# Textual Variants

**It is impossible to debate what the words of the Bible mean if we cannot say witch certainty what the actual words are.**

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[John Mill](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Mill_\(theologian\))'s 1707 Greek New Testament was estimated to contain some 30,000 variants in its accompanying textual apparatus[\[7\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Textual_variants_in_the_New_Testament#cite_note-7) which was based on "nearly 100 \[Greek] manuscripts."[\[8\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Textual_variants_in_the_New_Testament#cite_note-8)&#x20;

[Eberhard Nestle](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eberhard_Nestle) estimated this number in 1897 as 150,000–200,000 variants.[\[9\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Textual_variants_in_the_New_Testament#cite_note-9)&#x20;

In 2005, [Bart D. Ehrman](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bart_D._Ehrman) reported estimates from 200,000 to 400,000 variants based on 5,700 Greek and 10,000 Latin manuscripts, various other ancient translations, and quotations by the Church Fathers.[\[10\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Textual_variants_in_the_New_Testament#cite_note-10)&#x20;

In 2014 Eldon J. Epp raised the estimate as high as 750,000.[\[11\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Textual_variants_in_the_New_Testament#cite_note-11)&#x20;

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.[\[12\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Textual_variants_in_the_New_Testament#cite_note-12)

– [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Textual\_variants\_in\_the\_New\_Testament](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Textual_variants_in_the_New_Testament)

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"It is one thing to say that the originals were inspired, but the reality is that we don't have the originals — so saying they were inspired doesn't help me much, unless I can reconstruct the originals. Moreover, the vast majority of Christians for the entire history of the church have not had access to the originals, making their inspiration something of a moot point. **Not only do we not have the originals, we don't have the first copies of the originals. We don't even have copies of the copies of the originals, or copies of the copies of the copies of the originals. What we have are copies made later — much later. In most instances, they are copies made many centuries later. And these copies all differ from one another, in many thousands of places. As we will see later in this book, these copies differ from one another in so many places that we don't even know how many differences there are.&#x20;**<mark style="background-color:blue;">**Possibly it is easiest to put it in comparative terms: there are more differences among our manuscripts than there are words in the New Testament."**</mark>&#x20;

– [https://archive.org/details/Prof.BartEhrman-MisquotingJesus/page/n21/mode/2up](https://archive.org/details/Prof.BartEhrman-MisquotingJesus/page/n21/mode/2up)
