View source for Textual variants in the Epistle to the Colossians

{{More footnotes needed|date=December 2021}}{{Short description|none}}
'''Textual variants in the [[Epistle to the Colossians]]''' are the subject of the study called [[textual criticism]] of the [[New Testament]]. Textual variants in [[manuscript]]s arise when a copyist makes deliberate or inadvertent alterations to a text that is being reproduced. An abbreviated list of textual variants in this particular book is given in this article below.

Most of the variations are not significant and some common alterations include the deletion, rearrangement, repetition, or replacement of one or more words when the copyist's eye returns to a similar word in the wrong location of the original text. If their eye skips to an earlier word, they may create a repetition (error of [[dittography]]). If their eye skips to a later word, they may create an omission. They may resort to performing a rearranging of words to retain the overall meaning without compromising the context. In other instances, the copyist may add text from memory from a similar or parallel text in another location. Otherwise, they may also replace some text of the original with an alternative reading. Spellings occasionally change. Synonyms may be substituted. A pronoun may be changed into a proper noun (such as "he said" becoming "Jesus said"). [[John Mill (theologian)|John Mill]]'s 1707 Greek New Testament was estimated to contain some 30,000 variants in its accompanying textual apparatus<ref>Adam Fox, ''John Mill and Richard Bentley: A Study of the Textual Criticism of the New Testament 1675–1729'' (Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1954), pp. 105–115; John Mill, ''Novum Testamentum Graecum, cum lectionibus variantibus MSS'' (Oxford 1707)</ref> which was based on "nearly 100 [Greek] manuscripts."<ref>Metzger and Ehrman (2005), p.154</ref> Peter J. Gurry puts the number of non-spelling variants among New Testament manuscripts around 500,000, though he acknowledges his estimate is higher than all previous ones.<ref>Peter J. Gurry, "[http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=10040842 The Number of Variants in the Greek New Testament: A Proposed Estimate]" ''New Testament Studies'' 62.1 (2016), p. 113</ref>

==Legend==
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==Textual variants==
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{{show begin|head-style=background-color: #F0F8FF; text-align: center;|1={{font|text=2|font=Helvetica|size=16px|color=#FF0000|bgcolor=white}} {{big|Textual variants in Colossians 1}}|content-style=background-color: #FFFFFF; text-align: left;}}
[[File:Harleianus 5557 (first page of Colossians).jpg|thumb|[[Minuscule 321]], first page of Colossians]]
Colossians 1:14 (see Ephesians 1:7)
: απολυτρωσιν δια του αιματος αυτου (''redemption through the blood of him'') – [[Minuscule 383|383]] [[Minuscule 424|424]] [[Minuscule 614|614]] [[Minuscule 630|630]] 1505 1912 2200 [[Minuscule 2344|2344]]* [[Minuscule 2464|2464]] [[Byzantine text-type|Byz]]{{sup|pt}} (i.e., [[Minuscule 76|76]] [[Minuscule 206|206]] [[Minuscule 221|221]] [[Minuscule 223|223]] [[Minuscule 330|330]] [[Minuscule 876|876]] 1518 1611 1960 2005 2412) '''ℓ'''{{sup|mss}} vg{{sup|[[Sixto-Clementine Vulgate|cl]]}} syr{{sup|h}} arm slav [[Gregory of Nyssa|Gregory]] [[Cassiodorus]]
: απολυτρωσιν (''redemption'') – ''rell'' (all other extant [[Biblical manuscript|MSS]] and [[Church Fathers]])

Colossians 1:28
: Χριστω – {{Papyrus link|46}} א* A B C D* F G 33 81 1241 1739 1881 2464
: Χριστω Ιησου – א{{sup|2}} D{{sup|2}} H Ψ Byz
[[File:Claromontanus 2 greek.jpg|thumb|right|200px|[[Codex Claromontanus]], Colossians 1:28b-2:3]]
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<br>{{show begin|head-style=background-color: #F0F8FF; text-align: center;|1={{font|text=1|font=Helvetica|size=16px|color=#FF0000|bgcolor=white}} {{big|Textual variants in Colossians 2}}|content-style=background-color: #FFFFFF; text-align: left;}}
Colossians 2:1
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<br>{{show begin|head-style=background-color: #F0F8FF; text-align: center;|1={{font|text=1|font=Helvetica|size=16px|color=#FF0000|bgcolor=white}} {{big|Textual variants in Colossians 3}}|content-style=background-color: #FFFFFF; text-align: left;}}
Colossians 3:13
: κύριος – {{Papyrus link|46}}, A B D* G '''ℓ''' ''809'' it vg Pelagius Augustine
: Χριστός – א{{sup|c}} C D{{sup|c}} K P Ψ 81 88 104 181 326 330 436 451 614 629 630 1241 1739 1877 1881 1962 1984 1985 2127 2492 2495 Byz Lect it syr cop goth eth
: θεός – א*
: θεός ἐν Χριστῷ – 33 arm Augustine
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<br>{{show begin|head-style=background-color: #F0F8FF; text-align: center;|1={{font|text=1|font=Helvetica|size=16px|color=#FF0000|bgcolor=white}} {{big|Textual variants in Colossians 4}}|content-style=background-color: #FFFFFF; text-align: left;}}
Colossians 4:8
: γνωτε τα περι ημων – A B D* F G P [[Uncial 048|048]] 33 81 365 1175
: γνωτε τα περι υμων – א*
: γνω τα περι υμων – {{Papyrus link|46}} א{{sup|2}} C D{{sup|1}} [[Codex Athous Lavrensis|Ψ]] Byz
: γνω τα περι ημων – [[Minuscule 451|451]] [[Lectionary 598|'''ℓ''' ''598'']] and [[Lectionary 1356|'''ℓ''' ''1356'']]
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== See also ==
* [[Alexandrian text-type]]
* [[Biblical inerrancy]]
* [[Byzantine text-type]]
* [[Caesarean text-type]]
* [[Categories of New Testament manuscripts]]
* [[Comparison of codices Sinaiticus and Vaticanus]]
* [[List of New Testament verses not included in modern English translations]]
* [[Textual variants in the New Testament]]
* [[Western text-type]]

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

== Further reading ==

* ''[[Novum Testamentum Graece|Novum Testamentum Graece et Latine]]'', ed. E. Nestle, K. Aland, Stuttgart 1981.
* [[Bruce M. Metzger]] & [[Bart D. Ehrman]], "The Text of the New Testament: Its Transmission, Corruption, and Restoration", ''[[Oxford University Press|OUP]]'' New York, Oxford, 4 edition, 2005
* [[Bart D. Ehrman]], "The Orthodox Corruption of Scripture. The Effect of Early Christological Controversies on the Text of the New Testament", ''[[Oxford University Press]]'', New York - Oxford, 1996, pp.&nbsp;223–227.
* [[Bruce M. Metzger]], "A Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament: A Companion Volume to the United Bible Societies' Greek New Testament", 1994, ''[[United Bible Societies]]'', London & New York.

== External links ==
* [http://www.triviumpursuit.com/downloads/the-comparative-critical-greek-new-testament.pdf The Comparative Critical Greek New Testament] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110717104404/http://www.triviumpursuit.com/downloads/the-comparative-critical-greek-new-testament.pdf |date=2011-07-17 }}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20110120220811/http://dubitando.no.sapo.pt/nt_gr.htm#3 Variantes textuais] {{in lang|pt}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20110606153005/http://www-user.uni-bremen.de/~wie/translation/TR-Varianten/index.html Varianten Textus receptus versus Nestle-Aland]
<!--* [http://www.bibletranslation.ws/trans/holybible.pdf Epistle to the Colossians part of the Holy Bible]-->

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