On the finer points of textual inerrancy it should be noted that the Biblical emphasis is on the absolute literal inerrancy of the Scriptural text. This text is the Textus Receptus or Received Text printed by Stephanus in Paris 1550 for the reasons outlined in the Great Bible Text Fraud on this site, at the following link: https://www.christianhospitality.org/resources/bible-fraud-online/. The theory that the Majority Byzantine Greek Text (preserved by the Orthodox Greek Church in the Middle Ages) represents the true Scriptural text must be rejected.
The true inspired verbally and literally inerrant text is the Stephanus 1550 Textus Receptus. This is the Greek text recovered from the depradations of the Muslim Turks in Greece by the supreme Greek scholar of the Renaissance, Lascaris. Stephanus (Estienne) of Paris was the scholar-printer raised up by God to publish it far and wide in printed form. (Please note it is the TEXT of the Stephanus 1550 that is literally inerrant, being preserved and reprinted amongst God’s Spirit-filled children after the Reformation, not that particular printing, with any typographical errors it may have contained.) Commonly, even today in so-called “scholarly” publications, it is claimed Stephanus’ text was cobbled together from the 5th Edition of Erasmus and the Complutensian. This ancient myth was most profoundly blown out of the water by Francis Huyshe 200 years ago! As so often, when Satan can’t refute an argument, he simply ignores it. For Huyshe’s amazing demonstration of the authenticity of the text of Stephanus go to the following links: PDF version here and HTML version here.
Jesus Himself guaranteed to us that not one “jot or tittle” (i.e. not one letter or even part of a letter) would pass or fail (= go out of existence) from the Law (Mt. 5. 18, Lk. 16. 17), and that His Words (= all of them and complete) would never pass away (Mt. 24. 35, Mk. 13. 31, Lk. 21. 33), and we must believe this absolutely, being able, as believers, to identify and hold to this perfectly preserved, literally inerrant text.
NOTE ON THE MARKED ALTERATIONS IN CODEX VATICANUS
The Vatican’s own Bible Text (called Codex Vaticanus) proves the Received Text is RIGHT! For many years now modernistic scholars have used an old manuscript in the Vatican, called Codex Vaticanus, to translate their supposedly improved and updated Bible versions (like the New International Version). The Vatican has pushed this idea relentlessly. They hate the old Protestant versions of the Bible, like the King James, because they were not based on their Codex Vaticanus but on the authentic Early Church Texts (the Textus Receptus or Received Text) almost perfectly recovered by Erasmus at the time of the Reformation, then imported from Greece by Lascaris and printed in its perfect form by Stephanus. Erasmus knew of the existence of Codex Vaticanus but rejected it as worthless.
The authentic texts came ultimately from the Eastern Church, where the Greeks (who ought to know!) always considered their ancient Greek texts of the Bible correct, and rubbished the Vatican’s text as a fake. There are very important differences between the King James type of text, based on these authentic Greek texts, and the modern versions based on Codex Vaticanus. For example, one of the parts of the King James which modernistic scholars love to attack is I John 5. 7, where the King James and the old Greek texts printed by Stephanus read “There are three that bear record in Heaven, the Father, the Word and the Holy Ghost, and these three are one”. The modernistic theologians attack this because it is not in their fake Vatican text and they claim it was INVENTED BY ERASMUS! What a slur on the great Renaissance scholar Erasmus, let alone the blasphemy of God’s Word! They claim that the authentic Greek texts were later productions, concocted by Greek monks and Erasmus, and they love to boast that their Codex Vaticanus is the earliest text of all. On a point of fact this allegation can be proved to be groundless – in the case of I John 5. 7, the Received Text’s “Three Heavenly Witnesses” reading already appears in three earlier manuscripts (miniscules 88, 12th century, 629, 14th century, and 635, 11th century), as well as in Old Latin texts which were based on lost Greek manuscripts, long before the time of Erasmus.
But now, only since 1995, scholars doing detailed work on Codex Vaticanus have discovered little marks in the margins of the Old Testament and the New Testament text of Codex Vaticanus, written by the original scribe of the manuscript. In the New Testament, these marks occur at places in the text where the old authentic Greek texts like those used by Erasmus, printed by Stephanus, and in the King James Bible DIFFER from Codex Vaticanus. Often there is also an actual gap in the text of Codex Vaticanus itself at these points. This proves THAT THOSE GREEK TEXTS SUCH AS WERE USED BY STEPHANUS AND THE KING JAMES BIBLE ALREADY EXISTED WHEN CODEX VATICANUS WAS WRITTEN (around AD 385, or somewhat earlier). And, in fact, the original scribe of Codex Vaticanus knew these other texts differed from his text and MARKED IN THE MARGIN WHERE HE DECIDED HE WOULD MAKE HIS MANUSCRIPT DIFFER – USUALLY WHERE HE DECIDED TO OMIT AN IMPORTANT PASSAGE IN THE AUTHENTIC GREEK TEXT WHICH WAS AGAINST HIS THEOLOGY.
So for example at I John 5. 7, exactly where Codex Vaticanus differs from the authentic Greek texts used for the Stephanus and King James Bible (Codex Vaticanus misses out the “Three Heavenly Witnesses” text), there occur THREE LITTLE DOTS IN THE MARGIN OF CODEX VATICANUS to mark where the scribe OMITTED THIS TEXT. Also in John’s Gospel Chapter 8, where the authentic Greek texts had the story of the woman caught in adultery (still found in the Stephanus and King James Bible), Codex Vaticanus has a two-dot mark, AGAIN SHOWING THE SCRIBE OF CODEX VATICANUS OMITTED THIS PASSAGE IN HIS FAKE TEXT. Also at Mark 16. 8-20, where in the authentic Greek texts Jesus foretells how his disciples and believers will perform in Jesus’ Name miracles of healing and will speak in new tongues etc. (which Codex Vaticanus omits and which modernistic scholars and Vatican intellectuals hate because they don’t believe in the supernatural power of a living God), there appears a huge gap in the text itself, WHICH SHOWS ONCE AGAIN THAT THE SCRIBE OF CODEX VATICANUS OMITTED THIS TRUE TEXT FROM HIS FAKE MANUSCRIPT.
These are only three examples out of many that could be brought forward. Time after time throughout Codex Vaticanus, exactly where the scribe disagreed with the authentic ancient Greek texts such as were used by Stephanus and in the King James Bible (i.e. the Received Text, or Textus Receptus), these marks are placed in the margin of Codex Vaticanus. So those modernistic scholars who reject the Received Text should SHUT THEIR MOUTHS. The Received Text REIGNS SUPREME. Not only is it as old as Codex Vaticanus, it goes straight back to the Apostles who wrote it under the inspiration of God. It has not changed one letter since it was written – GOD HAS PRESERVED IT PERFECT. So dump your NIV (the Vatican’s favorite, based on the fake Codex Vaticanus) and get back to the King James!
You can examine the findings of the scholars working on Codex Vaticanus at www.willker.de/wie/Vaticanus/ (PS. The articles by Philip Payne in PDF format on that site give the simplest and original account. Some writers seem now to be trying to obscure the glaring facts revealed by Payne, and attempting a “cover-up” on the real meaning and dating of these very important signs in Codex Vaticanus.)
Even the ancient scribes abhorred the corruptions of Codex Vaticanus ….
These are photos (the lower one in close up) of a part of a page of Codex Vaticanus showing the first few verses of Hebrews Chapter 1. The authentic Greek text at verse 3 reads as the Stephanus does: “Who [i.e. the Son of God], PRODUCING [Greek: pheron] all things [= the total universe] by the Word of His power ….” The writer of Codex Vaticanus changed this to: “Who MANIFESTING [Greek: phaneron] all things [the total universe] by the Word of His power ….” The motive for the alteration shines through. It backs up the heresy that the God of the Old Testament did not create the present universe, but that it is the product of an inferior evil angel. This is the Antichristian heresy referred to by John the Apostle in 1 John 4. 1-3, which denied Jesus Christ had come in the flesh. The heretics claimed Jesus was a direct manifestation of the perfect God and could not have been materially present in this evil universe, which was the realm of the inferior creator-angel. Just to the left of the main text in the photos above you can see a marginal note by a later Greek scribe commenting on the ridiculous emendation made by the first scribe: “You utter idiot and knave! Why don’t you leave the original alone and stop altering it?” [Greek: amathestate kai kake, aphes ton palaion, me metapoiei.] We can thoroughly sympathize with the second scribe.