How does Romans 16:24 impact the understanding of biblical textual integrity? Romans 16:24 — The Text in Question Berean Standard Bible main text: (verse absent; footnote reads) “Some manuscripts add: ‘The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.’ ” Traditional (e.g., KJV / Majority Text): “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.” External Manuscript Evidence • Earliest papyri: 𝔓⁴⁶ (c. AD 175–225) omits. • Codex Vaticanus (B 03, 4th c.) omits. • Codex Sinaiticus (ℵ 01, 4th c.) omits. • Codex Ephraemi Rescriptus (C 04, 5th c.) omits. • Codex Alexandrinus (A 02, 5th c.) includes. • Majority/Byzantine minuscules (9th c. ff.) include. • Old Syriac, Peshitta, Sahidic Coptic omit; Latin Vulgate predominantly includes. Weight: earliest and geographically diverse witnesses omit, indicating the words were likely absent from the autograph and added liturgically by later copyists. Internal Evidence and Scribal Behavior • Doxological repetition: nearly identical wording appears in v. 20 and v. 24 in Byzantine streams; scribes often harmonized endings to suit public reading cycles. • Lectionary influence: Western and Byzantine churches closed readings with a benediction; inclusion of v. 24 follows that pattern. • Transcriptional probability: less likely that a scribe would delete a pious blessing found nowhere else; more likely that a marginal liturgical note was incorporated. Providence in Preservation Jeremiah 36 describes God overriding lost scrolls by immediate re-dictation. Likewise, through thousands of extant manuscripts—earlier than any secular classic—God has preserved every line of inspired truth; textual criticism merely sifts the human transmission to hear the original voice more clearly. Archaeological and Historical Corroborations • Discovery of 𝔓⁴⁶ at El Behnesa (1898) pushed Romans back to barely 130 years after composition, far eclipsing documentary gaps in Tacitus or Plutarch. • Chester Beatty papyri and the Bodmer collection show that even with minor variants, the epistles circulated intact across Egypt, Syria, and Rome. Practical Takeaways for the Church • Study footnotes confidently—what God inspired, He preserved. • Use variants like Romans 16:24 to teach about stewardship of revelation and the balance of faith and reason (Acts 17:11). • Celebrate the unbroken testimony: “The word of the Lord endures forever” (1 Peter 1:25). Summary Statement Romans 16:24, present in later manuscripts and absent in the earliest, highlights the meticulous honesty of biblical scholarship, reinforces that no doctrine hinges on a debated line, and showcases God’s sovereign care in transmitting Scripture with unrivaled integrity. |
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