EXPLORE THE EVIDENCE
The discussion becomes clearer when we distinguish the witnesses, the editions, and the translations.
Before printing, the New Testament was copied by hand. Manuscripts preserve witnesses to that history; where their wording differs, the alternatives are called variant readings.
A question to carry: What evidence supports a particular reading?
The Textus Receptus, majority-text editions, and modern critical editions represent different editorial histories and approaches to the evidence. They are not simply interchangeable names for the same thing.
A question to carry: Which edition is being discussed?
An English translation reflects both a source text and choices about how to express its meaning. A difference in English wording does not, by itself, identify the reason behind it.
A question to carry: Is this a textual difference, a translation choice, or both?
A SMALL GLOSSARY
Open a term for a brief introduction. These are orientation notes, not excerpts from the book.
A conventional name for a related group of early printed Greek New Testament editions. A precise discussion should identify the particular edition.
The Byzantine tradition is a broad stream of Greek textual transmission. Majority-text editions give substantial weight to readings found in the numerical majority of Greek witnesses; editorial methods and results can differ.
An edited text established by evaluating textual evidence. Modern critical editions weigh different kinds of evidence rather than deciding solely by manuscript counts.
Notes in a scholarly edition that record selected variant readings and the witnesses supporting them.
The study of textual witnesses and their differences to understand a text’s history and identify its earliest recoverable form.
These brief introductions are a starting point. Follow the fuller story in Which Bible Should I Choose?
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