Is this 4th-century Greek manuscript the most reliable witness to the original New Testament?

History · Published 3 October 2026 Swipe more like this →

In short: Kept in the Vatican Library since at least the 1400s, Codex Vaticanus is a foundational Greek Bible manuscript. Scholars prize it for its antiquity and textual quality, often using it as the primary basis for modern translations, even though it contains notable omissions and unique readings compared to later texts.

Dating to the 4th century AD, the Codex Vaticanus is one of the four great uncial codices. It is a quarto-sized volume originally composed of 830 vellum leaves, though 71 are now lost. The manuscript is written in a distinct style, featuring three columns per page with 40 to 44 lines each, a layout shared by only two other known Greek codices.

The codex serves as a critical representative of the Alexandrian text-type. Its high status among researchers stems from its close agreement with the 3rd-century Bodmer 𝔓75 papyrus, suggesting that Vaticanus preserves an exceptionally early textual tradition. Textual critic Kurt Aland classified it as a Category I manuscript, indicating it likely contains a version of the text closest to the original, despite the presence of some Western elements in the Pauline epistles.

While highly regarded, the manuscript is not identical to the common Textus Receptus. It omits several well-known passages, such as the ending of Mark 16:9–20 and the account of Christ's agony in Luke 22:43–44. Furthermore, the codex contains singular readings—unique variations not found in the majority of other manuscripts—which continue to be a subject of intense study by scholars like Brooke F. Westcott and Fenton J. A. Hort, who relied heavily on this witness for their 1881 edition of the Greek New Testament.

The physical state of the codex reflects its long history. Portions of the text, including parts of Genesis and the Psalms, were lost and later replaced by 15th-century transcriptions. The manuscript also lacks several books, such as 1 and 2 Timothy, Titus, Philemon, and Revelation, though it is possible these were never included or were lost before the codex reached the Vatican.

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