Jesus: Man, Messenger, Messiah · Conclusion & Fair Use
Every reading is an interpretation
In short
- 1.Scribes were readers first; their copies record their understanding of what the text meant.
- 2.Translators choose between readings before a single English word is written.
- 3.So every Bible in use today embeds a long chain of human editorial decisions.
- 4.Ehrman: the words are not simply given, they are transmitted by people with views.
The claim being examined
The Bible is treated as a text that simply speaks, with interpretation added afterwards.
The Islamic position
Ehrman's conclusion is that there is no unmediated access: the text you read was chosen, and choosing is interpretation.
Analysis
The conclusion generalises the book: since scribes interpreted as they copied, and modern editors interpret as they reconstruct, there is no point at which the reader encounters an unmediated original. Ehrman's own stated position is not nihilism about the text — he thinks scholars can often recover the earliest form — but a rejection of the idea that the reader has direct access to God's words.
From the Qur'an
Q 4:82
أَفَلَا يَتَدَبَّرُونَ ٱلْقُرْءَانَ ۚ وَلَوْ كَانَ مِنْ عِندِ غَيْرِ ٱللَّهِ لَوَجَدُوا۟ فِيهِ ٱخْتِلَٰفًا كَثِيرًا
Then do they not reflect upon the Qur'an? If it had been from other than Allah, they would have found within it much contradiction.
Sources
Bart D. Ehrman · Bart D. Ehrman, *Misquoting Jesus: The Story Behind Who Changed the Bible and Why* (HarperSanFrancisco, 2005), Conclusion 'Changing Scripture', pp. 207-218
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