Textus Receptus

Overview

The term Textus Receptus does not appear in the Bible. It is the name given to one line of transmission of the biblical text (the actual wording of Scripture in the original languages). The Latin phrase Textus Receptus means "the text received by all." It refers collectively to the editions of the Greek New Testament printed during the Reformation era. Because the Old Testament has its own Hebrew Masoretic Text, the term is ordinarily applied only to the New Testament.

Historical Background

• In 1516 the Dutch humanist Erasmus published the first Greek New Testament in Basel, Switzerland. He based it on a few manuscripts of the later Byzantine tradition (the manuscript tradition copied in the churches of the Eastern Roman Empire). Because his only manuscript of Revelation lacked the final portion, he is said to have filled the gap by translating the Latin Vulgate back into Greek.
• Stephanus and Beza later published revised editions. Stephanus's 1551 edition is known as the first to introduce the verse divisions used in the New Testament today (chapters and verses of the Bible).
• The name "Textus Receptus" derives from the phrase "the text received by all" in the preface to the 1633 edition published by the Elzevir firm in the Netherlands.
• The translators of the 1611 King James Version relied primarily on the editions of Beza and Stephanus.

Differences from the Critical Text

Since the nineteenth century, older manuscripts have been discovered. The discipline that compares manuscripts in order to recover the original wording is called textual criticism. The edition of Westcott and Hort appeared in 1881, and today the Nestle-Aland edition and the United Bible Societies (UBS) edition are widely used. These editions are commonly referred to as the "critical text." The Textus Receptus and the critical text differ significantly in passages such as the following:

• The Trinitarian passage in 1 John 5:7–8 ("For there are three that bear record in heaven…"): Erasmus is reported to have added it in his third edition (1522).
• Acts 8:37: the confession of faith of the Ethiopian eunuch.
• The doxology in Matthew 6:13: "For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever."
• Mark 16:9–20 and John 7:53–8:11 (the woman taken in adultery): the critical text includes these passages but sets them off with brackets.

Interpretation and Points of Debate

Supporters of the Textus Receptus include certain Baptist and fundamentalist groups that accept only the King James Version, as well as some Reformed organizations. They argue that God has providentially preserved the text the church has used for centuries. In support they cite chapter 1, section 8 of the Westminster Confession of Faith, which confesses that the Scriptures were "by his singular care and providence, kept pure in all ages." They also criticize Codex Sinaiticus and Codex Vaticanus, on which the critical text is based, arguing that such manuscripts are few in number and disagree with one another.

By contrast, most seminaries and Bible societies in Korea and abroad use the critical text as the scholarly standard. They hold that earlier manuscripts are closer to the original and that the differences between the two texts do not alter any core doctrine. There is also a distinct "Majority Text" position, which advocates following the majority of Byzantine manuscripts, a text similar to the Textus Receptus. The issues are treated in detail in the article Bible translation debate.

In the Korean Church

The Lord's Prayer as recited in Korean churches includes the doxology of Matthew 6:13 at its end. Some translations mark passages found only in the Textus Receptus with brackets or footnotes. The Revised New Korean Standard Version is known to have been translated from the critical text. Some churches and organizations use the Korean King James Version, which is based on the Textus Receptus.