IV. THE "TEXTUS RECEPTUS"

ERASMUS AND THE WORK HE PRODUCED

Erasmus knew almost all of the important variant readings known to scholars today -more than 470 years ago.1 This may be proven from a perusal of his notes. Dr. Frederick Nolan (1784-1864 A.D.) was a Greek and Latin scholar who, as an eminent historian, researched Egyptian chronology and spent twenty eight years tracing the Received Text to its apostolic origin. After surveying Erasmus' notes, Nolan recorded:

"With respect to manuscripts, it is indisputable that he was acquainted with every variety which is known to us; having distributed them into two principle classes, one of which corresponds with ... the Vatican manuscript ... the church, he was aware, was infested with Origenists and Arians; and affinity between any manuscript and that version, consequently conveyed some suspicion that its text was corrupted."2

In producing his first edition, Erasmus was under an incredible work load. Due to publication problems and deadline pressure, his first edition had many typographical errors, misprints, and misspellings. This led to much undue criticism. His work was greatly disfigured only in the sense mentioned, but the Text was providentially protected. God has not preserved the Text miraculously for then there would have been no such glosses, and all the various uncials and cursives would read the same, word for word. In the case of providential guidance, we can see that there is a human as well as a divine side to the preservation of the Text.3 For the most part, these errors were eliminated by Erasmus in his later editions. Such things as these are, however, not factors which need to be taken into account insofar as evaluating the "Textus Receptus"-a designation by which his work later came to be known.

The year after Erasmus published, Luther used the Textus Receptus (TR) for the basis of a German translation of the New Testament. Shortly thereafter, God-using Luther and his translation, brought about the Reformation.

Luther and Erasmus knew each other. They did not always agree. One of the chief areas of disagreement between them was Luther's conviction that the Roman church was incapable of being reformed and he thought that Erasmus should join him in leaving. However Erasmus believed that he could better bring about reform by working from within the system. He was quite wrong.

TYNDALE TRANSLATES THE TEXTUS RECEPTUS INTO ENGLISH

William Tyndale, a godly young English priest (A.D. 1494-1536), left Oxford to study Greek at Cambridge under the influence of Erasmus. Tyndale was so gifted and fluent in seven languages (Hebrew, Greek, Latin, Italian, Spanish, English, and French) that one would think each was his native tongue. It was Tyndale's great desire to put the Bible into the language of the English speaking people. Relying c.99% on the 1522 3rd edition of Erasmus' Greek text, in 1526 A.D. Tyndale fulfilled that longing, producing the first complete printed N.T. in the English tongue.

1 Hills, The King James Version Defended, op. cit., p. 198.

2 Nolan, An Inquiry into the Integrity of the Greek Vulgate, op. cit., pp. 413-415.

3 Hills, The King James Version Defended, op. cit., 202.

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