Textual variants in the New Testament manuscripts arise when a copyist makes deliberate or inadvertent alterations to the text that is being reproduced. Textual criticism of the New Testament has included study of its textual variants.
Some common alterations include the deletion, rearrangement, repetition, or replacement of one or more words when the copyist's eye returns to a similar word in the wrong location of the original text. If their eye skips to an earlier word, they may create a repetition (error of dittography). If their eye skips to a later word, they may create an omission. They may resort to performing a rearranging of words to retain the overall meaning without compromising the context. In other instances, the copyist may add text from memory from a similar or parallel text in another location. Otherwise, they may also replace some text of the original with an alternative reading. Spellings occasionally change. Synonyms may be substituted. A pronoun may be changed into a proper noun (such as "he said" becoming "Jesus said").
Origen, writing in the 3rd century, was one of the first who made remarks about differences between manuscripts of texts that were eventually collected as the New Testament. He declared his preferences among variant readings. For example, in Matthew 27:16–17, he favored "Barabbas" against "Jesus Barabbas"Origen, Commentary on Matthew, ser. 121 In John 1:28, he preferred "Bethabara" over "Bethany" as the location where John was baptizing.Origen, Commentary on John VI.40 (24) "Gergeza" was preferred over "Geraza" or "Gadara".Origen, Commentary on John VI.40 (24) – see At Hebrews 2:9, Origen noticed two different readings: "apart from God" and "by the grace of God".
John Mill's 1707 Greek New Testament was estimated to contain some 30,000 variants in its accompanying textual apparatus,Adam Fox, John Mill and Richard Bentley: A Study of the Textual Criticism of the New Testament 1675–1729 (Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1954), pp. 105–115; John Mill, Novum Testamentum Graecum, cum lectionibus variantibus MSS (Oxford 1707) which was based on "nearly 100 [Greek] manuscripts."Metzger and Ehrman (2005), p.154 Eberhard Nestle estimated this number in 1897 as 150,000–200,000 variants.E. Nestle, Einfürung in das Griechische Neue Testament, p. 23. In 2005, Bart D. Ehrman reported estimates from 200,000 to 400,000 variants based on 5,700 Greek and 10,000 Latin manuscripts, various other ancient translations, and quotations by the Church Fathers.Ehrman, Bart D. Misquoting Jesus: The Story Behind Who Changed the Bible and Why. HarperSanFrancisco, 2005, pp. 87-89 In 2014 Eldon J. Epp raised the estimate as high as 750,000.Eldon J. Epp, "Why Does New Testament Textual Criticism Matter?," Expository Times 125 no. 9 (2014), p. 419. Peter J. Gurry puts the number of non-spelling variants among New Testament manuscripts around 500,000, though he acknowledges his estimate is higher than all previous ones.Peter J. Gurry, "The Number of Variants in the Greek New Testament: A Proposed Estimate" New Testament Studies 62.1 (2016), p. 113
Since 1981, in a system developed and introduced by Kurt and Barbara Aland in their textbook The Text of the New Testament, Greek New Testament manuscripts have commonly been categorized into five groups.
Below is an abbreviated list of textual variants in the New Testament.
Legend
Variants This running list of textual variants is nonexhaustive, and is continually being updated in accordance with the modern critical publications of the Greek New Testament — United Bible Societies' Fifth Revised Edition (UBS5) published in 2014, Novum Testamentum Graece: Nestle-Aland 28th Revised Edition of the Greek New Testament (NA28) published in 2012, and Novum Testamentum Graecum: Editio Critica Maior (ECM) last published in 2017 — and supplemented by nonmodern publications wherever applicable, including those of Hodges & Farstad, Greeven, Lachmann, Legg, Merk, Nestle-Aland editions 25–27, Aland's Synopsis Quattuor Evangeliorum (SQE), Souter, Swanson, Tischendorf, Tregelles, von Soden, and Westcott & Hort.
Gospel of Matthew
Gospel of Mark
Gospel of Luke
Gospel of John
Acts of the Apostles
Epistle to the Romans
First Epistle to the Corinthians
Second Epistle to the Corinthians
Epistle to the Galatians
Epistle to the Ephesians
Ephesians 3:9 textus receptus KJV
And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ
Ephesians 3:9 critical manuscripts NIV
And to make plain to everyone the administration of this mystery, which for ages past was kept hidden in God, who created all things
Epistle to the Philippians
Epistle to the Colossians
First Epistle to the Thessalonians
Second Epistle to the Thessalonians
First Epistle to Timothy
Second Epistle to Timothy
Epistle to Titus
Epistle to Philemon
Epistle to the Hebrews
Epistle of James
First Epistle of Peter
Second Epistle of Peter
First Epistle of John
Second Epistle of John
Third Epistle of John
Epistle of Jude
Book of Revelation
See also Bible version debate Biblical inerrancy Caesarean text-type Categories of New Testament manuscripts Comparison of codices Sinaiticus and Vaticanus King James Only movement List of New Testament verses not included in modern English translations Modern English Bible translations Textual variants in the Hebrew Bible Textual variants in the Primary Chronicle The New Testament in the Original Greek Western text-type
References
Bibliography
Further reading Novum Testamentum Graece et Latine, ed. E. Nestle, K. Aland, Stuttgart 1981. Bruce M. Metzger & Bart D. Ehrman, "The Text of the New Testament: Its Transmission, Corruption, and Restoration", OUP New York, Oxford, 4 edition, 2005 Bart D. Ehrman, "The Orthodox Corruption of Scripture. The Effect of Early Christological Controversies on the Text of the New Testament", Oxford University Press, New York - Oxford, 1996, pp. 223–227. Bruce M. Metzger, "A Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament: A Companion Volume to the United Bible Societies' Greek New Testament", 1994, United Bible Societies, London & New York.
External links The Comparative Critical Greek New Testament Variantes textuais Varianten Textus receptus versus Nestle-Aland The Gospel of John part of the Holy Bible