparing the 1973 2nd edition, or more importantly the 1979 3rd edition, your speculations remain up in the air.
Interesting, though.
Do you have examples of the supposed "could be" conflicts?
Yet again, we would really need the 3rd edition.
Worldcat has the 3rd and 1984 4th edition as both 280 pages, 1973 2nd is 254, 1st 1958 as 158.
That looks to make the 3rd and 4th edition the same, pretty much eliminating speculation of changes after Hills passed.
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Rick Norris
On the copyright page of the 1984 edition, [Reprint 1988]
this is stated:
"Copyright 1956, 1973 by Edward F. Hills.
Copyright 1984 by Marjorie J. Hills"
No copyright by Edward F. Hills is listed for the 1979 Third Edition. Since the copyright for the 1984 edition is by Marjorie J. Hills and since you claim that the third and fourth editions have the same number of pages, it could still be possible that she could be responsible for editing and even for the additional pages in 1979 for which she later claimed a copyright in 1984 (1979 is just a couple years before Hills died). Edward Hills could possibly have been sick or unable to write a period of time before he died. At least the fourth edition suggests that Edward F. Hills did not claim a copyright for the third edition additions.
In his 1956 first edition, Edward F. Hills advocated the text found in the vast majority of the extant Byzantine Greek NT manuscripts while in the fourth edition the acceptance of some non-Greek or minority readings such as 1 John 5:7 is supported. Surely you are aware of the fact that 1 John 5:7 is not found in the vast majority of extant Byzantine manuscripts.
Along with the quotation from Hills as on pp. 140-141, Edward F. Hills also wrote in 1956: "The text of the majority of the manuscripts is the providentially preserved and approved text" (p. 30) and wrote: "The New Testament text, therefore, which is found in the vast majority of the extant manuscripts is the providentially preserved and approved text" (pp. 34-35). Hills also wrote:
"The Byzantine text, then, found in the vast majority of the New Testament manuscripts, is the text upon which God, working providentially through the usage of the Greek-speaking Church, has placed the stamp of His approval" (p. 35).
Edward F. Hills noted: "It [referring to 1 John 5:7] was not included in Jerome's original edition of the Latin Vulgate, but around the year 800 it was taken into the text of the Vulgate from the Old Latin manuscripts" (p. 210).
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Steven Avery
In the 1983 edition we have:
But God in His mercy did not leave His people to grope after the True New Testament Text. Through the leading of the Holy Spirit He guided them to preserve it during the manuscript period. God brought this to pass through the working of His preserving and governing providence. First, many trustworthy copies of the original New Testament manuscripts were produced by faithful scribes. Second, these trustworthy copies were read and recopied by true believers down through the centuries. Third, untrustworthy copies were not so generally read or so frequently recopied. Although they enjoyed some popularity for a time, yet in the long run they were laid aside and consigned to oblivion. Thus as a result of this special providential guidance the True Text won out in the end, and today we may be sure that the text found in the vast majority of the Greek New Testament manuscripts is a trustworthy reproduction of the divinely inspired Original Text. This is the text which was preserved by the God-guided usage of the Greek Church. Critics have called it the Byzantine text, thereby acknowledging that it was the text in use in the Greek Church during the greater part of the Byzantine period (452-1453). It is much better, however, to call this text the Traditional Text. When we call the text found in the majority of the Greek New Testament manuscripts the Traditional Text, we signify that this is the text which has been handed down by the God-guided tradition of the Church from the time of the Apostles unto the present day.
That sounds like your description of what Hills wrote on the Byzantine Text, as given in the 1956 edition.
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Rick Norris
Not completely or totally. In the fourth edition, no copyright by Edward F. Hills is listed for the 1979 third edition of
KJV Defended.
Edward F. Hills' other book
Believing Bible Study may provide additional evidence that someone could have added to Hills' books.
I have a copy of the third edition of Hills'
Believing Bible Study, which I obtained in 1993
.
On its copyright page this is stated:
"First Edition 1967
Second Edition 1977
Third Edition 1991
Copyright 1967, 1977 by Edward F. Hills.
Copyright 1991 by Marjorie J. Hills."
This Third Edition is copyrighted ten years after Edward F. Hills' death in 1981. This third edition has 258 pages.
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Steven Avery
There is no legal imperative to claim a copyright.
“As of January 1, 1978, under U.S. copyright law, a work is automatically protected by copyright when it is created. Specifically, “A work is created when it is “fixed” in a copy or phonorecord for the first time.”
Rick Norris
Steven Avery
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Just working on the chronology.
Is the Hills 1973 second edition essentially identical to the 1983 that is online?
Going to the 1956 1st edition:
"the special providence of God has operated in the sphere of the Greek Church and expressed itself in its usage and that therefore the Byzantine text, found in the vast majority of the extant manuscripts, is a trustworthy representative of the divinely inspired original text and the best of all extant texts" (pp. 140-141). The heavenly witnesses are apparently not mentioned.
