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Now let's jump in. Every episode of the Clear Read Today Show is special, but it's not every day that we have an episode quite like this one coming up right now on the Clear Read Today Show. You're listening to Clearview Today with Dr. Abadan Shah, the daily show that engages mind and heart for the gospel of Jesus Christ. I'm Ryan Hill, and Dr.
Shah, we have an exciting episode planned for today. Yes, we do. We've got a very special guest with us. If you're watching, the secret has already been revealed to you. But, Dr.
Shah, I'm going to turn things over to you. Introduce our guest and then tell us what we're talking about today, why today is so important.
So, what should we introduce first? The special announcement or the special guest?
Well, I don't know. Let's maybe do special guests first and then special announcements. Is it connected? Yes.
So, today we have with us my mentor, my professor, Dr. Maurice Robinson, with us. He is. The Maurice Robinson of the Robinson Pier Pond Text. And so Dr.
Robinson, you're no stranger to this show, so welcome. Thank you. Glad to be here. Yes, welcome back. It's wonderful to see you again, and wonderful, especially to have an episode like today where we can talk about something.
I mean, monumental is not a stretch to say, to use that word to describe what we're talking about today. That's right. That's right. It's very, very special because today we're finally holding in our hands. The New Testament in the original Greek Byzantine text form 2026 edition, right here with an updated preface and layout, and it is.
Wonderful. Dr. Robinson, your thoughts on this? I'm just glad that Finally, for the first time since two thousand five, We now have A hardback version that is Smith sewn that you can open and it lays flat and it's on good library quality paper and not thin Bible paper and this is something that can be used By anybody doing their own study of the Greek text, or you can take it to church and use it and, if need be, make notes along the sides. That's right.
Whatever. This is all. Very good and it's easy to handle.
However, you better know Greek to be able to use it. We have a few people who bought it just because they wanted to buy a Byzantine text form. Yes.
And we try to remind them. This isn't in Greek. The preface is in English, but it is in Greek. But I just want one.
So is it okay? Very special. And we talked about this on the show before. A while ago, we had you on the show, Dr. Robinson, talking about the Greek New Testament that was coming up.
So if you've been listening for a while, you know this announcement was coming. But Dr. Shaw, talk to us about what this means that we're holding these copies in our hands. Why is today's episode special?
Well, it is because this whole project began back in January where we began to look towards publishing this. But for me personally, it began in 1996 when I. Took Greek with Dr. Robinson, and I always share that story because it's very dear to me. I was just.
in seminary a new student Orientation was over the next day, the classes were going to begin. But when I went to look at my schedule, I realized that I could not take the Greek. in that early morning time, like eight o'clock. and that would really interfere with my school work.
Well, with my with my professional work. And so I was so dis kind of disappointed. And as I was walking back, Headed towards the car. I ran into doctor Robinson, whom I had met at the orientation, and he said, How did everything go? I said, Not as good as I wanted to because I wanted to be in your class.
Because it worked well with my schedule, but your class is full. And he said, well, come with me. And He took me right to the registrar's office and he said, This young man needs to take this class. And I know my class is full, but. Add him to the class.
And Ever since then, he hasn't been able to get rid of me.
Now, Dr. Robinson, when you had that conversation in the registrar's office back in 96, did you have to say that? 1996. Yes.
Did you have any inkling that we would be sitting here today in 2026? 30 years later. 30 years later, holding a Greek New Testament? No idea. that that would have happened with Abaddon actually participating in it.
I might have thought maybe there'll be a reprint of our two thousand five edition later, but that hadn't even come out back then.
So I had no idea what would approach, but the thought that Abaddon would even be working with this Yeah. far beyond my imagination. Thirty years. And and and this is about the time, right? I mean, August of today is what the twentieth.
So this is about the time that I would have been registering the class. How fortuitous. Wow. 30-year anniversary of the meeting of Dr. Robinson and Dr.
Shaw, and then today we're sitting here. holding the Greek New Testament in her hands. And this is even more that Pierpont and I started working on this Greek text in 1976 jointly. Wow. And this then becomes the 50th anniversary.
The Jubilee edition of the time that I actually worked with Pierpont from 76 till today. And of course, Pierpont. died in two thousand three, but we've kept on with his legacy in our two thousand five edition, a Reader's Edition that came out later, and then the twenty eighteen edition, and now to culminate For the 50 years, this Jubilee edition is very important. Wow. And it continues what we started in 2005.
That's amazing. Yeah, I didn't even think about the 1976. This is Pretty special. That is very special. This is a Jubilee edition coffee.
That's right. People will be clamoring for those. That's right. I'll tell you how you can get yours in just a minute. But I want to chat for just a little bit about the book that we're holding.
What are some of the features that make it special? If people are tuned in and they saw the Greek New Testament in the thumbnail, what are some features that people can expect in this edition that make it special?
Well, I'll say this, and I'm going to turn over to Dr. Robinson to talk a little bit more in detail. For one, we already mentioned it's hardback, which is very important, especially when you do a study like this. Those who deal with textual variants, you need something that is sturdy, you need something that you can bear down on. Also, the page is library quality, so you're able to write in it.
Sometimes the pages are so thin, it just kind of bleeds through. This is very good paper. Porcelain font, I mean, it's still different looking, but I think it's beautiful. It's just so pleasant to the eyes. And we had.
often discuss that.
So that part I think is is great. But It is as up to date as it gets with regards to NA28 and ECM as far as we have right now. This is August 2026. Dr. Robinson?
Well, in the. Actual main Greek text, also, we have it divided into sections with English. subtitles.
So for example, I'm in Luke chapter eighteen, and it starts out saying in English the unjust judge, and then it gives that paragraph, and then after that, the next paragraph is labeled the Pharisee and the Tax Collector. After that, Jesus blesses little children. After that, denying all for Jesus' sake. And this is so you can. actually follow along fairly well by seeing these running in-text subtitles to help you find exactly where you are and what you might be looking for.
and then in the apparatus itself, We show the variance from our Byzantine main text That are found in the Nestle Alland edition, whether it's the Nestle Alland 27. or the Nestle Eight. or the new Edidio Criticum Maior that covers Matthew and Acts, the General Epistles, and Revelation. We have all of those variants cited, and where the Edidio Criticum Maior Subdivides and has split guiding lines, we identify whether. One of the readings might be the top guiding line, or a secondary, or even sometimes a tertiary guiding line, and that is.
Just to make it clear what the Edidio Critica Maior, the ECM, actually provides.
So we have all of those in there. And if you're looking for a direct comparison between The Byzantine text, which has been transmissionally found in the greatest number of manuscripts throughout copying history, and then the critical text, which is reflecting more what has been seen since approximately the mid-1800s, then all the way up through this, the Nessel Allen text. Is the critical text that has descended from those from the middle 1800s, and this is the current text. That is used. Critically, in most Bible colleges and seminaries.
So, All the differences are there, even down to the spelling differences. That's fascinating to think about. Scholarship that has led to this point. I mean, this isn't just a drop in the bucket. It's built upon years and years and decades of research and hard work.
And I mean, Dr. Robinson, you mentioned the 2005 edition and kind of building on that. Dr. Shao, in terms of what this Bible does and what it represents, what is your hope for this book that you're holding in your hands? What is your hope for it as it relates to the larger field of textual criticism?
I mean, again, my dissertation was focused on seeking, primarily seeking the original text of the New Testament. And so I hope that this will inspire people to realize that the field is not dead, as often people say that is dead, it's done. There's nothing left. No, there's a lot of study to be done. And so I hope this will give people, and especially new students, the impetus to study the Word of God in the original Greek.
And so I hope this is a. I'm saying a small contribution, but I hope it'll be a big contribution in that field. That's right. That's right. Dr.
Robinson, what about you?
Well The main thing is there's been people asking for a hardback edition ever since the two thousand five edition went out of print and all copies had been shipped and For the first time, we are now back to g having a real hardbound copy that is smith-sewn, that'll lay flat, and is very helpful for reading and for study. And this should satisfy a lot of people that have wanted to see something like that. and haven't been able to since the 2005 ran out of stock. Also the preface. Is updated and so I think Mm.
The readers should read it, right? Dr. Robinson, this is a first read, I would suggest. And the preface is in English.
So, if you're not a Greek student out there, you can hang on to that one. As you're learning Greek, which you should do, as you're learning Greek, you can hang on to the preface before you jump into the text. Why is the preface special? What makes the preface unique? Because, for one, it represents the work that Pierpont and Dr.
Robinson did for all those years.
So, you know, 50-some years of collaboration that went behind this.
So, how did that happen? What did it take?
So, that is mentioned in the preface. Also, sometimes. People get a lot of information just Right off the internet. They think this is it. Oh, the Byzantine text, don't listen to that.
It's just n is you know s if you read the first couple of pages of the preface, you see what even Scholars from the Reason Eclectic perspective are saying about the Byzantine text, and they're talking favorably about it.
So that's also mentioned. In our preface. And I think that's great to know. Up-and-coming scholars and respected text critics are. Talking well of the Byzantine tech.
That's a new thing, right, Dr. Robinson?
Well, this is part of what resulted. From the CBGM, the coherence-based genealogical method that the modern critical scholars are using, they have. It become l Interested in What Peter Gurry called a new appreciation for the Byzantine text. It doesn't mean. That they are adopting it wholesale as we would do, but they are giving it more respect.
And some of these that I actually quote in the preface are important because you would not have seen this back in 2005. And this is part of the change there is. For example, Nelson Shea has said, we still lacked a true and consistent edition of the Byzantine majority text. Until Robinson and Pierpung. Charles Quarles, who teaches at Southeastern Seminary, where we both have our ties.
Yes.
He says the most important edition of the Byzantine text to day is the one compiled and arranged by Robinson and Pierpont, which he calls the zenith of the majority text approach. And Hugh Houghton, who is one of the editors of the UBS 6 edition and has written the textual commentary on UBS 6, he even says that the edition of the Byzantine text used as a standard is currently Robinson and Pierpont, except he referred to the 2018 because obviously this one was not yet in print.
So now I would say. The standard Byzantine text now is this one we have in our hand. Yes.
Yes.
So the appreciation definitely. Has gone up. I remember. Attending that elementary Greek class in 1996, no clue about textual criticism, not a clue. And doctor Robinson would get off on these tangents.
And he would talk about the the Byzantine text and the Nassau Island. And variant readings. And I was like, what are we talking about? And then he would. talk about how they don't give it proper hearing.
And I'm like, Who needs a hearing and what are we hearing? But then I began to understood the bias that was against the Byzantine text. And but so now, as Dr. Robinson has mentioned, some of these scholars are acknowledging that this Robinson-Pierre Pon text is the standard. and has to be considered.
And by the way, when I went off on these tangents it was not just going off wildly, it was trying to explain something that otherwise probably would not have been explained Especially to first-year group students. I appreciated that. But I did have one of. My students draw a caricature of me, and I'm standing before a blackboard pointing to it, and it says Lecture on Rabbit Chasing Ology. But it was a good rabbit, though.
It was a good rabbit. It was a very important rabbit because if you didn't chase that one. There never would have been any awareness of all the differences between the texts. That are out there that we were highlighting through our Greek New Testament editions. Aaron Ross Powell, and if I may chase the rabbit a little bit, because.
That's where I learned about the orthodox corruption of scripture that Bart Ehrman had just published at the time. and had no idea what was going on and what is happening and that That inspired me to then do my dissertation in regarding. the original text of the New Testament, why it is still important. And that's because sitting in the class, I heard about Some scholar claiming that the text had been corrupted by these proto-Orthodox. to make it more Orthodox and I said That is important.
if s if the church has corrupted the Bible, then What are we doing here? And of course, it hasn't. And that's what my dissertation became.
So, yeah, I'm grateful for those discussions. That's a good thing because lots of students, they fall into one of two categories. One is they'll follow the rabbit trail, and others will be like, is this on the test? Like, do I have to remember this? I'm just going to tune out for a little bit and let you chase that rabbit.
But rabbit trails are important, as we've just heard. It matters that you chase the rabbit with your professor. Dr. Shaw, the thing that amazes me the most, and Dr. Robinson, maybe you can weigh in on this too, is that the word of God is the word of God and it doesn't change and we all agree on that.
However, this field of textual criticism, there are new developments constantly in scholarship. And we've just talked about people's opinion of the Byzantine text. What does that changing landscape look like? And where do you see textual criticism? headed in the in the days and years ahead.
That's a good question because right now Everything depends on what is The current research going on with this CBGM methodology, which is basically running things through a computer. Seeing the results they put out from the computer, and then. The editors deciding: well, do we follow that result or do we pick something different? I know that what some scholars have pointed out as reviewing the result of the ECM and the CBGM is it's from their perspective, it's making the text actually less certain because of the split guiding lines, because a split guiding line just means the editors of the ECM say, well, it could be either this one or this one. We have our own split guiding lines, which we put in as RPMG Robinson-Pierpont margins.
But there aren't that many of them. And what is going on with the Edidio Critica Maior is the split guiding lines have been increasing as they do different books. And what I understand is the forthcoming one in Matthew is going to have more split guiding lines than ever before. And our addition tends to stay relatively stable because what we have here on. In the preface, we have a list of all the changes that have been made to our own Byzantine text edition since 2005, and to count them up.
There were three. changes between 2005 and 2018. And between 2018 and 2026, We have six changes. That's it. Our text is Comparatively Stable Almost beyond a doubt compared to the changes that are occurring among the Nestleland text, the UBS text, all based upon what is going on with the CBGM.
So, While their text continues to fluctuate, ours tends to remain quite stable. It's not remaining stable because We as editors say we want it to be stable. This is what is the consensus text. That has been preserved through the manuscripts for at least. Since the fourth century to and even beyond the invention of printing, that they were Maintaining a relative stability, every manuscript has some variance.
We all know that scribes make blunders. They might substitute one word for another, but the overall consensus. Is Basically stable. This is what Richard Bentley said way back in the seventeen hundreds. It was that.
If you have two manuscripts that differ, you bring in a third manuscript. And then if you bring in more and more and more, and you're looking at 100 manuscripts or 500 manuscripts, then you're reaching a level of stability that is otherwise unparalleled in the general consensus.
So our text is a Consensus Byzantine text as it has been preserved through the centuries by scribes. There's not a single. Doctrine that we can say is in jeopardy because of textual variance. No doctrine is going to be. Removed.
no new doctrine is going to be added. Right. The Byzantine does not add new doctrines to the critical text, and the critical text doesn't take away any doctrines from the Byzantine. Right. They're there.
It's just the matter of Which one seems to give The transmissionly Dominant reading that has existed throughout transmissional scribal copying history. That's right. Definitely not a good idea. What is this this text, the Greek New Testament that we're holding today? What does this mean for our church and for the church at large?
Well, it helps me to explain to people who have questions about variations or corruptions in the scripture. I can tell them, I say, look at this. You know, this we talk about the stability of the text. It's a great place to have a good discussion as well.
So I can explained to them, Well, yes, there are differences and you can see that. But they're not so much that I have to go, I don't know what to believe anymore. No, we can discuss, and scholars come together and discuss. And we make decisions regarding what would have been the original text.
So I think Especially in in in the period where we're living today where People are deconstructing their faith because of textual Corruptions and things like that, it can be a good way to reconstruct the faith to help people realize, no. Church did not go around corrupting the Bible. No, we're not completely at odds with each other over major doctrines. No, there are issues. But Scholars are working on it.
And what we have here, I believe, is The stable text. Yeah. I think that's important for people to hear because they hear words like variance and scribal error and things like that. It scares them. It does.
It's an alarming thing. Like, do you mean my Bible has errors? Is what I'm holding the word of God? And we can say with certainty, yes, what you are holding is the word of God. But the field of textual criticism is still important, even just if you don't pick up a Greek New Testament, which you should, by the way, we'll tell you why in just a second.
It's important because what you believe about God matters and that's tied to God's word. We talked about that on the radio show earlier this week. What you believe about God matters, and that comes from the Bible. We've got just a few minutes left. Most of our audience is not in the textual critical world.
Most of them are not Greek scholars. They're not, maybe, maybe they're not even Greek students, but they should be. And we've got just a few minutes left. Maybe Dr. Robinson and then Dr.
Shaw. Tell them why the average person, the average churchgoer, should get one of these copies of the Greek New Testament and what it can do for them.
Well, that's a good question because, again, if they don't know Greek, they're going to look at this and say, You know what? It's Greek to me. But Spurgeon said. Believe it or not, Every local church ought to have their own Greek class. And This might not work for everybody.
But everybody could get a Greek interlinear. And you have going way back to 1897, you had George Ricker Berry prepared an interlinear of the Textus Receptus, which is very close but not identical to the Byzantine text. And it gives you a Greek word as it runs through the New Testament, puts below each Greek word an English word, and there's no reason any layperson in a church. Cannot take an interlinear and use it with profit. And this can be used to compare against any interlinear that they might have, and they can see where things might differ.
And if you had the George Ricker-Berry interlinear, it also has footnotes, just like we have our footnotes, that are in Greek, but it also will give you English translations of even the footnotes.
So the average layperson. can make some use of this. With profit, if they can do it in conjunction with an interlinear.
Now, if they know Greek, if they've taken Greek in Bible college or seminary, then this becomes an excellent resource. And then they can use this in comparison with their various Greek grammars, textbooks, and other reference material. And if you don't know Greek, I didn't mean to cut you off, Dr. Shah, but it's a great opportunity for me to tell you this. If you don't know Greek, let me give you a quick little segue into another one of our shows here at Clearview: Learning to Read Biblical Greek with Dr.
Abadan Shah. We've already prepped the course for you. You can find it anywhere. Podcasting content can be found. Dr.
Shah does a wonderful job of walking through how to introduce yourself to Greek.
So you can pick that course up anywhere you can find your podcast and then pick up one of these Greek New Testaments and hit the ground running. And it's free. It is. I mean, you have to freeze.
So, you can learn Greek, and while at the same time, with an interlinear with a Byzantine text form 2026-2026 edition, you can. Get more acquainted with the word of God. That's right. And why should we? Why should we read it in Greek?
Oh, I I think it's amazing when you truly understand how what emphasis that the writer, the biblical writer, placed on the text and what he was trying to communicate. Oh, it it makes a difference. It makes a big difference. For me, It has just opened my eyes to the depth of the Word of God. And I am grateful.
I'm grateful. And I hope. We at Clearview Press and Clearview Church will do everything possible to equip other people. That's what we want to do. This is not a profit-making venture.
Actually, it's definitely not. This is really to equip the church for. Personal growth and work of ministry. Amen. You know, that's really what it's about, is to seek and to save that which was lost.
Amen. So that's our goal here. Dr. Shaw, thank you so much for this project, for this book that we're holding in our hands, Dr. Robinson, as well.
I mean, it is a wonderful, it's an honor to sit here on the couch with you gentlemen and look at this beautiful purple book. And there's a reason that it's purple. Dr. Robinson, you want to tell us why it's purple? Oh, this is the royal Byzantine color.
That's right. That's what it is. That's right. The color was intentionally chosen to lean into that Byzantine text form. If you'd like to know how to get your copy, you can text us here at the Clear Read Today Show at 252-429-6069.
You can visit the description box and the link of this video. It's a wonderful resource for you and for your loved ones. Make sure you pick up a copy today. Thank you for joining us on the Clearview Today Show. Dr.
Robinson, thanks for being on the show, Dr. Shaw as well. What a wonderful episode. Make sure you're texting in. The number again is 252-429-6069.
If today's episode was a blessing for you, head on over to Abadanshah.com forward slash give and support the Clearview Today Show and the work that we do to get the message of the gospel out to the nations. We love you guys. We'll see you next time on Clearview Today.
