Understanding Greek Texts

Dr. Bob · Oct 4, 2004

There are four different "text types" for the Greek New Testament. Some refer to them as "families".

There are no two Greek texts identical in every detail even within such "families". No matter what Greek text one claims to believe to be the most faithful to the originals, it will have to be an eclectic blend of a number of Greek documents.

God has miraculously preserved 5500 copies of these Greek documents (found thus far; their probably are more) for which we should all be thankful.

Dr. Bob · Oct 4, 2004

The Byzantine text-type (also called Constantinopolitan, Syrian, ecclesiastical, and majority) is the largest group of Greek manuscripts of the New Testament.

The Byzantine text-type is the text-type with by far the largest number of manuscripts, especially from the invention of the minuscule (cursive) handwriting in the 9th century. For example, of 522 complete or nearly complete manuscripts of the Catholic Epistles collated by the Institute for New Testament Textual Research in Münster, Germany, 372 of them attest the Byzantine reading in at least 90% of 98 test places.

The first printed edition of the New Testament in 1516 was done by Erasmus. Due to the pressure of his publisher to bring their edition to market before the competing Complutensian Polyglot, Erasmus was based his work on less than a half-dozen manuscripts from the Byzantine text-type, all of which dated from the twelfth century. This text came to be known as the Textus Receptus or received text. The King James Version of the Bible was translated from editions of the Textus Receptus.
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For more information see http://www.wordiq.com/definition/Byzantine_text-type

Dr. Bob · Oct 4, 2004

The Alexandrian text-type (also called Neutral or Egyptian) is a group of early manuscripts of the New Testament in the original Greek. The oldest near-complete manuscripts of the New Testament belong to this text-type, and are known as Codex Vaticanus in the Vatican library and Codex Sinaiticus in the British Museum. The earliest papyri manuscripts of the New Testament such as P66 and P75 from the 2nd century also are of the Alexandrian type.

Whilst the type of text is referred to as "Alexandrian" since most manuscripts of this early type appear to have been preserved by the dry climate of Egypt, the readings found in the Alexandrian text can generally be found in the textual traditions from all over the empire. For example, the Old Latin, Vulgate or Peshitta. As far as the surviving evidence indicates, Alexandrian manuscripts appear to have been more widespread than Byzantine manuscripts until the wave of copying in the Byzantine church overtook them around the 9th century.

Starting with Karl Lachmann (1850), manuscripts of the Alexandrian text-type have been the most influential in modern, critical editions of the Greek New Testament, achieving widespread acceptance in the text of Westcott & Hort (1881), and culminating in the United Bible Society 4th edition and Nestle-Aland, 27th edition of the New Testament.
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For more information see http://www.wordiq.com/definition/Alexandrian_text-type

Dr. Bob · Oct 4, 2004

The Western text-type is a diverse group of manuscripts of the New Testament whose text is similar to that of early Christian writers in Rome and Gaul, including Justin Martyr and Irenaeus. These texts tend toward longer passages than is found in the other groups of texts, frequently augmented with glosses, additional details, and the original passages are replaced with longer paraphrases. In at least two Western texts, the Gospels appear in a variant order: Matthew, John, Luke, Mark. The term "Western" is a bit of a misnomer because members of the Western text-type have been found in the Christian East, including Syria.

The most prominent witnesses to the Western text-type are Codex Bezae in the Gospels and Codex Claromontanus in Paul's letters as well as the Vetus Latina and Old Syriac translations.

Codex Sinaiticus is Western in the first eight chapters of John.
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For more information see http://www.wordiq.com/definition/Western_text-type

Dr. Bob · Oct 4, 2004

The Caesarean text-type was widely used in Caesarea from which it derived its name. It seems to have arisen out of the Alexandrian text but was also mixed with the Western text. Consequently, its value is limited. Metzger suggests that it is necessary to distinguish between two stages in its development, the pre-Caesarean and the Caesarean (Bruce M. Metzger, The Text of the New Testament, p. 215). Some of its more prominent representatives are W (Washington Codex, fifth century), P45, and two groups of minuscules and lectionaries.
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For more information see R. C. Briggs, Interpreting the New Testament Today: An Introduction to Methods and Issues in the Study of the New Testament, (Nashville: Abingdon, 1982), pp. 45-47).

Askjo · Oct 5, 2004

Dr. Bob quoted:

There are four different "text types" for the Greek New Testament. Some refer to them as "families".
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Do you believe these 4 families of MSS?

Plain ol' Ralph · Oct 5, 2004

I see now even more why so many new version promoters are so confused; they don't understand which Greek text to rely on!

Bro Tony · Oct 5, 2004

I see now even more why so many new version promoters are so confused; they don't understand which Greek text to rely on!
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POR,

Why don't you give us a lesson in Greek? Which Greek Text do you use, and why? Do you even know or study Greek? If not then you really shouldn't be speaking of that which you do not understand.

Bro Tony

Dr. Bob · Oct 5, 2004

I personally see the need for only three basic "types" (where most documents are in 90-97% agreement on every word and spelling, etc). Caesarean seems contrived and could be explained by the other three.

And when you put all 5500 texts/fragments together you see 20,000 variations, but 19 of 20 can be seen as "typos" - when a letter was mistaken in one fragment, but is fine in all the others, etc.

Like someone typed my name as Dr. "Boob". A thousand others who can spell and have semi-working digits, came up with "Bob". I will leave it to eac as to who got it correct!

It has been said that "The variations are miniscule overall and not one affects a major doctrine."

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