Greek Text: First edition published in 1516, second edition was published in 1519 to correct the errors of the first edition, third and fourth editions in 1527 and 1535. After his death in 1536. Another edition was published in 1633. In the publisher’s preface, in Latin, we find these words: “Textum ergo habes, nunc ab omnibus receptum,” which can be translated as “the [reader] now has the text that is received by all.” From that publisher’s notation have come the words “Received Text.” The Textus Receptus became the dominant Greek text of the New Testament for the following two hundred and fifty years. It was not until the publication of the Westcott and Hort Greek New Testament in 1881 that the Textus Receptus lost its position
Question: "Who was Desiderius Erasmus?"https://www.gotquestions.org/Desiderius-Erasmus.html
Answer: Desiderius Erasmus (1466—1536) was a Dutch theologian and the scholar behind what is now known as the Textus Receptus. In a day when the only Bible available was the Latin Vulgate, Erasmus sought to produce a textually accurate Greek New Testament. To that end, he compiled several handwritten Greek manuscripts and oversaw their printing in 1516.
Erasmus was ordained as a Catholic priest at the age of 25 but was granted a dispensation from his religious vows that enabled him to accept the post of secretary to the Bishop of Cabrai. In 1495 Erasmus attended the University of Paris and earned his Doctor of Divinity at Turin University, Italy, in 1506. Between 1510 and 1515, Erasmus taught at Queens College, Cambridge, England.
Erasmus produced a version of the New Testament in both Greek and Latin. It was a bestseller. His second edition (1519) of the Greek text was used by Martin Luther in his German translation of the Bible. The third edition (1522) was used by William Tyndale for the first English New Testament. It was also the basis for the 1550 Robert Stephanus edition used by the translators of the Geneva Bible (1599) and the King James (Authorized) Version of the Bible (1611). In 1527 Erasmus published a definitive fourth edition, with parallel columns of Greek, Latin, and Erasmus’ notes. The final edition (1535) did not contain the Latin Vulgate. Erasmus dedicated his work to Pope Leo X and regarded his production of a Greek New Testament as his chief service to the cause of Christianity.
After Erasmus’ death, another edition of his New Testament was published in 1633. The publisher’s preface said, “Textum ergo habes, nun cab omnibus receptum” (“The [reader] now has the text that is received by all”). From that publisher’s notation has come the term “Received Text” or “Textus Receptus.” Erasmus’ work was the dominant Greek text of the New Testament for the next 250 years. It was not until the publication of the Westcott and Hort Greek New Testament in 1881 that the influence of the Textus Receptus waned.
During the Reformation, Erasmus was of two minds. He was critical of the abuses within the Catholic Church and called for reform, but he kept his distance from Martin Luther and continued to recognize the authority of the Pope. Erasmus wanted to introduce humanistic enlightenment into the Catholic Church without breaking with Rome. Erasmus declined to support Luther on the basis that to do so would jeopardize his position as an independent scholar and lessen his influence within the Church to introduce reform. To begin with, there was mutual respect between Erasmus and Luther, but Erasmus later condemned the conduct of the new evangelicals of the Reformation and expressed concern that Luther was setting himself up as the sole interpreter of Scripture. In some ways, Erasmus was caught in a cross fire, each side accusing him of siding with the other.
Between 1524 and 1527, Erasmus and Luther engaged in a bitter dispute over free will. From this exchange came Luther’s famous On the Bondage of the Will. Erasmus debated with other theologians and humanists (those who study the humanities), and, although he opposed abuses within the Church, he usually came down squarely on the side of Catholic doctrine.
Erasmus was respected as a classical Latin and Greek scholar and became known as “Prince of the Humanists.” He is best known as a Dutch Renaissance humanist, social critic, teacher, and theologian. He described the Reformation this way: “Luther was guilty of two great crimes; he struck the Pope in his crown, and the monks in their belly.” And his comment on Luther’s influence: “By burning Luther’s books you may rid your bookshelves of him, but you will not rid men’s minds of him.” Both comments show Erasmus had an astute grasp of the realities of his times.
Throughout the tumult of the Reformation, Erasmus sought to avoid outright conflict while still upholding traditional Roman Catholic doctrine. His middle-of-the-road approach angered scholars in both camps, and the Church of Rome was disappointed that Erasmus failed to sacrifice himself in defense of the Church.
"What is the Textus Receptus?"https://www.gotquestions.org/Textus-Receptus.html
Answer: The Textus Receptus (Latin for “Received Text”) is a Greek New Testament that provided the textual base for the vernacular translations of the Reformation Period. It was a printed text, not a hand-copied manuscript, created in the 15th century to fill the need for a textually accurate Greek New Testament. As the Christian message was carried abroad, the books of the New Testament were not only taken along, but also translated into the languages of the people to whom the message was given. In the transmission of the text, copies were made, mostly by Christians who were not trained in the art of the task; therefore, not too much attention was given to the correctness of the copies. As the number of copies in the different languages proliferated, it became apparent that many differences and discrepancies were found in the various versions. Eventually, it became obvious that there was a need for someone to bring textual criticism into play.
Needless to say, the invention of the printing press with movable type in the mid-fifteenth century revolutionized the world of literature. The first Bible to be printed in 1456 was the Latin Vulgate. This was also known by the Gutenberg Bible. Bible scholars at that time were little concerned about the Greek text of the New Testament; the Latin Vulgate was their Bible.
Then in the late fifteenth century, the Greek language—unknown for hundreds of years—was recovered in the West, the geographical area of the Latin Church. With the rediscovery of Greek and its inception as the language of the people, the Latin Vulgate translation was subjected to a critical examination in comparison with the Greek original. Scholars discovered numerous mistranslations or outright errors in the Vulgate. This provided a reason for printing the New Testament in its original language, Greek.
Erasmus, a 15th-century Dutch theologian, working at great speed in order to beat to press another Greek New Testament being prepared in Spain, gathered together what hand-copied Greek manuscripts he could locate. He found five or six, the majority of which were dated in the twelfth century. Working with all the speed he could, Erasmus did not even transcribe the manuscripts; he merely made notes on the manuscripts themselves and sent them to the printers. The entire New Testament was printed in about six to eight months and published in 1516. It became a best seller, despite its errors, and the first printing was soon gone. A second edition was published in 1519 with some of the errors having been corrected.
Erasmus published two other editions in 1527 and 1535. Stung by criticism that his work contained numerous textual errors, he incorporated readings from the Greek New Testament published in Spain in later editions of his work. Erasmus’ Greek text became the standard in the field, and other editors and printers continued the work after his death in 1536. In 1633, another edition was published. In the publisher’s preface, in Latin, we find these words: “Textum ergo habes, nunc ab omnibus receptum,” which can be translated as “the [reader] now has the text that is received by all.” From that publisher’s notation have come the words “Received Text.” The Textus Receptus became the dominant Greek text of the New Testament for the following two hundred and fifty years. It was not until the publication of the Westcott and Hort Greek New Testament in 1881 that the Textus Receptus lost its position.
The reason for its losing its prominent position as a basis of biblical textual interpretation was the inception of textual criticism. Influential scholars paved the way for the acceptance of a critical text. The work of Westcott and Hort brought about the final dethronement of the Textus Receptus and the establishment of the principle of a critical text. However, the Textus Receptus is not a “bad” or misleading text, either theologically or practically. Technically, however, it is far from the original text. Yet three centuries were to pass before scholars had won the struggle to replace this hastily assembled text with a text which gave evidence to being closer to the New Testament Autographs.
Many consider the King James Version of the Bible to be the crown of English Bibles. Even at the beginning of the seventeenth century, the Greek text used in preparing the KJV was the Textus Receptus. Both Luther and Tyndale translated the Scriptures into their vernacular languages using the same basic Greek text. Luther used the second edition of the Erasmus New Testament, and Tyndale utilized the third edition.
Regardless of one’s position on the Textus Receptus, it is evident that it had great influence on preserving God’s inspired Word through many centuries. Textual criticism of the Scriptures is so evidently important that all scholars and students of the Word of God need to utilize its principles in order to fulfill the biblical mandate, “Study to show yourselves approved unto God, a workman that needs not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the Word of truth’ (2 Timothy 2:15).
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