Textus receptus

Question

What is "textus receptus"? Thank you

mscperu

Greetings

Textus receptus means "text edition accepted by all". It is the dream of the editors of the Bible to establish once for all an edition in their original language that might be a textus receptus.

The expression is really an affectation of the editors who think that they at last have edited the definite text especially of the New Testament. The same is valid for the OT regarding the Hebrew editions.

One of the most famous editors in Europe was the Elzevier family who edited some 2200 editions of works of science and literature. In the religious dimension there is the famous and omnipresent new edition of the Greek NT of Beza�s from 1655. The introduction of the second edition boasts: "TEXTUM ergo habes nunc ab omnibus RECEPTUM, in quo nihil immutatum aut corruptum damus � You have here now (finally) the text received from all. There is nothing changed or corrupt". This edition has been a brake for the investigation until the 19-century.

There are others like the textus receptus of Stephen�s 1550 and another famous one is Scriveners 1880. In any case it is the original text they want to reproduce.

There are earlier editions of the printed Bible but I wanted to present this example so that you see where the expressions come from.

There is no Textus Receptus. If you cite it you must add the name of the editor so people knows what edition you are talking about.

Actually there is no textus receptus because the investigation is going on and there are new findings all the time. So they opted for the procedure of Nestl�. This edition is (Nestl�-Aland) now in its 26th edition incorporates the last findings describing in the notes the variations.

Conclusion: there is no textus receptus as such there are only editions that claim to be.

God bless you

mscperu