In one respect the letters to the Ephesians and Colossians hold a unique position among the Epistles of St Paul, as regards textual criticism. They alone have been exposed, or exposed in any considerable degree, to those harmonizing tendencies in transcribers, which have had so great an influence on the text of the Synoptic Gospels.
Preponderant evidence (1) for the correct reading;
In such cases there is sometimes no difficulty in ascertaining the correct reading. The harmonistic change is condemned by the majority of the oldest and best authorities; or there is at least a nearly even balance of external testimony, and the suspicious character of the reading is quite sufficient to turn the scale. Thus we cannot hesitate for a moment about such readings as i. 14 διὰ τοῦ ἅιματος αὐτοῦ (from Ephes. i. 7), or iii. 16 ψαλμοῖς καὶ ὕμνοις καὶ ᾠδαῖς πνευματικαῖς, and τῷ Κυρίῳ (for τῷ Θεῷ) in the same verse (both from Ephes. v. 19).
(2) against the correct reading.
In other instances again there can hardly be any doubt about the text, even though the vast preponderance of authority is in favour of the harmonistic reading; and these are especially valuable because they enable us to test the worth of our authorities. Such examples are:
Examples.
|iii. 6, words inserted.|iii. 6. The omission of the words ἐπὶ τοὺς ὑιὸυς τῆς ἀπειθείας (taken from Ephes. v. 6). Apparently the only extant MS in favour of the omission is B. In D however they are written (though by the first hand) in smaller letters and extend beyond the line (in both Greek and Latin), whence we may infer that they were not found in a copy which was before the transcriber. They are wanting also in the Thebaic Version and in one form of the Æthiopic (Polyglott). They were also absent from copies used by Clement of Alexandria (Pæd. iii. 11, p. 295, where however they are inserted in the printed texts; Strom. iii. 5, p. 531), by Cyprian (Epist. lv. 27, p. 645 ed. Hartel), by an unknown writer (de Sing. Cler.> 39, in Cypr. Op. III. p. 215), by the Ambrosian Hilary (ad loc.), and by Jerome (Epist. xiv. 5, I. p. 32), though now found apparently in all the Latin MSS.
iii. 21. ἐρεθίζετε.
iii. 21. ἐρεθίζετε is only found in B K and in later hands of D (with its transcript E) among the uncial MSS. All the other uncials read παροργίζετε, which is taken from Ephes. vi. 4. In this case however the reading of B is supported by the greater number of cursives, and it accordingly has a place in the received text. The versions (so far as we can safely infer their readings) go almost entirely with the majority of uncials. |Syriac version misrepresented.|The true readings of the Syriac Versions are just the reverse of those assigned to them even by the chief critical editors, Tregelles and Tischendorf. Thus in the Peshito the word used is the Aphel of ܪܓܙ
