Peshitta = majority text ?

[Christina]

Dear Christina,

Thanks. This reference is very informative. Your response puts things in perspective.

One more question: How can there be more than one "majority text"? Are the two versions different?

Otto

There are two printed editions of the MT:

Greek New Testament According to the Majority Text by Zane C. Hodges and Arthur L. Farstad

and:

New Testament in the Original Greek: Byzantine Textform by Maurice A. Robinson and William G. Pierpont

The Robinson & Pierpont edition (which is the later one) is considered the better of the two by most. These two modern editions are compilations based on Byzantine mss, they differ in some places obviously because they were compiled by different people who used different mss.

Someone is currently compiling a new edition, here: <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.walkinhiscommandments.com/pickering2.htm">http://www.walkinhiscommandments.com/pickering2.htm</a><!-- m -->

Thanks, Samuel. Your comments are very helpful also.

It is amazing that the majority text is based on about 5700 manuscripts while the minority text is apparently based primarily only on two. Wow!

Sincerely,

Otto

Yes you are correct the 2 mss that form the back-bone of the modern edition of the CT (Nestle-Aland/UBS) are the 2 earliest complete Greek NT mss (Siniaticus & Vaticanus). However other mss were also used such as Ehpremi, Alexandrinus & various papyri fragements. But the point is only a handful of all Greek mss are of this (Alexandrian) text-type. They weren't copied over & over like the Byzantine mss as they were rejected by the Greek church (note the treatment of the St. Catherine Monks of Sinaiticus), so they can hardly be considered superior. MS age is not the most important thing when determining the original readings of the NT - pedigree is - the CT lacks a continuous tramission record. Here's a good article demonstrating the CT's inferiority: <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.esgm.org/ingles/appendh.h.htm">http://www.esgm.org/ingles/appendh.h.htm</a><!-- m -->, many of these Alexandrian Zorban scholars claim that "no doctrine is at stake" regarding Greek NT variants, well that article shows that this is not the case!

But we're Peshitta primacists so we are free from the burdens of the "Greek mess". <!-- s --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/wink1.gif" alt="" title="Wink" /><!-- s --> But if you're interested these are all the English translations of the Byzantine/Majority Text that I know of:

World English Bible & the Messianic Edition - Hebrew Names Version (public domain)
English Majority Text Version
Analytical-Literal Translation (very literal)
Fan S. Noli's Translation (paraphrasic)
Orthodox New Testament
Eastern Orthodox Bible, Vol. III: The New Testament
A Conservative Version (public domain)
Wilbur N. Pickering Translation (in progress)