The ‘Original Text’ of the New Testament: Why the Long Silence?

Abstract

With the long silence in discovering or recovering the “original text” of the New Testament, it appears textual criticism as a discipline has failed and it remains a mirage in its inability to achieve the fascinating aim of the discipline, particularly the search for the original words of the New Testament. Using historical-critical method, this paper argues that the alternative eclectic “original text” of the New Testament (NA28 or UBSGNT5) is attempting to paint a different and a misleading picture of the “original text” from the New Testament’s autographs of the first century and that the twenty-first century should not overstretch the search for the “original text” since originality depends on existing and quality evidences. Evaluating a number of new discoveries of manuscripts, new and quality discoveries would continue to surface and would help expand the critical apparatus of the Greek New Testament. However, reliance on manuscripts with Egyptian roots would enhance the discipline and drag us to achieving the proposed aims.