Textual variants in the Epistle of James
Textual variants in the Epistle of James are the subject of the study called textual criticism of the New Testament. Textual variants in manuscripts arise when a copyist makes deliberate or inadvertent alterations to a text that is being reproduced. An abbreviated list of textual variants in this particular book is given in this article below.
Most of the variations are not significant and some common alterations include the deletion, rearrangement, repetition, or replacement of one or more words when the copyist's eye returns to a similar word in the wrong location of the original text. If their eye skips to an earlier word, they may create a repetition (error of dittography). If their eye skips to a later word, they may create an omission. They may resort to performing a rearranging of words to retain the overall meaning without compromising the context. In other instances, the copyist may add text from memory from a similar or parallel text in another location. Otherwise, they may also replace some text of the original with an alternative reading. Spellings occasionally change. Synonyms may be substituted. A pronoun may be changed into a proper noun (such as "he said" becoming "Jesus said"). John Mill's 1707 Greek New Testament was estimated to contain some 30,000 variants in its accompanying textual apparatus[1] which was based on "nearly 100 [Greek] manuscripts."[2] Peter J. Gurry puts the number of non-spelling variants among New Testament manuscripts around 500,000, though he acknowledges his estimate is higher than all previous ones.[3]
Legend
A guide to the symbols used in the body of this article.
- number beginning with "0": uncial
- number not beginning with "0": minuscule
- Byz: Byzantine text-type
- cop: Coptic versions
- eth: Ethiopian versions
- ƒ: Family
- geo: Georgian versions
- it: Itala (Old Latin/Vetus Latina)
- lat: Vulgate and some Itala versions
- 𝔐: Majority Text
- mss: manuscripts
- : papyrus
- ℓ or Lect.: lectionary
- rell: reliqui; "all other manuscripts"
- slav: Slavic versions
- syr: Syriac versions
- TR: Textus Receptus
- vg: Vulgate
Notable manuscripts
- א: Codex Sinaiticus (01)
- A: Codex Alexandrinus (02)
- B: Codex Vaticanus (03)
- C: Codex Ephraemi Rescriptus (04)
- Kap: Codex Mosquensis I (018)
- Lap: Codex Angelicus (020)
- Papr: Codex Porphyrianus (025)
- Ψ: Codex Athous Lavrensis (044)
- ff1: Codex Corbeiensis I
- g1: Codex Sangermanensis I
Notable textual variants
James 1:12
- ο κυριος (the Lord) – P, 0246, Byz
- κυριος (Lord) – C
- ο θεος (God) – 2816, 33vid, 323, 945, 1739, vg, syrp
- omitted – א, A, B, Ψ, 81, ff, cop
James 1:22
- νομου (of the law) – C2, 88, 621, 1067, 1852
- λογου (of the word) – rell
James 2:19
- εἵς ἐστιν ὁ θεός – 74, א, A, 2464, itar, c, dem, div, p, s, z, vg syrp, copsa, bo, arm, eth
- εἵς ἐστιν θεός – 945, 1241, 1739
- εἵς θεὸς ἐστιν – B, 614, 630, 1505, 2412, 2495
- εἵς ὁ ἐστιν θεός – C, 33, 81, 2992, syrh
- ὁ θεὸς εἵς ἐστιν – Kmg, 049, 056, 0142, 88, 104, 181, 326, 436, 629, 1877, Byz, Lect
- θεὸς εἵς ἐστιν – 330, 451, 2127
- εἵς ὁ θεός – Cyril
- ἐστιν θεός – Ψ
- unus Deus – ff
James 2:20
- αργη – B C 322 323 945 1739
- νεκρα – א A C3 K P Ψ 049 056 0142 33 81 88 104 181 326 330 436 451 614 629 630 Byz
- κενη – 74 itff
See also
- Alexandrian text-type
- Biblical inerrancy
- Byzantine text-type
- Caesarean text-type
- Categories of New Testament manuscripts
- Comparison of codices Sinaiticus and Vaticanus
- List of New Testament verses not included in modern English translations
- List of major textual variants in the New Testament
- Textual variants in the New Testament
- Western text-type
References
- Adam Fox, John Mill and Richard Bentley: A Study of the Textual Criticism of the New Testament 1675–1729 (Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1954), pp. 105–115; John Mill, Novum Testamentum Graecum, cum lectionibus variantibus MSS (Oxford 1707)
- Metzger and Ehrman (2005), p.154
- Peter J. Gurry, "The Number of Variants in the Greek New Testament: A Proposed Estimate" New Testament Studies 62.1 (2016), p. 113
Further reading
- Novum Testamentum Graece et Latine, ed. E. Nestle, K. Aland, Stuttgart 1981.
- Bruce M. Metzger & Bart D. Ehrman, "The Text of the New Testament: Its Transmission, Corruption, and Restoration", OUP New York, Oxford, 4 edition, 2005
- Bart D. Ehrman, "The Orthodox Corruption of Scripture. The Effect of Early Christological Controversies on the Text of the New Testament", Oxford University Press, New York - Oxford, 1996, pp. 223–227.
- Bruce M. Metzger, "A Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament: A Companion Volume to the United Bible Societies' Greek New Testament", 1994, United Bible Societies, London & New York.