Second Series. Acts.
23. Acts viii. 37. Εἶπε δὲ ὁ Φίλιππος, Εἰ πιστεύεις ἐξ ὅλης [pg 369] τῆς καρδίας, ἔξεστιν. Ἀποκριθεὶς δὲ εἶπε, Πιστεύω τὸν υἱὸν τοῦ Θεοῦ εἶναι τὸν Ἰησοῦν Χριστόν[409]. We cannot safely question the spuriousness of this verse, which all the critical editors condemn, and which seems to have been received from the margin, where the formula Πιστεύω κ.τ.λ. had been placed, extracted from some Church Ordinal: yet this is just the portion cited by Irenaeus, both in Greek[410] and Latin; so early had the words found a place in the sacred text. It is contained in no manuscripts except E (D, which might perhaps be expected to favour it, being here defective), 4 (secundâ manu), 13, 15, 18?, 27, 29, 36, 60, 69, 97, 100, 105, 106, 107, 163, 227, Apost. 5, 13 once; and in the margin, 14, 25 &c., in Cod. 186 alone out of Scrivener's thirteen: manuscripts of good character, but quite inadequate to prove the authenticity of the verse, even though they did not differ considerably in the actual readings they exhibit, which is always in itself a ground of reasonable suspicion (see pp. [361], [368], [374])[411]. Here again, as in Matt. xxvii. 35, Gutbier and Schaaf interpolated in their Peshitto texts the passage as translated into Syriac and placed within brackets by Elias Hutter: the Harkleian also exhibits it, but marked with an asterisk. It is found in the Old Latin g and m although in an abridged form, in the Vulgate (both printed and demid. tol., but not in am. primâ manu, fuld. &c.), and in the satellites of the Vulgate, the Armenian, Polyglott Arabic, and Slavonic. Bede, however, who used Cod. E, knew Latin copies in which the verse was wanting: yet it was known to Cyprian, Jerome, Augustine, Pacian, &c. among the Latins, to Œcumenius and Theophylact (twice quoted) among the Greeks. Erasmus seems to have inserted the verse by a comparison of the later hand of Cod. 4 with the Vulgate[412]; it is not in the Complutensian [pg 370] edition. This passage affords us a curious instance of an addition well received in the Western Church from the second century downwards (see p. [164]), and afterwards making some way among the later Greek codices and writers.
24. Acts xi. 20. We are here in a manner forced by the sense to adopt, with Griesbach, Bp. Chr. Wordsworth, Lachmann, Tischendorf, and Tregelles, the reading Ἕλληνας in the room of Ἑλληνιστάς of the Received text, retained by Westcott and Hort[413]. Immediately after the call of the Gentiles to the privileges of the Gospel was acknowledged and acquiesced in at Jerusalem (ver. 18), we read that some of those who had been scattered abroad years ago went about preaching the word to Jews only (ver. 19). In this there was nothing new: there had been Ἑλληνισταί “Greek-speaking Jews” among the brethren long since (ch. vi. 1), and to say that they were again preached to was not at all strange: the marvel is contained in ver. 20. “But there were some of them, men of Cyprus and Cyrene, which, when they came to Antioch, spake unto the Greeks also” (καὶ πρὸς τοὺς Ἕλληνας: καί intimating the additional information), and that with such success in converting these heathen Greeks, that Gentile Christians first obtained at Antioch the name, no longer of Nazarenes (ch. xxiv. 5), but of Christians (ver. 26). The meaning being thus evident, we look to the authorities which uphold it, and these are few, confessedly insufficient if the sense left us any choice, but recommended to us, as the matter stands, by their intrinsic excellence: they are AD* (the latter without καί, which is, however, otherwise abundantly attested to) Cod. 184, one of the best of the cursives, but not its kindred 221, the Peshitto Syriac, the Armenian, perhaps the Ethiopic. The Vulgate, Bohairic, Sahidic, and Harkleian Syriac draw no distinction between Ἕλληνες and Ἑλληνισταί: the Peshitto unquestionably does, since it renders “Greek disciples” in ch. vi. 1, “those Jews who knew Greek” (an excellent definition) in ch. ix. 29, but “Greeks” here. Eusebius clearly reads Ἕλληνας, [pg 371] as does Chrysostom in his exposition (not in his text), all the more surely because he is perplexed how to expound it: his words are echoed by Œcumenius and in both commentaries of Theophylact, only that they substitute Ἑλληνιστάς for Ἕλληνας in repeating his words διὰ τὸ μὴ εἰδέναι ἑβραïστί, Ἕλληνας ἐκάλουν: they both have Ἑλληνιστάς in the text. Thus for once B is associated with E, with a later hand of D (of the seventh or eighth century), with the later uncials HLP and all cursives except one, in maintaining a variation demonstrably false. C is defective here, and the first hand of א, which presents us with the wonderful εὐαγγελιστάς, makes so far in favour of B; but אc corrects that error into Ἕλληνας.
25. Acts xiii. 18. We have here as nice a balance between conflicting readings (differing only by a single letter) as we find anywhere in the N. T. The case is stated in the margin to our Authorized version of the Bible, more minutely than is its wont, though modern printers have unwarrantably left out the reference to 2 Macc. vii. 27 in copies not containing the Apocrypha[414]. For ἐτροποφόρησεν “suffered he their manners” of Tregelles, of Westcott and Hort, are cited אB, the very ancient second hand of C, D (in the Greek), HLP, 61 with almost all other cursives and the catenas: for the alternative ἐτροφοφόρησεν “fed them like a nurse” of Lachmann and Tischendorf (Tregelles placing it in his margin) we find ACE, 13, 24* (not 24** with Tischendorf), 68, 78* (margin), 93, 100, 105, 142, d against its own Greek and the Vulgate jointly. Versions are in such a case of special weight, but unfortunately they too are somewhat divided. For π we find the Vulgate and a Greek note set in the Harkleian margin, for φ the Peshitto and Harkleian Syriac, both Egyptian, the Armenian, and both Ethiopic, with Erpenius' Arabic: the Arabic of the Polyglott gives both renderings. Thus the majority of the versions incline one way, the oldest and most numerous manuscripts the other. It is useless to cite Greek writers, except they show from the context which word they favour. The form with φ was doubtless read in the Apostolic Constitutions, and twice in Cyril of Alexandria, and that word is supported as well by 2 Macc. vii. 27, as by the other text cited in the margin of the Authorized English Bible, [pg 372] Deut. i. 31, to which the Apostle's reference is so manifest, that we cannot but regard it as nearly decisive which expression he used. Although in Deuteronomy also Greek copies vary a little between π and φ, yet both A and B[415] read the latter, indeed the Hebrew נשא, pace Hortii, would admit of nothing else. For π Origen is express, both in his Greek commentary (not his text) and Latin version, but then he seems to employ it even in Deut. i. 31, where it cannot be correct. Chrysostom and Theophylact give no certain sound. Wetstein seasonably illustrates ἐτροπ. from Rom. ix. 22. Internal evidence certainly points to ἐτροφοφόρησεν, which on the whole may be deemed preferable. The Apostle is anxious to please his Jewish hearers by enumerating the mercies their nation had received from the Divine favour. God had chosen them, exalted them in Egypt, brought them out with a high hand, fed them in the wilderness, and given them the land of Promise. It would hardly have suited his purpose to have interposed, by way of parenthesis, in the midst of his detail of benefits received, the unwelcome suggestion of their obstinate ingratitude and of God's long forbearance.
26. Acts xiii. 32. Here for τοῖς τέκνοις αὐτῶν ἡμῖν Lachmann, Tischendorf, Tregelles, Westcott and Hort read τοῖς τέκνοις ἡμῶν. As well from the fact that it is much the harder form (see Canon I), as from the state of the external evidence, they could not act otherwise. In defence of ἡμῶν we have אABC*D, but apparently no cursives, the Vulgate version, Hilary, Ambrose, Bede (with the variant ὑμῶν in tol. and elsewhere), and both Ethiopic. We cannot resist the five great uncials when for once they are in harmony. The Received text is supported by the third hand of C, by EHLP, by all the cursives, by the two Syriac and Armenian versions, the catenae, Chrysostom and Theophylact. The Sahidic omits ἡμῖν, the Bohairic both pronouns. To take up ἡμῖν without αὐτῶν, the reading of a solitary cursive of the eleventh century, Cod. 76, would approach the limits of mere conjecture, yet every one can see how well it would account for all other variations. “The text, which alone has any adequate authority, and of which all [pg 373] or nearly all the readings are manifest corrections, gives only an improbable sense. It can hardly be doubted that ἡμῶν is a primitive corruption of ἡμῖν, τοὺς πατέρας and τοῖς τέκνοις being alike absolute. The suggestion is due to Bornemann, who cites x. 41 in illustration” (Hort, Notes, p. 95). Optimè.
27. Acts xiii. 33. The variation πρώτῳ for δευτέρῳ of the Received text commended itself to Griesbach, Lachmann, Tischendorf, and Tregelles, merely from its apparent difficulty; yet there is no manuscript authority for it except D, g, and “quidam codices” known to Bede. Origen and Hilary indeed mention the variation, but they explain at the same time the cause, as do Eusebius and others. Tertullian and Cyprian also quote the words as from the first Psalm, and the arrangement of the two Psalms sometimes together, sometimes separate, is as old as Justin Martyr's time. Under these circumstances Westcott and Hort are surely fully justified in abiding by the common reading, against which there is no other evidence than what has been named above.
28. Acts xv. 34. ἔδοξε δὲ τῷ Σίλᾳ ἐπιμεῖναι αὐτοῦ. This verse is omitted by אABEGHP, and of the cursives by 31, 61 of the first rank, by 24, 91, 184, 185, 188, 189, 221, and full fifty others. Erasmus inserted it in his editions from the margin of Cod. 4. It is wanting in the Peshitto (only that Tremellius and Gutbier between them thrust their own version into the text), in the Bohairic, Polyglott Arabic, Slavonic, the best manuscripts of the Latin Vulgate (am. fuld. demid., &c.), and by Chrysostom and Theophylact in at least one copy. In C it runs εδοξεν δε τω σιλα επιμειναι αυτους, which is followed by many cursives: some of which, however, have αὐτοῦ, two αὐτοῖς, 42, 57, 69, 182, 186, 187, 219 αὐτόθι, with the Complutensian Polyglott. The common text is found in the Sahidic, Tremellius' Syriac, in the Harkleian with an asterisk, also in Erpenius' Arabic, Theophylact, and Œcumenius. In D we read εδοξε δε τω σειλεα επιμειναι [προς secundâ manu] αυτους (sustinere eos d) μονος δε ιουδας επορευθη, which Lachmann cites in Latin as extant in this form only in one Vienna Codex (for which see his N. T., Proleg. vol. i. p. xxix): thus too tol., the Armenian (not that of Venice), and the printed Slavonic. The common Vulgate, Cassiodorus [pg 374] and Hutter's Syriac add “Jerusalem,” so that the Clementine Latin stands thus: “Visum est autem Silae ibi remanere; Judas autem solus abiit Jerusalem.” The Ethiopic is rendered “Et perseveravit Paulus manens,” to which Platt's copies add 'ibi.'
No doubt this verse is an unauthorized addition, self-condemned indeed by its numerous variations (see p. [361]). One can almost trace its growth, and in the shape presented by the Received text it must have been (as Mill conjectures) a marginal gloss, designed to explain how (notwithstanding the terms of ver. 33) Silas was at hand in ver. 40, conveniently for St. Paul to choose him as a companion in travel.
29. Acts xvi. 7. After πνεῦμα at the end of this verse Lachmann, Tischendorf, Tregelles, Westcott and Hort most rightly add Ἰησοῦ. The evidence in its favour is overwhelming, and it is not easy to conjecture how it ever fell out of the text: compare Rom. viii. 9. It is wanting only in HLP and the mass of the cursives, even in Codd. 184, 221: Codd. 182, 219 omit the whole clause from καὶ οὐκ εἴασεν, nor does Ἰησοῦ appear in the Sahidic version, or in three Armenian manuscripts, nor is it recognized by Chrysostom or Theophylact. Ἰησοῦ is read by אABC**DE, 13, 15, 31, 33, 36, 61 (primâ manu), 73, Apost. 40: but Cod. 105 and a few others have τοῦ Ἰησοῦ. The versions are all but unanimous for the addition, being all the known Latin except demid., the Bohairic, both Syriac, both Ethiopic, and three manuscripts of the Armenian: two more of its codices with one edition read χριστου, six (with Epiphanius) τὸ ἅγιον in its room, while demid. has κυρίου with the first hand of C. The catenae exhibit Ἰησοῦ in spite of Chrysostom, as do Didymus, Cyril of Alexandria, and the false Athanasius both in Greek and Latin.
30. Acts xx. 28. τὴν ἐκκλησίαν τοῦ θεοῦ, ἣν περιεποιήσατο διὰ τοῦ ἰδίου αἵματος. This reading of the Received text, though different from that of the majority of copies, is pretty sure to be correct: it has been adopted by Alford (who once rejected θεοῦ for κυρίου), and by Westcott and Hort: Tregelles places it in his margin, though, with Lachmann and Tischendorf, he has κυρίου in the text. ΘΥ is upheld by אB (the latter now for certain), [pg 375] 4, 22, 23, 25, 37, 46, 65, 66*(?), 68, 84, 89, 154, 162, Apost. 12, and ex silentio, on which one can lay but little stress, by Codd. 7, 12, 16, 39, 56, 64, together with 184 and 186, codices not now in England. “Dei” is read by all known manuscripts and editions of the Vulgate except the Complutensian, which was probably altered to suit the parallel Greek. From the Vulgate this form was taken by Erasmus, and after him by Tyndale's and later English versions. Lee's edition of the Peshitto has θεου, from three codices (the Travancore, a Vatican Lectionary of Adler [xi], and one at the Bodleian), and so has the Harkleian text. Τοῦ κυρίου (differing but by one letter, see our Plates v. No. 13; x. No. 25) is in AC*DE (and therefore in d, e), 13, 15, 18, 36 (text), 40, 69, 73, 81, 95*, 130, 156, 163, 180, 182, 219, Apost. 58, some catenae, the Harkleian margin, the Sahidic, Bohairic, Armenian, and possibly also the Roman Ethiopic, though there the same word is said to represent both θυ and κυ. Platt's Ethiopic, all editions of the Peshitto except Lee's, and Erpenius' Arabic, have τοῦ χριστοῦ, with Origen once, Theodoret twice, and four copies of Athanasius: the Old Latin m reads 'Jesu Christi.' Other variations, too weakly supported to be worth further notice, are τοῦ κυρίου θεοῦ 3, 95**, the Polyglott Arabic; τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ κυρίου 47; and the Georgian τοῦ κυρίου τοῦ θεοῦ. The great mass of later manuscripts give τοῦ κυρίου καὶ θεοῦ, viz. C (tertiâ manu), HLP, 24, 31, 111, 183, 185, 187, 188, 189, 221, 224, and more than one hundred other cursives, including probably every one not particularized above. This is the reading of the Complutensian editors, both in the Greek and Latin, and of some modern critics who would fain take a safe and middle course; but is countenanced by the reading of no version except the Slavonic, and by no ecclesiastical writer before Theophylact. It is plainly but a device for reconciling the two principal readings; yet from the non-repetition of the article and from the general turn of the sentence it asserts the Divinity of the Saviour almost as unequivocally as θεοῦ could do alone. Our choice evidently lies between κυρίου and θεοῦ, which are pretty equally supported by manuscripts and versions: Patristic testimony, however, may slightly incline to the latter. Foremost comes that bold expression of Ignatius [a.d. 107] ἀναζωπυρήσαντες ἐν αἵματι θεοῦ (ad Ephes. i), which the old Latin version renders “Christi Dei,” and the later interpolator softens into χριστοῦ: so again (ad [pg 376] Roman. vi), τοῦ πάθους τοῦ θεοῦ μου. It may be true that Ignatius “does not adopt it [the first passage] as a quotation” (Davidson ad loc.), yet nothing short of Scriptural authority could have given such early vogue to a term so startling as αἷμα θεοῦ, which is also employed by Tertullian (ad uxorem, ii. 3) and Clement of Alexandria (Quis dives, 34). The elder Basil, Epiphanius (twice), Cyril of Alexandria (twice), Ibas (in the Greek only), Ambrose, Caelestine, Fulgentius, Primasius, Cassiodorus, &c., not to mention writers so recent as Œcumenius and Theophylact, expressly support the same word. Manuscripts of Athanasius vary between θεοῦ, κυρίου, and χριστοῦ, but his evidence would be regarded as hostile to the Received text, inasmuch as he states (as alleged by Wetstein) that οὐδαμοῦ δὲ αἷμα θεοῦ καθ᾽ ἡμᾶς παραδεδώκασιν αἱ γραφαί; Ἀρειανῶν τὰ τοιαῦτα τολμήματα (contra Apollinar.): only that for καθ᾽ ἡμᾶς (which even Tischendorf cites in his seventh edition), the correct reading is δίχα σαρκός or διὰ σαρκός, a citation fatal to any such inference. In Chrysostom too the readings fluctuate, and some (e.g. Tregelles) have questioned whether the Homilies on the Acts, wherein he has θεοῦ, are of his composition. In behalf of κυρίου are cited the Latin version of Irenaeus, Lucifer of Cagliari, Augustine, Jerome, Ammonius, Eusebius, Didymus, Chrysostom (whence Theophylact), possibly Theodoret, and the Apostolic Constitutions, while the exact expression sanguis Dei was censured by Origen and others. It has been urged, however, and not without some show of reason (Nolan, Integrity of Greek Vulgate, p. 517, note 135), that the course of Irenaeus' argument proves that θεοῦ was used in his lost Greek text. After all, internal evidence—subjective feeling if it must be so called—will decide the critic's choice where authorities are so much divided as here. It seems reasonable to say that the whole mass of witnesses for τοῦ κυρίου καὶ θεοῦ vouches for the existence of θεοῦ in the earliest codices, the commonplace κυρίου being the rather received from other quarters, as it tends to point more distinctly to the Divine Person indicated in the passage. If this view be accepted, the preponderance in favour of θεοῦ, undoubtedly the harder form, is very marked, and when the consideration suggested above from Dean Alford is added, there will remain little room for hesitation. It has been pleaded on both sides of the question, and appears little relevant to the case of either, that St. Paul employs in ten [pg 377] places the expression ἐκκλησία τοῦ θεοῦ, but never once ἐκκλησία τοῦ κυρίου or τοῦ χριστοῦ.