Lately I bought “The New Testament in the Original Greek” by Robinson and Pierpont (2018). I should have done that earlier. No stories in brackets, as the Adultera (John 7:53-8:11) or the longer Mark Ending (16:9-20), but just running text. It is a joy to work with this NT with a relative small number of variant readings in the Byzantine tradition. That already shows this tradition to be a robust and important one. More information about the texts constituting the presented text would have been a profit, maybe a task for future editions. Since my theological education (Utrecht) I was accustomed to the Nestle-Aland editions of the NT and to the idealistic quest for the original text type of the NT (Alexandrian), with a lot of variant readings in the foot notes. During the years a real shift for the Byzantine tradition entered into my mind by two impressive insights.1. There have been three ecclesiastical decisions for the NT canon (the 27 books): Egypt (367, Athanasius); Italy (382, Pope Damasus); North Africa (397, Augustine). Most interesting is that there has never been a decision alike in Turkey-Greece (the old mission-field of the apostle Paul), and yet the canon of 27 has always been followed there. It has all appearances that the canon was introduced there in the time of the apostles and under apostolic authority. This view has also influence on the opinion of what the canonical text must be: the Byzantine. And in line, this text will also be closer to the original text then the Alexandrian type of text, with its many variant readings.2. (Second but not least). In the three synoptic gospels (orations about the end of the world) we hear Jesus say (in different words): “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.” He is speaking then about the final history of the world, and this saying has always given me great doubts about the so called oral tradition, prior to the writing of the gospels. And indeed, two gospel writers have spoken about the immediate writing down of Jesus’s actual words.(Luke) "1Inasmuch as many have undertaken to compile a narrative of the things which have been accomplished among us, 2just as delivered to us the eyewitnesses from the beginning also (being) ministers of the (spoken) word," (Luke 1:1-2. Elaborated on RSV, the active form has been presented in v. 2 as in the Greek original.)(a) 'The things which have been accomplished among us,' are the deeds of Jesus, the Jesus events. Luke wanted to tell something about that in the introduction of his Gospel.(b) The word 'us' in the former expression refers to the bystanders of the events.(c) This 'us' is repeated in v. 2. To them the eyewitnesses delivered, to the bystanders.(d) As good eyewitnesses they delivered two things: not only what they had seen, but also what they had heard.(e) Also being servants of the spoken word, they delivered (v. 2). This excludes oral tradition, as it was not possible to deliver orally during the Jesus events. This includes note taking, as they could only deliver in writing during the spoken word of the Jesus events.(f) The service to the spoken word included the writing of the actual words of Jesus.It is obvious that the ministers (servants) of the spoken word were not the preaching apostles after Jesus’s departure, as is supposed usually. No, these servants of the word were the professionals, who wrote down what Jesus said and did in their reports, that were distributed among the bystanders. They (many v. 1) could write on their wax tablets what they had experienced with Jesus and tell and read at home. These reports from the ministry of Jesus became later the sources for the gospel writers.(John) Another gospel writer said the same; in his first Letter (1:3, 4 RSV): "3that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, ... 4And we are writing this that our joy may be complete." What they had seen and heard, could only made known later, if it would have been written down during seeing and hearing. The present times (proclaim, are writing) in these texts refer to parallel activities that started in the past (the beginning v. 1) and continued at the time of the writing of John's Letter. So the first reports had been brought in books and broadcasted all over the churches after Pentecost.The same we read in Hebrews 2:3-4 (own translation): "3How shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation; which beginning to be spoken by the Lord, was established for us by those who were hearing, 4God also bearing witness, both with signs and wonders, etc."Remark. God gave his testimony to the ministry of Jesus (the Lord) as his confirmation to the work of Jesus (v. 4). Within this ministry worked hearers as establishers of the actual words of Jesus.Conclusion. Two precious diamonds are hidden under a thick dust layer of Christian thinking: (1) the localization of the original NT canon in Turkey-Greece (the later Byzantine region), and (2) the absence of a so called oral tradition prior to the gospels. It is time to remove the dust and to face the facts. In my view, these facts constitute a historical state of affairs that speaks in favor of the primary Byzantine text form as the original, and in favor of the authenticity of the four gospels in general.Ben van NoortTheologian MA (Utrecht), teacher, and author (of the work “Jesus’s Stenographers, The Story of the Red Letters” 2018. WestBow Press, a division of Nelson and Zondervan)