There are several observations to make regarding the text of the Greek New Testament in the apocryphal non-Gospel literature. (1) The evidence for the Greek New Testament in the apocryphal non-Gospel literature is not as great as one might expect, and this includes the apocryphal Acts, Epistles (for which there is no text early enough or in Greek for consideration) and Apocalypses. There are numerous works that cite the text of the New Testament very little, with some not quoting it at all. (2) The Acts and apocalyptic apocryphal literature is relatively sparse in its use of the Greek New Testament, and is virtually nothing compared to that of the apocryphal Gospels. In the several instances where there is enough evidence, this points toward the apocryphal Acts and Apocalypse directly using the text of the Greek New Testament, often quoting it virtually word for word, and simply making contextual adaptations. (3) The evidence from the apocryphal non-Gospel literature is the same as that for the apocryphal Gospels—in other words, that the text of the Greek New Testament was relatively well established and fixed by the time of the second and third centuries. In those places where there are indications of transmissional changes, the vast majority of these changes indicate that the apocryphal literature has drawn upon the canonical texts (even in the apocryphal Gospels).
* Stanley E. Porter,
"Early Apocryphal Non-Gospel Literature and the New Testament Text"
[Η Πρώιμη Απόκρυφη Μη Ευαγγελιακή Γραμματεία και το Κείμενο της Καινής Διαθήκης],
Journal of Greco-Roman Christianity and Judaism 8 (2011-2012),
pp./σσ. 197, 198 [192-198].
[Ελληνικά/Greek, PDF]
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