FACTS on the TEXTUS RECEPTUS and the KING JAMES VERSION
Allan A. MacRae and Robert C. Newman
How did the term "textus receptus" originate?
It originated through a highly exaggerated statement -- actually a
publisher's blurb -- in the preface to the second edition of the Greek New
Testament that was published in Holland in 1633 by the Elzevir brothers. In
this Latin preface they called their book "the text which is now received by
all, in which we give nothing changed or corrupted." This is how this Latin
term textus receptus (text received) came to be applied to a
particular text of the Greek New Testament. On the European continent, aside
from Great Britain, the first Elzevir edition (pub. 1624) was for a long
time the standard edition of the Greek New Testament.
Did the King James translators use this "textus receptus" as the basis
for their translation?
No. Even the first Elzevir edition was not published until 13 years after
the date of the KJV.
What was the Greek text on which the KJV New Testament was based?
It was based on the third edition of the Greek New Testament issued by the
Parisian publisher Stephanus
(Latinized form of Estienne) in 1550.
Was the text of Stephanus on which the King James Version was based
identical with the later "textus receptus"?
No. The two differed in 287 places.
How many Greek manuscripts agree exactly with the edition published by
Stephanus, and how many agree exactly with the edition published by Elzevir?
There is no Greek manuscript that agrees exactly with either of
these. Both of them are conflate texts.
Were the scholars who prepared the King James Version convinced that
their text was absolutely correct?
No. They recognized the possibility of copyists' errors, and showed this by
making marginal notes to variant readings at 13 places. For instance, in
Luke 17:36 their marginal note reads: "This 36th verse is wanting in most of
the Greek copies." In Acts 25:6, where their text reads: "When he had
tarried among them more than ten days," they inserted the following marginal
note: "Or, as some copies read, no more than eight or ten days."
What was the source of most of the readings found both in the edition
of Stephanus and in that of Elzevir?
Most of the readings in both of these follow the edition of the Greek New
Testament prepared by Erasmus, the great enemy of Luther, and published in
1516, the year before the Reformation began.
How many manuscripts agree exactly with Erasmus' edition of the Greek
New Testament?
There is no Greek manuscript that agrees exactly with it. Erasmus made it by
combining the readings of several manuscripts, none of them earlier than the
tenth century A.D., and most of them still later. In some parts of the New
Testament he had no manuscript at all, but simply retranslated from the
Latin Bible.
To whom was the Greek New Testament prepared by Erasmus dedicated?
It was dedicated to Pope Leo X, the pope who later condemned Luther and the
Reformation. It is believed that this pope gave Erasmus' publisher the
exclusive right to publish the Greek New Testament for a period of time.
Have better manuscripts been discovered than those on which the textus
receptus was based?
During the three and one-half centuries since the King James Version was
made dozens of manuscripts have been found that were copied many centuries
earlier than any manuscript used by Erasmus. The manuscripts he used were
copies of copies of copies of copies of copies. When material is copied a
number of times by hand, extra words and phrases generally find their way
into the text in the course of copying and occasionally the eye of a copyist
may jump from one word of a phrase to a similar one, and thus omit something
or perhaps copy it twice.
Does this mean that the textus receptus is a harmful text?
The additions in the textus receptus do not contain any idea that is not
taught elsewhere in the New Testament in parts that agree with the earlier
manuscripts. The differences consist mainly of repetition of ideas already
contained elsewhere in the Scripture.
Then why bother to hunt for early manuscripts? Why not simply follow
the textus receptus?
God inspired the manuscripts that came from the hands of the original
writers. It is impossible to copy a book of any length without making some
mistakes. In the case of the New Testament we have more evidence for
determining the text of the original writers than for any other book from
ancient times. While there is rarely anything harmful in the later
manuscripts, it is desirable, if we truly wish to know God's Word, to base
our text, as far as possible, on early manuscripts.
What is meant by the Byzantine Text?
Shortly before A.D. 400 the Roman empire was divided into two parts, the
western Roman empire and the eastern or Byzantine empire. Within a century
after this division the western empire came to an end, and western Europe
sank into a state of near barbarism. The Byzantine empire continued, though
often in a greatly weakened state, until A.D. 1453.
For about a thousand years, the Greek language was completely unknown in
western Europe, but remained the official language of the Byzantine empire.
During this time both portions of the former Roman empire contained many
monasteries in which the monks were required to do a certain amount of work
each day. One way to fulfill this work requirement was to copy manuscripts.
In the western monasteries Latin manuscripts, including the Latin Bible,
were copied and recopied by the monks. In the Byzantine monasteries Greek
manuscripts were copied, including copies of the Greek Bible. Some of these
scribes were greatly interested in what they were copying, but for others
the copying was merely an assigned task. In the course of copying, little
mistakes invariably come in, so that no two manuscripts of the Latin Bible
or of the Greek Bible are exactly the same. During this period, as visitors
passed from one Byzantine monastery to another, and manuscripts were
interchanged from time to time, the tendency naturally developed to bring
the manuscripts into harmony with one another. Where early manuscripts
differed slightly there was a tendency to combine the readings. Thus there
developed a text which is found, with many variations, in the manuscripts
copied in the Byzantine empire in the later middle ages.
Sometimes a whole verse is said to be missing from the best
manuscripts. Would not such an omission be obvious because of the verse
number being skipped?
Our system of numbering verses is not found in Greek manuscripts. The first
publication in which the New Testament was divided into numbered verses was
the 4th edition by Stephanus, which he published in Geneva in 1551, after
fleeing from Paris.
Some say that the last twelve verses of the Gospel of Mark were not
part of the original. What do you think of this?
There is a strong possibility that the end of the Gospel of Mark was lost
from certain important manuscripts at a very early time. Some early
manuscripts stop abruptly at the end of v.8 of the last chapter. Yet there
was doubtless an ending, for it is extremely unlikely that the Gospel of
Mark stopped with the words "and they were afraid." It may have been the
short ending that is found in some ancient manuscripts, or it may have been
the longer ending that occurs in the later manuscripts. Practically
everything in this longer ending is also clearly stated in the Gospel of
Luke. The question whether it was also stated at the end of the original
Gospel of Mark is interesting, but not of any great importance for Christian
life or thought. There is only one statement of importance in Mark that is
not in Luke: "They shall take up serpents, and if they drink any deadly
thing it shall not hurt them." Whether this was part of the original Gospel
of Mark or not, it is certainly true that God can protect His people in this
way whenever He chooses to do so, as is shown by the experience of Paul
described in Acts 28:3-6.
Do early manuscripts omit the word "Christ" at many places where it is
included in the textus receptus and thereby show themselves to be
unchristian?
The Gospels always speak of our Lord as Jesus. The book of Acts uses the
word "Jesus" alone 35 times, "Jesus Christ" 10 times, and "the Lord Jesus
Christ" 6 times in the KJV. It would be quite erroneous to conclude from
this that the author of Acts does not like the word "Christ." Different
writers show different preferences in this regard. As scribes copied
manuscripts in century after century it was easy for a scribe
unintentionally to write a longer form even where a shorter one occurred, so
the word Christ occurs more frequently in later manuscripts than in earlier
ones. Yet even in the latest manuscripts we find that Jesus is often called
by shorter terms. The use of longer phrases in referring to the Lord does
not necessarily show greater piety or greater loyalty to Christ.
It is sometimes said that since God gave an inerrant Bible in the
original we can be sure that He would cause that it be preserved without
error. What do you think of this statement?
This is the sort of argument that rests on human ideas and not on God's
revelation. One might as well say that if God gave His Son to die for the
sins of all who will believe on His Name we can then be sure that every
person who has lived since that time would be fully informed about Him. We
know that this is not true. Millions of people have died without ever
hearing about Christ. There are people in this country who have attended
church faithfully all their lives, but have only heard the social Gospel and
have never been told how they could be saved through Christ. We know that
whatever God does is best, but we do not have the wisdom to say that He must
have done things in a certain way.
God has caused that the books of the Bible should be marvelously
preserved. We can get extremely near to the precise text as it came from the
hands of the authors, but there are many minor points on which we cannot be
sure. None of these points affect any important fact of Christian doctrine
or life.
God could have caused His Word to have been written on tables of stone
and preserved in a room kept at exactly the same temperature, protected from
any change, like the authoritative standards kept by the U.S. government. He
did not choose to do so. This is a simple fact. No two manuscripts of the
New Testament exactly agree. No manuscript agrees exactly with the textus
receptus.
There is more material available to see how the Bible has been translated
and to try to get near to the exact words of the original authors than of
any other book from ancient times. We can be very sure that we are very near
to the original text. We cannot say that we have it exactly. Maybe some of
us would have done it differently, but this is the way God did it.
What about such statements as: "Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or
one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled,"
(Matt. 5:18) and "the scripture cannot be broken" (John 10:35)?
Jesus did not say that not a jot or tittle would pass from the law till
every tiniest part had been copied perfectly. What He said was that
no tiny part of the meaning of the Word of God as given to the original
writers would fail to be fulfilled in exactly the way that God intended. Man
cannot break what God has ordained. These verses refer to fulfillment, not
to precise copying.
What is your opinion of the New American Standard Bible?
No translation is perfect. There are always places at which it is extremely
difficult to render a passage into a different language. The KJV was very
excellent for its day, but some of its renderings are questionable. The
New American Standard Bible was prepared by consecrated Christian
scholars and represents an attempt to give an accurate presentation in
modern English of the text found in the older manuscripts of the Bible, with
occasional notes pointing out differences in late manuscripts. Christians
should be grateful for the devoted effort that has gone into this excellent
translation.
Should a denomination or association of churches oppose a version
solely on the ground that it is not based on the textus receptus?
The important thing about a version is its accuracy in translating the text
of the Bible. The KJV was greatly used of God for 300 years until much of
its language became quite archaic, as the English language changed.
It is foolish to ask young people to learn the language of 300 years ago
in order to read the Bible. Even mature Christians do not know what is meant
by such phrases as "we do you to wit" (2 Cor. 8:1). and "thou shalt destroy
them that speak leasing" (Ps. 5:6). God's people need an accurate
translation in the language of today. This is extremely vital. It is wrong
to ask Christians to oppose a translation because it tries to follow the
ancient manuscripts rather than a text based largely on Erasmus' edition. To
do so is to make an idol of the textus receptus. or of the King James
Version. God does not want His people to be idolaters!*
I have heard that the King James Version and the textus receptus are
based on the majority of Greek NT manuscripts. Is this true?
Yes and no. As Dr. MacRae has pointed out, the King James Version does not
exactly follow the majority of Greek NT manuscripts. For instance, I John
5:7. found in the KJV and TR, occurs in only four (out of nearly 5000) Greek
manuscripts. The reading "book of life" in Rev. 22:19 is found in no Greek
manuscript.
Even though no Greek manuscript is exactly like the Textus Receptus or
Erasmus' Greek NT, isn't it true that 95% of the known manuscripts of the
Greek NT are closer to these than to the Greek text behind most modern
English translations?
Yes. But 95% of the known Greek NT manuscripts were copied after A.D. 700,
more than six centuries after the NT was written.
What is the situation among early NT manuscripts then?
Among manuscripts copied before A.D. 400 (three centuries after the NT was
completed) there are none of the Textus Receptus type (Byzantine family),
even though we have over seventy manuscripts from this period. From A.D. 400
to 700, Byzantine manuscripts are still in the minority.
Isn't it possible that the Textus Receptus is still the original text,
but that old manuscripts of it were destroyed as soon as they were copied?
Well, I suppose it is possible, but we have no statements from
antiquity that Christian copyists destroyed old manuscripts after they
copied them. The evidence we do have suggests that the Byzantine
family is not the oldest type of NT text.
What sort of evidence is there that the Byzantine family is not the
oldest text?
We have three basic sources of information about the text of the NT: (1)
Greek NT manuscripts, (2) quotations of the NT by early Christian writers,
and (3) ancient translations of the NT into other languages. I have already
mentioned the Greek NT manuscript situation above.
What about quotations by early Christian writers?
Many Christians quote from the NT in the letters, sermons and commentaries
preserved from the early centuries of our era. Although we see about 100
writers using the so-called Alexandrian, Western and Caesarean text families
in quotations from before A.D. 400, the first person known to have used the
Byzantine type of text is John Chrysostom, who died in A.D. 407.
What about early translations?
We have translations of the NT made into Latin, Syriac and Coptic (Egyptian)
by A.D. 300. None of these use a Byzantine sort of text but rather the
Alexandrian or Western text. The earliest Byzantine type translation is the
Syriac Peshitta, but there is no evidence for its existence before the 5th
century A.D.
But if the Byzantine family and the Textus Receptus are not the
original text of Scripture, doesn't this mean that the Church has been
without the true text for nearly 1400 years?
Again, yes and no. If you mean that there has been uncertainty on the exact
wording of Scripture, this has been so ever since the autographs were lost,
probably in the second century. This is why we speak of the inerrancy of
Scripture in the autographs. But even those who believe the Textus Receptus
is correct must choose among the many printed editions of the Greek NT or
among the thousands of late Greek manuscripts, so they cannot be sure of the
exact wording either. But if you mean uncertainty regarding doctrine, none
of the teachings of Scripture rest on only one passage (unless you are a
snake-handler!). In fact, none of the various families of text: Alexandrian,
Western, Caesarean or Byzantine, give us a Bible which teaches different
doctrines from the others.**
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*The preceding material was compiled by the late Allan A.
MacRae, President and Professor of Old Testament at Biblical Theological
Seminary, Hatfield, PA. Copyright 1975.
**The remaining material was compiled by Robert C.
Newman, Professor of New Testament at Biblical Seminary. Copyright 1975. All
rights reserved.
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