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Question #48
QUESTION: The Textus Receptus didn't
appear until 1633 so how can the King James Bible, which was translated
in 1611, be translated from it?
ANSWER: Wrong.
EXPLANATION: The Greek text which was
used for the translation of the King James Bible extends back through
history to the pens of Moses, David, Paul, John and the other inspired
writers. Throughout history it has been known by a variety of names.
Over the years the Greek text of the New Testament was collated by a
number of different editors. The most famous of these being Desiderius
Erasmus, Theodore Beza, Robert Stephanus and the Elzevir brothers, Abraham
and Bonaventure.
Erasmus published five editions of the New Testament.
The first in 1516 was followed by another in 1519 which was used by
Martin Luther for his historic and earth shaking German translation.
His third, fourth, and fifth followed in 1522, 1527 and 1535. Erasmus'
work was magnificent and set the standard for centuries (sic) to come.
Robert Stephanus published four editions, dating from
1546 through 1549, 1550 and lastly 1551.
Theodore Beza published several editions of the Greek
New Testament. Four were published in 1565, 1582, 1588 and 1598. These
were printed in folio, meaning a sheet of paper was folded over once,
thus producing four separate pages of the book. He also published five
octavo editions, these dates being; 1565, 1567, 1580, 1590 and 1604.
"Octavo" means that one printed sheet folded in such a way
as to produce eight separate pages of the text. Books printed in this
manner tended to have a smaller page size than folio works, but sometimes
led to the need of a work being printed in two or more volumes. It is
Beza's edition of 1598 and Stephanus edition of 1550 and 1551 which
were used as the primary sources by the King James translators.
Some years later, the Elzevir brothers published three
editions of the Greek New Testament. The dates being; 1624, 1633 and
1641. They followed closely the work of Beza, who in turn had followed
the standard set by Erasmus. In the preface to their edition of 1633
they coined a phrase which was to become so popular as to be retrofitted
to texts which preceded it by many years. They stated in Latin "textum
ergo babes, nunc ab omnibus receptum..." ei "According to
the text now held from the volume received..."
Thus the title "Textus Receptus" or "Received Text"
was born.
So we see that, even though the name "Textus Receptus"
was coined twenty-two years after the Authorized Version was translated,
it has become synonymous with the true Greek Text originating in Antioch.
(For your convenience, Appendix #2 in the back of this
book lists the many names used to describe both the Antiochian and Alexandrian
texts.)
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