History of the text of the Bible

11.4. History of the text of the Bible
When the books of the New Testament were written, the early church started to make copies for churches in other parts of the Roman Empire. The copies began to develop certain characteristics. An example of this can be seen in the Lord’s Prayer. Some manuscripts do not have the words: ‘For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen’ (see Matt. 6:13). They are included in the KJV, but not in the NET. Why do we find these words in some old manuscripts? They were probably a liturgical note of a scribe, in his manuscript. When the manuscript was copied, it was taken as part of the text.
According to some manuscripts the Lord Jesus said the following in Matthew 5:22:
But I say to you that anyone who is angry with a brother will be subjected to judgment (NET).
This seems to be a general statement. In the KJV, however, there was an addition. It reads:
But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment (KJV).
The KJV was based on a different manuscript.
Some manuscripts of Ephesians do not have the words ‘in Ephesus’ (see Eph. 1:1). This makes the letter a general letter, with a message for the whole church in Asia at that time.
An interesting difference is found in John 1:18. This is seen when comparing the NET with the KJV.
No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him (John 1:18 KJV).
No one has ever seen God. The only one, himself God, who is in closest fellowship with the Father, has made God known (John 1:18 NET).
The difference is whether the original text said υιος‘Son’ (KJV) or θεος‘God’. Vincent said the following about this phrase:
The only begotten son (ὁ μονογενὴς υἱὸς). Several of the principal manuscripts and a great mass of ancient evidence support the reading μονογενὴς Θεὸς, ‘God only begotten’.
Another and minor difference in reading relates to the article, which is omitted from μονογενὴς by most of the authorities which favor Θεὸς. Whether we read the only begotten Son, or God only begotten, the sense of the passage is not affected. The latter reading merely combines in one phrase the two attributes of the word already indicated – God (John 1:1), only begotten (John 1:14); the sense being one who was both God and only begotten.
Robertson and the notes in the NET also discuss this phrase in detail. Robertson, Vincent and the NET with notes discuss differences in the manuscripts that are worth considering.
A remarkable development in the history of the manuscripts is that manuscripts in a particular area seem to have the same textual variants. Scholars therefore classified the manuscripts according to ‘families’ or ‘text types’. The following text families are known today: ‘Alexandrian’, ‘Western’ and ‘Byzantine’.
This classification of the manuscripts into families is based on the similarities of variant readings within a group of manuscripts. If a group of manuscripts has fifty or more readings in common, which are not found somewhere else, than those manuscripts are considered to be from the same source.