The Reading Culture of Early Christianity

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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
THGNT: 2017 The Greek New Testament by Tyndale House
GENTI: 2019 Greek-English New Testament Interlinear

The Complete Guide to Bible Translation-2

MATTHEW 14:16 2019 Greek-English New Testament Interlinear (TR WH NU GENTI)
16 ὁThe δὲbut [Ἰησοῦς]Jesus εἶπενsaid αὐτοῖςto them ΟὐNot χρείανneed ἔχουσινthey are having ἀπελθεῖν·to go off; δότεgive αὐτοῖςto them ὑμεῖςyou φαγεῖν.to eat.

MATTHEW 14:27 2019 Greek-English New Testament Interlinear (TR WH NU GENTI)
27 εὐθὺςAt once δὲbut ἐλάλησενspoke [ὁthe Ἰησοῦς]Jesus αὐτοῖςto them λέγωνsaying Θαρσεῖτε,Be taking courage, ἐγώI εἰμι·am; μὴnot φοβεῖσθε.be you fearing.

Matthew 14:27: TR WH NU THGNT GENTI εὐθὺς δὲ ἐλάλησεν [ὁ Ἰησοῦς] αὐτοῖς λέγων·

Matthew 14:16: TR WH NU THGNT GENTI Ὁ δὲ [Ἰησοῦς] εἶπεν αὐτοῖς·
But Jesus said to them
א* D Z it^,k syr^c,,p cop^sa

But immediately Jesus spoke to them
א* D 073 [before αὐτοῖς in א¹ B] [after αὐτοῖς C L W Θ 0106 f^1, Maj]

Matthew 14:16, 27 Updated American Standard Version (UASV)

¹⁶But [Jesus] said to them, “They do not need to go away; you give them something to eat!” ²⁷But immediately [Jesus] spoke to them, saying, “Take courage, it is I; do not be afraid.”

Matthew 14:16, 27 Lexham English Bible (LEB)

¹⁶But Jesus said to them, “They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat.” ²⁷But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, “Have courage, I am he! Do not be afraid!”

Matthew 14:16

We do not find the named subject Ὁ Ἰησοῦς (“Jesus”) in several manuscripts and several different versions (א* D Z it^,k syr^c,,p cop^sa,), so it is [P] Plausible, which indicates that this is a low-level proof that the reading Ὁ Ἰησοῦς may have not been in the original but rather was added by some scribes. Moreover, this was frequently the case with Matthew, as we can see it again in Matthew 14:27 below.

Matthew 14:27

We do not find the named subject Ὁ Ἰησοῦς (“Jesus”) in several manuscripts (א* D 073). In addition, it is present in two separate places in different manuscripts (before αὐτοῖς in א¹ B and after αὐτοῖς in C L W Θ 0106 f^1, Maj). So, it is [PE] Preponderance of Evidence, which indicates that this is somewhat higher level proof that the reading Ὁ Ἰησοῦς may have not been in the original but rather was added by some scribes, who may have been seeking to specify the subject. By adding the subject Ὁ Ἰησοῦς (“Jesus”) in the text, it ruins the suspense in the account, which purposely does not name “Jesus” because the disciples have no idea who this ghostlike image is (“It is a ghost!”) until the image identifies himself when he says,

ἐγώI εἰμι·am; μὴnot φοβεῖσθε.be you fearing.

Variant Reading(s): differing versions of a word or phrase found in two or more manuscripts within a variation unit (see below). Variant readings are also called alternate readings.

Variation Unit: any portion of text that exhibits variations in its reading between two or more different manuscripts. It is important to distinguish variation units from variant readings. Variation units are the places in the text where manuscripts disagree, and each variation unit has at least two variant readings. Setting the limits and range of a variation unit is sometimes difficult or even controversial because some variant readings affect others nearby. Such variations may be considered individually, or as elements of a single reading. One should also note that the terms “manuscript” and “witness” may appear to be used interchangeably in this context. Strictly speaking “witness” (see below) will only refer to the content of a given manuscript or fragment, which it predates to a greater or lesser extent. However, the only way to reference the “witness” is by referring to the manuscript or fragment that contains it. In this book, we have sometimes used the terminology “witness of x or y manuscript” to distinguish the content in this way.

TERMS AS TO HOW WE SHOULD OBJECTIVELY VIEW THE DEGREE OF CERTAINTY FOR THE READING ACCEPTED AS THE ORIGINAL

The modal verbs are might have been (30%), may have been (40%), could have been (55%), would have been (80%), must have been (95%), which are used to show that we believe the originality of a reading is certain, probable or possible.

The letter [WP] stands for Weak Possibility (30%), which indicates that this is a low-level proof that the reading might have been original in that it is enough evidence to accept that the variant might have been possible, but it is improbable. We can say the reading might have been original, as there is some evidence that is derived from manuscripts that carry very little weight, early versions, or patristic quotations.

The letter [P] stands for Plausible (40%), which indicates that this is a low-level proof that the reading may have been original in that it is enough to accept a variant to be original and we have enough evidence for our belief. The reading may have been original but it is not probably so.

The letter [PE] stands for Preponderance of Evidence (55%), which indicates that this is a higher-level proof that the reading could have been original in that it is enough to accept as such unless another reading emerges as more probable.

The letter [CE] stands for Convincing Evidence (80%), which indicates that the evidence is an even higher-level proof that the reading surely was the original in that the evidence is enough to accept it as substantially certain unless proven otherwise.

The letter [BRD] stands for Beyond Reasonable Doubt (95%), which indicates that this is the highest level of proof: the reading must have been original in that there is no reason to doubt it. It must be understood that feeling as though we have no reason to doubt is not the same as one hundred percent absolute certainty.

NOTE: This system is borrowed from the criminal just legal terms of the United States of America, the level of certainty involved in the use of modal verbs, and Bruce Metzger in his A Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament (London; New York: United Bible Societies, 1994), who borrowed his system from Johann Albrecht Bengel in his edition of the Greek New Testament (Tübingen, 1734). In addition, the percentages are in no way attempting to be explicit but rather they are nothing more than a tool to give the non-textual scholar a sense of the degree of certainty. However, this does not mean the percentages are not reflective of certainty.

SOURCES

B. F. Westcott and F. J. A. Hort, Introduction to the New Testament in the Original Greek: Appendix (New York: Harper and Brothers, 1882)
Bruce Manning Metzger, United Bible Societies, A Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament, Second Edition a Companion Volume to the United Bible Societies’ Greek New Testament (4th Rev. Ed.) (London; New York: United Bible Societies, 1994),
Eberhard Nestle and Erwin Nestle, Nestle-Aland: NTG Apparatus Criticus, ed. Barbara Aland et al., 28. revidierte Auflage. (Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, 2012).
Dirk Jongkind, ed., The Greek New Testament: Apparatus (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2017).
Dirk Jongkind, ed., The Greek New Testament (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2017), Matt. 6:8.
Eberhard Nestle and Erwin Nestle, Nestle-Aland: Novum Testamentum Graece, ed. Barbara Aland et al., 28. revidierte Auflage. (Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, 2012)
The NET Bible. Garland, TX: Biblical Studies Press, 2006
Philip Wesley Comfort, A COMMENTARY ON THE MANUSCRIPTS AND TEXT OF THE NEW TESTAMENT (Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Academic, 2015).
Philip W. Comfort, New Testament Text and Translation Commentary: Commentary on the Variant Readings of the Ancient New Testament Manuscripts and How They Relate to the Major English Translations (Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., 2008).
Philip Wesley Comfort and David P. Barrett, The Text of the Earliest New Testament Manuscripts: Text of the Earliest New Testament Greek Manuscripts, 2 Volume Set The (English and Greek Edition) (Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Academic, 2019)
Wallace B., Daniel (n.d.). Retrieved from The Center for the Study of New Testament Manuscripts: http://csntm.org/
Wilker, Wieland (n.d.). Retrieved from An Online Textual Commentary on the Greek Gospels: http://www.willker.de/wie/TCG/index.html