A Textual Commentary On The Greek NT

Acts 13:5

Instead of to.n lo,gon tou/ qeou/ codex Bezae^gr it^gig syr^p read to.n lo,gon tou/ kuri,ou. The latter reading reflects the Christianization of the traditional expression. ²⁴⁸

Instead of u`phre,thn, D 614 it^p syr^{h^mg} cop^sa read u`phretou/nta auvtoi/j and E vg read eivj diakoni,an. According to Weiss, ²⁴⁹ these alterations were made in order to avoid describing Mark as a (menial) u`phre,thj. On the other hand, however, in Luke 1:2 the word seems to have an honorable connotation, for u`phre,tai tou/ lo,gou are mentioned along with eyewitnesses of Jesus’ ministry. ²⁵⁰

²⁴⁸ The two expressions occur 32 times in the manuscripts of Acts. In nine of these passages the manuscript tradition shows no appreciable variation. Three of the nine instances read “word of the Lord” ( Acts 13:49; Acts 15:36; Acts 19:10); six of the instances read “word of God” ( Acts 4:31; Acts 6:2; Acts 11:1; Acts 13:7; Acts 17:13; Acts 18:11). The firm attestation for “the word of God” is thus more frequent; it is also the only form of the expression that appears in the Third Gospel ( Luke 5:1; Luke 8:11, Luke 8:21; Luke 11:28). For these statistics and a discussion of the passages where the evidence is divided, see Jacques Dupont, “Notes sur les Actes des Apôtres,” Revue Biblique, LXVI (1955), pp. 47—49.

²⁴⁹ Der Codex D, p. 73.

²⁵⁰ For the wide variety of the usages of u`phre,thj in the Greek papyri, see Moulton-Milligan, Vocabulary, and B. T. Holmes. “Luke’s Description of John Mark,” Journal of Biblical Literature, LIV (1935), pp. 63—72.

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A Textual Commentary On The Greek NT

Acts 13:5

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