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Chapter 2; Variant New Testament Manuscript Readings Key Points: a. Mankind does not possess any of the original New Testament manuscripts. b. The manuscripts we do possess, differ from each other in their readings. No two are identical. The earliest fragment of a manuscript we have for observation and study is the St. John Fragment, a small manuscript fragment measuring 2 and 1/2 by 3 and 1/2 inches, it has parts of 4 verses of the the Gospel of John on each side of the fragment. The St. John Fragment is dated from 125AD. It is pictured and In contrast to the Saint John fragment, the earliest and oldest manuscript containing the entire New Testament is the Codex Sinaiticus. This manuscript is dated approximately 350AD, over 300 years after the life of Jesus. Codex Sinaiticus c. 350AD There are thousands of ancient Greek New Testament manuscripts, dating from early 2nd century, to the 10th century. The problem is, no two are exactly alike when comparing their versus side by side. Each is different. This presents what is known as "Variant Readings" among the manuscripts. Chester Beatty Papyrus (P46) c. AD 200. Above, Paul's Letter to the Romans. P46 is the earliest manuscript containing Pauls Epistles. Portions of Lukes Gospel in P45 Chester Beatty Papyrus. The earliest papyrus to contain portions of all 4 gospels and Acts. dated c.250AD  Chester Beatty Book of Revelations c. 250AD the earliest fragment containing parts of the Book of Revelations, Chapters 9-17. When comparing these beautiful, ancient manuscripts side by side, there are thousands of differences, or "variant readings" among them. Bible Scholars must try to decide which readings must be closest to the original autographed manuscript, and which are not. A tough job since we do not posses the original manuscripts. Bible Scholars are highly educated, but they are not God. So how do they decide which variant reading is closest to the original manuscripts? Or consider these great works by the foremost Bible Scholar of the 21st Century, Bruce Metzger. His work with the United Bible Societies produced the Greek Text on which the revised version of the Bible is based. Available at Christianbook.com  | The Text of the New Testament, 4th Edition
By Bruce M. Metzger & Bart D. Ehrman / Oxford University Press
"A 'must' for students, teachers, and even for experienced experts,"---Journal of Biblical Literature. For more than 25 years, this has been the standard account of ancient and newly discovered manuscripts. Now it discusses, too, how computers are used in research and the social influences on scribes. 384 pages, softcover. Oxford University.
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And another great book;"A Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament" by Bruce Metzger. Written in English, some knowlege of Greek is helpful, but not mandatory to see the reasons why the United Bible Societies committee voted to leave some Variant Readings in, and some out of the Greek New Testament upon which the Revised Versions of the New Testament are based. A Giant of a Book and a must for any serious bible student. Or, get a simple, condensed interpretation of these two great works in Chapter 2 of THE BIBLE; "WORD OF GOD" or words of men?  | A Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament, Second Edition (companion to the UBS Greek NT)
By Bruce M. Metzger / Hendrickson Publishers
This work is a companion volume to the fourth edition of the United Bible Societies' Greek New Testament (UBS4), published by the German Bible Society on behalf of the United Bible Societies early in 1993. It also makes a great companion to the Stuttgart Electronic Study Bible, which contains the critical apparatus of the NA27 Novum Testamentum Graece, and to Comfort & Barrett's Text of the Earliest New Testament Greek Manuscripts.
One of the chief purposes of the commentary is to set forth the reasons that led the Committee, or a majority of the members of the Committee, to adopt certain variant readings for inclusion in the text and to relegate certain other readings to the apparatus. On the basis of a record of the voting of the Committee, as well as, for most sessions, more or less full notes of the discussions that preceded the voting, the present writer has sought to frame and express concisely (a) the main problem or problems involved in each set of variants and (b) the Committee's evaluation and resolution of those problems.
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This page was last modified on Friday, February 22, 2008 |
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