Graduating from Trinity College, Cambridge in 1835 after studying at Southwark,[1] he became a teacher of classics at a number of schools in southern England, and from 1846 to 1856 was headmaster of a school in Falmouth, Cornwall. He was also for 15 years rector of Gerrans, Cornwall.
Initially making a name for himself editing the Codex Bezae Cantabrigiensis, Scrivener edited several editions of the New Testament and collated the Codex Sinaiticus with the Textus Receptus. For his services to textual criticism and the understanding of biblical manuscripts, he was granted a Civil list pension in 1872. He was an advocate of the Byzantine text (majority text) over more modern manuscripts as a source for Bible translations. He was the first to distinguish the Textus Receptus from the Byzantine text. Scrivener compared the Textus Receptus with the editions of Stephanus (1550), Theodore Beza (1565), and Elzevier (1633) and enumerated all the differences. In addition he identified the differences between the Textus Receptus and editions by Lachmann, Tregelles, and Tischendorf. Scrivener doubted the authenticity of texts like Matthew 16:2b–3, Christ's agony at Gethsemane, John 5:3.4, and the Pericope Adulterae.
After the success of his earlier work (Supplement to English Version, 1845), Scrivener was tapped to lead the last major revision to the Authorized English Version, popularly known as the King James Bible (KJV). The KJV had undergone numerous minor revisions since its publication in 1611, the most prominent being the Oxford Edition of 1769. The Cambridge Paragraph Bible, published in 1873, was his magnum opus, becoming the basis for most modern printings of the KJV in England. Scrivener did not always agree with the textual theories of Westcott and Hort,[2] and was often out-voted on the Revision Committee.[citation needed]
In 1874, he became prebendary of Exeter and vicar of Hendon, where he remained for the rest of his life.
The New Testament in the Original Greek according to the Text followed in the Authorized Version, together with the Variations adopted in the Revised Version, 1881.
A Plain Introduction to the Criticism of the New Testament, for the Use of Biblical Students (published posthumously and coauthored by Edward Miller), 1894.
^Dr. Hort, Introd. and Append. to Westcott and Hort's Greek Test. (Lond. and N. York, 1881), p. 138, says of Lucian: "Of known names his has a better claim than any other to be associated with the early Syrian revision; and the conjecture derives some little support from a passage of Jerome. Praetermitto eos codices quos a Luciano et Hesychio nuncupatos adscrit perversa contentio, " etc. Dr. Scrivener, who denies such a Syrian recension as an ignis fatuus, barely alludes to Lucian in his Introduction to the Criticism of the N. Test., 3rd ed., Cambr., 1883, pp. 515, 517.
