VIDEO DESCRIPTION
The Dead Sea Scrolls created a serious problem for the modern Protestant understanding of sola scriptura.
Many Christians assume that the biblical community possessed one uniform version of every Old Testament book and that textual criticism can simply reconstruct the exact wording of the original manuscript. But the manuscript evidence tells a more complicated story.
The Dead Sea Scrolls preserve different textual forms of biblical books. Some readings agree with the later Masoretic Hebrew tradition. Others agree with the Greek Septuagint. Still others preserve readings that are not found in either tradition.
Jeremiah provides one of the clearest examples. The Greek form of Jeremiah is significantly shorter than the later Masoretic form, yet evidence from the Dead Sea Scrolls confirms that the shorter Greek edition was translated from a genuine Hebrew textual tradition.
The Isaiah scrolls also contain meaningful variations. Ancient Jewish communities apparently received and used multiple textual forms without concluding that God’s word had been lost.
This raises an important question for sola scriptura: If the authority of Scripture depends upon identifying the exact original wording in every passage, what happens when multiple ancient textual forms were received as authoritative?
For Catholics and other apostolic Christians, manuscript variation does not destroy faith. God preserved his revelation throughout the manuscript tradition and within the worshipping community that received, proclaimed, interpreted, and transmitted the Scriptures.
Members, watch carefully and tell us what you think: Do the Dead Sea Scrolls undermine sola scriptura, or can Protestantism consistently account for multiple authoritative textual traditions?
BIBLICAL REFERENCES
Deuteronomy 32:8–9
Jeremiah 36:1–32
Exodus 20:1–17
Deuteronomy 5:6–21
2 Timothy 3:14–17
2 Thessalonians 2:15
1 Timothy 3:15
