Christian Publishing House Blog
Apologetic Defense of the faith, the Bible, and Christianity
What are the original words, what is the correct translation, and what is the correct meaning? Why is it somewhat more significant than might be thought? The original wording in Matthew 8:21 is ...
The meaning is changed when the fourth και (“and”) is included in this sentence or excluded from the sentence. This is not a significant change in meaning. Nevertheless, it is a change in translation and meaning. What are the original words, what is the correct translation, and what is the correct meaning?
One of the vital and until recently, more tedious, tasks in the work of textual criticism was that of collating every extant Greek manuscript or fragment of the New Testament. We may be overjoyed at the abundance of sources available to us, which include the papyri, the codices, and even citations in the fathers; without collation, however, we would have no practical way to access and use them.
It is no easy task here in deciding which reading was the original one. Both readings have early and weighty manuscript support and neither of the could be considered a difficult reading because they both make perfect sense. What tipped the scales ...
Explore the timeline of Greek New Testament variants: could they predate 200 A.D.? Discover the origins.
There can only be one reading, which is the original reading. The reading that the other reading(s) most likely came from is likely the original. This is the fundamental principle of textual criticism.
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.
Jude 1:5 refers to Jehovah—not Jesus—as the one who saved Israel. Internal consistency and Jude 9 confirm “the Lord” is the Father, not the Son.
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.
Sir Frederic G. Kenyon defended the reliability of the New Testament text through papyrology, paleography, and manuscript evidence.
