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Course 5 · Lesson 4.3

Greek New Testament manuscripts and printed editions

11 minute read

Lessons in this course

Course 5 outline

Module 1: What the Languages Are and What This Course Can Do

  1. The languages of the Bible: Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek
  2. What an introduction can and cannot do: no fluency, and why
  3. Biblical Hebrew in brief: history, script and sound
  4. Koine Greek in brief: history, script and sound

Module 2: Hebrew Fundamentals

  1. The Hebrew alphabet, reading right to left, and the vowel points
  2. Roots, nouns, gender, number and the construct chain
  3. Hebrew verbs: perfect, imperfect and the seven stems in outline
  4. A core Hebrew vocabulary and how to learn it

Module 3: Greek Fundamentals

  1. The Greek alphabet, accents and breathing marks
  2. Nouns, cases and the definite article
  3. Greek verbs: tense, aspect, voice and mood in outline
  4. A core Greek vocabulary and how to learn it

Module 4: The Texts: Masoretic, Septuagint and New Testament Manuscripts

  1. The Masoretic Text and the codices that preserve it
  2. The Septuagint and where translators consult it
  3. Greek New Testament manuscripts and printed editions
  4. How variants are recorded in footnotes and critical editions

Module 5: How Translations Are Made

  1. Formal and dynamic equivalence, and the middle positions
  2. Who translates: committees, churches and traditions of translation
  3. Hard cases: idioms, word play, gender and untranslatable words
  4. Reading a translation’s preface to learn its principles

Module 6: Tools for the Reader

  1. Interlinear Bibles: what they show and what they hide
  2. Lexicons and concordances: how to read an entry
  3. How to do a word study, step by step
  4. Common word study errors and how to avoid them

Module 7: Evaluating Translation Differences

  1. Locating the Hebrew or Greek words behind a verse
  2. Types of translation differences: text, grammar, word meaning and style
  3. A worked example from the Old Testament
  4. A worked example from the New Testament
  5. Knowing your limits, and when to ask a specialist

All courses

Program / Course 5: Biblical Languages / Lesson 4.3

What you will learn

  • Describe the kinds of Greek New Testament manuscripts and name some of the most important.
  • Explain what scholars mean by text types and why the labels are debated.
  • Trace the history of the printed Greek New Testament from Erasmus to the modern critical editions.
  • Describe the positions of those who prefer the critical text, the Byzantine text or the Textus Receptus.

The big idea

The Greek New Testament survives in thousands of handwritten copies, from small papyrus fragments of the second century to medieval books. No two copies are identical, so scholars compare them to reconstruct the text. Modern critical editions are built on the oldest and most widely distributed evidence, while some churches and scholars prefer the Byzantine majority or the traditional Textus Receptus. The differences affect only a small share of the text, but they matter in a few well known verses.

Key terms

Manuscript
A handwritten copy of a text.
Papyrus
The earliest Christian manuscripts, written on sheets made from reeds. They are cited with the letter P and a number, such as P52.
Uncial (majuscule)
A manuscript written in capital letters on parchment, as in Codex Sinaiticus.
Minuscule
A manuscript written in small connected letters, common from the ninth century.
Lectionary
A book of Scripture readings arranged for use in worship through the year.
Text type
A group of manuscripts that share characteristic readings, such as Alexandrian, Western or Byzantine.
Textus Receptus
A Latin phrase meaning received text. It names the form of the Greek New Testament descended from the early printed editions of Erasmus and others.
Apparatus
The notes at the foot of a critical edition that list variant readings and the manuscripts that support them.

Background

The authors of the New Testament books wrote on papyrus, and none of those originals survives. What exists are copies, and copies of copies. The number of Greek manuscripts is large compared with other works of antiquity. Catalogues list well over five thousand, counting fragments and lectionaries, and the figure grows slowly as new items are catalogued. The early copies were made by Christians who were not professional scribes, and later copies by trained monks and copyists.

Because copying by hand produces differences, no two manuscripts agree throughout. Most differences are small, such as spelling or word order. A few are larger. The work of textual criticism is to compare the manuscripts and decide, case by case, which reading is most likely to be the earliest. The next lesson describes how variants are recorded and weighed.

Step-by-step explanation

Step 1: The kinds of manuscript

The manuscripts are grouped by writing material and style. The papyri, about a hundred and thirty in number, are the oldest, most of them fragments, and they date from the second to the seventh centuries. The uncials, about three hundred, are written in capital letters on parchment and date mainly from the fourth to the tenth centuries. The minuscules, nearly three thousand, are written in the small script from the ninth century onward. The lectionaries, about two thousand or more, contain the readings for church services.

The numbers differ slightly by catalogue. Manuscripts are identified by a system devised by the scholar Caspar René Gregory and used today, in which papyri have a P and a number, uncials a zero before a number, and minuscules a number alone.

Step 2: Some important witnesses

P52, a small fragment of the Gospel of John in the Rylands Library in Manchester, is generally dated to the first half of the second century and is among the earliest known pieces of the New Testament. The Chester Beatty and Bodmer papyri contain large parts of the Gospels, Acts and Paul’s letters from the second or third century. Codex Vaticanus and Codex Sinaiticus, both of the fourth century, are the oldest nearly complete Bibles. Codex Alexandrinus is of the fifth century. Codex Bezae, of the fifth century, has a text with striking differences in Acts and Luke, and it is bilingual in Greek and Latin.

Step 3: Text types

Scholars have noticed that manuscripts cluster by shared readings. The groups are often called text types or text families. The Alexandrian group, represented by Vaticanus and Sinaiticus and many early papyri, is generally the oldest. The Western group, represented by Codex Bezae and some Latin and Syriac witnesses, is known for fuller and freer readings. The Byzantine group, which makes up the great majority of later manuscripts, is the text used in the Greek Orthodox Church for centuries. Some have also proposed a Caesarean group, though many scholars now question it.

These labels are conveniences, and recent scholarship has stressed that the lines between the groups are not sharp. Modern editors now look more at individual readings and the quality of individual manuscripts and less at fixed types.

Step 4: From Erasmus to the modern editions

The first published Greek New Testament was edited by Erasmus of Rotterdam in 1516. He worked from a few late manuscripts in a hurry. His later editions, and those of Stephanus in the sixteenth century, Beza and the Elzevir brothers, formed the basis of the form called the Textus Receptus. The name arose from an advertisement in an Elzevir edition of 1633. The King James Version of 1611 was based on this tradition.

In the nineteenth century, scholars such as Westcott and Hort argued for the earlier manuscripts and produced a new text in 1881. Their approach was developed by later editors. The modern standard editions are the Nestle Aland Novum Testamentum Graece and the United Bible Societies Greek New Testament, which share a text and differ in apparatus. Most modern translations rely on them.

Step 5: Three positions today

The reasoned eclectic or critical text approach, followed by most scholars, weighs all the evidence and tends to favor the older manuscripts and readings that best explain the others. The Byzantine priority view holds that the majority tradition preserves the original text better, and that the text of the church through the centuries should be preferred. The Textus Receptus position, and the stronger form found among some supporters of the King James Version alone, holds that the received text is the right basis for translation, often on grounds of providence.

These views are presented here as they are held. The Orthodox Church uses a Byzantine form of the text in worship, and some Orthodox editions of the New Testament use it. Most modern Catholic, Protestant and Orthodox scholars use the critical editions for study. The arguments are partly historical and partly theological, and a beginner should read both sides before judging.

  1. Which Greek text does my translation follow, according to its preface?
  2. Which manuscripts are cited for the reading in my footnote?
  3. How old are they, and where did they circulate?
  4. Is the manuscript evidence for this verse early, late, wide or narrow?
  5. Does the argument I am reading depend on a claim about text types, and is that claim still accepted?
  6. What are the theological reasons behind each position, and are they separate from the historical evidence?

Examples

P52

A fragment about the size of a credit card, with a few verses of John 18 on each side, is held in a library in England. It is dated on the style of the handwriting to the early second century. A fragment cannot prove much about the whole Gospel, but it shows that John was copied and read in Egypt by that time.

Erasmus and a missing verse

Erasmus did not have a Greek manuscript with a certain phrase in 1 John 5:7 and left it out of his first and second editions. A traditional account, which some historians doubt, says he was pressed to include it, and he added it in his third edition of 1522, on the evidence of a late manuscript. Modern critical editions omit it from the text.

Two editions compared

A student compares the Nestle Aland text with a Byzantine edition and finds that the great majority of words are the same. The differences cluster in a few places, such as the ending of Mark and the story of the adulteress in John, and in many small matters of wording.

Different perspectives

Orthodox

The Orthodox Church has used the Byzantine form of the Greek New Testament in its liturgy through the centuries, and some Orthodox leaders have prized it as the text of the church. Orthodox scholars also take part in the critical study of manuscripts.

Catholic

Catholic scholars use the critical editions, and the Church’s official Latin Bible, the Vulgate, was revised in the twentieth century in the light of the Greek text. Catholic translations are made from the Greek critical text, with notes.

Protestant

Protestants are divided. Most scholars use the critical text. Some conservative Protestants, including supporters of the Textus Receptus and the King James Version, argue for the received text and defend it on historical and theological grounds. Others favor the Byzantine majority text.

Scholarly

Scholars agree that the earliest manuscripts are valuable and that the Greek New Testament is the best attested text of any ancient book. They debate the weight of older versus later witnesses, and whether the earliest form of each book can be reached.

Why it matters

A New Testament translation always rests on a decision about the Greek text. Knowing the kinds of manuscripts and the main editions helps a reader understand why some Bibles include verses that others place in footnotes. It also helps a reader avoid exaggeration on either side.

Common misunderstandings

Misunderstanding: The original manuscripts of the New Testament still exist.

Correction: None of the originals survives. What exists are copies, the earliest from the second century.

Misunderstanding: Because the manuscripts differ, nobody can know what the New Testament said.

Correction: Most differences are minor, and scholars of all traditions agree that the great majority of the text is secure. The disputed passages are known and marked in the notes.

Misunderstanding: The Textus Receptus is the original Greek text.

Correction: It is a sixteenth century printed text based on a few late manuscripts. Some defend it on principle, but it is not the same as the earliest manuscript evidence.

Misunderstanding: The critical text was made to weaken the Bible.

Correction: Its editors, who came from many traditions, aimed to recover the earliest form. Whether they have used the best methods is argued, but the purpose is historical.

Knowledge check

What are the four main kinds of Greek New Testament manuscript?

Papyri, which are the earliest, mostly fragments on reed paper. Uncials, written in capital letters on parchment. Minuscules, written in small letters from the ninth century, which are the most numerous. And lectionaries, which contain readings arranged for church services. Together they number over five thousand.

Who produced the first printed Greek New Testament, and why does it matter?

Erasmus of Rotterdam published it in 1516, working from a few late manuscripts. His text and its successors became the Textus Receptus, which stood behind the King James Version and other early translations. Its limits led later scholars to turn to older manuscripts.

What are the main text types?

The Alexandrian type, found in the oldest manuscripts, the Western type, known for fuller wording, and the Byzantine type, which makes up most later manuscripts. Some scholars also proposed a Caesarean type. Recent work stresses that the groups are not sharply separate, and editors weigh individual readings.

Describe two positions on which text to translate from.

The critical text approach weighs all evidence and tends to favor older manuscripts, and most scholars hold it. The Byzantine priority and Textus Receptus positions prefer the majority or received text, on grounds of the church’s use or of providence. Each side gives arguments that a reader should weigh fairly.

Think it through

  1. What do you make of the fact that no original New Testament manuscript survives?
  2. Why might a church community prefer a text it has used for centuries?
  3. How would you explain to a friend why Bibles differ in a few verses?
  4. What is the relation between a historical argument and a theological one in this debate?

Independent assignment

Reading the evidence for one verse

In your own notebook, write 350 to 500 words. Choose a verse that your English Bible footnotes as disputed, such as John 7:53 or 1 John 5:7. Using the introductions to a critical edition or a book on the text of the New Testament, list the main manuscripts that support each reading, their dates and their types. Compare the text of the King James Version and one modern translation. Write which reading the evidence supports, and what you cannot judge. Do not send this to anyone.

Further study