What is this [footnote] in God's Word?

Most of your Bibles may have little notes at the bottom of pages that may something like...

‌-“Some manuscripts say “this word or phrase” instead”

-“Some of the earliest manuscripts do not have the word/phrase/verse”

-We hear that a verse is “being taken out” or going back to the original writings… 

What do all of these things mean and why are these manuscripts not all the same??

We’re in this series answering questions you and or the person you are discipling has or may ask!

How were God’s Words distributed?

First, Orally, by word-of-mouth, from Jesus, eyewitnesses and apostles, and then their disciples as well.

The early church would gather to hear the scriptures, to hear the apostles teachings (who were teaching about Jesus’ teachings).

Often times, when an apostle or other disciple would write a letter to a specific group of Christians, that letter would be received, copied, and then that original letter may be passed on to the other churches gathered as they want to know what the Apostles said.

Many people couldn’t read… so letters would be read aloud.

You didn’t want to mess up with ink on this material so you would hire a professional — a scribe — to write or copy these important letters.

What do those footnotes in the Bible mean? Why?

As human scribes copied text from letters, they made human errors… we are human and we make errors!

We often copy notes either letter by letter, word by word, or phrase by phrase.

Textual Criticism: using the discovered manuscripts to try to determine what the original said.

There are a large number of variations, but that is expected with a large number of copies made by human hands. Plus, these variations never hinder any theological beliefs, they were typically minor differences such as slight spelling errors [there were no dictionaries setting a standard for spelling], different word order, synonymous words‌, etc… Each misspelled or misplaced letter counts as a variation.

There are two kinds of evidence that translators consider in making textual choices: external evidence (the character and quality of the manuscripts) and the internal evidence (the kinds of mistakes to which copyists were susceptible). [Fee, Gordon D.. How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth (p. 39). Zondervan Academic. Kindle Edition.]

External Criteria:

     1.   Favor the older manuscripts.

     2.   Favor the reading supported by the majority of manuscripts.

     3.   Favor the reading best attested across manuscript families.

Internal Criteria:

     1.   Favor the reading that best fits the literary context.

     2.   Favor the reading that corresponds best with writings by the same author.

     3.   Favor the reading that best explains the origin of the other variant(s).

     4.   Favor the shorter reading.

     5.   Favor the more difficult reading.

[Andreas J. Köstenberger, Benjamin L. Merkle, and Robert L. Plummer, Charts for Intermediate Greek Grammar and Syntax: A Quick Reference Guide to Going Deeper with New Testament Greek (Nashville, TN: B&H Academic, 2016), 1.]

Extra:

In comparison with our best copies and manuscripts:

[Resources: Visual Theology Guide to the Bible; Evidence that Demands a Verdict]

Tacitus "Annals" (33 known copies): Written AD100; earliest manuscript AD850 (650yrs)

Herodotus "History" (109): Written 480BC; earliest AD900 (1380yrs)

Plato "Tetralogies" (210): Written 400BC; earliest AD495 (895yrs)

Caesar "Gallic Wars" (251): Written 100BC; earliest AD800 (700yrs)

Homer "Iliad" (1,757): Written 800BC; earliest 400BC (400yrs)

"New Testament" (23,769): Written AD50-100; earliest AD130 (~70 yrs)!!

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THAT’s AMAZING!!! The New Testament has been well Recorded and Preserved!!!!

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Variations do not need to be too concerning, especially when there are so many manuscripts to lean on while we work through what the original may have said!!

This still gives me great trust in what you, the people you are discipling, and I are reading today due to faithful men and women who have put in a lot of hard and tedious work with the Holy Spirit and God’s Words.

Recommended Resources:‌

- NET Bible has these textual critical notes -- why they translated how they did

- Textual Commentaries

- Study Bibles