Let’s look at Westcott and Hort. Yes, these are the famous, to some infamous, team that put together the Westcott-Hort Greek text that became a standard for most modern translations.

Much evil and much good has been attributed to these men. Quotations about them are plentiful. Lies are told. Truths are told. When all the dust settles, we have two more flawed men dealing with God’s revelation as best they can.

The great preacher Charles Spurgeon was a contemporary of Westcott and Hort. He never attacked his character or his beliefs, as modern-day fundamentalists seem to love to do, although he did take issue with some of their approaches to textual criticism. Spurgeon is not our definitive guide, but it seems strange that someone like him would never speak out against the Christian faith of these two men.

Oh, and Spurgeon used and approved much of the Revised Version that was the final result, in England, of his work.

For those who are not convinced, I could point to quotes from the men themselves, letting them speak for themselves about what they believed regarding the Scriptures they so masterfully assembled from the documents they used; documents, by the way, many years closer to the originals of the apostles.

In short, they loved the Word of God. The accusations of spiritualism are completely refuted. They designed to produce a text as close as possible to what God gave to the apostles and prophets.

Did they doubt the inspiration of the Scriptures? Westcott says,

“a belief in the authority of the books of the New Testament so widely diffused throughout the Christian body, so deeply rooted in the inmost conscience of the Christian Church, so perfectly in accordance with all the facts known to us, can only be explained by admitting which are genuine and apostolic, written Rule of Faith and Christian Life”. (History of the New Testament Canon, Westcott, p.14)

And a contemporary witness,

“At the same time, it’s gratifying to see the everywhere evident evidence of the author. [Westcott’s] convictions of a devout Christian, and a firm believer in the authority and inspiration of the Holy Word. A tone of sincere confidence in the Scriptures, as truth and the source of truth, pervades the work.” (An Introduction to the Study of the Gospels, London: MacMillan & Co., 1902, p. viii)

Westcott again:

“The Bible contains within itself the fullest testimony to its divine authority… legibly stamped with the divine seal as ‘inspired of God’ in a sense in which other writings are not.” (The Bible in the Church, Westcott, p.14-15)

The fundamentalist problem with the two scholars is that they “elevated antiquity above precision.” They first assume that the oldest manuscripts used are inaccurate, then they must logically conclude that antiquity should not be a standard for truth.

The arguments against the Vatican Y sinaitic, the Greek manuscripts used by Westcott and Hort, along with the scholarly defense of them, are topics beyond this article. I am only suggesting here that either with the Catholic Erasmus or with these Protestant scholars Westcott and Hort, we are dealing, as we have said before, with imperfect men.

The wonderful thing, in my thinking, is that there is there are no significant doctrinal issues between the KJV and all modern scholarly translations of the day! The differences are slight and inconsequential. Nothing about our salvation or growth in Christ is affected!

The antagonists are forced to admit, albeit sadly, that virtually all versions of the Bible from their day to ours have followed Westcott and Hort’s Greek text.

Indeed! And to this day too, 2021. What a slander to hurl at a multitude of Bible translators! What charges of ignorance against learned and spiritual men! What accusations about motives! All the translators in this army of revisions and translations are piled up and thrown into the dunghill by the KJV-Only advocates!

Oh! But while most followed W/H, there is at least one who followed Erasmus and the Text receipt. Really? Oh yes, the NEW King James Version, whose only flaw was finally taking 17th century English away from 20th century readers. Surely the KJV people will praise this volume?

I leave it to my reader to do the research. You will find as much slander being heaped on this New KJV, as on all of Westcott/Hort’s works. Some people are stuck in their ways. You know: Flat Earth. No Holocaust.

As for Westcott-Hort, the battle rages on, each side calling the other promoter of a corrupt text.

Shameful. Only the original autographs are uncorrupted. This is what we have believed and taught for centuries. Small changes have crept into all subsequent manuscripts. All of them. No two are exactly alike. But in criticizing manuscripts we have missed the point. I speak now to the born again:

Why were you saved? I don’t ask what translation of the Bible. You were saved because faith in you extended to the Word of God that you heard preached, or read to yourself. The Word told you that you were a sinner. The Word told you what to do with that sin. The Word spoke to you of the Spirit, which you called into your life.

And the Word will perfect you in your understanding and in your progress in the Christian life. Whether Erasmus is in your environment or not. Whether Westcott, Hort, Luther, Calvin, MacArthur or Spurgeon, all imperfect servants, helped you come to Christ, here you are, growing in Him.

Keep it up. The Word of God is working in you.