New Testament Textual Criticism (Page 2)

Manuscript Types (Families of Texts)

The Alexandrian Text

1. Centered in Egypt
2. Most important family
3. Two important manuscripts are Codex Sinaiticus א and Codex Vaticanus B, both 4th Century
4. Though corrected by later scribes, they are the most ancient uncials
5. Preserve the Alexandrian text at an early stage
6. Some important papyrus manuscripts also represent this family

The Byzantine Text

1. Adopted in Constantinople and used as the common text in Byzantine world
2. Produced in Antioch, Syria, under the direction of Lucian, beginning of 4th Century
3. It is a combination of earlier texts, and seen as less valuable than Alexandrian
4. Erasmus created the first printed Greek text from this family
5. The KJV Bible used this type of text
6. A (Codex Alexandrinus, 5th Century) and C (Codex Ephraemi, 5th Century) are the oldest representatives of the Byzantine family
7. A great majority of late uncials and minuscules belong to this group

The Western Text

1. This family of texts related to western church , particularly North Africa
2. It can probably be traced to the 2nd Century, but its value has been disputed
3. It was used by the early church fathers
4. Its age suggests great value, though it was not carefully preserved
5. Best represented by Old Latin and Syriac versions, and the church fathers
6. Most famous for manuscript D (Codex Bezae) for the book of Acts

The Caesarean Text

1. Widely used in Caesarea, but its value is limited
2. Arose from Alexandrian text but was also mixed with the Western text
3. Apparently two stages in its development: pre-Caesarean and Caesarean
4. Most prominent representatives are W (Washington Codex, 5th Century), P⁴⁵, and two groups of minuscules and lectionaries

Why do we have so many variants?⁷

There are several reasons for variants :

1. Errors from faulty eyesight

1 Timothy 3:16 The earliest manuscripts read OC (for “omicron sigma” or “he who.” Mistaken in later manuscripts as ΘC “theta sigma” with a line on top. This was often the way the Greeks would write “ θεὸς ”.

John 17:15 A scribe working on codex Vaticanus (“B” 4th Century) was reading two lines that ended with the same word or words, and the eye wandered from the first line to the second omitting a passage.⁸

2. Errors from faulty hearing

Sometimes scribes made copies from dictation. In κοινη , Greek, the vowels h i and u ,and diphthongs ei oi and ui along with the semi-diphthong ῃ all came to be pronounced as ēē as in ‘feet.’ This led to mistakes like:

1. 1Corinthians 15:54 reads “death is swallowed up in conflict” νεῖκος . It is a quote from Hosea 13:14. p46 (Chester Beatty, 200 AD) and B, the weightier manuscripts all have “victory” νῖκος which also agrees with the Hebrew text of Hosea 13:14 as opposed to the LXX which a scribe(s) in the less valuable manuscripts may have tried to conform to.

2. Revelation 4:3 reads “a rainbow” (ἶρις) resembling an emerald, encircled the throne” in the best manuscripts, but א (Sinaiticus, 4th Century) , A (Alexandrinus, 5th Century) and other witnesses read “priests” (ἱερεῖς)!

Sometimes consonants were interchanged:

Matthew 2:6 “from you” ἐκ σοῦ becomes “from whom” ἐξ οὗ in א C (see also Matthew 21:19 and Mark 11:14 which both have ἐκ σοῦ )

3. Errors due to tricks of the mind

Caused when the copyist is holding a string of words or letters in memory between a glance at the manuscript being copied and his own copy. Mark 1:5 has a variation in a sequence of words: πάντες καὶ ἐβαπτίζοντο in the best manuscripts, καὶ πάντες ἐβαπτίζοντο and καὶ ἐβαπτίζοντο πάντες in still others.

Matthew 19:17 has an assimilation of the wording of one passage to the slightly different wording in a parallel passage “Why do you ask me about what is good? Only One is good” τί με ἐρωτᾷς περὶ τοῦ ἀγαθοῦ; εἷς ἐστιν ὁ ἀγαθός (cf. Mark 10:18, Luke 18:19 ) “Why do you say I am good? No one is good but God alone” τί με λέγεις ἀγαθόν; οὐδεὶς ἀγαθὸς εἰ μὴ εἷς ὁ θεός. Apparently, because of the influence of the parallel passages, scribes translating to inferior manuscripts (from which comes the KJV) add to the Matthew passage “that is God.”

4. Errors of judgment

Apparently, in 2 Corinthians 8:4 which reads in most texts: “Begging us, with much encouragement, for the goodwill and fellowship of the service to the saints” μετὰ πολλῆς παρακλήσεως δεόμενοι ἡμῶν τὴν χάριν καὶ τὴν κοινωνίαν τῆς διακονίας τῆς εἰς τοὺς ἁγίους ( the phrase “to receive us” δέξασθαι ἡμᾶς (Gen 5:29 BGT)(Gen 4:11 BGT) was added as a gloss in some minuscules.

Another, more serious error in judgment, appears in John 5:3-5 . Most early (and better) manuscripts ( p66 (Bodmer, 200 AD), p75 (Bodmar, early 3rd Century) א A* B C* (Ephraemi Rescriptus, 5th Century) K (9th C) D (Claromantanus, 6th Century) P (6th Century) Y (9th Century) ) do not contain the phrase that appears in the KJV John 5:3b-4 “…waiting for the moving of the water. For an angel went down at a certain season into the pool, and troubled the water: whosoever then first after the troubling of the water stepped in was made whole of whatsoever disease he had. ” or some variation. This was originally an explanatory gloss in the margin for verse 7 that got incorporated into the text!