Matthew 1:18

Matthew 1:18 VIhsou/ Cristou/ {B}

It is difficult to decide which is the original reading. On the one hand, the prevailing tendency of scribes was to expand either VIhsou/j or Cristo,j by the addition of the other word. The Western reading Cristou/ in Old Latin and Old Syriac witnesses seems to have a certain appropriateness, but it may be an assimilation to e[wj tou/ Cristou/ of the preceding sentence. It can also be argued that in the narrative of his birth one would expect to find the personal name “Jesus,” yet VIhsou/ in W may have been conformed to the following command by the angel (ver. Matthew 1:21).

On the other hand, though the external evidence in support of VIhsou/ Cristou/ appears to be overwhelming, the reading is intrinsically improbable, for in the New Testament the definite article is very rarely prefixed to the expression VIhsou/j Cristo,j (only in inferior manuscripts in Acts 8:37; 1 John 4:3; and Revelation 12:17).

In the face of such conflicting considerations, the Committee judged that the least unsatisfactory course was to adopt the reading that was current in many parts of the early church.