Received Text
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

The (
Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...
for 'received text') is the succession of printed Greek
New Testament The New Testament (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus, as well as events relating to Christianity in the 1st century, first-century Christianit ...
texts starting with
Erasmus Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus ( ; ; 28 October c. 1466 – 12 July 1536), commonly known in English as Erasmus of Rotterdam or simply Erasmus, was a Dutch Christian humanist, Catholic priest and Catholic theology, theologian, educationalist ...
' ''
Novum Instrumentum omne ''Novum Instrumentum Omne'', later titled ''Novum Testamentum Omne'', was a series of bilingual Latin-Greek New Testaments with substantial scholarly annotations, and the first printed New Testament of the Greek to be published. They were prep ...
'' (1516) and including the editions of Stephanus,
Beza Theodore Beza (; or ''de Besze''; 24 June 1519 – 13 October 1605) was a French Calvinist Protestant theologian, Protestant reformer, reformer and scholar who played an important role in the Protestant Reformation. He was a disciple of John Ca ...
, the Elzevir house, Colinaeus and
Scrivener A scrivener (or scribe) was a person who, before the advent of compulsory education, could literacy, read and write or who wrote letters as well as court and legal documents. Scriveners were people who made their living by writing or copying w ...
. Erasmus' Latin/Greek New Testament editions and annotations were a major influence for the original German
Luther Bible The Luther Bible () is a German language Bible translation by the Protestant reformer Martin Luther. A New Testament translation by Luther was first published in September 1522; the completed Bible contained 75 books, including the Old Testament ...
and the translations of the New Testament into English by
William Tyndale William Tyndale (; sometimes spelled ''Tynsdale'', ''Tindall'', ''Tindill'', ''Tyndall''; – October 1536) was an English Biblical scholar and linguist who became a leading figure in the Protestantism, Protestant Reformation in the year ...
. Subsequent ''Textus Receptus'' editions constituted the main Greek translation-base for the
King James Version The King James Version (KJV), also the King James Bible (KJB) and the Authorized Version (AV), is an Early Modern English Bible translations, Early Modern English translation of the Christianity, Christian Bible for the Church of England, wh ...
, the Spanish
Reina-Valera The Reina–Valera is a Spanish translation of the Bible originally published in 1602 when Cipriano de Valera revised an earlier translation produced in 1569 by Casiodoro de Reina. This translation was known as the ''"Biblia del Oso"'' (in Englis ...
translation, the Czech
Bible of Kralice The Bible of Kralice, also called the Kralice Bible (), was the first complete translation of the Bible from the original languages into Czech. Translated by the Unity of the Brethren and printed in Kralice nad Oslavou, the first edition had ...
, the Portuguese
Almeida Recebida The Almeida Recebida is a Portuguese Bible version based on the Received Text The (Latin for 'received text') is the succession of printed Greek New Testament texts starting with Erasmus' ''Novum Instrumentum omne'' (1516) and including the ed ...
, the Dutch
Statenvertaling The ''Statenvertaling'' (, ''States Translation'') or ''Statenbijbel'' (''States Bible'') was the first translation of the Bible from the original Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek languages into Dutch. It was ordered by the Synod of Dordrecht in 161 ...
, the Russian Synodal Bible and many other Reformation-era New Testament translations throughout Western, Northern and Central Europe. Despite being viewed as an inferior form of the text of the New Testament by many modern textual critics, some
Conservative Christians Conservative Christianity, also known as conservative theology, theological conservatism, traditional Christianity, or biblical orthodoxy is a grouping of overlapping and denominationally diverse theological movements within Christianity that se ...
still view it as the most authentic text of the New Testament. This view is generally based upon a theological doctrine of the supernatural providential preservation of scripture.


Textual origin

The ''Textus Receptus'' most strongly resembles the
Byzantine text-type In the textual criticism of the New Testament, the Byzantine text-type (also called Traditional Text, Ecclesiastical Text, Constantinopolitan Text, Antiocheian Text, or Syrian Text) is one of the main Textual criticism#New Testament, text types. ...
, as its editor
Erasmus Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus ( ; ; 28 October c. 1466 – 12 July 1536), commonly known in English as Erasmus of Rotterdam or simply Erasmus, was a Dutch Christian humanist, Catholic priest and Catholic theology, theologian, educationalist ...
mainly based his work on manuscripts following the Byzantine text. However, Erasmus sometimes followed the
Minuscule 1 Codex Basilensis A. N. IV. 2 is a Greek language, Greek Lower case, minuscule manuscript of the entire New Testament, apart from the Book of Revelation. It is designated by the siglum 1 in the Biblical manuscript#Gregory-Aland, Gregory-Aland numb ...
(part of the proposed
Caesarean text-type In textual criticism of the New Testament, Caesarean text-type is the term proposed by certain scholars to denote a consistent pattern of variant readings that is claimed to be apparent in certain Koine Greek manuscripts of the four Gospels, but ...
in the Gospels) in a small number of verses, additionally following the
Latin Vulgate The Vulgate () is a late-4th-century Latin translation of the Bible. It is largely the work of Saint Jerome who, in 382, had been commissioned by Pope Damasus I to revise the Gospels used by the Roman Church. Later, of his own initia ...
translated by Jerome in the 4th century in a few verses, including Acts 9:6 and in placing the doxology of Romans into chapter 16 instead of after chapter 14 as in most Byzantine manuscripts.Daniel Wallace, "Some Second Thoughts on the Majority Text", Bibliotheca Sacra, July–September, 1989, p. 276. In the
Book of Revelation The Book of Revelation, also known as the Book of the Apocalypse or the Apocalypse of John, is the final book of the New Testament, and therefore the final book of the Bible#Christian Bible, Christian Bible. Written in Greek language, Greek, ...
, Erasmus' text primarily follows the
Andreas text-type The Andreas text-type is a form of the text of the Book of Revelation found in some manuscripts of Revelation, it is named after Andreas of Caesarea, (563–614) whose manuscript followed this text-type. The Andreas text-type has also been called ...
, named after the Andreas of Caesarea, (563–614) who used it in his widely influential commentary on Revelation. For the first edition, Erasmus had direct access to around 8 Greek manuscripts in Basel, although he used ''Manuscript 2105'' mainly for his copious annotations which were based on notes prepared over the previous decade on unknown manuscripts in England and Brabant. The Greek manuscripts used in the creation of Erasmus' first edition are the following: Even though Erasmus had only one manuscript of Revelation when he created the ''Textus Receptus'', F.H.A Scrivener notes that in a few places such as Revelation 1:4 and Revelation 8:13, Erasmus refers to manuscripts which he had seen earlier during his travels. For subsequent editions, Erasmus had the benefit of many European correspondents (he wrote "The New Testament has made me friends everywhere") and was able to get more collaborators or subeditors: for example, future English Catholic bishop
Cuthbert Tunstall Cuthbert Tunstall (otherwise spelt Tunstal or Tonstall; 1474 – 18 November 1559) was an England, English humanist, bishop, diplomat, administrator and royal adviser. He served as Bishop of Durham during the reigns of Henry VIII, Edward VI of ...
helped with the second edition; and he had friendly interactions with Spanish Cardinal Ximénez de Cisneros who sent a
Complutensian Polyglot The Complutensian Polyglot Bible is the name given to the first printed polyglot of the entire Bible. The edition was initiated and financed by Cardinal Francisco Jiménez de Cisneros (1436–1517) and published by Complutense University in Alc ...
in time for Erasmus' 1527 fourth edition, particularly used for improving Revelation. Other manuscripts were available to later editors of the ''Textus Receptus''. Robert Stephanus had access to over a dozen manuscripts, including
Codex Bezae The Codex Bezae Cantabrigiensis is a bi-lingual Greek and Latin manuscript of the New Testament written in an uncial hand on parchment. It is designated by the siglum D or 05 in the Gregory-Aland numbering of New Testament manuscripts, and ...
and Regius, additionally making use of the
Complutensian Polyglot The Complutensian Polyglot Bible is the name given to the first printed polyglot of the entire Bible. The edition was initiated and financed by Cardinal Francisco Jiménez de Cisneros (1436–1517) and published by Complutense University in Alc ...
. Stephanus' edition of the ''Textus Receptus'' became one of the two "standard" texts of the ''Textus Receptus'' alongside those of
Theodore Beza Theodore Beza (; or ''de Besze''; 24 June 1519 – 13 October 1605) was a French Calvinist Protestant theologian, reformer and scholar who played an important role in the Protestant Reformation. He was a disciple of John Calvin and lived most ...
. Like Stephanus, Beza had access to a larger manuscript pool than Erasmus, including
Codex Claromontanus Codex Claromontanus, symbolized by Dp, D2 or 06 (in the Biblical manuscript#Gregory-Aland, Gregory-Aland numbering), δ 1026 (Biblical manuscript#Von Soden, von Soden), is a Greek-Latin diglot uncial manuscript of the New Testament, written in an ...
and the Codex Bezae; however, he made very little use of them in his editions.


Last verses of Revelation

Although sometimes contested by some defenders of the ''Textus Receptus'', it is widely accepted that because the manuscript which Erasmus used lacked the last six verses of Revelation, he used the Latin Vulgate to backtranslate the last verses of Revelation into Greek. However, he also used the notes of Valla, such as in the reading "Amen. Even so, come Lord Jesus" in Revelation 22:20, which does not completely agree with the Latin Vulgate. In this process, Erasmus introduced many distinct readings into the text of Revelation. Some of these readings were later edited out by Stephanus in his editions of the ''Textus Receptus'', but some distinct Erasmian readings remained, such as the words "book of life" instead of "tree of life" in
Revelation 22 Revelation 22 is the twenty-second and final chapter of the Book of Revelation or the Apocalypse of John, and the final chapter of the New Testament and of the Christian Bible. The book is traditionally attributed to John of Patmos. This chapter ...
:19. Some defenders of the ''Textus Receptus'' have argued that Erasmus used other Greek manuscripts for the last six verses of Revelation. Manuscripts such as 2049, 2067 and 296 which contain similar readings to the ''Textus Receptus'' have been proposed as possible sources for Erasmus' readings in the book of Revelation. However, critical scholarship today views these manuscripts as being more likely being influenced by the printed ''Textus Receptus'' editions, instead of them being a source for the readings of Erasmus. It has also been noted that even if these manuscripts did not copy the Textus Receptus, that since Erasmus did not produce impossible Greek, it is possible for such manuscripts to contain similar readings by coincidence.


History


Erasmus

Erasmus Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus ( ; ; 28 October c. 1466 – 12 July 1536), commonly known in English as Erasmus of Rotterdam or simply Erasmus, was a Dutch Christian humanist, Catholic priest and Catholic theology, theologian, educationalist ...
had been working for years making philological notes on scriptural and patristic texts. In 1512, he began his work on the Latin New Testament. He consulted all the
Vulgate The Vulgate () is a late-4th-century Bible translations into Latin, Latin translation of the Bible. It is largely the work of Saint Jerome who, in 382, had been commissioned by Pope Damasus I to revise the Gospels used by the Diocese of ...
manuscripts that he could find to create an edition without scribal corruptions and with better Latin. In the earlier phases of the project, he never mentioned a Greek text: "My mind is so excited at the thought of emending Jerome's text, with notes, that I seem to myself inspired by some god. I have already almost finished emending him by collating a large number of ancient manuscripts, and this I am doing at enormous personal expense." He included the Greek text to defend the superiority of his Latin version over the Vulgate. He wrote, "There remains the New Testament translated by me, with the Greek facing, and notes on it by me." He further demonstrated the reason for the inclusion of the Greek text when defending his work: "But one thing the facts cry out, and it can be clear, as they say, even to a blind man, that often through the translator's clumsiness or inattention the Greek has been wrongly rendered; often the true and genuine reading has been corrupted by ignorant scribes, which we see happen every day, or altered by scribes who are half-taught and half-asleep." Erasmus's new work was published by
Froben Johann Froben, in Latin: Johannes Frobenius (and combinations), (c. 1460 – 27 October 1527) was a famous printer, publisher and learned Renaissance humanist in Basel. He was a close friend of Erasmus and cooperated closely with Hans Holbein t ...
of
Basel Basel ( ; ), also known as Basle ( ), ; ; ; . is a city in northwestern Switzerland on the river Rhine (at the transition from the High Rhine, High to the Upper Rhine). Basel is Switzerland's List of cities in Switzerland, third-most-populo ...
in 1516, becoming the first published Greek New Testament, the ''
Novum Instrumentum omne ''Novum Instrumentum Omne'', later titled ''Novum Testamentum Omne'', was a series of bilingual Latin-Greek New Testaments with substantial scholarly annotations, and the first printed New Testament of the Greek to be published. They were prep ...
, diligenter ab Erasmo Rot. Recognitum et Emendatum''. For the Greek text, he used manuscripts: 1, 1rK, 2e, 2ap, 4ap, 7,
817 __NOTOC__ Year 817 ( DCCCXVII) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Julian calendar. Events By place Europe * Summer – Emperor Louis I issues an ''Ordinatio Imperii'', an imperial decree that lays out plans for an orderl ...
.W. W. Combs, ''Erasmus and the textus receptus'', DBSJ 1 (Spring 1996), 45. In his research in England and Brabant for annotations on particular words, he had already consulted several other manuscripts and was particularly interested in patristic quotations as evidence of early readings. For subsequent editions he used more manuscripts, and consulted with his vast network of correspondents. Typographical errors, attributed to the rush to print the first edition, abounded in the published text. Erasmus also lacked a complete copy of the
Book of Revelation The Book of Revelation, also known as the Book of the Apocalypse or the Apocalypse of John, is the final book of the New Testament, and therefore the final book of the Bible#Christian Bible, Christian Bible. Written in Greek language, Greek, ...
and translated the last six verses back into Greek from the Latin
Vulgate The Vulgate () is a late-4th-century Bible translations into Latin, Latin translation of the Bible. It is largely the work of Saint Jerome who, in 382, had been commissioned by Pope Damasus I to revise the Gospels used by the Diocese of ...
to finish his edition. Erasmus adjusted the text in many places to correspond with readings found in the Vulgate or as quoted in the
Church Fathers The Church Fathers, Early Church Fathers, Christian Fathers, or Fathers of the Church were ancient and influential Christian theologians and writers who established the intellectual and doctrinal foundations of Christianity. The historical peri ...
; consequently, although the ''Textus Receptus'' is classified by scholars as a late
Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived the events that caused the fall of the Western Roman E ...
text, it differs in nearly 2,000 readings from the standard form of that text-type, as represented by the "
Majority Text In the textual criticism of the New Testament, the Byzantine text-type (also called Traditional Text, Ecclesiastical Text, Constantinopolitan Text, Antiocheian Text, or Syrian Text) is one of the main text types. The New Testament text of the Eas ...
" of Hodges and Farstad (Wallace, 1989). The edition was a sell-out commercial success and was reprinted in 1519, with most but not all of the typographical errors corrected. Erasmus had been studying Greek New Testament manuscripts for many years, in the Netherlands, France, England and Switzerland, noting their many variants, but had only six Greek manuscripts immediately accessible to him in Basel. They all dated from the 12th century or later, and only one came from outside the mainstream Byzantine tradition. Consequently, most modern scholars consider his Greek text to be of dubious quality.
Bruce Metzger Bruce Manning Metzger (February 9, 1914 – February 13, 2007) was an American biblical scholar, Bible translator and textual critic who was a longtime professor at Princeton Theological Seminary and Bible editor who served on the board of th ...
''The Text of the New Testament'', p. 99
With the third edition of Erasmus's Greek text (1522) the
Comma Johanneum The Johannine Comma () is an interpolated phrase (comma) in verses of the First Epistle of John. The text (with the comma in italics and enclosed by brackets) in the King James Version of the Bible reads: In the Greek Textus Receptus (TR), th ...
was included because "Erasmus chose to avoid any occasion for slander rather than persisting in philological accuracy" even though he remained "convinced that it did not belong to the original text of l John." Popular demand for Greek New Testaments led to a flurry of further authorized and unauthorized editions in the early sixteenth century, almost all of which were based on Erasmus's work and incorporated his particular readings but typically also making a number of minor changes of their own.


Complutensian Polyglot

Complutensian Polyglot Bible The Complutensian Polyglot Bible is the name given to the first printed polyglot of the entire Bible. The edition was initiated and financed by Cardinal Francisco Jiménez de Cisneros (1436–1517) and published by Complutense University in A ...
is the name given to the first printed
polyglot Multilingualism is the use of more than one language, either by an individual speaker or by a group of speakers. When the languages are just two, it is usually called bilingualism. It is believed that multilingual speakers outnumber monolin ...
of the entire
Bible The Bible is a collection of religious texts that are central to Christianity and Judaism, and esteemed in other Abrahamic religions such as Islam. The Bible is an anthology (a compilation of texts of a variety of forms) originally writt ...
. The edition was initiated and financed by Cardinal
Francisco Jiménez de Cisneros Francisco Jiménez de Cisneros, OFM (1436 – 8 November 1517) was a Spanish cardinal, religious figure, and statesman. Starting from humble beginnings he rose to the heights of power, becoming a religious reformer, twice regent of Spain, ...
(1436–1517). Some such as the
Trinitarian Bible Society The Trinitarian Bible Society was founded in 1831 "to promote the Glory of God and the salvation of men by circulating, both at home and abroad, in dependence on the Divine blessing, the Holy Scriptures, which are given by inspiration of God and a ...
also associate the
Complutensian Polyglot The Complutensian Polyglot Bible is the name given to the first printed polyglot of the entire Bible. The edition was initiated and financed by Cardinal Francisco Jiménez de Cisneros (1436–1517) and published by Complutense University in Alc ...
with the ''Textus Receptus'' tradition. However, it is not usually named as part of the ''Textus Receptus'', though it influenced the ''Textus Receptus'' and was utilized by editors of the ''Textus Receptus'', including Colinaeus, Stephanus and Erasmus himself in later editions.


Estienne (Stephanus) and Beza

Robert Estienne Robert I Estienne (; 15037 September 1559), known as ''Robertus Stephanus'' in Latin and sometimes referred to as ''Robert Stephens'', was a 16th-century printer in Paris. He was the proprietor of the Estienne print shop after the death of his f ...
, known as Stephanus (1503–1559), a printer from Paris, edited the Greek New Testament four times, in 1546, 1549, 1550 and 1551, the last in Geneva. The edition of 1551 contains the Latin translation of
Erasmus Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus ( ; ; 28 October c. 1466 – 12 July 1536), commonly known in English as Erasmus of Rotterdam or simply Erasmus, was a Dutch Christian humanist, Catholic priest and Catholic theology, theologian, educationalist ...
and the
Vulgate The Vulgate () is a late-4th-century Bible translations into Latin, Latin translation of the Bible. It is largely the work of Saint Jerome who, in 382, had been commissioned by Pope Damasus I to revise the Gospels used by the Diocese of ...
. Estienne's version was re-issued with minor revisions of the Greek by Genevan leader
Theodore Beza Theodore Beza (; or ''de Besze''; 24 June 1519 – 13 October 1605) was a French Calvinist Protestant theologian, reformer and scholar who played an important role in the Protestant Reformation. He was a disciple of John Calvin and lived most ...
in 1565, 1582, 1588–89, 1598 and 1611.


Colinaeus

Simon de Colines Simon de Colines (c. 14801546) was a Parisian printer (publisher), printer and one of the first printers of the French Renaissance. He was active in Paris as a printer and worked exclusively for the University of Paris from 1520 to 1546. In addi ...
(1480 – 1546) printed an edition of the Textus Receptus, which was primarily based upon the work of Erasmus and the Complutensian Polyglot. This edition of the ''Textus Receptus'' began to be printed in 1534, however its influence was minimal and it was not used by later editors of the Textus Receptus.


Elzevir brothers

The origin of the term ''Textus Receptus'' comes from the publisher's preface to the 1633 edition produced by
Bonaventure Bonaventure ( ; ; ; born Giovanni di Fidanza; 1221 – 15 July 1274) was an Italian Catholic Franciscan bishop, Cardinal (Catholic Church), cardinal, Scholasticism, scholastic theologian and philosopher. The seventh Minister General ( ...
and his nephew Abraham Elzevir who were partners in a printing business at Leiden. The preface reads, ''Textum ergo habes, nunc ab omnibus receptum: in quo nihil immutatum aut corruptum damus'' ("so you hold the text, now received by all, in which snothing corrupt"). The two words ''textum'' and ''receptum'' were modified from the
accusative In grammar, the accusative case (abbreviated ) of a noun is the grammatical case used to receive the direct object of a transitive verb. In the English language, the only words that occur in the accusative case are pronouns: "me", "him", "her", " ...
to the
nominative In grammar, the nominative case ( abbreviated ), subjective case, straight case, or upright case is one of the grammatical cases of a noun or other part of speech, which generally marks the subject of a verb, or (in Latin and formal variants of E ...
case to render ''Textus Receptus''. Over time, that term has been retroactively applied even to Erasmus's editions, as his work served as the basis of the others.


F.H.A. Scrivener

In 1894,
Frederick Henry Ambrose Scrivener Frederick Henry Ambrose Scrivener (29 September 181330 October 1891) was an English writer and scholar. Additionally, he was a New Testament textual critic and a member of the English New Testament Revision Committee which produced the Revised V ...
produced a significant Greek edition of the ''Textus Receptus'', based on the textual variants that the translators of the King James Version (KJV) had utilized. The translators of the King James Version did not rely on a single edition of the ''Textus Receptus'' but instead they incorporated readings from multiple editions of the ''Textus Receptus'', including those by Erasmus, Stephanus, and Beza. Additionally, they consulted the Complutensian Polyglot and the Latin Vulgate itself. This resulted in a Greek text that, while rooted in the tradition of the ''Textus Receptus'', uniquely aligned with the particular readings of the King James Version.


Textual criticism

John Mill (1645–1707) collated textual variants from 82 Greek manuscripts. In his ''Novum Testamentum Graecum, cum lectionibus variantibus MSS'' (Oxford 1707) he reprinted the unchanged text of the ''Editio Regia'', but in the index he enumerated 30,000 textual variants. Shortly after Mill published his edition,
Daniel Whitby Daniel Whitby (1638–1726) was a controversial English theologian and biblical commentator. An Arminianism in the Church of England, Arminian priest in the Church of England, Whitby was known as strongly anti-Calvinism, Calvinistic and later gav ...
(1638–1725) attacked his work by asserting that the text of the New Testament had never been corrupted and thus equated autographs with the ''Textus Receptus''. He considered the 30,000 variants in Mill's edition a danger to Holy Scripture and called for defending the ''Textus Receptus'' against these variants.
Johann Albrecht Bengel Johann Albrecht Bengel (24 June 1687 – 2 November 1752), also known as ''Bengelius'', was a Lutheran pietist clergyman and Greek-language scholar known for his edition of the Greek New Testament and his commentaries on it. Life and career B ...
(1687–1752) edited in 1725 ''Prodromus Novi Testamenti Graeci Rectè Cautèque Adornandi'' and in 1734 ''Novum Testamentum Graecum''. Bengel divided manuscripts into families and subfamilies and favoured the principle of ''
lectio difficilior potior ' (Latin for "the more difficult reading is the stronger") is a main principle of textual criticism. Where different manuscripts conflict on a particular reading, the principle suggests that the more unusual one is more likely the original. The pr ...
'' ("the more difficult reading is the stronger").
Johann Jakob Wettstein Johann Jakob Wettstein (also Wetstein; 5 March 1693 – 23 March 1754) was a Swiss theologian, best known as a New Testament critic. Biography Youth and study Johann Jakob Wettstein was born in Basel. Among his tutors in theology was Samuel We ...
's apparatus was fuller than that of any previous editor. He introduced the practice of indicating the ancient manuscripts by capital Roman letters and the later manuscripts by Arabic numerals. He published in Basel ''Prolegomena ad Novi Testamenti Graeci'' (1731). J. J. Griesbach (1745–1812) combined the principles of Bengel and Wettstein. He enlarged the Apparatus by considering more citations from the Fathers, and various versions, such as the Gothic, the Armenian, and the Philoxenian. Griesbach distinguished a Western, an Alexandrian, and a Byzantine Recension.
Christian Frederick Matthaei Christian Frederick Matthaei (4 March 1744 – 26 September 1811) was a German palaeographer, classical philologist, and professor at the universities of Wittenberg and Moscow. Life Matthaei was born in 1744 in the Saxon village of Gröst, we ...
(1744–1811) was a Griesbach opponent.
Karl Lachmann Karl Konrad Friedrich Wilhelm Lachmann (; 4 March 1793 – 13 March 1851) was a German philologist and critic. He is particularly noted for his foundational contributions to the field of textual criticism. Biography Lachmann was born in Brunsw ...
(1793–1851) was the first who broke with the ''Textus Receptus''. His object was to restore the text to the form in which it had been read in the Ancient Church in about AD 380. He used the oldest known Greek and Latin manuscripts.
Constantin von Tischendorf Constantin is an Aromanian language, Aromanian, Megleno-Romanian language, Megleno-Romanian and Romanian language, Romanian male given name. It can also be a surname. For a list of notable people called Constantin, see Constantine (name). See ...
's '' Editio Octava Critica Maior'' was based on
Codex Sinaiticus The Codex Sinaiticus (; Shelfmark: London, British Library, Add MS 43725), also called the Sinai Bible, is a fourth-century Christian manuscript of a Greek Bible, containing the majority of the Greek Old Testament, including the deuterocanonica ...
. Westcott and
Hort Hort may refer to: * Hort, Hungary, a settlement in Heves county * Hort., an abbreviation which indicates that a name for a plant saw significant use in the horticultural literature but was never properly published * Hort (surname) See also

...
published ''
The New Testament in the Original Greek ''The New Testament in the Original Greek'' is a Greek-language version of the New Testament published in 1881. It is also known as the Westcott and Hort text, after its editors Brooke Foss Westcott (1825–1901) and Fenton John Anthony Hort (1828 ...
'' in 1881 in which they rejected what they considered to be the dated and inadequate ''Textus Receptus''. Their text is based mainly on
Codex Vaticanus The Codex Vaticanus ( The Vatican, Bibl. Vat., Vat. gr. 1209), is a manuscript of the Greek Bible, containing the majority of the Old Testament and the majority of the New Testament. It is designated by siglum B or 03 in the Gregory-Aland numb ...
in the Gospels.


Defense

Frederick von Nolan, a 19th-century historian and Greek and Latin scholar, spent 28 years attempting to trace the ''Textus Receptus'' to apostolic origins. He was an ardent advocate of the supremacy of the ''Textus Receptus'' over all other editions of the Greek New Testament, and he argued that the first editors of the printed Greek New Testament intentionally selected those texts because of their superiority and disregarded other texts, which represented other text-types because of their inferiority.
It is not to be conceived that the original editors of the
reek Reek may refer to: Places * Reek, Netherlands, a village in the Dutch province of North Brabant * Croagh Patrick, a mountain in the west of Ireland nicknamed "The Reek" People * Nikolai Reek (1890–1942), Estonian military commander * Salme Reek ...
New Testament were wholly destitute of plan in selecting those manuscripts, out of which they were to form the text of their printed editions. In the sequel it will appear, that they were not altogether ignorant of two classes of manuscripts; one of which contains the text which we have adopted from them; and the other that text which has been adopted by M. Griesbach.''An Inquiry into the Integrity of the Greek Vulgate, or Received Text of the New Testament; in which the Greek Manuscripts are newly classed; the Integrity of the Authorised Text vindicated; and the Various Readings traced to their Origin'' (London, 1815)
ch. 1
The sequel mentioned in the text is Nolan's ''Supplement to an Inquiry into the Integrity of the Greek Vulgate, or Received Text of the New Testament; containing the Vindication of the Principles employed in its Defence'' (London, 1830).
Regarding Erasmus, Nolan stated:
Nor let it be conceived in disparagement of the great undertaking of Erasmus, that he was merely fortuitously right. Had he barely undertaken to perpetuate the tradition on which he received the sacred text he would have done as much as could be required of him, and more than sufficient to put to shame the puny efforts of those who have vainly labored to improve upon his design. ..With respect to Manuscripts, it is indisputable that he was acquainted with every variety which is known to us, having distributed them into two principal classes, one of which corresponds with the Complutensian edition, the other with the Vatican manuscript. And he has specified the positive grounds on which he received the one and rejected the other.''ibid.''
ch. 5
/ref>
The Textus Receptus was defended by
John William Burgon John William Burgon (21 August 1813 – 4 August 1888) was an English Anglican divine who became the Dean of Chichester Cathedral in 1876. He was known during his lifetime for his poetry and his defense of the historicity and Mosaic authorshi ...
in his ''The Revision Revised'' (1881) and also by Edward Miller in ''A Guide to the Textual Criticism of the New Testament'' (1886). Burgon supported his arguments with the opinion that the
Codex Alexandrinus The Codex Alexandrinus (London, British Library, Royal MS 1. D. V-VIII) is a manuscript of the Greek Bible,The Greek Bible in this context refers to the Bible used by Greek-speaking Christians who lived in Egypt and elsewhere during the early ...
and
Codex Ephraemi The Codex Ephraemi Rescriptus (Paris, National Library of France, Greek 9) is a manuscript of the Greek Bible, written on parchment. It is designated by the siglum C or 04 in the Gregory-Aland numbering of New Testament manuscripts, and δ 3 (i ...
were older than the
Sinaiticus The Codex Sinaiticus (; Shelfmark: London, British Library, Add MS 43725), also called the Sinai Bible, is a fourth-century Christian manuscript of a Greek Bible, containing the majority of the Greek Old Testament, including the deuterocanonical ...
and the Vaticanus; and also that the
Peshitta The Peshitta ( ''or'' ') is the standard Syriac edition of the Bible for Syriac Christian churches and traditions that follow the liturgies of the Syriac Rites. The Peshitta is originally and traditionally written in the Classical Syriac d ...
translation into Syriac (which supports the Byzantine Text) originated in the 2nd century. Miller's arguments in favour of readings in the Textus Receptus were of the same kind. However, both Burgon and Miller believed that although the ''Textus Receptus'' was to be preferred to the Alexandrian Text, it still required to be corrected in certain readings against the manuscript tradition of the Byzantine text. In that judgement, they are criticised by Edward F. Hills, who argues that the principle that God provides truth through scriptural revelation also must imply that God must ensure a preserved transmission of the correct revealed text, continuing into the Reformation era of biblical translation and printing. For Hills, the task of biblical scholarship is to identify the particular line of preserved transmission through which God is acting; a line that he sees in the specific succession of manuscript copying, textual correction and printing, which culminated in the ''Textus Receptus'' and the King James Bible. Hills argues that the principle of providentially-preserved transmission guarantees that the printed ''Textus Receptus'' must be the closest text to the Greek autographs and so he rejects readings in the Byzantine Majority Text where they are not maintained in the ''Textus Receptus''. He goes so far as to conclude that Erasmus must have been providentially guided when he introduced Latin Vulgate readings into his Greek text; and even argues for the authenticity of the Comma Johanneum.
Hence the true text is found not only in the text of the majority of the New Testament manuscripts but more especially in the Textus Receptus and in faithful translations of the Textus Receptus, such as the King James Version. In short, the Textus Receptus represents the God-guided revision of the majority text.
Hills was the first textual critic to defend the ''Textus Receptus''. Although others have defended it per se, they are not acknowledged textual critics (such as
Theodore Letis Theodore Peter Letis (1951 – June 24, 2005) was an American theologian and church historian. He was an advocate of the Textus Receptus (TR). Letis was Lutheran, and argued for "the superiority of the TR based on the authority of the institutional ...
and David Hocking) or their works are not on a scholarly level (such as Terence H. Brown and D. A. Waite).


Providential preservation

Those who still advocate the use of the ''Textus Receptus'' often rely upon a theological stance of supernatural providential preservation, arguing that a reliance upon naturalism to establish the text of the New Testament is contrary to divine revelation. Thus, they have cited passages such as Psalm 12:6–7, Psalm 119:89, Matthew 5:18, Psalm 117:2, Matthew 24:35 and 1 Peter 1:25 as evidence that God would miraculously preserve every single true reading of the Bible. This interpretation, however, has been challenged by critics of the ''Textus Receptus'' who often assert that these scriptural passages pertain to God's oral communication with humanity rather than the written scriptures or to a more general preservation in the New Testament manuscripts as a whole.


Relationship to Byzantine text

The ''Textus Receptus'' was mainly established on a basis of manuscripts of the
Byzantine text-type In the textual criticism of the New Testament, the Byzantine text-type (also called Traditional Text, Ecclesiastical Text, Constantinopolitan Text, Antiocheian Text, or Syrian Text) is one of the main Textual criticism#New Testament, text types. ...
, also called 'Majority text', and usually is identified with it by its followers. However, in addition, over many years, Erasmus had extensively annotated New Testament citations in early
Fathers A father is the male parent of a child. Besides the paternal bonds of a father to his children, the father may have a parental, legal, and social relationship with the child that carries with it certain rights and obligations. A biological fathe ...
, such as
Augustine Augustine of Hippo ( , ; ; 13 November 354 – 28 August 430) was a theologian and philosopher of Berber origin and the bishop of Hippo Regius in Numidia, Roman North Africa. His writings deeply influenced the development of Western philosop ...
and
Ambrose Ambrose of Milan (; 4 April 397), venerated as Saint Ambrose, was a theologian and statesman who served as Bishop of Milan from 374 to 397. He expressed himself prominently as a public figure, fiercely promoting Roman Christianity against Ari ...
, whose biblical quotations more frequently conformed to the
Western text-type In textual criticism of the New Testament, the Western text-type is one of the main text types. It is the predominant form of the New Testament text witnessed in the Old Latin and Syriac translations from the Greek, and also in quotations from ...
; and he drew extensively on these citations (and also on the Vulgate) in support of his choice of Greek readings. The ''Textus Receptus'' differs from the Majority Text edition of Robinson and Pierpont in 1,838 Greek readings, of which 1,005 represent "translatable" differences. Most of these variants are minor; however, Byzantine manuscripts usually exclude the
Comma Johanneum The Johannine Comma () is an interpolated phrase (comma) in verses of the First Epistle of John. The text (with the comma in italics and enclosed by brackets) in the King James Version of the Bible reads: In the Greek Textus Receptus (TR), th ...
and Acts 8:37, which are present in the ''Textus Receptus''. Despite these differences, printed editions based on the Byzantine text agree far more closely with the Textus Receptus than with the critical text, as the Majority Text disagrees with the critical text 6,577 times in contrast to the 1,838 times it disagrees with the ''Textus Receptus''. Additionally, multiple of the agreements between the ''Textus Receptus'' and the Byzantine text are very significant, such as the reading of "God" in 1 Timothy 3:16 and the inclusion of the Story of the Adulteress. Sometimes the ''Textus Receptus'' contains readings which are present within the Byzantine text-type, but form a minority therein. This includes the reading "through his blood" in Colossians 1:14, which is contained in around 40% of the Byzantine manuscripts of Colossians, being omitted from the Byzantine critical edition of Robinson and Pierpont and that of Hodges and Farstad. F. H. A. Scrivener (1813–1891) remarked that at Matt. 22:28; 23:25; 27:52; 28:3, 4, 19, 20; Mark 7:18, 19, 26; 10:1; 12:22; 15:46; Luke 1:16, 61; 2:43; 9:1, 15; 11:49; John 1:28; 10:8; 13:20, Erasmus followed the readings of
Minuscule 1 Codex Basilensis A. N. IV. 2 is a Greek language, Greek Lower case, minuscule manuscript of the entire New Testament, apart from the Book of Revelation. It is designated by the siglum 1 in the Biblical manuscript#Gregory-Aland, Gregory-Aland numb ...
(
Caesarean text-type In textual criticism of the New Testament, Caesarean text-type is the term proposed by certain scholars to denote a consistent pattern of variant readings that is claimed to be apparent in certain Koine Greek manuscripts of the four Gospels, but ...
). F. H. A. Scrivener, ''
A Plain Introduction to the Criticism of the New Testament ''A Plain Introduction to the Criticism of the New Testament: For the Use of Biblical Students'' is one of the books of Frederick Henry Ambrose Scrivener (1813–1891), biblical scholar and textual critic. In this book Scrivener listed over 3 ...
'', (
George Bell & Sons George Bell & Sons was an English book publishing house. It was based in London and existed from 1839 to 1986. History George Bell & Sons was founded by George Bell as an educational bookseller, with the intention of selling the output of L ...
: London 1894), vol. 2, pp. 183–184.
For Revelation, Erasmus used
Minuscule 2814 Minuscule 2814 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering), Aν20 (in Soden numbering), formerly labelled as 1rK in all catalogues, but subsequently renumbered as a 2814 by Aland, is a Greek minuscule manuscript of the New Testament, dated palaeographica ...
, which follows the Andreas text-type. The Andreas text-type has been called a subtype of the Majority Text in Revelation, which is divided into the Koine form of Revelation and the Andreas type of Revelation.
Dean Burgon John William Burgon (21 August 1813 – 4 August 1888) was an English Anglican divine who became the Dean of Chichester Cathedral in 1876. He was known during his lifetime for his poetry and his defense of the historicity and Mosaic authorshi ...
, an influential supporter of the ''Textus Receptus'' declared that it needs correction. He suggested 150 corrections in its Gospel of Matthew alone. * Matthew 10:8 has Alexandrian reading νεκροὺς ἐγείρετε (''raise the dead'') omitted by the Byzantine text. * Acts 20:28 has Alexandrian reading τοῦ Θεοῦ (''of God'') instead of Byzantine τοῦ Κυρίου καὶ Θεοῦ (''of the Lord and God'').


Controversial readings

The ''Textus Receptus'' contains many well known variants, such as the
Comma Johanneum The Johannine Comma () is an interpolated phrase (comma) in verses of the First Epistle of John. The text (with the comma in italics and enclosed by brackets) in the King James Version of the Bible reads: In the Greek Textus Receptus (TR), th ...
, Confession of the Ethiopian eunuch, the long ending of Mark, the
Pericope Adulterae Jesus and the woman taken in adultery (or the ) is a passage (pericope) found in John 7:53–John 8#Pericope adulterae, 8:11 of the New Testament. It is considered by many to be Pseudepigrapha, pseudepigraphical. In the passage, Jesus was t ...
, the reading "God" in 1 Timothy 3:16 and the reading "book of life" in Revelation 22:19.


Comma Johanneum (1 John 5:7)

The
Comma Johanneum The Johannine Comma () is an interpolated phrase (comma) in verses of the First Epistle of John. The text (with the comma in italics and enclosed by brackets) in the King James Version of the Bible reads: In the Greek Textus Receptus (TR), th ...
is a Trinitarian text included in 1 John 5:7 within the ''Textus Receptus'', however the comma is seen as an interpolation by almost all textual critics. The comma is mainly only attested in the
Latin manuscripts Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...
of the New Testament, being absent from the vast majority of Greek manuscripts of the New Testament, the earliest Greek manuscript being from the 14th century. It is also totally absent in the Ethiopic,
Aramaic Aramaic (; ) is a Northwest Semitic language that originated in the ancient region of Syria and quickly spread to Mesopotamia, the southern Levant, Sinai, southeastern Anatolia, and Eastern Arabia, where it has been continually written a ...
, Syriac, Georgian,
Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...
and from the early pre-12th century
Armenian Armenian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Armenia, a country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia * Armenians, the national people of Armenia, or people of Armenian descent ** Armenian diaspora, Armenian communities around the ...
witnesses to the New Testament. And as a result, modern translations as a whole, both Catholic and Protestant, do not include the comma in the main body of the text. The text (with the comma in italics and enclosed by brackets) in the King James Bible reads:In the Greek Textus Receptus (TR), the verse reads thus:
ὅτι τρεῖς εἰσιν οἱ μαρτυροῦντες εν τῷ οὐρανῷ, ὁ πατήρ, ὁ λόγος, καὶ τὸ Ἅγιον Πνεῦμα· καὶ οὗτοι οἱ τρεῖς ἕν εἰσι.
The earliest surviving Latin manuscripts containing the comma date back to the 5th to 7th centuries. These include the Freisinger fragment (6th-7th century),
León palimpsest The León Palimpsest, designated l or 67 (in the Beuron system), is a 7th-century Latin manuscript wiktionary:pandect, pandect of the Christian Bible conserved in the León Cathedral, cathedral of León, Spain. The text, written on vellum, is in a ...
(7th century), besides the younger Codex Speculum (5th century).Catholic Encyclopedia, "Epistles of St John"
/ref> Its first full appearance in Greek is from the Greek version of the Acts of the Lateran Council in 1215. It subsequently appears in the writings of Emmanuel Calecas (died 1410), Joseph Bryennius (1350 – 1431/38) and in the Orthodox Confession of Moglas (1643).''The orthodox confession of the catholic and apostolic Eastern-Church''
p.16, 1762. Greek and Latin in Schaff ''The Creeds of Christendom'' p. 275, 1877
While there are no comprehensive Patristic Greek references to the comma, F.H.A. Scrivener notes potential allusions to it somewhere around the 5th century in two Greek texts:
Synopsis of Holy Scripture Synopsis of Holy Scripture or Synopsis Scripturae Sacrae is an early Christian text in Greek, which has been falsely attributed to Athanasius. The writing has been variously dated to either the 4th, 5th or 6th centuries, although most often to the ...
and the Disputation with Arius from Pseudo-Athanasius. It is only found in a few later Greek manuscripts: 61 (),
629 __NOTOC__ Year 629 ( DCXXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Julian calendar. The denomination 629 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe ...
(14th),
918 __NOTOC__ Year 918 (Roman numerals, CMXVIII) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Julian calendar. Events By place Europe * December 23 – King Conrad I of Germany, Conrad I, injured at one of his battles with Arnulf, D ...
(16th century), 2318 (18th century), 2473 (17th century), and in the margins of 88 (11th century with margins added at the 16th century),
177 Year 177 ( CLXXVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Commodus and Plautius (or, less frequently, year 930 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denomination 177 for thi ...
(BSB Cod. graec. 211),
221 __NOTOC__ Year 221 ( CCXXI) was a common year starting on Monday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Gratus and Vitellius (or, less frequently, year 974 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denomination 221 ...
(10th century with margins added at the 15th/16th century),
429 Year 429 ( CDXXIX) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Florentius and Dionysius (or, less frequently, year 1182 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denomination 429 for ...
(14th century with margins added at the 16th century),
636 Year 636 ( DCXXXVI) was a leap year starting on Monday of the Julian calendar. The denomination 636 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for nami ...
(16th century) and possibly
635 __NOTOC__ Year 635 (Roman numerals, DCXXXV) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Julian calendar. The denomination 635 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent me ...
(11th century, added later into the margin). The
Codex Vaticanus The Codex Vaticanus ( The Vatican, Bibl. Vat., Vat. gr. 1209), is a manuscript of the Greek Bible, containing the majority of the Old Testament and the majority of the New Testament. It is designated by siglum B or 03 in the Gregory-Aland numb ...
in some places contains umlauts to indicate knowledge of variants. Although there has been some debate on the age of these umlauts and if they were added at a later date, according to a paper made by Philip B. Payne, the ink seems to match that of the original scribe. The Codex Vaticanus contains these dots around 1 John 5:7, however according to McDonald, G. R, it is far more likely that the scribe had encountered other variants in the verse than the Johannine comma, which is not attested in Greek manuscripts until the 14th century. The Johannine comma gained a stronger position within the Latin tradition, especially in the middle ages, being referenced to by
Peter Abelard Peter Abelard (12 February 1079 – 21 April 1142) was a medieval French scholastic philosopher, leading logician, theologian, teacher, musician, composer, and poet. This source has a detailed description of his philosophical work. In philos ...
(12th century),
Peter Lombard Peter Lombard (also Peter the Lombard, Pierre Lombard or Petrus Lombardus; 1096 – 21/22 August 1160) was an Italian scholasticism, scholastic theologian, Bishop of Paris, and author of ''Sentences, Four Books of Sentences'' which became the s ...
(12th century),
Bernard of Clairvaux Bernard of Clairvaux, Cistercians, O.Cist. (; 109020 August 1153), venerated as Saint Bernard, was an abbot, Mysticism, mystic, co-founder of the Knights Templar, and a major leader in the reform of the Benedictines through the nascent Cistercia ...
(12th century),
Thomas Aquinas Thomas Aquinas ( ; ; – 7 March 1274) was an Italian Dominican Order, Dominican friar and Catholic priest, priest, the foremost Scholasticism, Scholastic thinker, as well as one of the most influential philosophers and theologians in the W ...
(13th century) and
William of Ockham William of Ockham or Occam ( ; ; 9/10 April 1347) was an English Franciscan friar, scholastic philosopher, apologist, and theologian, who was born in Ockham, a small village in Surrey. He is considered to be one of the major figures of medie ...
(14th century) among many others. The first undisputed work to quote the Comma Johanneum as an actual part of the Epistle's text appears to be the 4th century Latin homily , probably written by Priscillian of Ávila (died 385), or his close follower Bishop Instantius. However some have argued that the 3rd-century Church father
Cyprian Cyprian (; ; to 14 September 258 AD''The Liturgy of the Hours according to the Roman Rite: Vol. IV.'' New York: Catholic Book Publishing Company, 1975. p. 1406.) was a bishop of Carthage and an early Christian writer of Berbers, Berber descent, ...
(died 258) knew of the comma earlier, who in ''Unity of the Church 1.6'' may have quoted the Johannine comma: "Again it is written of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, 'And these three are one.''Et iterum de Patre et Filio et Spiritu Sancto scriptum est—Et hi tres unum sunt''. Cyprian, ''De Unitate Ecclesiæ'' (''On the Unity of the Church'') IV
"Epistles of Saint John"
''
Catholic Encyclopedia ''The'' ''Catholic Encyclopedia: An International Work of Reference on the Constitution, Doctrine, Discipline, and History of the Catholic Church'', also referred to as the ''Old Catholic Encyclopedia'' and the ''Original Catholic Encyclopedi ...
''.
Nevertheless, other scholars believe that he was giving an allegorical interpretation of the three elements mentioned in the uncontested part of the verse instead of quoting the Johannine comma itself.


Confession of the Ethiopian Eunuch (Acts 8:37)

The confession of the Ethiopian eunuch is a variant reading in Acts 8:37, widely seen by Textual Critics to be a later interpolation into the text. It is found in the King James Version due to its existence within the Textus Receptus. It reads in the King James Version as:
And Philip said, If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.
In the Greek of the ''Textus Receptus'', the verse reads:
ειπεν δε ο φιλιππος ει πιστευεις εξ ολης της καρδιας εξεστιν αποκριθεις δε ειπεν πιστευω τον υιον του θεου ειναι τον ιησουν χριστον
Erasmus himself decided to include the verse in his edition of the Greek text due to its presence in the
Latin Vulgate The Vulgate () is a late-4th-century Latin translation of the Bible. It is largely the work of Saint Jerome who, in 382, had been commissioned by Pope Damasus I to revise the Gospels used by the Roman Church. Later, of his own initia ...
of his day and due to being in the margin of
Minuscule 2816 Codex Basilensis A.N.IV.5, known as Minuscule 2816 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering), α597 (in von Soden numbering), formerly labelled as 4ap in all catalogs, but subsequently renumbered by Aland, is a Greek minuscule manuscript of the New Test ...
(15th century), which he used in his compilation of the ''Textus Receptus''.Kurt Aland & Barbara Aland, The Text of The New Testament (rev. ed. 1987, Grand Rapids, Eerdmans) pages 303–304. The reading is quoted by many western early Christian writers, such as Ireaneus (130 – c. 202),
Cyprian Cyprian (; ; to 14 September 258 AD''The Liturgy of the Hours according to the Roman Rite: Vol. IV.'' New York: Catholic Book Publishing Company, 1975. p. 1406.) was a bishop of Carthage and an early Christian writer of Berbers, Berber descent, ...
(210 – 258),
Ambrose Ambrose of Milan (; 4 April 397), venerated as Saint Ambrose, was a theologian and statesman who served as Bishop of Milan from 374 to 397. He expressed himself prominently as a public figure, fiercely promoting Roman Christianity against Ari ...
(339 – 397) and
Augustine Augustine of Hippo ( , ; ; 13 November 354 – 28 August 430) was a theologian and philosopher of Berber origin and the bishop of Hippo Regius in Numidia, Roman North Africa. His writings deeply influenced the development of Western philosop ...
(354 – 430). The verse is found in the
Codex Glazier Codex Glazier, designated by siglum copG67, is a Coptic uncial manuscript of the New Testament on parchment. It is dated palaeographically to the 4th or 5th century. Textually it is very close to Greek Codex Bezae. Description It contains th ...
(4-5th century), the Harclensis Syriac (7th century), some
Old Latin Old Latin, also known as Early, Archaic or Priscan Latin (Classical ), was the Latin language in the period roughly before 75 BC, i.e. before the age of Classical Latin. A member of the Italic languages, it descends from a common Proto-Italic ...
and
Vulgate The Vulgate () is a late-4th-century Bible translations into Latin, Latin translation of the Bible. It is largely the work of Saint Jerome who, in 382, had been commissioned by Pope Damasus I to revise the Gospels used by the Diocese of ...
manuscripts alongside some Ethiopian, Georgian and Armenian manuscripts. Nevertheless, the earliest Greek manuscript to contain the verse is
Codex Laudianus Codex Laudianus, designated by Ea or 08 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering), α 1001 ( von Soden), called ''Laudianus'' after the former owner, Archbishop William Laud. It is a diglot Latin — Greek uncial manuscript of the New Testament, palae ...
(550ad) and it is not found in 𝔓45 (250ad), 𝔓74 (7th century),
Codex Sinaiticus The Codex Sinaiticus (; Shelfmark: London, British Library, Add MS 43725), also called the Sinai Bible, is a fourth-century Christian manuscript of a Greek Bible, containing the majority of the Greek Old Testament, including the deuterocanonica ...
(4th century), Vaticanus (4th century).
Alexandrinus The Codex Alexandrinus (London, British Library, Royal MS 1. D. V-VIII) is a manuscript of the Greek Bible,The Greek Bible in this context refers to the Bible used by Greek-speaking Christians who lived in Egypt and elsewhere during the early ...
(5th century), Ephraemi Rescriptus (5th century),
Codex Athous Lavrensis The Codex Athous Laurae is a manuscript of the New Testament written in Greek uncial letters on parchment. It is designated by Ψ or 044 in the Gregory-Aland numbering of New Testament manuscripts, and δ 6 in the von Soden numbering of New Test ...
(8th-9th century) and a multitude of other codices and cursives.
Bruce M. Metzger Bruce Manning Metzger (February 9, 1914 – February 13, 2007) was an American biblical scholar, Bible translator and textual critic who was a longtime professor at Princeton Theological Seminary and Bible editor who served on the board of the ...
, ''A Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament A Companion Volume to the UBS Greek New Testament'' (1971, United Bible Societies) loc.cit.; UBS version loc.cit.


Pericope Adulterae (John 7:53-8:11)

The
Pericope Adulterae Jesus and the woman taken in adultery (or the ) is a passage (pericope) found in John 7:53–John 8#Pericope adulterae, 8:11 of the New Testament. It is considered by many to be Pseudepigrapha, pseudepigraphical. In the passage, Jesus was t ...
is a passage found in John 7:53-8:11. It is viewed by most New Testament scholars as an interpolation, including Evangelical scholars. The pericope does not occur in the earliest Greek manuscripts discovered in Egypt. The Pericope Adulterae is not in 𝔓66 or in 𝔓75, both of which have been assigned to the late 100s or early 200s, nor in two important manuscripts produced in the early or mid 300s,
Sinaiticus The Codex Sinaiticus (; Shelfmark: London, British Library, Add MS 43725), also called the Sinai Bible, is a fourth-century Christian manuscript of a Greek Bible, containing the majority of the Greek Old Testament, including the deuterocanonical ...
and Vaticanus. The first surviving Greek manuscript to contain the pericope is the Latin-Greek diglot
Codex Bezae The Codex Bezae Cantabrigiensis is a bi-lingual Greek and Latin manuscript of the New Testament written in an uncial hand on parchment. It is designated by the siglum D or 05 in the Gregory-Aland numbering of New Testament manuscripts, and ...
, produced in the 400s. The Codex Bezae is also the earliest surviving Latin manuscript to contain it. Out of 23 Old Latin manuscripts of John 7–8, seventeen contain at least part of the pericope, and represent at least three transmission-streams in which it was included.Alongside the Old Latin manuscripts, the Pericope Adulterae is found in most
Byzantine text-type In the textual criticism of the New Testament, the Byzantine text-type (also called Traditional Text, Ecclesiastical Text, Constantinopolitan Text, Antiocheian Text, or Syrian Text) is one of the main Textual criticism#New Testament, text types. ...
manuscripts, Palestinian Syriac manuscripts, the Latin Vulgate and some Armenian manuscripts. The earliest Greek writing to explicitly reference the passage is the
Didascalia Apostolorum ''Didascalia Apostolorum'', or just ''Didascalia'', is an early Christian legal treatise which belongs to the genre of the Church Orders. It presents itself as being written by the Twelve Apostles at the time of the Council of Jerusalem; however ...
(3rd century). The passage is later referenced to in Greek by
Didymus the Blind Didymus the Blind ( Coptic: ; 398), alternatively spelled Dedimus or Didymous, was a Christian theologian in the Church of Alexandria, where he taught for about half a century. He was a student of Origen, and, after the Second Council of Constant ...
(4th century) alongside the
Apostolic Constitutions The ''Apostolic Constitutions'' or ''Constitutions of the Holy Apostles'' (Latin: ''Constitutiones Apostolorum'') is a Christian collection divided into eight books which is classified among the Church Orders, a genre of early Christian litera ...
(4th century), the Synopsis Scripturae Sacrae (6th century) and the 6th century canon tables of the Monastery of Saint Epiphanus. Additionally, some manuscripts such as
Codex Regius Codex Regius (, "Royal Book" or "King's Book"; ) or GKS 2365 4º is an Icelandic codex in which many Old Norse poems from the ''Poetic Edda'' are preserved. Thought to have been written during the 1270s, it is made up of 45 vellum Vellum ...
(8th century) and
Codex Sangallensis Codex Sangallensis (plural ''Codices Sangallenses'') is the designation of codices housed at the Abbey library of Saint Gall in St. Gallen. The codices are indexed with a continuous Arabic number of up to four digits. Many of the codices have been ...
(9th century) contain a large gap after John 7:52, thus indicating knowledge of the passage despite being omitted. Due to its presence within most manuscripts within the Byzantine text-type, it is also a characteristic of Byzantine printed editions of the New Testament such as the texts of Maurice A. Robinson & William G. Pierpont and The Greek New Testament According to the Majority Text (Hodges-Farstad). There is now a broad academic consensus that the passage is a later
interpolation In the mathematics, mathematical field of numerical analysis, interpolation is a type of estimation, a method of constructing (finding) new data points based on the range of a discrete set of known data points. In engineering and science, one ...
added after the earliest known manuscripts of the Gospel of John. This has been the view of "most NT scholars, including most ''evangelical'' NT scholars, for well over a century". Bishop
J. B. Lightfoot Joseph Barber Lightfoot (13 April 1828 – 21 December 1889), known as J. B. Lightfoot, was an English theologian and Bishop of Durham. Life Lightfoot was born in Liverpool, where his father John Jackson Lightfoot was an accountant. His m ...
wrote that absence of the passage from the earliest manuscripts, combined with the occurrence of stylistic characteristics atypical of John, together implied that the passage was an interpolation. Nevertheless, he considered the story to be authentic history.
Bart D. Ehrman Bart Denton Ehrman (born October 5, 1955) is an American New Testament scholar focusing on textual criticism of the New Testament, the historical Jesus, and the origins and development of early Christianity. He has written and edited 30 books ...
concurs in ''Misquoting Jesus'', adding that the passage contains many words and phrases otherwise alien to John's writing. The evangelical Bible scholar Daniel B. Wallace agrees with Ehrman. However, advocates of the
Byzantine priority theory The Byzantine priority theory is a theory within Christian textual criticism held by a minority of textual critics. This view sees the Byzantine text-type as the New Testament's most accurate textual tradition, instead of the theorized Alexandria ...
and those who view the Textus Receptus as the most accurate text have attempted to argue for the Johannine authorship of the story. They have argued that there are points of similarity between the pericope's style and the style of the rest of the gospel, saying that anomalies in the transmission of the Pericope Adulterae may be explained by the Lectionary system, where due to the Pericope Adulterae being skipped during the Pentecost lesson, some scribes would relocate or omit the story to not interviene with the flow of the Pentecost lesson.The Greek New Testament According to the Majority Text with Apparatus: Second Edition, by Zane C. Hodges (Editor), Arthur L. Farstad (Editor) Publisher: Thomas Nelson;


Book of life (Revelation 22:19)

The Textus Receptus in Revelation 22:19 reads "book of life" instead of the Nestle-Aland reading "tree of life", which the ''Textus Receptus'' contains on the grounds of the Latin Vulgate (380ad) reading, however it is also attested within the scriptural quotations of
Ambrose Ambrose of Milan (; 4 April 397), venerated as Saint Ambrose, was a theologian and statesman who served as Bishop of Milan from 374 to 397. He expressed himself prominently as a public figure, fiercely promoting Roman Christianity against Ari ...
(339 – 4 April 397) and in some Coptic manuscripts. Modern textual critics see the Latin Vulgate reading which found its way into the ''Textus Receptus'' as a typo caused by the similarity of the Latin words for book "libro" and tree "ligno".


Fellowship (Ephesians 3:9)

The Textus Receptus contains a unique reading "fellowship" (koinonia) instead of "administration" (oikonomia) in Ephesians 3:9. This variant is found in 10% of the Greek manuscripts of Ephesians alongside its inclusion in the ''Textus Receptus''. It is missing from the Sinaiaticus (4th century), Vaticanus (4th century),
Alexandrinus The Codex Alexandrinus (London, British Library, Royal MS 1. D. V-VIII) is a manuscript of the Greek Bible,The Greek Bible in this context refers to the Bible used by Greek-speaking Christians who lived in Egypt and elsewhere during the early ...
(5th century) and
Papyrus 46 Papyrus 46, also known as ''P. Chester Beatty II'', is an early Greek New Testament manuscript written on papyrus, and is one of the manuscripts comprising the Chester Beatty Papyri. It is designated by the siglum in the Gregory-Aland numberi ...
(3rd century).


The longer ending of Mark (Mark 16:9-20)

Mark 16:9-20 or the longer ending of Mark is a variant found within the ''Textus Receptus'' which has generally been assumed to have been a later addition into the text by modern textual critics. The earliest extant complete manuscripts of Mark,
Codex Sinaiticus The Codex Sinaiticus (; Shelfmark: London, British Library, Add MS 43725), also called the Sinai Bible, is a fourth-century Christian manuscript of a Greek Bible, containing the majority of the Greek Old Testament, including the deuterocanonica ...
and
Codex Vaticanus The Codex Vaticanus ( The Vatican, Bibl. Vat., Vat. gr. 1209), is a manuscript of the Greek Bible, containing the majority of the Old Testament and the majority of the New Testament. It is designated by siglum B or 03 in the Gregory-Aland numb ...
, two 4th-century manuscripts, do not contain the last twelve verses, 16:9–20. It is also omitted by one Syriac manuscript, the
Syriac Sinaiticus The Syriac Sinaiticus or Codex Sinaiticus Syriacus (syrs), known also as the Sinaitic Palimpsest, of Saint Catherine's Monastery (Sinai, Syr. 30), or Old Syriac Gospels is a late-4th- or early-5th-century manuscript of 179 folios, containing a nea ...
(4th century) and one Old Latin manuscript, the Codex Bobbiensis (430ad). It is also missing from some Georgian and Armenian manuscripts and is omitted by
Eusebius of Caesarea Eusebius of Caesarea (30 May AD 339), also known as Eusebius Pamphilius, was a historian of Christianity, exegete, and Christian polemicist from the Roman province of Syria Palaestina. In about AD 314 he became the bishop of Caesarea Maritima. ...
(4th century),
Hesychius of Jerusalem Hesychius of Jerusalem, also spelt Hesychios and also known as Hesychius the Priest, was a Christian priest and exegete, active during the first half of the fifth century. Nothing certain is known as to the dates of his birth and death (450s?), or, ...
(5th century),
Severus of Antioch Severus of Antioch (; ), also known as Severus of Gaza, or the Crown of Syrians (; ), was the Patriarch of Antioch and head of the Syriac Orthodox Church from 512 until his death in 538. He is venerated as a saint in the Oriental Orthodox Church ...
(5th century) and possibly
Origen Origen of Alexandria (), also known as Origen Adamantius, was an Early Christianity, early Christian scholar, Asceticism#Christianity, ascetic, and Christian theology, theologian who was born and spent the first half of his career in Early cent ...
(3rd century). It is included in the Majority/Byzantine Text (over 1,500 manuscripts of Mark),
Family 13 Family 13, also known as the Ferrar Group (''ƒ'', von Soden calls the group I), is a group of Greek Gospel manuscripts, dating from the 11th to the 15th centuries, which share a distinctive pattern of variant readings. All are thought to derive ...
,
Codex Alexandrinus The Codex Alexandrinus (London, British Library, Royal MS 1. D. V-VIII) is a manuscript of the Greek Bible,The Greek Bible in this context refers to the Bible used by Greek-speaking Christians who lived in Egypt and elsewhere during the early ...
(5th century),
Codex Bezae The Codex Bezae Cantabrigiensis is a bi-lingual Greek and Latin manuscript of the New Testament written in an uncial hand on parchment. It is designated by the siglum D or 05 in the Gregory-Aland numbering of New Testament manuscripts, and ...
(5th century),
Codex Ephraemi The Codex Ephraemi Rescriptus (Paris, National Library of France, Greek 9) is a manuscript of the Greek Bible, written on parchment. It is designated by the siglum C or 04 in the Gregory-Aland numbering of New Testament manuscripts, and δ 3 (i ...
(5th century),
Codex Koridethi Codex Koridethi, also named ''Codex Coridethianus'', is a Greek uncial manuscript of the New Testament Gospels, written on parchment. It is designated by the siglum Θ or 038 in the Gregory-Aland numbering of New Testament manuscripts, and as ε0 ...
(9th century), Athous Lavrensis (9th century),
Codex Sangallensis 48 Codex Sangallensis is a Greek-Latin diglot uncial manuscript of the four Gospels. It is designated by Δ or 037 in the Gregory-Aland numbering of New Testament manuscripts, and ε76 in the von Soden numbering of New Testament manuscripts. The L ...
(9th century), minuscules: 33,
565 __NOTOC__ Year 565 ( DLXV) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Julian calendar. The denomination 565 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe ...
,
700 The denomination 700 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years. Events By place Byzantine Empire * Avar and Slavic tribes co ...
,
892 Year 892 (Roman numerals, DCCCXCII) was a leap year starting on Saturday of the Julian calendar, the 892nd year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 892nd year of the 1st millennium, the 92nd year of the 9th century, a ...
, 2674.
The Vulgate The Vulgate () is a late-4th-century Latin translation of the Bible. It is largely the work of Saint Jerome who, in 382, had been commissioned by Pope Damasus I to revise the Gospels used by the Roman Church. Later, of his own initiat ...
(380ad) and most of the
Old Latin Old Latin, also known as Early, Archaic or Priscan Latin (Classical ), was the Latin language in the period roughly before 75 BC, i.e. before the age of Classical Latin. A member of the Italic languages, it descends from a common Proto-Italic ...
, Syriac Curetonian (5th century),
Peshitta The Peshitta ( ''or'' ') is the standard Syriac edition of the Bible for Syriac Christian churches and traditions that follow the liturgies of the Syriac Rites. The Peshitta is originally and traditionally written in the Classical Syriac d ...
(5th century), Bohairic, most Sahidic,
Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, a Germanic people **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Gothic alphabet, an alphabet used to write the Gothic language ** Gothic ( ...
(4th century) and the Harklean Syriac (600ad). The passage is also cited by the
Epistula Apostolorum The Epistle of the Apostles () is a work of New Testament apocrypha. Despite its name, it is more a gospel or an apocalypse than an epistle. The work takes the form of an open letter purportedly from the remaining eleven apostles describing k ...
(120-140ad), possibly
Justin Martyr Justin, known posthumously as Justin Martyr (; ), also known as Justin the Philosopher, was an early Christian apologist and Philosophy, philosopher. Most of his works are lost, but two apologies and a dialogue did survive. The ''First Apolog ...
(160ad),
Diatessaron The ''Diatessaron'' (; c. 160–175 AD) is the most prominent early gospel harmony. It was created in the Syriac language by Tatian, an Assyrian early Christian apologist and ascetic. Tatian sought to combine all the textual material he fou ...
(160–175 AD),
Irenaeus Irenaeus ( or ; ; ) was a Greeks, Greek bishop noted for his role in guiding and expanding Christianity, Christian communities in the southern regions of present-day France and, more widely, for the development of Christian theology by oppos ...
(180ad), Hippolytus (died 235ad), Vincentius of Thibaris (256ad), De Rebaptismate (258ad),
Acts of Pilate The Gospel of Nicodemus, also known as the Acts of Pilate (; ), is an apocryphal gospel purporting to be derived from an original work written by Nicodemus, who appears in the Gospel of John as an acquaintance of Jesus. The title "Gospel of Nicod ...
(4th century), Fortunatianus (350ad) and the
Apostolic Constitutions The ''Apostolic Constitutions'' or ''Constitutions of the Holy Apostles'' (Latin: ''Constitutiones Apostolorum'') is a Christian collection divided into eight books which is classified among the Church Orders, a genre of early Christian litera ...
(4th century) Due to its presence within most manuscripts within the Byzantine text-type, it is also a characteristic of Byzantine printed editions of the New Testament such as the texts of Maurice A. Robinson & Willia1 Timothy 3:16m G. Pierpont, The Greek New Testament According to the Majority Text (Hodges-Farstad) and the Eastern Orthodox
Patriarchal text The Patriarchal text, or Patriarchal Text (PT), originally officially published as ''The New Testament, Approved by the Great Church of Christ'' (Greek: Ἡ Καινὴ Διαθήκη ἐγκρίσει τῆς Μεγάλης τοῦ Χριστο ...
.


God was manifest in the flesh (1 Timothy 3:16)

One noteworthy variant within the ''Textus Receptus'' is the reading "God" (theos) in 1 Timothy 3:16, as it concerns a very important theological point. This reading is not found in the earliest manuscripts known today, which instead read "who" (hos), which is why modern versions do not contain the word "God" in this verse. The reading "God" is supported most Byzantine text-type manuscripts,
Codex Athous Lavrensis The Codex Athous Laurae is a manuscript of the New Testament written in Greek uncial letters on parchment. It is designated by Ψ or 044 in the Gregory-Aland numbering of New Testament manuscripts, and δ 6 in the von Soden numbering of New Test ...
(8th century),
Minuscule 81 Minuscule 81 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering), or α162 (in the Soden numbering) is a Greek minuscule manuscript of the New Testament, on a parchment. It is dated by a colophon to the year 1044.K. Aland, M. Welte, B. Köster, K. Junack, "Kurzg ...
(11th century),
Minuscule 1739 Minuscule 1739 or Codex Athous Laurae 184 is a Greek minuscule manuscript of the New Testament made of parchment. It is designated as 1739 in the Gregory-Aland numbering of New Testament manuscripts, and as α 78 in the von Soden numbering of Ne ...
(10th century),
Minuscule 614 Minuscule 614 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering), α 364 ( von Soden), is a Greek minuscule manuscript of the New Testament, on parchment. Palaeographically it has been assigned to the 13th century.K. Aland, M. Welte, B. Köster, K. Junack, "Kurzg ...
(13th century),
Gregory of Nyssa Gregory of Nyssa, also known as Gregory Nyssen ( or Γρηγόριος Νυσσηνός; c. 335 – c. 394), was an early Roman Christian prelate who served as Bishop of Nyssa from 372 to 376 and from 378 until his death in 394. He is ve ...
(4th century), Didymus (4th century),
John Chrysostom John Chrysostom (; ; – 14 September 407) was an important Church Father who served as archbishop of Constantinople. He is known for his preaching and public speaking, his denunciation of abuse of authority by both ecclesiastical and p ...
(4th century),
Euthalius Euthalius was a deacon of Alexandria and later Bishop of Sulca. He lived sometime between the 4th and 7th centuries and is chiefly known through his work on the New Testament in particular as the author of the "Euthalian Sections". Of Euthalius ...
(4th century) and
Theodoret Theodoret of Cyrus or Cyrrhus (; AD 393 –  458/466) was an influential theologian of the School of Antioch, biblical commentator, and Christian bishop of Cyrrhus (423–457). He played a pivotal role in several 5th-century Byzantine ...
(5th century), while the reading "who" is found in the Codex Sinaiaticus (4th century),
Alexandrinus The Codex Alexandrinus (London, British Library, Royal MS 1. D. V-VIII) is a manuscript of the Greek Bible,The Greek Bible in this context refers to the Bible used by Greek-speaking Christians who lived in Egypt and elsewhere during the early ...
(5th century), Ephraemi Rescriptus (5th century), Gothic manuscripts,
Jerome Jerome (; ; ; – 30 September 420), also known as Jerome of Stridon, was an early Christian presbyter, priest, Confessor of the Faith, confessor, theologian, translator, and historian; he is commonly known as Saint Jerome. He is best known ...
(4th century),
Origen Origen of Alexandria (), also known as Origen Adamantius, was an Early Christianity, early Christian scholar, Asceticism#Christianity, ascetic, and Christian theology, theologian who was born and spent the first half of his career in Early cent ...
(3rd century) and Epiphanus (4th century). Although the Sinaiticus, Alexandrinus and Ephraemi Rescriptus were corrected by later scribes to add the reading "theos".


It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks (Acts 9:5-6)

The reading "It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks" is found in the ''Textus Receptus'' in Acts 9:5, which is lacking in most Greek manuscripts. Erasmus admitted himself that these words were not found in the Greek manuscripts he had access to, however decided to include the words due to their presence in the Latin Vulgate. These words are found in verse 4 instead of verse 5 in two Greek manuscripts: 431 and
Codex Laudianus Codex Laudianus, designated by Ea or 08 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering), α 1001 ( von Soden), called ''Laudianus'' after the former owner, Archbishop William Laud. It is a diglot Latin — Greek uncial manuscript of the New Testament, palae ...
. They are also found in the
Palestinian Syriac Christian Palestinian Aramaic was a Western Aramaic dialect used by the Melkite Christian community, predominantly of Jewish descent, in Palestine, Transjordan and Sinai between the fifth and thirteenth centuries. It is preserved in inscript ...
manuscripts alongside in the writings of
Augustine Augustine of Hippo ( , ; ; 13 November 354 – 28 August 430) was a theologian and philosopher of Berber origin and the bishop of Hippo Regius in Numidia, Roman North Africa. His writings deeply influenced the development of Western philosop ...
and
Petilianus Petilianus was an eminent Donatist of the 5th century Roman North Africa, who is known to history through the letters he wrote to the Catholic Bishop Augustine of Hippo and discourses in Augustine's replies. Although most of what we know of him com ...
. While these words are found in verse 5 as in the ''Textus Receptus'' in the
Vetus Latina The ''Vetus Latina'' ("Old Latin" in Latin), also known as ''Vetus Itala'' ("Old Italian"), ''Itala'' ("Italian") and Old Italic, and denoted by the siglum \mathfrak, are the Latin Bible translations, translations of biblical texts (both Old T ...
manuscripts, Vulgate manuscripts and in the writings of
Ambrose Ambrose of Milan (; 4 April 397), venerated as Saint Ambrose, was a theologian and statesman who served as Bishop of Milan from 374 to 397. He expressed himself prominently as a public figure, fiercely promoting Roman Christianity against Ari ...
(339 – 4 April 397) and
Lucifer of Cagliari St. Lucifer of Cagliari (, ; died 20 May 370 or 371) was a bishop of Cagliari in Sardinia known for his passionate opposition to Arianism. He is venerated as a Saint in Sardinia. Life Lucifer first appears in history as an envoy from Pope Lib ...
(died 370ad). After these words, the ''Textus Receptus'' contains the reading "And he trembling and astonished said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And the Lord said unto him". These words are found found in the 7th century Harclean Syriac version, the Latin Vulgate, Vetus Latina manuscripts alongside the 4th or 5th century Coptic
Codex Glazier Codex Glazier, designated by siglum copG67, is a Coptic uncial manuscript of the New Testament on parchment. It is dated palaeographically to the 4th or 5th century. Textually it is very close to Greek Codex Bezae. Description It contains th ...
. However, there are no extant Greek manuscripts today to include these words. Some such as Clark have argued that the words "It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks" should be included in Acts 9 because they fit Lukan style more accurately. Nevertheless,
Bruce M. Metzger Bruce Manning Metzger (February 9, 1914 – February 13, 2007) was an American biblical scholar, Bible translator and textual critic who was a longtime professor at Princeton Theological Seminary and Bible editor who served on the board of the ...
has argued that these words are more likely added by copyists trying to harmonize Acts 9 later accounts of Paul's conversion.


Other controversial readings


Variants within the Textus Receptus editions

Although the ''Textus Receptus'' tradition is very uniform, there are some variants between the different editions of the ''Textus Receptus''. There are around 283 differences between the editions of Scrivener and Stephanus, while the number is 190 between the editions Scrivener and Beza. Most of these variants are insignificant, and often deal with spelling differences, word order or other minor differences. The following examples are from F.H.A Scrivener, who listed the variants between the ''Textus Receptus'' editions: * Beza adds "de" after "husteron", which is lacking in the text of Stephanus in Mark 1:21´. * Beza reads "kaleseis" instead of "kalesousi" in Matthew 1:23. Beza's reading is only supported by Codex D. * Unlike Stephanus, Beza includes the words "tou theou" after "agapen" in 1 John 3:16. This reading is also found in the Complutensian Polyglot. * Beza omits the word "hoti" in Matthew 9:33, which is found in the text of Stephanus. * Stephanus includes the word "amen" at the end of Mark 16:20, which is also omitted by Beza and Erasmus. This reading is found in the Complutensian Polyglot. * Beza and Elzevir read "apothanontos", while Stephanus reads "apothanontes" in Romans 7:6. The reading of Beza has been proposed to have been supported by
John Chrysostom John Chrysostom (; ; – 14 September 407) was an important Church Father who served as archbishop of Constantinople. He is known for his preaching and public speaking, his denunciation of abuse of authority by both ecclesiastical and p ...
(347 – 14 September 407), but it is absent from the existing Greek manuscripts. However Beza's argument that Chrysostom's manuscript included the reading "apothanontos" has been disputed as being a misinterpretation of his commentary, as there are places where Chrysostom's commentaries contain the common Greek reading of "apothanontes". Beza argued that later authors had interpolated the reading into Chrysostom's commentary.


English translations from the Textus Receptus

*
Tyndale New Testament The Tyndale Bible (TYN) generally refers to the body of biblical translations by William Tyndale into Early Modern English, made . Tyndale's biblical text is credited with being the first English-language Biblical translation to work directly ...
1526–30 *
Coverdale Bible The Coverdale Bible, compiled by Myles Coverdale and published in 1535, was the first complete Modern English translation of the Bible (not just the Old, or New Testament), and the first complete printed translation into English (cf. Wycliffe's ...
1535 *
Matthew Bible ''The Matthew Bible'', also known as ''Matthew's Version'', was first published in 1537 by John Rogers, under the pseudonym "Thomas Matthew". It combined the New Testament of William Tyndale, and as much of the Old Testament as he had been abl ...
1537 *
Taverner's Bible Taverner's Bible, more correctly called ''The Most Sacred Bible is the holy scripture, the old and new testament, translated into English, and newly recognized with great diligence after most exemplars by Rychard Taverner'', is a minor revision ...
1539 *
Great Bible The Great Bible of 1539 was the first authorized edition of the Bible in English, authorized by King Henry VIII of England to be read aloud in the church services of the Church of England; it precedes the more renowned Authorized Version (AV) co ...
1539 *
Geneva Bible The Geneva Bible, sometimes known by the sobriquet Breeches Bible, is one of the most historically significant translations of the Bible into English, preceding the Douay Rheims Bible by 22 years, and the King James Version by 51 years. It was ...
1560–1644 *
Bishops' Bible The Bishops' Bible is an English edition of the Bible which was produced under the authority of the established Church of England in 1568. It was substantially revised in 1572, and the 1602 edition was prescribed as the base text for the King Ja ...
1568 *
Douay–Rheims Bible The Douay–Rheims Bible (, ), also known as the Douay–Rheims Version, Rheims–Douai Bible or Douai Bible, and abbreviated as D–R, DRB, and DRV, is a translation of the Bible from the Latin Vulgate into English made by member ...
1582, 1610, 1749–52. Base translation is from the
Vulgate The Vulgate () is a late-4th-century Bible translations into Latin, Latin translation of the Bible. It is largely the work of Saint Jerome who, in 382, had been commissioned by Pope Damasus I to revise the Gospels used by the Diocese of ...
but 1749–52 editions onwards ( Challoner revisions) contain major borrowings from the Tyndale, Geneva and King James versions. *
King James Version The King James Version (KJV), also the King James Bible (KJB) and the Authorized Version (AV), is an Early Modern English Bible translations, Early Modern English translation of the Christianity, Christian Bible for the Church of England, wh ...
1611, 1613, 1629, 1664, 1701, 1744, 1762, 1769, 1850 * English Dort Version 1657, English translation of the
Statenvertaling The ''Statenvertaling'' (, ''States Translation'') or ''Statenbijbel'' (''States Bible'') was the first translation of the Bible from the original Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek languages into Dutch. It was ordered by the Synod of Dordrecht in 161 ...
by
Theodore Haak Theodore Haak (1605 in – 1690 in London) was a German Calvinist scholar, resident in England in later life. Haak's communications abilities and interests in the new science provided the backdrop for convening the " 1645 Group", a precursor of ...
*
Quaker Bible The Quaker Bible, officially A new and literal translation of all the books of the Old and New Testament; with notes critical and explanatory, is the 1764 translation of the Christian Bible into English by Anthony Purver (1702–1777), a Quaker. ...
1764 * Webster's Revision 1833 * Young's Literal Translation (YLT) 1862, 1887, 1898 * Rotherham's Emphasized Bible (EBR) 1872 edition. *
Cambridge Paragraph Bible The New Cambridge Paragraph Bible with the Apocrypha is a newly edited edition of the King James Version of the Bible (KJV) published by Cambridge University Press in 2005. This 2005 edition was printed as ''The Bible (Penguin Classics)'' in 2 ...
1873 edition of the KJV in paragraph format, edited by F. H. A. Scrivener. * Julia E. Smith Parker Translation 1876 *
New King James Version (NKJV) The New King James Version (NKJV) is a translation of the Bible in contemporary English, working as a revision of the King James Version. Published by Thomas Nelson (publisher), Thomas Nelson, the complete NKJV was released in 1982. With regard ...
1982 (New Testament 1979). With an anglicized version originally known as the "Revised Authorized Version". *
Green's Literal Translation Green's Literal Translation or the Literal Translation of the Holy Bible (LITV) is a translation of the Bible by Jay P. Green Sr., first published in 1985. The LITV takes a literal, formal equivalence approach to translation. The Masoretic Text ...
1985. Included in The Interlinear Translation 1986. *
Third Millennium Bible The Third Millennium Bible (TMB), also known as the New Authorized Version, is a 1998 minor update of the King James Version of the Bible. Unlike the New King James Version, it does not alter the language significantly from the 1611 version, reta ...
1998 *
New Cambridge Paragraph Bible The New Cambridge Paragraph Bible with the Apocrypha is a newly edited edition of the King James Version of the Bible (KJV) published by Cambridge University Press in 2005. This 2005 edition was printed as ''The Bible (Penguin Classics)'' in 2 ...
2005 edition of the KJV, paragraph format with modernised spelling; edited by David Norton. *
Modern English Version The Modern English Version (MEV) is an English language, English Bible translations, translation of the Bible begun in 2005 and completed in 2014. The work was edited by James F. Linzey, and is an update of the King James Version (KJV), re-transl ...
2014 *
Literal Standard Version The Literal Standard Version (LSV) is a Modern English translation of the Bible with a number of distinctive features. It describes itself as the most literal translation of the Bible into the modern English language. The first edition was publi ...
2020
King James Version 2023 Edition
2023


See also

; Other text-types *
Alexandrian text-type In textual criticism of the New Testament, the Alexandrian text-type is one of the main text types. It is the text type favored by the majority of modern textual critics and it is the basis for most modern (after 1900) Bible translations. Over 5,8 ...
; Other articles *
Minuscule 177 Minuscule 177 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering), α 106 ( Soden), is a Greek minuscule manuscript of the New Testament, on parchment. Palaeographically it has been assigned to the 11th century.K. Aland, M. Welte, B. Köster, K. Junack, "Kurzgefa ...
– manuscript close to Textus Receptus *
King-James-Only Movement The King James Only movement (also known as King James Onlyism or KJV Onlyism) asserts that the King James Version (KJV) of the Bible is superior to all other English translations of the Bible. Adherents of the movement, mostly certain Conse ...
*
Textual criticism Textual criticism is a branch of textual scholarship, philology, and literary criticism that is concerned with the identification of textual variants, or different versions, of either manuscripts (mss) or of printed books. Such texts may rang ...
*
Biblical manuscript A biblical manuscript is any handwritten copy of a portion of the text of the Bible. Biblical manuscripts vary in size from tiny scrolls containing individual verses of the Jewish scriptures (see '' Tefillin'') to huge polyglot codices (multi- ...
s *
List of major textual variants in the New Testament Textual variants in the New Testament manuscripts arise when a copyist makes deliberate or inadvertent alterations to the text that is being reproduced. Textual criticism of the New Testament has included study of its textual variants. Some comm ...


References


Sources

* Martin Arhelger
Die Textgrundlage des Neues Testaments, 2006
* Martin Arhelger
''Die Textgrundlage des Neuen Testaments'' (2008)
pp. 74–79 – differences between editions of ''Textus Receptus'' *
Bruce M. Metzger Bruce Manning Metzger (February 9, 1914 – February 13, 2007) was an American biblical scholar, Bible translator and textual critic who was a longtime professor at Princeton Theological Seminary and Bible editor who served on the board of the ...
,
Bart D. Ehrman Bart Denton Ehrman (born October 5, 1955) is an American New Testament scholar focusing on textual criticism of the New Testament, the historical Jesus, and the origins and development of early Christianity. He has written and edited 30 books ...
, ''The Text of the New Testament: Its Transmission, Corruption and Restoration'',
Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the publishing house of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world. Its first book was printed in Oxford in 1478, with the Press officially granted the legal right to print books ...
, 2005. * Jacob van Bruggen. ''The Ancient Text of the New Testament''. Winnipeg, Man.: Premier, 1976. * Pickering, Wilbur N. ''The Identity of the New Testament Text''. Rev. ed. Nashville, Tenn.: T. Nelson Publishers, 1980. pbk. * W. W. Combs
''Erasmus and the Textus Receptus''
DBSJ 1 (Spring 1996): 35-53. * Daniel B. Wallace, ''Some Second Thoughts on the Majority Text''. ''
Bibliotheca Sacra ''Bibliotheca Sacra'' (colloquially referred to as "BibSac") is a theological journal published by Dallas Theological Seminary, first published in 1844 and the oldest theological journal in the United States. It was founded at Union Theological ...
'' 146 (1989): 270-290. * James White. ''King James Only Controversy, Can You Trust the Modern Translations?'' Bethany House, 1995. * Edward F. Hills. ''The King James Version Defended.'' Des Moines, Iowa, The Christian Research Press, 1984. An online version of Hills' book is availabl
here
an
here.
* Martin Heide: ''Der einzig wahre Bibeltext? Erasmus von Rotterdam und die Frage nach dem Urtext'', 5. Auflage Nürnberg: VTR, 2006, . * H. J. de Jonge
Daniel Heinsius and the Textus Receptus of the New Testament
* S. P. Tregelles, ''The Printed Text of the Greek New Testament'', London 1854.


External links

; Text * Robert Estienne
''Novum Testamentum Græce'' (1550)
* Abraham Elzevir
''Elzevir Textus Receptus'' (1624)
* Scrivener, ''Novum Testamentum : Textus Stephanici A.D. 1550 : accedunt variae lectiones editionum Bezae, Elzeviri, Lachmanni, Tischendorfii, Tregellesii'' (Cambridge 1877) * Scrivener
''Novum Testamentum : Textus Stephanici A.D. 1550 : accedunt variae lectiones editionum Bezae, Elzeviri, Lachmanni, Tischendorfii, Tregellesii, Westcott-Hort, Versionis Anglicanae Emendatorum''
(1887) ; Modern textual criticism

at the Encyclopedia of Textual Criticism

from Bible Research

Bible Research
Comparison of the Textus Receptus with other manuscript editions
on the Manuscript Comparator ; Defense of Textus Receptus
A Brief Look at the Textus Receptus



A Wiki Style site promoting the Textus Receptus and the King James Version

Bible For Today

Dean Burgon Society
{{Desiderius Erasmus Books by Desiderius Erasmus Christian terminology Greek New Testament King James Only movement New Testament editions