I’ve been researching and writing on the history of the Textus Receptus recently. There is a data point that I can’t seem to pinpoint. I’m hoping some of you might be able to help me find the answer.
Erasmus produced five editions of his Greek NT. Stephanus used Erasmus’ text to create four more editions. But what edition of Erasmus’ text did Stephanus use? I don’t see this being addressed much in the literature, and when it is, I am getting conflicting info. Some say he used Erasmus’ 3rd edition, while others say he used Erasmus’ 4th and 5th editions. I’m thinking that perhaps Stephanus used Erasmus’ 3rd edition for his own first edition, but then switched course and used Erasmus’ 4th and 5th editions as the basis for his (Stephanus’) 1550 edition.
One thing I’m having trouble understanding is how the mistakes Erasmus introduced into the last six verses of Revelation have made their way into the modern Textus Receptus if Stephanus used Erasmus’ 4th and 5th editions since Erasmus fixed most of those mistakes in his 4th edition.
Is there anybody who has a lot of knowledge about the history of the TR who can help me out on these questions?
Thinking to Believe 
November 23, 2010 at 7:16 pm
That should be “Greek” not “Greet” in the title.
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November 29, 2010 at 3:30 pm
Fixed
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May 27, 2017 at 5:47 am
I’ll help you. Stephanus use the 3’rd ed. of Erasmus text, which Erasmus back translated it from the Latin Vulgate. copy?
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June 6, 2017 at 10:54 pm
Amado, I appreciate your contribution. Do you have a source for this?
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February 23, 2022 at 8:46 am
Well, the answer comes over 11 years later, but congratulations my friend, you have unwittingly stumbled upon a great truth. The reason you cannot (as I cannot, and as no one can) pinpoint that datum is that you (as I, once) have accepted a false premise: that Stephanus simply reprinted Erasmus’ work.
Stephanus ever claimed that he had translated his text independently of Erasmus’ work based on codices which he owned or which he accessed in his capacity as “Printer to the King” of France.
Thus, the Textus Receptus (TR) rests on two independent witnesses (which is God’s way of confirming things – 2Co.13:1): Erasmus’ and Stephanus’ texts.
What you have been reading is likely the flood of text-critics who seek to discredit the TR by knocking out one of its two witnesses by claiming that the latter simply copied the former.
As to Stephanus’ sources, it is disingenuous for critics of the TR – after the Counter Reformation’s continent-wide and centuries-long censorial fury – to demand the production of these manuscripts before they accept the authenticity of Stephanus’ work: his Bibles, for example, were specifically targeted in the Prohibitory and Expurgatory Index of the Roman ecclesiastical authorities for over two hundred years after his decease.
All the best.
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