Codex Sinaiticus in the Gospel of John: A Contribution to Methodology in establishing textual relationships

In his important study on the origin of text-types, Ernest C. Colwell concludes with ten suggestions for further investigation and criticism. The ninth of these suggestions reads: ‘The textual history of the New Testament differs from corpus to corpus, and even from book to book; therefore the witnesses have to be regrouped in each new section.’ A corollary to this suggestion is the fact that certain manuscripts also differ from book to book—and even within books—as to the type of text they represent. Codex W, which makes a distinct change from a Neutral to a Byzantine type of text at Luke viii. 12 and is Western in Mark i. I–V. 30, is an example of this kind of ‘divided’ MS. Therefore, in the latest manuals text-type groupings which both regroup from corpus to corpus and recognize the ‘divided’ nature of certain MSS, appear as a matter of course.