THE URGENCY OF TEXTUAL CRITICISM OF THE NEW TESTAMENT INERRANCY

Textual criticism has long existed as part of the hermeneutic discipline. However, many communities reject this approach. Even scientifically, textual criticism provides a new understanding of the scriptures, especially the New Testament. The many variants of the Greek New Testament make textual criticism present to reconstruct the original text of the Greek New Testament. Nevertheless, on the other hand, this scientific development deals with the doctrine of the inerrancy of the Bible. This study attempts to present the logical foundations of the urgency of textual criticism related to the doctrine of the inerrancy of the Bible. This study examines the importance of textual criticism of the inerrancy of the Bible. The approach used is exploratory qualitative. The results showed that the hermeneutic method of textual criticism did not weaken the truth of the Bible. The inerrancy of the Bible is maintained when an interpreter uses this method. The meaning of the text is more understandable and far from error because of the approach to the highlighted New Testament Greek.


Introduction
Accurate interpretation of the Bible depends on hermeneutic technical competence. Hermeneutic is the study of principles and methods of interpretation. The term is sometimes used to emphasize the present relevance of the text. 1 In the current era of theological discourse, dogmatic areas of scripture texts are increasingly open to being accessed and re-examined by internal and external church members. New hermeneutic approaches continue to develop to re-understand traditional concepts from biblical dogma.
This fact presents its challenges to the Bible's doctrine of inerrancy. Today, the Christian faith is confronted with the principle of relative truth. 2 Relativism, in truth, is certainly in direct contact with the fundamental dogma of the church, namely inerrancy. 3 Suppose all aspects of life, including religiosity, are confronted with a trend of relative truth. In that case, it is not impossible that the issue of inerrancy can be approached with this lens.
Suspicion in the church also arises because many seminaries use several hermeneutic approaches in recent times, which have begun to see as disturbing the doctrine of the inerrancy of the Bible. Famous passages from Christian scriptures with strong ecclesiastical tradition and historical value for the church are studied with various contemporary hermeneutic approaches. 4 Moreover, the results of his studies are widely considered to deviate from the church's noble belief in the innocence of the Bible. Textual criticism is one part of the hermeneutic discipline that has experienced many rejections. 5 The beginning of this scientific discipline was motivated by the influence of the post-Protestant Reformation, which required that the scriptures be interpreted literally. At the same time, there was a phenomenon of interest in ancient texts from a group of Renaissance people, such as Desiderius Erasmus. In 1516 published an edition of the Greek New Testament. Erasmus builds on the construction of his text using younger manuscripts. Erasmus's work then sparked the birth of a collection of NT Greek texts, with enthusiasm to present a better reader than Erasmus' collection. John Mill, Westcott, and Hort, Kurt Aland are a few experts competing to reconstruct the Greek NT text as Erasmus did.
Rationalize the message contained in the text to make it easier to understand. Based on the problems above, this study aims to describe textual criticism to maintain the inerrancy of the Bible. The accusation of text criticism causes someone to no longer believe in the truth of the Bible while the researcher is explaining the fact. Therefore, this article focuses its study on the method of textual criticism that can reinforce the Bible's inerrancy. Research related to textual criticism has been carried out by Dwiraharjo, who studied historical criticism of the Bible. The results of his study show that historical text criticism has a strategic role in the dialogue between texts whose meanings are still ambiguous to be clear and not multi-interpreted. 6 Meanwhile, Rosang uses a text-critical hermeneutic method to approach the text of Genesis 1:1-2. 7 From the two studies above, no research examines textual criticism with the inerrancy of the Bible. We agree that textual criticism is not a theology that undermines the Bible. It emphasizes the inerrancy of the Bible.

II. Method
This study uses an exploratory qualitative method. The researcher chose this method because the analysis in this article entirely refers to the analytical model from the literature study, which makes optimal use of all materials and content related to textual criticism. 8 The research procedure begins with collecting sources related to the theme. Furthermore, the data is compiled into a structure regarding the hermeneutic method of text criticism. 9 After the theoretical building is reached, we relate to the inerrancy of the Bible by bringing up some examples of Bible verses that are interpreted using the textual criticism method.

Textual Criticism Work Area
Textual criticism is a hermeneutic approach whose work area seeks to approach the autograph of scripture. 10 Textual criticism aims to find the biblical text to the original manuscript as close as possible, which is no longer available. 11 One of the reasons is that the materials used as writing media are very fragile. 12 There are at least 400,000 variants of the New Testament text found today, although not all text variants are significant. The Greek-language copy alone is about 5800 variants. In comparison, the number of texts translated into Latin NT exceeds the number of Greek manuscripts, about 10,000 copies. Other ancient texts have been translated into many languages, such as Syriac, Arabic, Ethiopian, and Coptic. 13 In textual criticism, these ancient manuscripts are grouped into several parts, namely papyrus, magiskul, minuscule, and lectionary. The first group, namely papyrus, are manuscripts identified based on the material made of papyrus. The papyrus as a writing medium was used in Ancient Egyptian civilization during the pharaoh dynasty and then spread throughout the Middle East to Rome in the Mediterranean Sea and throughout Europe. The word papyrus is paper in English, papier in Dutch, German, French, or papel in Spanish, which means paper. The papyrus group has its class considering the age of the text, which is, on average, quite old. One of the oldest papyri, P52, dates back to the second century, circa 100-150. 14 Several prominent papyri groups, including P 52 , are papyri containing writings from the Gospel of John 18:31-33, 37-38. 15 The Chester Beatty and Bodmer papyri are also prominent. P45, P46, and P47. P45 contains the Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles, although they are incomplete in some areas. P46 includes several passages from Paul's writings, such as Romans, 1 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians, Ephesians, Philippians, and Colossians. P47 contains the text of Revelation 9:10-17:2. These three papyri belong to the Chester Beatty class.
Meanwhile, P 66 , belonging to the Bodmer group, contains writings from the Gospel of John. P 75 , also a Bodmer class has Luke from 3:10 and the Gospel of John from 1:1-15:8. Together, Vaticanus and P 75 are powerful witnesses to the earliest forms of the New Testament text. 16 The Revelation of the meaning of the Bible will impact today's understanding. Thus, the variety of papyrus can help an interpreter find the meaning of the Bible closest to the context at that time. The variants provided provide options for an interpreter to understand the Bible.
Majuscule, included in the second group, is the most famous group of texts. Magi such as Sinaiticus, Alexandrinus, Vaticanus, Bezae, and Washingtonians list main text variants. The average age of these variants is from the 4th and 5th centuries, and what is impressive about this group is that most of the texts are still in good condition and are often subject to study by academics. The third group, namely uncial and minuscule, is a group whose names are based on the writing style of the letters, whether written in capital or cursive letters. 17 ¥, A, B, D, and W are the main groups of Unsial. There are still several variants such as Ephraemi (C), Basilensis (E), Boreelianus (F), and others who are members of the unsial group.
Another part of the third group, the minuscule, is essential to this group of manuscripts. Among the many members of this group, Ms. 33 is the most prominent. Ms. 33 was dubbed the "Queen of Minuskel" or "Queen of Cursives." This manuscript contains all of the NT books except Revelation. It is thought to date from the ninth century. Then the lectionary group is a manuscript whose contents are texts for daily study. There is also a lectionary used for service on Saturdays and Sundays. This lectionary is divided into two groups based on its writing: the uncial lectionary and the minuscule lectionary. Lectionaries are the category of manuscripts that rarely get the attention of experts. Nevertheless, in the 1930s, through E.C. Colwell, the lectionary study began to be developed.

The Effect of Textual Criticism on the New Testament Text Comma Johanneum
Comma Johanneum is found in 1 John. 5:7-8 is well-known among textual criticism academics as part of the text of questionable authenticity. In the first 1300 years of the history of the transmission of the NT texts, this text is not found in any text group. 18 Of the approximately 5800 NT Greek texts, only nine manuscripts contain the Comma Johanneum. Of the nine manuscripts alone, only 4 include the Comma Johanneum in the main text, namely 61, 629, 918, and 2318. Except for 629, the other manuscripts are from 1400 AD. This means that the Comma Johanneum text has only been found in copies if we compare it with the age of famous manuscripts that have existed since the 2nd century, which is relatively young.
Meanwhile, the subsequent five manuscripts, 88 vl , 177 vl , 221 vl , 429 vl , and 636 vl , recorded Comma Johanneum in the margin of the main text. These manuscripts are also much younger than before, such as 177 vl and 221 vl dating from the 10 th and 11 th centuries. This indication shows that the scribes of each of these manuscripts realized that the Comma Johanneum text was not a significant part of the original text. Nevertheless, in their consciousness, it seems that some text communities have accepted it so that even if it is included in the following copy, even at the margin position, it should not be a problem.
Comma Johanneum in ancient translated texts also does not show significant significance. Except for Latin translations, other ancient NT translations such as Coptic, Syriac, Armenian, Ethiopian, and Arabic dating before AD 1500 do not contain this text. Given that the Greek text community is closely related to these translated texts, it is not impossible that the Comma Johanneum was indeed a younger addition.
Even in the early discourses discussing the concept of the Trinity in Western and Eastern churches, there is no indication that this text appeared during the church. p-ISSN 2621-2684Vol. 5 No. 1, Juni 2022e-ISSN 2615 Indeed, biblical references would point to this text if the concept had been written down in the early church. Given the importance of the Trinity issue for the ancient church, the presence of Comma Johanneum would be a breath of fresh air for the church at that time.

Pericope Adulterae
The story of the woman who commits adultery or what is known as the Pericope Adulterae is known as a text that reflects how sinful humans are. Not only because of the woman's adultery but also because even people who appear religious are grievously sinful before Jesus. Historically this text is very well known in the church. Most scholars and interpreters agree that this text is included in the inserted section of the Gospel of John. Jennifer Knust makes a special note about this text that the stories in Pericope Adulterae are very authoritative and contain strong reflections, which is why it calls the "Gospel" even though it is not found anywhere else in the Bible itself. 19 In Sinaiticus (a) and Vaticanus (B) from the 4th century, this text is not found. There is no such passage in manuscripts L and D, but there is a blank space after John 7:52 even though the space is not large enough to contain this one passage. However, these clues indicate that the scribes knew of Pericope Adulterae. 20 Based on the testimony of the church fathers Augustine and Jerome in the 4th century, Pericope Adulterae was found in some Greek manuscripts but not in other parts. After that, the passage was not found regularly until it entered the 9th century.

Markan Ending
Among scholars, the issue of the validity of Mark 16:9-20 as part of Mark's original text has long debate Mark 16:9-20, in its continuation, will be given the initials LE (Long Ending or Longer Ending). 21 Not a few experts believe that this text is not the original writing of Mark. Along with Mark 16:9-20, a woman is also caught adultery in John 7:53-8:11, which includes sections, not in the Codex Sinaiticus. Both are well known and loved by many but are unfortunately not found in the early manuscripts. See Stanley E. existence of texts classified as SE with IE. After verse 8, there is an addition from the younger codices, namely the Regius codex (L) and the Athos codex (Ψ). The additional sounds are: Then they conveyed all these commands to Peter quickly. After that, Jesus Himself sent them the holy and eternal message of eternal salvation through the disciples from the East and the West. Amen.
Third, Long Ending (verses 9-20). Extended Ending is Mark's closing that has been known traditionally and has a more massive distribution than other variants of Mark's closing. Many manuscripts also support this conclusion with a relatively wide geographical distribution. Supporting manuscripts include the Alexandrinus codex (A), the Ephraemi codex (C), and the Bezae codex (D). Four, Freer Logion. It is the unique closing of Mark's Gospel. The Freer Logion, also known as the Expanded Longer Ending, is only found in one manuscript, namely the Washingtonians (W) codex: Furthermore, they excused themselves and said, "This is an age of lawlessness and unbelief under Satan, those who do not allow the truth and power of God to triumph over unclean spirits. Wherefore declare thy truth now-thus they speak unto Christ. Then Christ answered them, "The time of Satan's power has been fulfilled, but something terrible is approaching. Furthermore, I have handed them over to death for those who have sinned. Those who return to the truth and sin no more will inherit the spirituality and eternal glory of the righteousness in heaven.
Abrupt Ending, Short Ending, and Long Ending are three variants of text familiar in Christians' lives. Three Bible endings are contained in the Holy Scriptures published by the Indonesian Bible Society. The fourth type, the Freer Logion, is unpopular because it is thought to contain Gnostic elements in it. However, the Short Ending position is not too strong considering that the supporting manuscripts, Regius and Athos, are younger. Regius is from the 7th century, while Athos is thought to be from the 8th or 9th century.
While the Abrupt Ending and Long Ending come from two old variants, the tendency to set aside the Long Ending is getting more intense. The peak of this rejection of the authenticity of LE occurred in the 19th century. Experts such as Griesbach, Lachmann, Tischendorf, Tregelles, and Westcott and Hort rejected LE as an original part. 24 The chaos of Markan Ending is much more complex and lasts for centuries. Various approaches and evidence presented to the table for dialogue between fellow experts are still ongoing. If you refer to the evidence and early witnesses, the existence of the Markan Ending only ends in verse 8. However, given the solid historical and church tradition of this culmination of the narrative of the resurrection of Christ, there is a magical value that makes those who realize that even though this is an additional text, the entire Markan Ending is still considered a substantial part of Mark's writings.

The Urgency of Textual Criticism of New Testament Interaction
Various findings made through Textual Criticism provide a much new understanding of the original text of the New Testament. The new understanding exists because many parts of the biblical texts have already been known and accepted by the church. In contrast, research projects on biblical texts are still ongoing until now, and most of the new findings are too old or difficult to accept by the church. Textual criticism is considered a danger to future understanding of the inerrancy of the Bible. This concern appears with the development of today's era with its pluralistic thinking style. 25 That is why a complete understanding needs to view textual criticism. The King James Version (KJV) is one of the best-known scriptures by the church community for hundreds of years. While this Bible was meant to be based on the Bishops' Bible-only differ when needed-many translations heavily influenced it. At Oxford University, a manuscript gives us a brief glimpse into the translation workalmost 'behind the scenes,' as it is in the original. The manuscripts are copies of the Gospels from the Bishops' Bible, which translators have used through various stages of revision. You can detect different groups working on the document. Handwritten notes enhance almost the entire verse of the text. The first team made the revisions by hand, getting the job done in a relatively short time. (If the KJV appeared in 1608, when the first revision of the entire Bible was completed, it would have looked like a revised Bible of the Bishops' Bible. Nevertheless, there was much work to be done later.) Then, the manuscript was sent for the final revision by the committee. One of the most exciting aspects of this work is that as the manuscript goes through the revision stages, the new version looks less and less like the Bishops' Bible but more like Tyndale! They will improve the text even further. 26 Suppose we refer to the sources of the reconstruction of the text. In that case, the majority of which rely on Erasmus' sources, which are estimated to only come from no more than seven manuscripts, the validity of its authenticity is questionable. The age of the manuscripts used by Erasmus is also relatively young compared to the Sinaitic and Vaticanus magi, which date from the 4th century.
The tip of the iceberg of this issue is when the doctrine of inerrancy justifies textual criticism. Generation holds to the principle that the Bible is innocent. There is nothing substantially wrong with this principle. Should not truth in this perspective place the autograph as the highest reference of the infallibility of the Bible itself? 27 Hiding behind inerrancy and denying valuable findings in the world of biblical texts is a form of obscurantism. At the same time, the textual criticism approach seeks to present the text of the scriptures as close as possible to the original text. As much as possible, the entire narrative of Christ in the Gospels, Paul's writings, and other parts of the NT are the same as in the autograph.
It is indeed unfortunate if parts of well-known texts or well-known passages such as Comma Johanneum, Pericope Adulterae, and Markan Ending verses 9-20 are not found in the original manuscript. Although the debate about the existence of these three parts of the text is still ongoing, most of the available evidence and findings indicate the absence of these parts of the text. Nevertheless, that is not bad news either. When referring to the new publications of the NT scriptures, these texts are still included as part of the scriptures. Some translations provide information regarding the required information.
To borrow Geisler's statement, which states that if the Bible claims everything is true, it is true, but inerrancy does not always claim everything is accurate. hermeneutics can this void be filled. 28 The text of the New Testament as part of the Bible has a long and complicated transmission history. With the abundance of NT copies, discourse and the concept of inerrancy are also complex. Inerrancy must be understood as a doctrine that truthfully puts the Bible forward because it is the Word of God itself. 29 The church today must have the courage to accept the richness of texts from the NT as part of the spirit of the early church in carrying out the Great Commission of Christ. These ancient copies cannot produce without a baseless zeal, given the complexity of the original language, which had to contextualize in various church communities. Not to mention, when the NT text has to translate into a different culture and language from the original recipient, this is a challenge. 30 Therefore, his discipline resolved the complexity caused by the richness of the NT manuscript copies and the absence of autographs. Textual criticism is a solution for us to find out the early manuscript form of the NT. 31 Although the original manuscript is impossible to find, the textual criticism approach provides many new insights into God's Word. Differences are the uniqueness of this mysterious and sacred transmission process. In one community, the word is received with its wholeness, while in a different place, it receives in a more dynamic form. Additions or insertions may be part of God's way of preserving His word.
Text criticism, which has been accus of being a hermeneutic method that weakens the Bible, is not the case. Textual criticism is another way to understand the Bible. The Bible does not become wrong or weak when interpretations by the method of textual criticism. Precisely with textual criticism, the Bible shows itself its authority and truth. Therefore, accusations that are baseless on textual criticism must eliminate. Text criticism can present God's Word that can be understood by exploring the context of the writing and relating it to current events. Hermeneutics like this requires hard work to produce a correct and reasonable explanation.

IV. Conclusion
Inerrancy is a significant part of Christian doctrine. Through inerrancy, the church strives from century to century to carry out the mandate of His word. Nevertheless, on the other hand, inerrancy must also allow new approaches that add insight to the richness of God's word. Textual criticism is even essentially relevant to the substance of inerrancy. If the inerrancy of believing the NT Bible is innocent or not guilty in its original language, then textual criticism also tries to present God's word in the original language and as close as possible to the original text.
This closeness to the original text will avoid erroneous exegesis. Nevertheless, on the other hand, it will provide a comprehensive picture of the contents of the Bible that can be related to current events. Text criticism must be hermeneutic, studied, and applied in Theological Colleges in Indonesia. By applying this method, variations in understanding the Bible become diverse and do not weaken the principle of the inerrancy of the Bible. 28