Textual Criticism

This lecture describes the major problems of TR-only people, who subscribe to an unbiblical Doctrine of Preservation, which as defined, effectively emerges as a Marcionite view of the Bible. Wallace claims that while there is no biblical, exegetical, or empirical basis to argue for the doctrine of preservation, God has overwhelmingly preserved Scripture in a way that is not true of any other ancient literature.

In this lecture, Daniel Wallace describes the discovery of Sinaiaticus, and its importance to the field of textual criticism. He recounts fascinating details about his visits to St. Catherine’s, the oldest Christian monastery, at the base of Mount Sinai, Egypt.

This lecture summarizes the life of Constantine von Tischendorf [1815-1874], and his very important discovery of Codex Sinaiticus.

This lecture describes highlights of the history of NT TC since the TR. Describing the formation of the textus receptus, Wallace also characterizes major players in the process of arriving at the modern text.

This lecture describes Westcott and Hort, and how they dethroned the Textus Receptus by proving that the Textus Receptus was late, inferior, and secondary.

This lecture is 1 of 3 lectures on reasoned eclecticism. Eclecticism is the process of compiling a text from multiple sources, while reasoned eclecticism consists of rectifying the differences and evaluating variants based on both their attestation and intrinsic merit.

This lecture is 2 of 3 lectures on reasoned eclecticism.

This lecture explains the principles of reasoned eclecticism.

This is part 1 of 3 lectures explaining some famous textual problems, in this case, Mark 1:41.

This is part 2 of 3 lectures discussing the famous textual problem of John 5:3-4.

This is part 3 of 3 lectures explaining some famous textual problems.

This lecture presents some very technical arguments for why Daniel Wallace believes that the phrase “ουδεουιός” (nor the Son) is not an authentic part of Matthew 24:36.

This lecture explains the overwhelming evidence that the “Pericope Adulterae” (John 7:53-8:11) is almost certainly not part of the inspired text of the Bible. Some of the most compelling evidence includes these facts: 20% of MSS do not have this text, no MSS through 8th century have this text, no patristic fathers comment on this passage through the 12 century, and the text seems out of place chronologically, stylistically, grammatically, and thematically.

This lecture explains that although the evidence is not as strong as John 7:53-8:11, the text of Mark 16:9-20 is most likely not part of the original inspired text of scripture.

This lecture evaluates popular translations of the Bible in terms of their textual basis. The bottom line is that while all translations are interpretations, The Spirit of God has ensured that the truth of the scriptures can be found in any one of them, and reading widely among different versions is good to promote understanding about different concerns of TC.

As time progresses in the field of Textual Criticism, we continue to get razor-thin closer to the original manuscripts. The good news is that with all the known variants, no essential doctrine of the Christian faith is jeopardized by any viable variant, so we can have great confidence in the text of our Bibles to provide us all we need for life and godliness.