The Erasmus New Testament - 1516 A D

The Textus Receptus - 1550 A.D.

In 1550 A.D., Robert Stephanus, a royal printer of Paris produced a Greek New Testament based on the Erasmus. His 3rd edition, a folio, called “Regia,” for its beauty, contained a revised text of the Erasmus and marginal variants from the Complutensian and his 15 manuscripts, one of which was the Beza codex.

The name “Textus Receptus” comes from a greek text with the following preface, translated into English: “Therefore thou has the text (textum) now received (receptum) by all, in which we give nothing altered or corrupt.” From these words come the words “Textus Receptus”, the Received Text. The Stephanus 1550 text became the standard text for England.

The first printed Greek New Testament was published by Erasmus in 1516. It contained his Latin translation and some exceedingly stinging notes. They were deliberate accusations to the degenerate superstition which had taken place. Nothing was spared; ritual and ceremony, dogmatic theology, philosophy and personal character. All were tried by what all were compelled to verbally acknowledge to be the standard which was revealed for the first time in many centuries. Never was a volume more passionately devoured. A hundred thousand copies were sold in France alone.  The printing presses scattered the book all over Europe and produced a “spiritual earthquake.” People were astonished to see, from the light of the pure Word as given from the original Greek, just what God did say, and it caused a great awakening and a desire for a good English translation from the Greek.

Hebrew Scrolls

Hebrew  Scrolls are handwritten on animal skins and stored in a cupboard called the “Ark” until time to be read in public services.  When a scroll becomes unusable it is reverently consigned to the “Gheniza”, a burial place in the Synagogue.  There is no doubt that this is where this fragment was discovered and rescued before the ravages of time took its toll.  The text is the standard text established by the Massorites c. 700 A.D.  Hebrew manuscripts are difficult to paleographically date because of the never changing square script.  However, many scrolls can have a life span of several  hundred  years.  It is highly likely that this fragment could fall into that category.

This fragment from a Hebrew Scroll was hand written on leather by a “Sofer” or Jewish scribe using the same process that has been used for hundreds of years.