Monday, December 16, 2013

Getting Acquainted with Ancient Manuscripts of the New Testament

Parts of the New Testament have been preserved in more manuscripts than any other ancient work, having over 5,800 complete or fragmented Greek manuscripts, 10,000 Latin manuscripts and 9,300 manuscripts in various other ancient languages including Syriac, Slavic, Gothic, Ethiopic, Coptic and Armenian. The dates of these manuscripts range from c. 125 CE (the John Rylands manuscript, P52; oldest copy of John fragments) to the introduction of printing in Germany in the 15th century. The vast majority of these manuscripts date after the 10th century.[i]

I am going to use the first two verse in Mark chapter 1 to show you what we see when we compare some of those ancient manuscripts.

Mark 1:1

Each of the following symbols is a Greek manuscript that has this verse. The number in parenthesis is the date the manuscript was copied.

Group 1
א1 (4th) B (4th) D (5th) L (8th) W (4-5th) Γ (10th)
These manuscripts have the Greek words that are translated:

The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Group 2
A (5th) K (9th) P (6th) Δ (9th)
These manuscripts have the Greek words that are translated:

The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

Group 3
Manuscript 1241 (12th) has the Greek words that are translated:

The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of Lord.

Mark 1:2a

Group 1
א  (4th) B (4th) L (8th) Δ (9th) 33 (10th) 565 (9th)
These manuscripts have the Greek words that are translated:

As it is written in Isaiah the Prophet . . .

Group 2
A (5th) K (9th) P (6th) Γ (10th)
These manuscripts have the Greek words that are translated:

As it is written in the prophets . . .

After the words that appear in Group 1 or Group 2, the following quotes appear:

Quote 1

“Behold, I send My messenger before your face, who will prepare your way before you.”

Quote 2

“The voice of one crying in the wilderness:
‘Prepare the way of the Lord; make his paths straight.’”

Quote 1 is from Malachi 3:1 and Quote 2 is from Isaiah 40:3. The older manuscripts of Mark attributed both quotes to Isaiah. Later scribes recognized the error and changed the text of Mark from “Isaiah the prophet” to “the prophets.”

Take a moment to glace over the online list of New Testament Greek manuscripts – CLICK HERE. Look up some of the above manuscripts and you will find out more about them.

It’s always good to know which manuscripts you English translation was made from. Keep in mind that most of them were discovered in the late 19th and 20th centuries. So, translations made before that did not have access to those we have today.

Shalom & Be Empowered!

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