The Origins of the New Testament Explored
January 1, 2015
G.D.O'Bradovich III
1
The following information is courtesy of Wikipedia and has been edited for clarity.
The first New Testament printed in Greek was part of the Complutensian Polyglot. This portion was printed in 1514, but publication was delayed until 1522 because of waiting for the Old Testament portion.
The first instance of the New Testament being printed before the Old Testament is printed.
Erasmus had been working for years on two projects: a collation of Greek texts and a fresh Latin New Testament.
The “fresh Latin New Testament” indicates that the text was not considered inspired.
In 1512, he began his work on this Latin New Testament. He collected all the Vulgate manuscripts he could find to create a critical edition. Then he polished the Latin. He declared, "It is only fair that Paul should address the Romans in somewhat better Latin."
Again, Erasmus did not think the text was inspired.
Erasmus included the Greek text to permit readers to verify the quality of his Latin version and he called the final product Novum Instrumentum omne ("All of the New Teaching") and later Novum Testamentum omne ("All of the New Testament") .
Erasmus entitled his work “All of the New Teaching” and we infer that there was no tradition of a “New Testament”.
The Latin and the Greek are part of canonical tradition, he found it necessary to ensure that both were presenting the same content. In modern terminology, he made the two traditions "compatible". This is evidenced by the fact that his Greek text is not just the basis for his Latin translation and there are numerous instances where he edits the Greek text to reflect his Latin version. Since the last six verses of Revelation were missing from his Greek manuscript, Erasmus translated the Vulgate's text back into Greek.
Erasmus translated the Latin text into Greek wherever he found that the Greek text and the accompanying commentaries were mixed up, or where he simply preferred the Vulgate’s reading to the Greek text.
Erasmus picks and chooses the text.
Erasmus said it was "rushed into print rather than edited", resulting in a number of transcription errors. His hurried effort was published in 1516 and thence became the first published Greek New Testament, the Novum Instrumentum omne, diligenter ab Erasmo Rot. Recognitum et Emendatum. Erasmus used several Greek manuscript sources because he did not have access to a single complete manuscript.
This is the second example of the New Testament being published before the Old Testament. We can not state that there were no complete Greek manuscripts in western Europe at that time, however, if any were in existence, either Erasmus was unware of them or had no access to them.
Most of the manuscripts were, however, late Greek manuscripts of the Byzantine textual family and Erasmus used the oldest manuscript the least because "he was afraid of its supposedly erratic text." He also ignored much older and better manuscripts that were at his disposal.
Once again, Erasmus selects the text without any guidelines.
The reception of the first edition was mixed, but within three years a second was made. The second edition used the more familiar term Testamentum instead of Instrumentum. In the second edition (1519) Erasmus used Minuscule 3 (entire NT except Revelation). The text was changed in about 400 places, with most of the typographical errors corrected. Some new error readings were added to the text. In this edition the text of Jerome's Vulgate Erasmus replaced by his own more elegant translation.
The Latin translation had a good reception.
In the second (1519) edition, the more familiar term Testamentum was used instead of Instrumentum. This edition was used by Martin Luther in his German translation of the Bible.
For the third time, a translation of the New Testament occurs before a translation of the Old Testament.
The first and second edition texts did not include the passage (1 John 5:7–8). Erasmus had been unable to find those verses in any Greek manuscript, but one was supplied to him during production of the third edition.
The third edition of 1522 was probably used by Tyndale for the first English New Testament (Worms, 1526) and was the basis for the 1550 Robert Stephanus edition used by the translators of the Geneva Bible and King James Version of the English Bible. The third edition differed in 118 places from the second.
The fourth example of the New Testament being published before the Old Testament is Tyndale's New Testament.
Erasmus published a definitive fourth edition in 1527 containing parallel columns of Greek, Latin Vulgate and Erasmus's Latin texts. In this edition Erasmus supplied the Greek text of the last six verses of Revelation from Cardinal Ximenez's Biblia Complutensis.
In 1535 Erasmus published the fifth (and final) edition which dropped the Latin Vulgate column but was otherwise similar to the fourth edition. Later versions of the Greek New Testament by others, but based on Erasmus's Greek New Testament, became known as the Textus Receptus.
Although the Latin text was well received, it was not included in the final edition. The Textus Receptus (“received text”) is frequently abbreviated as TR, because philologists have a tendency to be both lazy and pretentious.
Erasmus used seven manuscripts, they were identified as:
Erasmus used seven manuscripts, they were identified as:
Manuscript
minuscule 1eap minuscule 1rk minuscule 2e minuscule 2ap minuscule 4ap minuscule 7p minuscule 817 |
Content
entire NT except Revelation Book of Revelation Gospels Acts and Epistles Pauline Epistles Pauline Epistles Gospels |
Popular demand for Greek New Testaments led to a flurry of further authorized and unauthorized editions in the early sixteenth century; almost all of which were based on Erasmus's work and incorporated his particular readings, although typically also making a number of minor changes of their own.
2
The following is courtesy of the Oxford English Dictionary. Secondary sources are in red.
2. Freq. (now usually) with capital initials. The second of the two main divisions of the Bible, written in Greek in the 1st cent. a.d., consisting principally of the Gospels and the Pauline epistles, and concerned with the life and teachings of Christ. Also: a book containing this.
▸a1387 J. Trevisa tr. R. Higden Polychron. (St. John's Cambr.) (1869) II. 293
In þe olde testament me redeþ þat men were i-warned of foure men... In þe newe testament onliche of Iohn Baptiste and Crist.
a1425 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Magdalene Coll. Cambr.) (1850) Matt. Prol. 1
Here bygynneth the Newe Testament in Englische.
1532 T. Elyot Let. in Bk. named Gouernour (1880) I. Introd. p. lxxix,
Thei..doo peruse euery daye one chapitre of the New Testament.
1551–2 in J. B. Paul Accts. Treasurer Scotl. (1913) X. 50
Ane Perraphrasis upoun the Ewangelistis, ane New Testament, and Hopper upoun the Commandmentis.
a1617 Sir J. Melville Mem. Own Life (1735) 9
He had always a New Testament in English in his Pouch.
1650 J. Cotton Singing of Psalmes 2
There be some Anti-psalmists, who doe not acknowledge any singing at all with the voyce in the New Testament.
1723 S. Mather Vindic. Holy Bible 45
Latinistical words are to be found in the New Testament.
1789 G. Campbell in tr. Four Gospels I. Diss. i. 16
Words and phrases, which..might appear to resemble what has been accounted Hebraism or Syriasm in the New Testament.
2. Freq. (now usually) with capital initials. The second of the two main divisions of the Bible, written in Greek in the 1st cent. a.d., consisting principally of the Gospels and the Pauline epistles, and concerned with the life and teachings of Christ. Also: a book containing this.
▸a1387 J. Trevisa tr. R. Higden Polychron. (St. John's Cambr.) (1869) II. 293
In þe olde testament me redeþ þat men were i-warned of foure men... In þe newe testament onliche of Iohn Baptiste and Crist.
a1425 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Magdalene Coll. Cambr.) (1850) Matt. Prol. 1
Here bygynneth the Newe Testament in Englische.
1532 T. Elyot Let. in Bk. named Gouernour (1880) I. Introd. p. lxxix,
Thei..doo peruse euery daye one chapitre of the New Testament.
1551–2 in J. B. Paul Accts. Treasurer Scotl. (1913) X. 50
Ane Perraphrasis upoun the Ewangelistis, ane New Testament, and Hopper upoun the Commandmentis.
a1617 Sir J. Melville Mem. Own Life (1735) 9
He had always a New Testament in English in his Pouch.
1650 J. Cotton Singing of Psalmes 2
There be some Anti-psalmists, who doe not acknowledge any singing at all with the voyce in the New Testament.
1723 S. Mather Vindic. Holy Bible 45
Latinistical words are to be found in the New Testament.
1789 G. Campbell in tr. Four Gospels I. Diss. i. 16
Words and phrases, which..might appear to resemble what has been accounted Hebraism or Syriasm in the New Testament.
Similar to the English usage of Corpus Christi a century before the Council of Trent suggested a procession of the host, we are led to believe that the English used the words "New Testament" a century before Erasmus and continental Europe.
However, after the removal of secondary sources, the earliest reference to the New Testament is from 1650, which is over a hundred years after Erasmus and English publications of the Bible.
We are tempted to conclude that Erasmus lived a century later than what history informs us, that is the early 1600's. The flurry of Bible translations that led to the "New Testament" being introduced into the English Language in 1650 must have occurred at this time and not a century earlier.
The TR is a product of continual scholarship (five editions) and has no antecedent in western Europe. Fortunately, we have access to the manuscripts that were used for the basis of the TR and can verify Erasmus' efforts. Although we have other extent codices (Vatican, found 1475; Alexandria, reliable history dates from 1621; Sinai, found 1844), we do not know which manuscripts were utilized for their creation.
We noted four examples of the New Testament being printed before the Old Testament. Any conclusion as the reasons why this occurred, such as the Old Testament was not yet written, would be speculative.
However, after the removal of secondary sources, the earliest reference to the New Testament is from 1650, which is over a hundred years after Erasmus and English publications of the Bible.
We are tempted to conclude that Erasmus lived a century later than what history informs us, that is the early 1600's. The flurry of Bible translations that led to the "New Testament" being introduced into the English Language in 1650 must have occurred at this time and not a century earlier.
The TR is a product of continual scholarship (five editions) and has no antecedent in western Europe. Fortunately, we have access to the manuscripts that were used for the basis of the TR and can verify Erasmus' efforts. Although we have other extent codices (Vatican, found 1475; Alexandria, reliable history dates from 1621; Sinai, found 1844), we do not know which manuscripts were utilized for their creation.
We noted four examples of the New Testament being printed before the Old Testament. Any conclusion as the reasons why this occurred, such as the Old Testament was not yet written, would be speculative.
conclusion
Any statements relating to a two thousand year old New Testament tradition or to the infallibility of Scripture has no basis in either fact or history.