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I only know that it is generally accepted that Mark ended with the angel at the tomb. The following account of the resurrection was added later and is in two versions, a shorter and a longer and seemingly based on the other resurrection stories, including specifically a reference to the appearance of Jesus to Cleophas on the road or Emmaeus taken from Luke.
The 'woman taken in adultery' episode sometimes turns up in Luke but not John, in some old texts, but I can't recall whether it is sometimes not in either.
The anger/compassion thing I always thought was an interpretation thing. If there is evidence of the wording of mark being changed, I'd be interested to know.
Another example of text that does not appear in early manuscripts and was apparently inserted later is Luke 22:43-44.
The setting is the Mount of Olives where Jesus and the disciples have gone after the Last Supper, the night before the crucifixion. The italicized verses are the ones in question, as the footnote mentions.
Quote:
Luke 22 NIV
40 On reaching the place, he said to them, “Pray that you will not fall into temptation.” 41 He withdrew about a stone’s throw beyond them, knelt down and prayed, 42 “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.” 43 An angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him. 44 And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground.[c]
45 When he rose from prayer and went back to the disciples, he found them asleep, exhausted from sorrow. 46 “Why are you sleeping?” he asked them. “Get up and pray so that you will not fall into temptation.”
c Many early manuscripts do not have verses 43 and 44.
In addition to their absence from early manuscripts, there are other reasons to doubt these verses are original.
Luke’s passion story is rather mild compared to the other Gospels. A brief mention of beating, the crucifixion and Jesus dies. No extended beating, no flogging, no crown of thorns, no spear in the heart, no leg breaking of the other two men. No mention of Jesus suffering at all. Yet the night before he is portrayed as sweating blood in anguish of anticipation and needing comfort from an angel. It does not fit.
Broken Chiasmus
In the passage in question Luke employs a device called chiasmus.
Specifically:
Quote:
In rhetoric, chiasmus (Latin term from Greek χίασμα, "crossing", from the Greek χιάζω, chiázō, "to shape like the letter Χ") is the figure of speech in which two or more clauses are related to each other through a reversal of structures in order to make a larger point; that is, the clauses display inverted parallelism. Chiasmus was particularly popular in the literature of the ancient world, including Hebrew, Greek, and Latin, where it was used to articulate the balance of order within the text. Chiasmus - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Luke progresses by steps to a point he wishes to make, then reverses those steps. ABCBA
A 40 On reaching the place, he said to them, “Pray that you will not fall into temptation.”
. B 41 He withdrew about a stone’s throw beyond them, knelt down and prayed,
… C 42 “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.” ??? 43 An angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him.
??? 44 And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground.
. B 45 When he rose from prayer and went back to the disciples, he found them asleep, exhausted from sorrow.
A 46 “Why are you sleeping?” he asked them. “Get up and pray so that you will not fall into temptation.”
We see Jesus telling the disciples to pray (A), then he moves away from them (B), then he speaks with his Father about what is coming (C), the he goes back to the disciples (B), then he tells them to pray (A). Nice chiasmic structure…except what are verses 43 and 44 doing there? They do not fit.
Why?
One early variation of Christianity was Docetism, which held that Jesus did not really exist in a human body. He was actually a spirit clothed in illusion. In this alternative take, Jesus did not suffer and die on the cross. It only seemed that way. A major problem with this idea from the point of view of proto-orthodoxy was that it undercut the important principles of Jesus as redeeming sacrifice and the future physical resurrection of the dead. Luke’s rather mild description of the passion could be interpreted as supporting Docetism. Did some scribe decide to ‘jazz up’ the suffering angle to ward off a docetic interpretation?
Summary
Absence of verses 43-44 from many early manuscripts
Depiction of angel unlike Luke’s style
‘Sweating blood’ unlike Luke’s style
Broken Chiasmus
Opportunity to ameliorate perception of Docetism in Luke
Did some scribe decide to ‘jazz up’ the suffering angle to ward off a docetic interpretation?
Summary
Absence of verses 43-44 from many early manuscripts
Depiction of angel unlike Luke’s style
‘Sweating blood’ unlike Luke’s style
Broken Chiasmus
Opportunity to ameliorate perception of Docetism in Luke
Sounds like verses 43 and 44 were inserted later.
Excellent summary and an example of the types of changes one could expect considering the history of the church organization.
I agree, Alt. That was an excellent post. I have been surprised at how many footnotes there are in my Bible saying that "some manuscripts add this to Luke" or "some verses are omitted in older texts". They don't say which, what and when the texts are.
This site mentions some facts about the resurrection additions to Mark.
What I find amazing and rather funny is that the suggested explanations for Mark not having a resurrection doesn't even consider the obvious (at least when you think of it - it took me 40 years to have the penny drop) and demonstrably correct explanation - there never was one, originally. Matthew, Luke and John all invented their resurrection stories, independently.
Last edited by TRANSPONDER; 01-10-2015 at 09:33 AM..
I agree, Alt. That was an excellent post. I have been surprised at how many footnotes there are in my Bible saying that "some manuscripts add this to Luke" or "some verses are omitted in older texts". They don't say which, what and when the texts are.
This site mentions some facts about the resurrection additions to Mark.
What I find amazing and rather funny is that the suggested explanations for Mark not having a resurrection doesn't even consider the obvious (at least when you think of it - it took me 40 years to have the penny drop) and demonstrably correct explanation - there never was one, originally. Matthew, Luke and John all invented their resurrection stories, independently.
The only detail all four Gospels agree on is that the tomb was empty and some stranger(s) said that Jesus rose from the dead and went someplace. After that there is almost no agreement. Form your own conclusion.
I read about a year ago that there is thought among some scholars that there were only six last sayings of Christ from the cross. I can't remember which of the seven is the one in doubt, but the scholar I was reading argued that one of the early church fathers added a seventh just to meet the "sevens" that Christians argue permeate all the Bible.
As I recall it may have been a bit more speculative than scholarly, but if anyone has additional information please share.
I read about a year ago that there is thought among some scholars that there were only six last sayings of Christ from the cross. I can't remember which of the seven is the one in doubt, but the scholar I was reading argued that one of the early church fathers added a seventh just to meet the "sevens" that Christians argue permeate all the Bible.
As I recall it may have been a bit more speculative than scholarly, but if anyone has additional information please share.
Some people say that John's "It is finished" and Luke's "Father, into your hands I commend my spirit" were spoken together. The only saying that is duplicated in more than one Gospel is "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" appearing in both Mark and Matthew in almost identical sentences. (The two are counted as one to make the seven.) This is the opening of Psalm 22 which begins with suffering and ends in messianic hope. It is not surprising that Matthew should include this since justifying Jesus as the Jewish Messiah was his main program.
This is the bit about women remaining silent in churches. 1 Corinthians 14:34-35 are best viewed as a later insertion, probably accidentally by copying a margin comment.
In context:
Quote:
1 Corinthians 14 NIV
26 What then shall we say, brothers and sisters? When you come together, each of you has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation. Everything must be done so that the church may be built up. 27 If anyone speaks in a tongue, two—or at the most three—should speak, one at a time, and someone must interpret. 28 If there is no interpreter, the speaker should keep quiet in the church and speak to himself and to God.
29 Two or three prophets should speak, and the others should weigh carefully what is said. 30 And if a revelation comes to someone who is sitting down, the first speaker should stop. 31 For you can all prophesy in turn so that everyone may be instructed and encouraged. 32 The spirits of prophets are subject to the control of prophets. 33 For God is not a God of disorder but of peace—as in all the congregations of the Lord’s people. 34 Women should remain silent in the churches. They are not allowed to speak, but must be in submission, as the law says. 35 If they want to inquire about something, they should ask their own husbands at home; for it is disgraceful for a woman to speak in the church.[g]
36 Or did the word of God originate with you? Or are you the only people it has reached? 37 If anyone thinks they are a prophet or otherwise gifted by the Spirit, let them acknowledge that what I am writing to you is the Lord’s command. 38 But if anyone ignores this, they will themselves be ignored.
39 Therefore, my brothers and sisters, be eager to prophesy, and do not forbid speaking in tongues. 40 But everything should be done in a fitting and orderly way.
[g] In a few manuscripts these verses come after verse 40.
If we look at the contentious verses (in bold italics above) in context we see that they do not really fit in several ways.
First, they interrupt the flow of thought. Try reading the passage omitting vv 34-35.
Quote:
29 Two or three prophets should speak, and the others should weigh carefully what is said. 30 And if a revelation comes to someone who is sitting down, the first speaker should stop. 31 For you can all prophesy in turn so that everyone may be instructed and encouraged. 32 The spirits of prophets are subject to the control of prophets. 33 For God is not a God of disorder but of peace—as in all the congregations of the Lord’s people.
36 Or did the word of God originate with you? Or are you the only people it has reached? 37 If anyone thinks they are a prophet or otherwise gifted by the Spirit, let them acknowledge that what I am writing to you is the Lord’s command. 38 But if anyone ignores this, they will themselves be ignored.
39 Therefore, my brothers and sisters, be eager to prophesy, and do not forbid speaking in tongues. 40 But everything should be done in a fitting and orderly way.
Works fine, right? Now read v 35 and v 36.
Quote:
35 If they want to inquire about something, they should ask their own husbands at home; for it is disgraceful for a woman to speak in the church. 36 Or did the word of God originate with you?
Dos not really work, does it?
The second issue is that Paul explicitly refers to women speaking in church immediately before and immediately after the contentious verses.
Quote:
26 What then shall we say, brothers and sisters? When you come together, each of you has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation.
…
39 Therefore, my brothers and sisters, be eager to prophesy, and do not forbid speaking in tongues.
How can a woman offer “a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation” or “be eager to prophesy” while keeping silent?
The answer would seem to lie in the footnote to the contentious verses shown above: In a few manuscripts these verses come after verse 40. Speculation is that these verses were a comment someone put in the column, disagreeing with Paul. Subsequent copyists thought it was part of the original and inserted it in their copies. Some put it where the comment started inserting it after v 34 and a few put it where the comment ended, after v 40.
The only detail all four Gospels agree on is that the tomb was empty and some stranger(s) said that Jesus rose from the dead and went someplace. After that there is almost no agreement. Form your own conclusion.
Yep. Sorry, to go off topic, This is my last on the point.
Synoptics and John - empty tomb. Agreement.
synoptics, angelic explanation (variously fiddled) agreement. John does not.
Thereafter little on no agreement and quite a bit of contradiction.
There is a name given to the add -on in Mark 16. Can't recall it.
However Wiki has some information about the collated summaries added to Mark abd where they appear.
Textual critics have identified two distinct endings—the "Longer Ending" (vv. 9-20) and the "Shorter Ending," which appear together in six Greek manuscripts, and in dozens of Ethiopic copies. The "Shorter Ending," with slight variations, runs as follows: "But they reported briefly to Peter and those with him all that they had been told. And after this, Jesus himself sent out by means of them, from east to west, the sacred and imperishable proclamation of eternal salvation." In one Latin manuscript from c. 430, the "Shorter Ending" appears without the "Longer Ending." In this Latin copy (Codex Bobbiensis, "k")
Codex Bobiensis (k) is a fragmentary Latinmanuscript of the Bible....It is from North Africa, and is dated to the 4th or 5th century. Later, it was brought to the monastery in Bobbio in northern Italy. ...
Researchers, comparing the Codex Bobiensis with quotes from Cyprian’s publications from the 3rd century, think it may represent a page from the Bible Cyprian used while he was a bishop in Carthage.
A palaeographic study of the scripture determined it is a copy of a papyrus script from the 2nd century.
(wiki)
It would be a surprise to find the Longer ending supposed to date from an original of the 2nd c. as that represents a collation based on all the gospels (including John, I'd say, as well as Luke) but the shorter version really does little more than round off Mark
'Go and tell Peter' says the angels. So (says the short addition) they told Peter and the went out preaching the new faith. Considering what that leaves out, it seems unlikely that the writer of the short addition (in the 2nd c.) knew of any of the other gospels.
Last edited by TRANSPONDER; 01-10-2015 at 11:43 AM..
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The seven last sayings of Christ from the Cross
