A Textual Commentary On The Greek NT

James 4:5

James 4:5 katw,|kisen {B}

The two verbal forms, which, because of itacism, were pronounced alike, have slightly different meanings: katw,|kisen is causative (“the spirit which he [God] has made to dwell in us”), whereas katw,|khsen is intransitive (“the spirit [or, Spirit] which dwells ¹ in us”). On the score of external evidence katw,|kisen is somewhat better attested (î⁷⁴ a A B Y 049 104 226 241 462 547 807 1241 1739 1877*) than katw,|khsen (K L P 056 0142 most minuscules and all versions — most of which, however, could not easily represent the causative idea). On the score of transcriptional probability, since katoiki,zein occurs nowhere else in the New Testament, copyists were more likely to replace it with the much more common katoikei/n, than vice versa.

¹ The present tense “dwelleth” of the margin of the ASV, as well as the text of the AV and sixteenth century English versions, is derived by understanding the aorist katw,|khsen (literally, “he dwelt”) in the sense “has taken up [his] dwelling.” For another interpretation of the verse see Johann Michl, “Der Spruch Jakobusbrief 4, 5, ” in Neutestamentliche Aufsätze. Festschrift für Prof. Josef Schmid, ed. J. Blinzler et al. (Regensburg, 1963), pp. 167—174.

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A Textual Commentary On The Greek NT

James 4:5

Old Testament

New Testament