Novum Testamentum Graece - Methodology

Methodology

The Greek text as presented is what biblical scholars refer to as the "critical text". The critical text is an eclectic text compiled by a committee that examines a large number of manuscripts in order to weigh which reading is thought closest to the original. They use a number of factors to help determine probable readings, such as the date of the witness (earlier is usually better), the geographical distribution of a reading, and accidental or intentional corruptions. In the book, a large number of textual variants, or differences between manuscripts, are noted in the critical apparatus—the extensive footnotes that distinguish the Novum Testamentum Graece from other Greek New Testaments.

Most scholars view uncial text as the most accurate; however, a few authors (such as New Testament scholar Maurice A. Robinson and linguist Wilbur Pickering), Arthur Farstad and Zane C. Hodges claim that the minuscule texts (the Byzantine text-type) more accurately reflect the "autographs" or original texts than an eclectic text like NA27 that relies heavily on manuscripts of the Alexandrian text-type. This view has been criticized by Gordon Fee and Bruce Metzger among others. Since the majority of old manuscripts in existence are minuscules, they are often referred to as the Majority Text. It is worth noting, though, that the Majority Text as a whole is classified by the editors of the NA27 (of whom Metzger is one) as a "consistently cited witness of the first order," meaning that whenever the text presented differs from the majority text this is recorded in the apparatus along with the alternate reading. Other consistently cited references include the full corpus of papyri manuscripts available to the authors as well as a wide range of other manuscripts including a selection of both minuscules and uncials.

The Novum Testamentum Graece apparatus summarizes the evidence (from manuscripts and versions) for, and sometimes against, a selection of the most important variants for the study of the text of the New Testament. While eschewing completeness (in the range of variants and in the citation of witnesses), this edition does provide informed readers with a basis by which they can judge for themselves which readings more accurately reflect the originals. The Greek text of the 27th edition is the same as that of the 4th edition of the United Bible Societies The Greek New Testament (abbreviated UBS4) although there are a few differences between them in paragraphing, capitalization, punctuation and spelling. The critical apparatus is different in the two editions; the UBS4 edition is prepared for the use of translators, and includes fewer textual variants, but adds extra material helpful for translators.