Journal: Detroit Baptist Seminary Journal
Volume: DBSJ 25:1 (NA 2020)
Article: Which "Textus Receptus"? A Critique Of Confessional Bibliology
Author: Mark Ward

DBSJ 25 (2020) p. 51

Which Textus Receptus? A Critique Of Confessional Bibliology

Mark Ward1

Abstract

After an introduction listing known TR editions, the argument of this paper proceeds in three movements. (1) In the first I summarize the argument for the perfect preservation of the Textus Receptus Greek New Testament used by mainstream “KJV-Only” Christians. (2) In the second I summarize the similar but distinct defenses given for the same text by proponents of a smaller group of Presbyterians and Reformed Baptists which tends to call itself “Confessional Bibliology.” (3) In the third I demonstrate that two particular TR editions carry all but one of the same kinds of differences that occur between the TRs and the critical texts of the GNT. I argue that neither mainstream KJV-Onlyism nor Confessional Bibliology can justify dividing from the majority of evangelical biblical scholars over its doctrines: their views differ only in degree and not in kind from the majority view of textual criticism.

Introduction: Which TR?

Whenever a defender of the King James Version argues that the Textus Receptus (TR) is the providentially preserved text of the Greek New Testament2, a simple question arises: Which TR?

Here is a representative list3 of major TR editions, beginning with Erasmus’ own Novum Instrumentum Omne (1516):

DBSJ 25 (2020) p. 52

• Erasmus produced five TR editions, in 1516, 1519, 1522, 1527, and 1535.
• Cardinal Ximénes printed the Complutensian Polyglot, which included the first printed Greek New Testament, in 1514. But it was not published until 1522; Erasmus beat it to market by six years. (Note: Erasmus used it to alter a few readings in his 1527 edition.4)

• Simon Colinaeus printed a TR in 1534.
• Robert Stephanus—Colinaeus’ stepson—produced four editions of the TR, in 1546, 1549, 1550, and 1551. The 1550 became the accepted edition (the editio regia) in the English-speaking world.
• Theodore Beza produced five major and five minor editions of the TR between 1565 and 1604.5

• The Elzevir brothers produced seven editions of the TR between 1624 and 1678. The 1633 edition became the standard edition on the European continent—and gave rise to the name “Textus Receptus,” because it called itself “the text received by all.”6

Other editions merit mention here, but it is ...