The purpose of this article is to present a brief history of the Greek text of the New Testament. The period of time that has been taken into consideration starts around the beginning of the Christian era and ends at around the time when the printing press was invented by Gutenberg. The discussion is devoted to the different kinds of witnesses to the Greek New Testament, such as the papyri, parchment manuscripts, minuscule manuscripts, and fi nally paper manuscripts. It occurs that the existing manuscripts are mere copies of copies, as the archetype manuscripts were lost at an early date. Nevertheless, by studying the earliest manuscripts, as well as a number of later manuscripts, it is possible to get a rough idea of what the original Greek text looked like.