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EDWARD D. ANDREWS (AS in Criminal Justice, BS in Religion, MA in Biblical Studies, and MDiv in Theology) is CEO and President of Christian Publishing House. He has authored over 120 books. Andrews is the Chief Translator of the Updated American Standard Version (UASV).
Major Critical Texts of the New Testament
Byz RP: 2005 Byzantine Greek New Testament, Robinson & Pierpont TR1550: 1550 Stephanus New Testament Maj: The Majority Text (thousands of minuscules which display a similar text) Gries: 1774-1775 Johann Jakob Griesbach Greek New Testament Treg: 1857-1879 Samuel Prideaux Tregelles Greek New Testament Tisch: 1872 Tischendorf’s Greek New Testament WH: 1881 Westcott-Hort Greek New Testament NA28: 2012 Nestle-Aland Greek New Testament UBS5: 2014 Greek New Testament NU: Both Nestle-Aland and the United Bible Society SBLGNT: 2010 Greek New Testament THGNT: 2017 The Greek New Testament by Tyndale House GENTI: 2020 Greek-English New Testament Interlinear
[BRD] MATTHEW 1:25Westcott-Hort New Testament (WHNU GENTI)
Matthew 1:25 Updated American Standard Version (UASV) 25 and he was not knowing her until she gave birth to a son; and he called his name Jesus.
WH NU GENTI ἔτεκεν υἱόν “she gave birth to a son” א B Zvid 071 f,13 33
MATTHEW 1:25Stephanus New Testament (TR1550)
25 καὶ οὐκ ἐγίνωσκεν αὐτὴν ἕως οὗἔτεκεν τον υἱόν αυτης τον πρωτοτοκον· καὶ ἐκάλεσεν τὸ ὄνομα αὐτοῦ Ἰησοῦν.
Matthew 1:25King James Version (KJV)
25 And knew her not till she had brought forth her firstborn son: and he called his name Jesus.
ετεκεν τον υιον αυτης τον πρωτοτοκον she gave birth to her firstborn son C D L W K Δ Π 087 Maj
The harmonization of passages is likely an intentional change by a copyist who is seeking to have a passage agree with a similar passage from another book. Again, these are generally found in what are known as the Synoptic Gospels,* names Matthew, Mark, and Luke. Nevertheless, they are found elsewhere.
* The Synoptic Gospels describe the gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke that tell the story of Jesus Christ’s life and ministry from a similar point of view and are similar in structure
One might suppose that the removal of “firstborn” was intentional to avoid the idea that Mary had other offspring, advancing the unbiblical view of Mary’s perpetual virginity. Nevertheless, if this were the objective of the copyist, he would have followed through in other verses in the same manuscripts. He would have removed Luke 2:7, where it reads, “She gave birth to her firstborn son.” However, this is not the case. Therefore, the better understanding is that Luke 2:7 was actually an influence on the copyist, who added to Matthew 1:25 so that they would harmonize. This could have been done intentionally, as copyists liked to harmonize the Synoptic Gospels, or it could have been done unintentionally, as he simply penned it from memory of the other verse.
Matthew 1:25, where the TR has “And knew her not till she had brought forth her firstborn son: and he called his name Jesus.” the WHNU has “and he was not knowing her until she gave birth to a son; and he called his name Jesus.” So, again, we have “until she gave birth to a son” and “until she gave birth to her firstborn son.” Logically, there is no good reason for a scribe to have removed “her firstborn” if it was in his exemplar (manuscript that a scribe was tasked to copy), but we can see why a scribe might have decided to add it if it was not in his exemplar. It is far more likely that the phrase “her firstborn” was an interpolation, the addition of spurious material to the text by a scribe, for harmonization with the parallel passage in Luke 2:7, which reads, “she gave birth to her firstborn son.” A scribe could easily have taken this phrase either intentionally or unintentionally from Luke 2:7.
The external witnesses support “a son” with the weightiest most ancient and reliable witnesses of the Alexandrian text-type as well as the Caesarean texts (א B Zvid 071 f,13 33). On the other hand, “firstborn son” has some support from all of the text-types. Therefore, the external evidence is somewhat balanced because the NTTC rules and principles are split. The rule that is applicable for “a son” is that the Alexandrian text-type is generally preferred (especially P66 P75 01 03) unless it appears to be a “learned” correction. The rule that is applicable for “firstborn son” is that a represented reading from more than one geographical area may be preferred to even an Alexandrian text-type reading. The reason is that the odds are increased greatly against a reading being changed from the original in such a wide geographical and family spectrum. If left here, maybe the preferred choice would be “firstborn son.” However, the strong internal evidence rule tips the scale in favor of “a son.” Within the synoptic gospels especially, a less identical reading is preferred as scribes had a tendency to harmonize readings.
Textual Insights
Variant Reading(s): differing versions of a word or phrase found in two or more manuscripts within a variation unit (see below). Variant readings are also called alternate readings.
Variation Unit: any portion of text that exhibits variations in its reading between two or more different manuscripts. It is important to distinguish variation units from variant readings. Variation units are the places in the text where manuscripts disagree, and each variation unit has at least two variant readings. Setting the limits and range of a variation unit is sometimes difficult or even controversial because some variant readings affect others nearby. Such variations may be considered individually or as elements of a single reading. One should also note that the terms “manuscript” and “witness” may appear to be used interchangeably in this context. Strictly speaking, “witness” (see below) will only refer to the content of a given manuscript or fragment, which it predates to a greater or lesser extent. However, the only way to reference the “witness” is by referring to the manuscript or fragment that contains it. In this book, we have sometimes used the terminology “witness of x or y manuscript” to distinguish the content in this way.
TERMS AS TO HOW WE SHOULD OBJECTIVELY VIEW THE DEGREE OF CERTAINTY FOR THE READING ACCEPTED AS THE ORIGINAL
The modal verbs are might have been (30%), may have been (40%), could have been(55%), would have been (80%),must have been (95%), which are used to show that we believe the originality of a reading is certain, probable or possible.
The letter [WP] stands for Weak Possibility (30%), which indicates that this is a low-level proof that the reading might have been original in that it is enough evidence to accept that the variant might have been possible, but it is improbable. We can say the reading might have been original, as there is some evidence that is derived from manuscripts that carry very little weight, early versions, or patristic quotations.
The letter [P] stands for Plausible (40%), which indicates that this is a low-level proof that the reading may have been original in that it is enough to accept a variant to be original and we have enough evidence for our belief. The reading may have been original but it is not probably so.
The letter [PE] stands for Preponderance of Evidence (55%), which indicates that this is a higher-level proof that the reading could have been original in that it is enough to accept as such unless another reading emerges as more probable.
The letter [CE] stands for Convincing Evidence (80%), which indicates that the evidence is an even higher-level proof that the reading surely was the original in that the evidence is enough to accept it as substantially certainunless proven otherwise.
The letter [BRD] stands for Beyond Reasonable Doubt (95%), which indicates that this is the highest level of proof: the reading must have been original in that there is no reason to doubt it. It must be understood that feeling as though we have no reason to doubt is not the same as one hundred percent absolute certainty.
NOTE: This system is borrowed from the criminal just legal terms of the United States of America, the level of certainty involved in the use of modal verbs, and Bruce Metzger in his A Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament (London; New York: United Bible Societies, 1994), who borrowed his system from Johann Albrecht Bengel in his edition of the Greek New Testament (Tübingen, 1734). In addition, the percentages are in no way attempting to be explicit, but rather, they are nothing more than a tool to give the non-textual scholar a sense of the degree of certainty. However, this does not mean the percentages are not reflective of certainty.
Biblical Studies Press, The NET Bible First Edition Notes (Biblical Studies Press, 2006)
Bruce Manning Metzger, United Bible Societies, A Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament, Second Edition a Companion Volume to the United Bible Societies’ Greek New Testament (4th Rev. Ed.) (London; New York: United Bible Societies, 1994),
Eberhard Nestle and Erwin Nestle, Nestle-Aland: NTG Apparatus Criticus, ed. Barbara Aland et al., 28. revidierte Auflage. (Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, 2012).
Dirk Jongkind, ed., The Greek New Testament: Apparatus (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2017).
Eberhard Nestle and Erwin Nestle, Nestle-Aland: Novum Testamentum Graece, ed. Barbara Aland et al., 28. revidierte Auflage. (Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, 2012)
see why a scribe might have decided to add it if it was not in his exemplar. It is far more likely that the phrase “her firstborn” was an interpolation, the addition of spurious material to the text by a scribe, for harmonization with the parallel passage in Luke 2:7, which reads, “she gave birth to her firstborn son.” A scribe could easily have taken this phrase either intentionally or unintentionally from Luke 2:7.
The modal verbs are might have been (30%), may have been (40%), could have been (55%), would have been (80%), must have been (95%), which are used to show that we believe the originality of a reading is certain, probable or possible.
The letter [CE] stands for Convincing Evidence (80%), which indicates that the evidence is an even higher-level proof that the reading surely was the original in that the evidence is enough to accept it as substantially certain unless proven otherwise.
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