How We Got Our Bible: Where Textus Receptus Came From

This phrase carries enormous weight in arguments about Bible translations, so it is worth knowing where it actually came from.
Textus Receptus is Latin for the text that has been received by all. You would reasonably assume it was a scholarly verdict - a conclusion reached after weighing the manuscripts.
It was not. The words appear in the foreword of a 1633 printed edition, used of that particular printing. And that comment gave the edition a reputation as the text everybody agrees on - even though that was not true. No such agreement existed. But because the phrase sat in the foreword, Textus Receptus became part of the vocabulary and has stayed there ever since.
The confusion compounds from there. The publishers of that 1633 edition were working from Erasmus' third edition as their base, and the King James derives from that same line. So people say the King James was produced from the Textus Receptus and that this gives it its authority. That is how these things get mixed up.
Knowing the origin of a phrase is not a small thing. It stops a marketing line from doing the work of an argument.
Scripture links:
- 1 Thessalonians 5:21 - test everything; hold fast what is good.
- Acts 17:11 - examining to see whether these things were so.
- 2 Timothy 3:16 - all Scripture is breathed out by God.
A foreword, not a finding.