Comments on: Enslaved Scribes and the New Testament

By: Jordan

Jordan — Mon, 23 Feb 2026 07:22:45 +0000

In reply to Ken Brecht. And you are proof that we'll believe almost anything, regardless of the weaknesses of the argument and underlying assumptions, if it leads to our desired conclusion. Bravo!

By: Dennis B. Swaney

Dennis B. Swaney — Sat, 21 Feb 2026 22:59:11 +0000

So Moss seems to be suggesting two things: First, the New Testament was actually written by ghostwriters. This makes way more intelligent sense than the Apostles apparently waiting until they were either dying or already dead to write the books attributed to them. The second is that if I had a son and named him “… the Second” that would mean he was a slave!

By: Ken Brecht

Ken Brecht — Wed, 18 Feb 2026 18:45:31 +0000

To think I thought the scribes were a well trained profession equivalent to lawyers today. Little did I know that scripture was transmitted through a vast pool of literate slaves who were allowed to make editorial and theological corrections without oversight. Tradition has scrubbed this truth which our author cast a light on!
I also thought scripture was considered holy, not to be added to or subtracted from. ” But know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation, for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.” (2 Peter 1:20,21)
Continuing my misunderstanding, I thought the authors of scripture, who gloried in their slavery, were speaking of Christ as their master, not their social status.

By: Marv R Mueller

Marv R Mueller — Wed, 18 Feb 2026 12:41:01 +0000

Her article is overstating. This seems to imply that Christians ignored slavery and even used it. Ertius is Latin for “third.”
• In Greek it is simply a transliterated Latin name.
• Number-names were common among slaves, freedmen, and sometimes freeborn.
• There is no textual evidence that Tertius was a slave.
• The claim is a plausible sociological hypothesis, not a fact.