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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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