Textual variants in the Epistle to the Colossians

Textual variants in the Epistle to the Colossians 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]

A guide to the sigla (symbols and abbreviations) most frequently used in the body of this article.^[4]^[5]

General sigla

# beginning with 0: uncial

# not beginning with 0: minuscule

^* superscript: original reading

^c superscript: scribal correction

^ms superscript: individual manuscript

^mss superscript: multiple manuscripts

^pt superscript: partial attestation

^vid superscript: uncertain reading

arab: Arabic versions

arm: Armenian versions

𝔐 or Byz: Byzantine text-type

cop: Coptic versions

sa: Sahidic version

bo: Boharic version

eth: Ethiopic versions

ƒ: Greek manuscripts family

geo: Georgian versions

goth: Gothic versions

it: Italic/Vetus Latina

lat: most Italic and Vulgate

latt: all Italic and Vulgate

𝔓: papyrus

𝑙: individually numbered lectionary

Lect: most or all numbered lectionaries

parenthesized (): approximate reading

rell: all other extant manuscripts

slav: Slavic versions

syr: Syriac versions

vg: Latin Vulgate

ς: Textus Receptus

Uncial sigla: א‎: Codex Sinaiticus (01); A: Codex Alexandrinus (02); B: Codex Vaticanus (03); C: Codex Ephraemi Rescriptus (04); D^ea: Codex Bezae (05); D^p: Codex Claromontanus (06); K^e: Codex Cyprius (017); K^ap: Codex Mosquensis I (018); L^e: Codex Regius (New Testament) (019); L^ap: Codex Angelicus (020); P^apr: Codex Porphyrianus (025); S: Codex Vaticanus 354 (028); V: Codex Mosquensis II (031); W: Codex Washingtonianus (032); Z: Codex Dublinensis (035); Γ: Codex Tischendorfianus IV (036); Δ: Codex Sangallensis 48 (037); Θ: Codex Koridethi (038); Ξ: Codex Zacynthius (040); Π: Codex Petropolitanus (New Testament) (041); Φ: Codex Beratinus (043); Ψ: Codex Athous Lavrensis (044); Ω: Codex Athous Dionysiou (045); ff¹: Codex Corbeiensis I; ff²: Codex Corbeiensis II; g¹: Codex Sangermanensis I; k: Codex Bobiensis

Critical editions: T8th: Tischendorf's 8th Edition of Editio Octava Critica Maior; WH: Westcott and Hort (1881); NA: Novum Testamentum Graece (Nestle–Aland); UBS: United Bible Societies; ECM: Editio Critica Maior

Textual variants in the Epistle to the Colossians

2 Textual variants in Colossians 1

Colossians 1:14 (see Ephesians 1:7)

απολυτρωσιν δια του αιματος αυτου (redemption through the blood of him) – 383 424 614 630 1505 1912 2200 2344* 2464 Byz^pt (i.e., 76 206 221 223 330 876 1518 1611 1960 2005 2412) ℓ^mss vg^cl syr^h arm slav Gregory Cassiodorus

απολυτρωσιν (redemption) – rell (all other extant MSS and Church Fathers)

Colossians 1:28

Χριστω – 𝔓⁴⁶ א* A B C D* F G 33 81 1241 1739 1881 2464

Χριστω Ιησου – א² D² H Ψ Byz

1 Textual variants in Colossians 2

Colossians 2:1

1 Textual variants in Colossians 3

Colossians 3:13

κύριος – 𝔓⁴⁶, A B D* G ℓ 809 it vg Pelagius Augustine

Χριστός – א^c C D^c K P Ψ 81 88 104 181 326 330 436 451 614 629 630 1241 1739 1877 1881 1962 1984 1985 2127 2492 2495 Byz Lect it syr cop goth eth

θεός – א*

θεός ἐν Χριστῷ – 33 arm Augustine

1 Textual variants in Colossians 4

Colossians 4:8

γνωτε τα περι ημων – A B D* F G P 048 33 81 365 1175

γνωτε τα περι υμων – א*

γνω τα περι υμων – 𝔓⁴⁶ א² C D¹ Ψ Byz

γνω τα περι ημων – 451 ℓ 598 and ℓ 1356

[1]
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)
[2]
Metzger and Ehrman (2005), p.154
[3]
Peter J. Gurry, "The Number of Variants in the Greek New Testament: A Proposed Estimate" New Testament Studies 62.1 (2016), p. 113
[4]
Metzger, Bruce Manning; Ehrman, Bart D. (2005). The Text of the New Testament: Its Transmission, Corruption and Restoration (4th ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 54, 62–86, 102–103. ISBN 0-19-516667-1.
[5]
J.P. van de Giessen (2003). "Legenda tekstkritische notities". bijbelaantekeningen.nl (in Dutch). Retrieved 4 May 2022.

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.

The Comparative Critical Greek New Testament Archived 2011-07-17 at the Wayback Machine
Variantes textuais (in Portuguese)
Varianten Textus receptus versus Nestle-Aland

[1] [1]
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)

[2] [2]
Metzger and Ehrman (2005), p.154

[3] [3]
Peter J. Gurry, "The Number of Variants in the Greek New Testament: A Proposed Estimate" New Testament Studies 62.1 (2016), p. 113

[4] [4]
Metzger, Bruce Manning; Ehrman, Bart D. (2005). The Text of the New Testament: Its Transmission, Corruption and Restoration (4th ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 54, 62–86, 102–103. ISBN 0-19-516667-1.

[5] [5]
J.P. van de Giessen (2003). "Legenda tekstkritische notities". bijbelaantekeningen.nl (in Dutch). Retrieved 4 May 2022.

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Textual variants in the Epistle to the Colossians

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Textual variants

See also

References

Further reading

External links