Development of the New Testament canon somewhat similar to the twenty-seven-book NT canon, which included four gospels and argued against objections to them. Thus, while there was a good measure of debate in the Early Church over the New Testament canon, the major writings are claimed to have been accepted by almost all Christians by the middle of the 3rd century. In his Easter letter of 367, Athanasius, Bishop of Alexandria, gave a list of the books that would become the twenty-seven-book NT canon, and he used the word "canonized" ( "kanonizomena") in regard to them. The first council that accepted the present canon of the
Textual variants in the New Testament text of the New Testament", Greek New Testament manuscripts have commonly been categorized into five groups. An abbreviated list of textual variants in the New Testament is given in this article (below). (see Isaiah 40:3) Textual variants in the New Testament Textual variants in the New Testament 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. Most of the variations are not significant and some common alterations include the deletion, rearrangement, repetition, or replacement of one