Bible Society of South Africa

Textual Criticism of the New Testament: History

Erasmus’ Edition

Erasmus (1469-1536) was one of the first to research the Greek text of the New Testament and was the first to publish a Greek New Testament. He used the new Greek text to make a new version of the New Testament in Latin that would be better than the Vulgate.

More Manuscripts

Erasmus had only a small number of fairly late Greek manuscripts, dating mainly from the tenth and eleventh century AD. In the centuries after Erasmus more and more New Testament manuscripts became available to scholars. Especially in the 19th century, a lot of old manuscripts were tracked down.

Codex Sinaiticus

The German scholar Tischendorf (1815-1873) played a significant role in the development of the textual criticism of the New Testament. In 1859 he found the so-called Codex Sinaiticus in Saint Catharine’s monastery on Mount Sinai. At that time it was the oldest complete text of the Bible in Greek. The Codex Sinaiticus dates from the fourth century AD.

New Discoveries in the Twentieth Century

In the 20th century, many papyrus fragments of the Greek New Testament were found, the oldest of which date from the second century AD.

Currently there is no other ancient book of which as many manuscripts are available as the New Testament.

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