As to the Christian Greek Scriptures, the differences are primarily because the New World Translation is based on the Westcott and Hort Greek text, whereas the King James Version was based on what is referred to as a Textus Receptus or “Received Text.”

Among the editions based on Erasmus’ text was one that became the Textus Receptus or the Received Text for Great Britain and the basis for many English versions including the Christian Greek Scripture portion of the King James Version.

How good was this Received Text? There was no question about its being the Word of God. However, it did leave much to be desired as far as accuracy was concerned, and that for more than one good reason. First of all, Erasmus was able to consult only a handful of Greek manuscripts.a Even more serious was the fact that all of these were of late origin. As a rule, the older a handwritten manuscript is, the fewer copying errors it is likely to have. Then there was also the matter of the haste with which Erasmus did his work. He himself admitted that his edition was “rushed through rather than edited.”

In spite of these unfavorable aspects of the editions by Erasmus, which applied with almost equal force to the Received Text, this text remained the standard for more than two hundred years. Among the first to bring out his own text was the German scholar Griesbach; although it is said that he did not rid himself entirely of the influence of the Received Text.

The first one to do so was Lachmann, a professor of ancient classical languages at Berlin University. As one authority put it, Lachmann “was the first to found a text, wholly upon ancient evidence; and . . . did much toward breaking the superstitious reverence for the textus receptus.”