Textual variants in the Epistle to the Ephesians
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Textual variants in the Epistle to the Ephesians are the subject of the study called textual criticism of the New Testament. Textual variants in manuscripts arise when a copyist makes deliberate or inadvertent alterations to a text that is being reproduced. An abbreviated list of textual variants in this particular book is given in this article below.
Most of the variations are not significant and some common alterations include the deletion, rearrangement, repetition, or replacement of one or more words when the copyist's eye returns to a similar word in the wrong location of the original text. If their eye skips to an earlier word, they may create a repetition (error of dittography). If their eye skips to a later word, they may create an omission. They may resort to performing a rearranging of words to retain the overall meaning without compromising the context. In other instances, the copyist may add text from memory from a similar or parallel text in another location. Otherwise, they may also replace some text of the original with an alternative reading. Spellings occasionally change. Synonyms may be substituted. A pronoun may be changed into a proper noun (such as "he said" becoming "Jesus said"). John Mill's 1707 Greek New Testament was estimated to contain some 30,000 variants in its accompanying textual apparatus[1] which was based on "nearly 100 [Greek] manuscripts."[2] Peter J. Gurry puts the number of non-spelling variants among New Testament manuscripts around 500,000, though he acknowledges his estimate is higher than all previous ones.[3]
Legend
[edit]A guide to the sigla (symbols and abbreviations) most frequently used in the body of this article.[4][5]
- General sigla
- # beginning with 0: uncial
- # not beginning with 0: minuscule
- * superscript: original reading
- c superscript: scribal correction
- ms superscript: individual manuscript
- mss superscript: multiple manuscripts
- pt superscript: partial attestation
- vid superscript: uncertain reading
- arab: Arabic versions
- arm: Armenian versions
- 𝔐 or Byz: Byzantine text-type
- cop: Coptic versions
- sa: Sahidic version
- bo: Boharic version
- eth: Ethiopic versions
- ƒ: Greek manuscripts family
- geo: Georgian versions
- goth: Gothic versions
- it: Italic/Vetus Latina
- lat: most Italic and Vulgate
- latt: all Italic and Vulgate
- 𝔓: papyrus
- 𝑙: individually numbered lectionary
- Lect: most or all numbered lectionaries
- parenthesized (): approximate reading
- rell: all other extant manuscripts
- slav: Slavic versions
- syr: Syriac versions
- vg: Latin Vulgate
- ς: Textus Receptus
- Uncial sigla
- א: Codex Sinaiticus (01)
- A: Codex Alexandrinus (02)
- B: Codex Vaticanus (03)
- C: Codex Ephraemi Rescriptus (04)
- Dea: Codex Bezae (05)
- Dp: Codex Claromontanus (06)
- Ke: Codex Cyprius (017)
- Kap: Codex Mosquensis I (018)
- Le: Codex Regius (New Testament) (019)
- Lap: Codex Angelicus (020)
- Papr: Codex Porphyrianus (025)
- S: Codex Vaticanus 354 (028)
- V: Codex Mosquensis II (031)
- W: Codex Washingtonianus (032)
- Z: Codex Dublinensis (035)
- Γ: Codex Tischendorfianus IV (036)
- Δ: Codex Sangallensis 48 (037)
- Θ: Codex Koridethi (038)
- Ξ: Codex Zacynthius (040)
- Π: Codex Petropolitanus (New Testament) (041)
- Φ: Codex Beratinus (043)
- Ψ: Codex Athous Lavrensis (044)
- Ω: Codex Athous Dionysiou (045)
- ff1: Codex Corbeiensis I
- ff2: Codex Corbeiensis II
- g1: Codex Sangermanensis I
- k: Codex Bobiensis
- Critical editions
- T8th: Tischendorf's 8th Edition of Editio Octava Critica Maior
- WH: Westcott and Hort (1881)
- NA: Novum Testamentum Graece (Nestle–Aland)
- UBS: United Bible Societies
- ECM: Editio Critica Maior
Textual variants
[edit]
Ephesians 2:1
- αμαρτιαις – majority
- επιθυμιαις – Β
Ephesians 2:15
- καινον – majority
- κοινον – 𝔓46 F G
- και μονον – K
Ephesians 2:20
- Χριστου – 𝔓46 Β G 88 436 1739 1881
- του Χριστου – D K 181 326 614 629 630 1877 1984 2495
- Κυριυ – א A P Ψ 33 81 104 330 451 1241 1962 2127 2492 surh copbo arm eth
- του Θεου – 1985
- omit – C
Ephesians 3:1
Ephesians 4:14
- του διαβολου – Alexandrinus
- της πλανης – rest of mss.
Ephesians 4:28
- ταις χερσιν το αγαθον – 𝔓46, אb, B, a, vgst
- το αγαθον – Porphyrianus, 6, 33, 1739, 1881
- το αγαθον ταις χερσιν – L, Ψ, 323, 326, 614, 630, 945
- το αγαθον ταις ιδιαις χερσιν – K, 2495
- εν ταις χερσιν αυτου το αγαθον – 629
- ταις ιδιαις χερσιν το αγαθον – Sinaiticus, A, D, F, G, 81, 104, 365, 1175, 1241, 2464, vgcl
Ephesians 6:12
- μεθοδιας – 𝔓46
- αρχας προς τας εξουσιας – rell
See also
[edit]- Alexandrian text-type
- Biblical inerrancy
- Byzantine text-type
- Caesarean text-type
- Categories of New Testament manuscripts
- Comparison of codices Sinaiticus and Vaticanus
- List of New Testament verses not included in modern English translations
- Textual variants in the New Testament
- Western text-type
References
[edit]- ^ Adam Fox, John Mill and Richard Bentley: A Study of the Textual Criticism of the New Testament 1675–1729 (Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1954), pp. 105–115; John Mill, Novum Testamentum Graecum, cum lectionibus variantibus MSS (Oxford 1707)
- ^ Metzger and Ehrman (2005), p.154
- ^ Peter J. Gurry, "The Number of Variants in the Greek New Testament: A Proposed Estimate" New Testament Studies 62.1 (2016), p. 113
- ^ Metzger, Bruce Manning; Ehrman, Bart D. (2005). The Text of the New Testament: Its Transmission, Corruption and Restoration (4th ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 54, 62–86, 102–103. ISBN 0-19-516667-1.
- ^ J.P. van de Giessen (2003). "Legenda tekstkritische notities". bijbelaantekeningen.nl (in Dutch). Retrieved 4 May 2022.
Further reading
[edit]- Novum Testamentum Graece et Latine, ed. E. Nestle, K. Aland, Stuttgart 1981.
- Bruce M. Metzger & Bart D. Ehrman, "The Text of the New Testament: Its Transmission, Corruption, and Restoration", OUP New York, Oxford, 4 edition, 2005
- Bart D. Ehrman, "The Orthodox Corruption of Scripture. The Effect of Early Christological Controversies on the Text of the New Testament", Oxford University Press, New York - Oxford, 1996, pp. 223–227.
- Bruce M. Metzger, "A Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament: A Companion Volume to the United Bible Societies' Greek New Testament", 1994, United Bible Societies, London & New York.