The Manuscripts of Revelation

The Manuscripts of Revelation. What's a manuscript? Somebody wrote it by hand instead of printing it. In 1450, Johannes Gutenberg saved humanity from many writer’s cramps. Authors often dictated what they wanted written down, so they hired an “amanuensis.” Today, we tab the fn key twice on a Mac and speak clearly and slowly. We don’t know how much an author edited his helper’s original copy. Light bulbs also relieved the use of candles inconveniently burning out in the middle of a word. Correcting errors took a bit more time due to a lack of a delete key. Keeping the manuscripts from deteriorating or being destroyed has been replaced by hard drives. Same motivation and outcome.

Authors produced the Greek New Testament manuscripts long before Gutenberg arrived on the scene. The believers recognized the need to get the texts into the hands of believers throughout the entire Roman Empire. So they copied and copied and copied texts hundreds of times. Although this produced some copying errors, the large number of manuscripts made it easier to determine the original text by comparing them and recognizing the few differences that occurred. These copies also kept texts from “going out of print” when some of the earlier manuscripts were destroyed. The Manuscripts of Revelation kept that book from disappearing.

An “extant” manuscript means that it still exists and can be viewed in some museums.

Three types of writing materials

Authors began using papyrus sheets that could be rolled up or cut into pages for “codices,” i.e., books. They eventually shifted to parchment, which was made of animal skins and lasted longer. Most of the Greek manuscripts were made from animal skins. Paper then took over as the favorite copying method. Experts can date a manuscript (roughly) based on its material.

What’s a “variant”? Any difference or variation between one copy of a text and another. Like a typo. There are roughly 400,000 variants in the New Testament. Over 99% are spelling differences, easy to catch and explain, and do not change the meaning of the text. The less than 1% vary from “not bad” to “no idea as to what the author originally wrote.”

Manuscript variants

So the number (quantity) of variants is insignificant. We have to look at the quality.

Four kinds of textual variants,
even in the manuscripts of Revelation

A variant is “real” if it truly differs from another manuscript. A variant is “meaningful” only if it could change the meaning of the text.

1) This variant is neither viable nor meaningful. A spelling error, 70% of all textual variants, is not a “real” variant because it could be what the author originally wrote. Easy to catch. Therefore, it’s not meaningful. Don’t lose any sleep over it.

2) “Real," but not meaningful. Some scribes copied John’s name in two ways in Greek: Ιω?ννης and Ιω?νης. How did John actually spell his name? I’ll ask him when I get to heaven. Both are viable options. Maybe he used both ways. It doesn’t matter, because it doesn’t change the meaning of the text. John is still John.

3) Meaningful, but not to be taken seriously. Luke 6:22. The earliest manuscript reads: “Blessed are you when men hate you, and exclude you, and insult you, and scorn your name as evil, for the sake of the Son of Man.” Believers are blessed because of their faith in Jesus. However, an eleventh century manuscript, Codex 2882, leaves off the last phrase, “Blessed are you when people hate you and when they exclude you and revile you and spurn your name as evil.” Now the believer is blessed just for being hated for no apparent reason. Why is this variant not “real”? Because it only occurs once, in a manuscript that originated over 1,000 years after the original manuscript. Not to be taken seriously.

4) Real and needs to be taken seriously. This is the smallest group of variants. Each variant is probably authentic and seems to change the meaning of the text from the other manuscripts. Important: Less than 1% of all textual variants land in this group. Do the math: less than 4,000.
An example: 1 John 1:4. “And these things we are writing, so that our (?μ?ν) joy may be made complete,” or “And these things we are writing, so that your (?μ?ν) joy may be made complete.”?

A very few variants have completely corrupted the text, and we’ll never know for sure unless some archaeologist digs up an ancient scroll dating 72 A.D. that spells out the original text. None of these variants affect any major or minor teaching in the Bible. You won’t need an aspirin to sleep well tonight.

If you have stumbled across Bart Ehrman’s book about misquoting Jesus, don’t waste your time. If you have wasted your time, then read Greg Koukl’s article “Misquoting” Jesus? Answering Bart Ehrman, to heal your anxiety.

Sleepy scribe falling asleep on his parchment

Scribes didn’t get paid well, and copying manuscripts was tedious work. Some fell asleep on the job. Smeared ink all over their faces as they fell forward in deep slumber. Some misspelled words. Some accidentally skipped words. Not enough candlelight. Darkness encourages drowsiness. Their eyes fell out of focus for a couple of seconds, and they inadvertently copied a text twice. Sometimes, a scribe felt that he had to smooth out a difficult text. Good motives, but shame on them. Very few intentionally changed a word due to a deep fear that God would instantly kill them. Seriously.

Today’s New Testament textual critics work with so many manuscripts that they have developed the ability to predict a scribe’s typical mistakes. Thus, we can trust the text.

Manuscripts of Revelation

P18 Revelation Manuscript

P18

The Revelation manuscripts contain papyrus fragments and a full copy in a codex.

Fragmentary Papyrus Manuscripts
of Revelation

  • P98: Dated to 150–250 AD, this manuscript contains Revelation 1:13–2:1. It's in   the collection of L'Institut français d'archéologie orientale in Cairo, Egypt.
  • P18: Dated to the 200s–300s, this papyrus manuscript contains 1:4–7.
  • P47: a 3rd century papyrus preserves Rev 9:10-11:3; Rev 11:5-16:15; Rev 16:17-17:2.
  • P115: A 3rd-century papyrus manuscript that includes verses from Revelation
  • P85: A 4/5th-century manuscript that includes verses from Revelation

Full Copy in a Codex Manuscript
of Revelation

  • Codex Sinaiticus: Dated to the 300s, is the earliest complete copy of Revelation. It's one of the four great uncial codices.
  • Alexandrinus and Ephraemi Rescriptus, fifth-century codies. Codex Ephraemi Rescriptus, however, is a palimpsest. This was a reused manuscript whose original text was washed off and replaced with the writings of Ephraem the Syrian.

Other evidence

  • • Quotations from the book in the works of Justin Martyr and Irenaeus 
  • • Fragmentary quotations in the Church fathers of the 2nd to 5th centuries 
  • • A Greek commentary on Revelation by Andreas from the 6th century

Juan Hernández, Jr. states that “The book is extant in 310 manuscripts.” https://fr.bibleodyssey.com/articles/the-text-of-revelation-and-early-scribes/

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