A Little TC Help Needed

Steven Craig Miller scmiller at www.plantnet.com
Tue Mar 21 05:57:02 EST 2000


To: Theodore H. Mann,

<< Why does UBS3 only give TOU QEOU, in 1 Cor. 2:14, a "C" rating? I would 
think that any text that can be found in p46, plus such a long list of 
witnesses, would rate higher than that. >>

Bruce M. Metzger, in his "A Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament" 
(1975), writes:

<< The omission of TOU QEOU (an omission which sharpens the precision of 
the apostle's argument) is supported by several Greek minuscules (...), the 
Syriac Peshitta, and a variety of patristic writers (...). On the other 
hand, the overwhelming consensus of Greek witnesses and ancient versions 
reads TOU QEOU (the singular reading hAGIOU in the Ethiopic is an 
understandable substitution), as well as a variety of patristic writers, 
some of whom also quote the shorter form of the reading. Although the 
Committee seriously considered the possibility that the shorter reading be 
the original text, in view of the weight, age, and diversity of external 
evidence supporting TOU QEOU, it felt compelled to include these words in 
the text, despite the possibility that they may have been a natural 
addition introduced by copyists. >>

The omission of this variant reading in UBS4 does not necessarily mean that 
the Committee was no longer bothered by the possibility that the shorter 
reading might be "the original text," rather the omission means that the 
Committee didn't feel that this variant reading was important for 
translators. One needs to keep in mind that the UBS text was designed for 
translators. The preface of the 1st edition began:

<< To meet the growing need for an edition of the Greek New Testament 
specially adapted to the requirements of Bible translators throughout the 
world ... >>

Although the omission does not necessarily imply that they had raised their 
evaluation of this reading, they could have done that too.

-Steven Craig Miller
Alton, Illinois (USA)
scmiller at www.plantnet.com
FWIW: I'm neither a clergy-person, nor an academic (and I have no post-grad 
degrees).




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