The overwhelming majority opinion of serious scholars in every generation agree that the New Testament was originally written in Koine Greek.
THE TEXTUS RECEPTUS (TR)
The most widely accepted Greek Manuscript of the New Testament is called the Majority Text The "Textus Receptus" means the "Received Text", and is part of the Majority Text. This is the Greek Manuscript that was used for the New Testament in The Geneva Bible (1560-1640), and was not just a translation soley from the Vulgate Latin as the previous New Testaments had been. [1]
The King James Version 1611 Bible (KJV 1611) also used the Textus Receptus. It followed The Geneva Bible nearly word-for-word but removed the Marginal Notes which made interpretations easy for the layman. It could be said that the King James 1611 plagiarized the Geneva Bible.
Again, both of these Bibles used the Greek Textus Receptus and this is the Manuscript that we also accept.[2]
Most Greek Manuscripts are within what is known as "The Majority Text" (MajT). There are more Manuscripts of The Majority Text than any other group. The Textus Receptus is part of the Majority Text. [3]
Some challenges have been made to the Textus Receptus. We do not accept them. [4]
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FOOTNOTES
[1
Textus Receptus lacked Chapter 22:16-21 of the Book of Revelation. Some have proposed that Erasmus back-translated these missing portions from the Vulgate Latin into Greek, then inserted them into the TR.
"Codex 1r, which was used by Erasmus, was missing Revelation 22:16-21. The standard teaching is that Erasmus went back to the Latin Vulgate for these verses and re-translated them into Greek. However, Dr. H. C. Hoskier disagreed by demonstrating that Erasmus used the Greek manuscript 141 which contained the verses." (Concerning The Text Of The Apocalypse, London: Quaritch, 1929, vol. 1, pp. 474-77, vol. 2, pp. 454,635.)
"Regardless, the textual support for these verses is not limited to the Latin Vulgate. They are also found in the Old Latin manuscripts, additional early translations such as the Coptic, Syriac, Armenian, and Ethiopic, and some later Greek manuscripts." (Will Kinney)
[2
LITV - Literal Translation of the Bible
MKJV - Modern King James Version
NGSB - New Geneva Study Bible (based on KJV)
[3
The reliability of the Majority Family of Greek New Testament Manuscripts we now have is truly remarkable. While there are "differences" between them, these "differences" can be traced to spelling errors or mis-corrections where the text had been obscured and attempts made to recorrect obliterations over time. The remarkable part is that there is no challenge to any major Doctrine of the Assemblies found in these minor textual differences. Only one word in 1000 can be questioned in the Majority Text, and no doctrinal point is in jeopardy over any disputed reading.
The Byzantine Family is part of the Majority Text.
Some other families are: the Western Family, which are comprised of Manuscripts found westward and north of the Mediterranean containing simple paraphrases, and the Caesarean, in use there which contain a combination of Alexandrian and Western texts.
[4
Wallaces' statement is false.
The original Authorized King James Bible 1611, "contains 791,328 words. Since the first King James Bible rolled off the press in 1611 to the King James Bible you buy off the shelf today, there have been - are you ready - there have been a grand total of 421 word changes!" (Searcy)
Here are other gross misstatements of fact:
"Desiderius Arasmus was a Dutch scholar and humanist from Rotterdam. Basically, Erasmus fabricated his own Greek text (he 'corrected' texts of manuscripts). Found within his text are readings which cannot be found in any known and extant Greek manuscript. Biblical scholarship proves that those readings are still being perpetuated today in printings of the so-called Textus Receptus of the Greek New Testament (N.T.). The oldest and best manuscript Erasmus used was Codex I, a miniscule written in the 10th century. His bible was the first on the market that was printed, bound, and available in a cheaper and a more conveniently handy form, resulting in greater circulation than its rival (the bulky and cumbersome Complutensian Polyglot). Its influence became greater and was therefore accepted because of one economic reason: its marketability and resulting sales." From B'nei Noach website.
We do not accept the Minority Text over the Majority Text. These were put together by B. F. Westcott and F. J. A. Hort in 1881. This is also called the Alexandrian Text. The RSV, NRSV, NASB, NIV and the NKJV for instance are based on these Westcott and Hort Minority Texts which at many points specifically disagree and challenge the Geneva Bible and the King James Version 1611 which were based on the Textus Receptus. We do not accept the Alexandrian or Minority Texts.
What follows are versions that we do not accept because many are based upon Minority Texts which sometimes dilute or deny the Deity of Yeshua in hundreds of passages, and many other key Doctrines of the Assemblies are also not found in them. It can be shown that they are, at least partially, based upon what some call Gnostic Manuscripts. Gnosticism was the first serious threat to Church Doctrines; they altered the original texts to agree with their Dualistic interpretations. The Minority Text is also sometimes referred to as the, "Modem Critical Text".
DAKE - The Dake Bible. (Uses Dispensational Notes as interpretation and adds variations)
ERV - The Easy Reading Version. Uses paraphrases of the Bible
GNB - Good News Bible. Uses paraphrases of the Bible. Not for serious study.
LB - The Living Bible. Uses paraphrases. Not for serious study.
NASB - New American Standard Bible (Version). Uses Minority texts.
NAV - New American Version
NIV - New International Version. Uses Minority texts.
NKJV - New King James Version. Uses some Minority Text.
NWT - The New World Translation or The Kingdom Interlinear translation (Jehovahs' Witness Version), Extremely inaccurate.
REB - Revised English Bible
RSB - Ryrie Study Bible. Uses Dispensational notes.
RSV, NRSV - Revised and New Revised Standard Version, The National Council of Churches holds the Copyright on both of these versions.
SRB - The Scofield Reference Bible. Primary source of Dispensational notes.
TM - The Message. Uses paraphrases of the Bible. Not for serious study.
We do not accept the above versions.
The Nestle-Aland Greek Text
Wuest, Kenneth. He uses the Nestle Greek Text which we do not accept.
Green, Jay P. Sr. The Gnostics, The New Versions, and The Deity of Christ. Lafayette, Indiana. Sovereign Grace Publishers. 1994.
Underwood, Jonathan. A History of the English Bible. Cincinnati, Ohio. Standard Publishing. 1983.
