As Luke, Paul, Peter, Matthew, James, or Jude handed their authorized text off to be copied by others, i.e., published, what would it have looked like? What is the process that the New Testament writers would have followed to get their book ready to be published, that is copied by others? Once they were ready for publication, how would they be copied throughout the centuries, up until the time of the printing press of 1455 C.E.? Why was it so hard to be a secretary in the first century C.E.? How was such work done? What writing materials were then in use? How were the NT books made?
NEW TESTAMENT TEXTUAL STUDIES: Important Papyrus Manuscripts
Papyrus is a tall, aquatic reed, the pith of which is cut into strips, laid in a crosswork pattern, and glued together to make a page for writing. The papyrus rolls of Egypt have been used as a writing surface since the early third millennium BC.
The Text of the New Testament
The original text of the NT is the “published” text—that is, the text as it was in its final edited form and released for circulation in the Christian community.
The Collation and Classification of Manuscripts
One of the vital and until recently, more tedious, tasks in the work of textual criticism was that of collating every extant Greek manuscript or fragment of the New Testament. We may be overjoyed at the abundance of sources available to us, which include the papyri, the codices, and even citations in the fathers; without collation, however, we would have no practical way to access and use them.
Textual Criticism of the New Testament
Textual criticism of the New Testament is the identification of textual variants. or different versions of the New Testament, whose goals include identification of transcription errors, analysis of versions, and attempts to reconstruct the original text.
NTTC 1 CORINTHIANS 14:33–35: Did the Apostle Paul Forbid Women to Speak?
Are these verses original, and if so what did the apostle Paul mean for women to keep silent in the congregations? Are the women not to speak at all?
NTTC MATTHEW 1:22: what was spoken by the Lord through [Isaiah] the prophet
Matthew 1:22 Update American Standard Version (UASV) 22 Now all this has happened to fulfill what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet:
NTTC MATTHEW 1:23: they [or you] shall call his name Immanuel
WHNU reads καὶ καλέσουσιν τὸ ὄνομα αὐτοῦ Ἐμμανουήλ (and they shall call his name Immanuel). This is supported by the...
PAPYRUS 23 P23 (P. Oxy. X 1229) Dating to 175-225 A.D.
Papyrus 23 is designated P23. It is an early copy of the New Testament in Greek. It is a papyrus manuscript of the Epistle of James, it contains only James 1:10-12,15-18. The manuscript paleographically has been assigned to 175-225 A.D.
NTTC MATTHEW 6:13 What Happened to the Doxology at the End of the Prayer?
Why do people feel compelled to end with this assertive doxology? Probably for the same reason that motivated some early scribes to add it.