# Textual variants in the Epistle to the Colossians

Textual variants in the Epistle to the Colossians are the subject of the study called textual criticism of the New Testament. Textual variants in manuscripts arise when a copyist makes deliberate or inadvertent alterations to a text that is being reproduced. An abbreviated list of textual variants in this particular book is given in this article below.
Most of the variations are not significant and some common alterations include the deletion, rearrangement, repetition, or replacement of one or more words when the copyist's eye returns to a similar word in the wrong location of the original text. If their eye skips to an earlier word, they may create a repetition (error of dittography). If their eye skips to a later word, they may create an omission. They may resort to performing a rearranging of words to retain the overall meaning without compromising the context. In other instances, the copyist may add text from memory from a similar or parallel text in another location. Otherwise, they may also replace some text of the original with an alternative reading. Spellings occasionally change. Synonyms may be substituted. A pronoun may be changed into a proper noun (such as "he said" becoming "Jesus said"). John Mill's 1707 Greek New Testament was estimated to contain some 30,000 variants in its accompanying textual apparatus which was based on "nearly 100 [Greek] manuscripts." Peter J. Gurry puts the number of non-spelling variants among New Testament manuscripts around 500,000, though he acknowledges his estimate is higher than all previous ones.

## Legend

A guide to the sigla (symbols and abbreviations) most frequently used in the body of this article.

### General sigla

    # beginning with 0: uncial
    # not beginning with 0: minuscule
    $^*$ superscript: original reading
    $^c$ superscript: scribal correction
    $^{ms}$ superscript: individual manuscript
    $^{mss}$ superscript: multiple manuscripts
    $^{pt}$ superscript: partial attestation
    $^{vid}$ superscript: uncertain reading
    arab: Arabic versions
    arm: Armenian versions
    𝔐 or Byz: Byzantine text-type
    cop: Coptic versions
       sa: Sahidic version
       bo: Boharic version
    eth: Ethiopic versions
    ƒ: Greek manuscripts family
    geo: Georgian versions
    goth: Gothic versions
    it: Italic/Vetus Latina
    lat: most Italic and Vulgate
    latt: all Italic and Vulgate
    𝔓: papyrus
    𝑙: individually numbered lectionary
    Lect: most or all numbered lectionaries
    parenthesized: approximate reading
    rell: all other extant manuscripts
    slav: Slavic versions
    syr: Syriac versions
    vg: Latin Vulgate
    ς: Textus Receptus

### Uncial sigla

    א‎: Codex Sinaiticus (01)
    A: Codex Alexandrinus (02)
    B: Codex Vaticanus (03)
    C: Codex Ephraemi Rescriptus (04)
    D$^{ea}$: Codex Bezae (05)
    D$^p$: Codex Claromontanus (06)
    K$^e$: Codex Cyprius (017)
    K$^{ap}$: Codex Mosquensis I (018)
    L$^e$: Codex Regius (New Testament) (019)
    L$^{ap}$: Codex Angelicus (020)
    P$^{apr}$: Codex Porphyrianus (025)
    S: Codex Vaticanus 354 (028)
    V: Codex Mosquensis II (031)
    W: Codex Washingtonianus (032)
    Z: Codex Dublinensis (035)
    Γ: Codex Tischendorfianus IV (036)
    Δ: Codex Sangallensis 48 (037)
    Θ: Codex Koridethi (038)
    Ξ: Codex Zacynthius (040)
    Π: Codex Petropolitanus (New Testament) (041)
    Φ: Codex Beratinus (043)
    Ψ: Codex Athous Lavrensis (044)
    Ω: Codex Athous Dionysiou (045)
    ff$^1$: Codex Corbeiensis I
    ff$^2$: Codex Corbeiensis II
    g$^1$: Codex Sangermanensis I
    k: Codex Bobiensis

### Critical editions

    T8th: Tischendorf's 8th Edition of Editio Octava Critica Maior
    WH: Westcott and Hort (1881)
    NA: Novum Testamentum Graece (Nestle–Aland)
    UBS: United Bible Societies
    ECM: Editio Critica Maior

## Textual variants

Colossians 1:14 (see Ephesians 1:7)
    απολυτρωσιν δια του αιματος αυτου (redemption through the blood of him) – 383 424 614 630 1505 1912 2200 2344* 2464 Byz$^{pt}$ (i.e., 76 206 221 223 330 876 1518 1611 1960 2005 2412) ℓ$^{mss}$ vg syr$^h$ arm slav Gregory Cassiodorus
    απολυτρωσιν (redemption) – rell (all other extant MSS and Church Fathers)
Colossians 1:28
    Χριστω – 𝔓$^{46}$ א* A B C D* F G 33 81 1241 1739 1881 2464
    Χριστω Ιησου – א$^2$ D$^2$ H Ψ Byz
Colossians 2:1
Colossians 3:13
    κύριος – 𝔓$^{46}$, A B D* G ℓ 809 it vg Pelagius Augustine
    Χριστός – א$^c$ C D$^c$ K P Ψ 81 88 104 181 326 330 436 451 614 629 630 1241 1739 1877 1881 1962 1984 1985 2127 2492 2495 Byz Lect it syr cop goth eth
    θεός – א*
    θεός ἐν Χριστῷ – 33 arm Augustine
Colossians 4:8
    γνωτε τα περι ημων – A B D* F G P 048 33 81 365 1175
    γνωτε τα περι υμων – א*
    γνω τα περι υμων – 𝔓$^{46}$ א$^2$ C D$^1$ Ψ Byz
    γνω τα περι ημων – 451 ℓ 598 and ℓ 1356