The Reading Culture of Early Christianity

Edward D. Andrews — **EDWARD D. ANDREWS** (AS in Criminal Justice, BS in Religion, MA in Biblical Studies, and MDiv in Theology) is CEO and President of Christian Publishing House. He has authored over 120 books. Andrews is the Chief Translator of the Updated American Standard Version (UASV).

Major Critical Texts of the New Testament

Byz RP: 2005 Byzantine Greek New Testament, Robinson & Pierpont
TR1550: 1550 Stephanus New Testament
Maj: The Majority Text (thousands of minuscules which display a similar text)
Gries: 1774-1775 Johann Jakob Griesbach Greek New Testament
Treg: 1857-1879 Samuel Prideaux Tregelles Greek New Testament
Tisch: 1872 Tischendorf’s Greek New Testament
WH: 1881 Westcott-Hort Greek New Testament
NA28: 2012 Nestle-Aland Greek New Testament
UBS5: 2014 Greek New Testament
NU: Both Nestle-Aland and the United Bible Society
TGNT: 2017 The Greek New Testament by Tyndale House

Matthew 1:18 Updated American Standard Version (UASV)

¹⁸Now the birth of Jesus Christ was in this way: When his mother Mary had been betrothed[10] to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child by the Holy Spirit.

[ … ] The square brackets below are a reconstruction of the letters or words that were likely original.

Nomina Sacra (singular: nomen sacrum from Latin sacred name): In early Christian scribal practices, there was the abbreviation of several frequently occurring divine names or titles within the Greek manuscripts. In Matthew 1:18, the divine names Jesus, Christ, and Spirit are written in nomen sacrum in the earliest manuscripts (𝔓1 א B W) The earliest of these is 𝔓1, which dates to about 250 C.E., and is similar to 𝔓69, having the same date. This is but a mere 200 years after Matthew penned his Gospel and only 150 years after John penned his Gospel, three epistles and the book of Revelation.

MATTHEW 1:18 ΚΑΤΑ ΜΑΤΘΑΙΟΝ 1:18 Westcott-Hort New Testament (WHNU)

1:18 ΤοῦOf the δὲbut ἸησοῦJesus ΧριστοῦChrist ἡthe γένεσιςorigin οὕτωςthus ἦν.was. ΜνηστευθείσηςHaving been engaged τῆςof the μητρὸςmother αὐτοῦof him ΜαρίαςMary τῷto the Ἰωσήφ,Joseph, πρὶνbefore ἢor συνελθεῖνto come together αὐτοὺςthem εὑρέθηshe was found ἐνin γαστρὶwomb ἔχουσαhaving ἐκout of πνεύματοςspirit ἁγίου.holy.

MATTHEW 1:18 PAPYRUS 1 – P. Oxy. 2 (𝔓1)

18 ΤοῦOf the δὲbut ι̅υ̅ Jesus χ̅υ̅ Christ ἡthe γένεσιςorigin οὕτωςthus ἦν.was. ΜνηστευθείσηςHaving been engaged τῆςof the μητρὸςmother αὐτοῦof him Μ[αρ]ία[ςMary] τῷto the Ἰω]σήφ,Joseph, πρὶνbefore ἢor συνελθεῖνto come together αὐτοὺ[ςthem εὑ]ρέθηshe was found ἐνin γαστρὶwomb ἔχουσαhaving ἐκout of [π̅ν̅ς̅spirit ]ἁ[γίου.holy.

P¹ (Papyrus 1 – P. Oxy. 2)

Contents: Matt. 1:1–9, 12, 14–20
Date: 250 C.E.
Discovered: Oxyrhynchus, Egypt
Housing Location: University of Pennsylvania Museum (E 2746)
Physical Features: The manuscript is a fragment of one leaf, one column per page; 12 cm x 25 cm; 37–38 lines per page; reformed documentary hand. The words are written continuously without separation. There are no accents or breathing marks. The nomina sacra are written in abbreviated forms:

[7]

Textual Character: The copyist of P¹ stayed faithful to the very reliable exemplar that he was using. In places where there are major variants, 𝔓¹ has a close agreement with the Alexandrian family, particularly Codex Vaticanus, from which it scarcely differs.^[8]