Church History · 1516

Erasmus Prints the Greek New Testament

In March 1516 the Dutch scholar Erasmus published the first Greek New Testament ever put on sale. His text, later called the Textus Receptus, was used by Luther, Tyndale and the King James translators.

Read it in the Bible: Revelation 22:16-21 1 John 5:7-8 Isaiah 40:8 1 Peter 1:24-25

In 1516 the Dutch scholar Desiderius Erasmus published the first printed Greek New Testament that anyone could buy. It came off the press of Johann Froben in Basel, Switzerland, with the Greek on one side and Erasmus's own fresh Latin translation on the other. For the first time, a pastor or student anywhere in Europe could hold the New Testament in the language the apostles wrote it in. That one book became the doorway to Luther's German Bible, Tyndale's English New Testament and, a century later, the King James Version.

Who Was Erasmus?

Erasmus was born in Rotterdam around 1466 and became a Catholic priest and the most famous scholar of his day. He loved the old Christian writers and the old languages, and he had a sharp wit. He wrote a funny book called The Praise of Folly that poked at the silly side of church life in his time.

His big idea was simple. Go back to the sources. If the church wanted to be renewed, it needed to read the Bible in its first languages, not only through a thousand years of Latin copies. He once said he wished the plowman could sing the Scriptures while he worked and the weaver could hum them at the loom. That is a lovely picture, and it shows his heart.

How Was the 1516 Greek New Testament Made?

Froben wanted to beat a rival to market, so the work was rushed. Erasmus used a small handful of Greek manuscripts he could find in Basel, most of them copied in the 1100s or later. These belonged to the Byzantine family of manuscripts, the kind of text that had been copied over and over in the Greek speaking church for centuries.

His one copy of Revelation was missing the last six verses. So Erasmus did something bold. He translated those verses from the Latin Vulgate back into Greek. A few words in his Greek Revelation are found in no Greek manuscript at all because of this. Erasmus himself admitted later that the first edition was more rushed than edited.

I testify to everyone who hears the words of prophecy in this book: If anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book. Revelation 22:18

Yes, the warning about adding to the words of Revelation sits in the very verses he had to rebuild. Church history has a sense of humor.

Was It Really the First Greek New Testament?

It was the first one published. A team in Spain, led by Cardinal Ximenes de Cisneros, printed a Greek New Testament as part of the huge Complutensian Polyglot in 1514. But that Bible was not released for sale until the early 1520s. Erasmus got his to readers first, so his became the one that spread.

What Is the Textus Receptus?

Erasmus put out five editions, in 1516, 1519, 1522, 1527 and 1535, fixing mistakes each time. Luther used the 1519 edition for his German New Testament. Later printers like Robert Stephanus and Theodore Beza built on Erasmus's work. In 1633 the Elzevir printers in Leiden advertised their edition as the text now received by all. In Latin that phrase is textus receptus, and the name stuck.

So the Textus Receptus is not one single book. It is a family of printed Greek texts that all grow out of Erasmus. The King James translators worked mainly from these editions.

What About 1 John 5:7?

Here is the famous story. The words about the Father, the Word and the Holy Spirit in heaven in 1 John 5:7 to 8 were in many late Latin Bibles but not in the Greek manuscripts Erasmus had. So he left them out of his first two editions. People were upset. When a Greek manuscript containing the words turned up, Erasmus added them in his third edition of 1522. Scholars call this passage the Comma Johanneum, and it went on into the King James Version. Most modern Bibles, including the Berean Standard Bible behind The Owner's Manual, set it apart or leave it out, because almost no early Greek copy has it.

Textus Receptus or Critical Text?

Since the 1800s, scholars have found thousands more manuscripts, many of them far older than anything Erasmus saw, like Codex Sinaiticus and Codex Vaticanus. Most modern translations use a critical text that weighs all of these witnesses. Some Christians still prefer the Textus Receptus. They argue that God preserved His word through the copies the church used for centuries, and that the Byzantine text is the majority text.

Both sides love the Bible and want the original words. The good news is that the differences are small. No major teaching of the Christian faith rests on a disputed verse. You can read more about how scholars compare manuscripts in the textual criticism section of the New Testament Introduction on this site.

Why It Matters for You Today

Erasmus never left the Catholic Church, and he later argued with Luther about free will. People in his day joked that Erasmus laid the egg and Luther hatched it. Whatever you think of that, his Greek New Testament put the original words back into the hands of ordinary scholars and pastors, and that changed everything.

The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God stands forever. Isaiah 40:8

Every time you open a Bible in your own language, you are holding the fruit of that work. Kings, printers and scholars come and go. The word of God keeps going.

Get Nate's Highlighting Guide Free

Free. No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.

Questions People Ask

When did Erasmus publish the Greek New Testament?

Erasmus published his first edition in March 1516 in Basel, printed by Johann Froben. It had the Greek text alongside his own Latin translation. He released four more corrected editions, the last in 1535.

Is the Textus Receptus the same as Erasmus's Greek New Testament?

Not exactly. Textus Receptus is a name for a family of printed Greek texts that grew out of Erasmus's editions, including later editions by Stephanus, Beza and the Elzevirs. The name itself comes from the Elzevir edition of 1633.

Did the King James Bible use Erasmus?

Yes, indirectly. The King James translators worked mainly from Greek editions by Beza and Stephanus, which were built on Erasmus's text. That is why the King James New Testament reads so much like the Textus Receptus.

Why did Erasmus add 1 John 5:7 later?

He left the extra words about the Father, the Word and the Holy Spirit out of his first two editions because his Greek manuscripts did not have them. After critics complained and a Greek copy containing them was produced, he added them in his 1522 edition.

Sources

← Indulgences and the Building of Saint Peter's Martin Luther Posts the 95 Theses →

See the whole Church History