The New Testament

The Greek New Testament is the 1881 printing of the Textus Receptus edited by Frederick H. A. Scrivener, a well-respected late nineteenth century scholar.  The Textus Receptus (TR), also called the Received Text, is a printed Greek New Testament that is based on the vast majority of ancient hand-written New Testament manuscripts.  This massive quantity of manuscripts is called the Traditional or Byzantine Text.  The King James Version New Testament was translated from the Received Text.  The TR was first published in 1516. 

                God is the God of history.   In light of that fact, we should take a close look at what God was doing at that time.  God was making preparation for a major change in history.  Another text was being prepared in Spain,  but God wanted the TR to be published first so that it would be available to be used in the upcoming Reformation, when Europe rebelled against the Catholic Church.   The Reformation began in 1517 (the year following it’s first publication) when Martin Luther posted his ninety-five theses to the door of the church in Wittenberg, Germany.  The second edition in 1519 became the basis of Martin Luther’s German translation.  Later, the Received Text became the basis for many translations, including the King James Version.  God made a deliberate choice of the Received Text to start and move the Reformation.  He has used the KJV and the TR for every great movement of world-wide evangelism since 1516.  The current mission movement has its origin in the 1790’s through the reading of the KJV, a TR translation, by William Carey.    The Received Text is the inspired word of God in Greek.