TEXT
TEXT
In most New Testament books textual variation is comparatively minor, but in Luke and Acts there are major differences in the so-called Western text, a text whose principal representatives are Codex Bezae (D) and the Old Latin manuscripts. In Luke, for example, D includes the story of the man working on the Sabbath (Luke 6:4), the words "And he said, ‘You do not know what kind of spirit you are of, for the Son of Man did not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them’” (9:55); additional clauses in the Lord’s Prayer (11:2-4); Jesus’ agony in the garden (22:43); the languages used in the inscription on the cross (23:38); and the information that the stone before Jesus’ tomb was one "which twenty men could scarcely roll” (23:53). The Western text is certainly old, for it was used by Justin and Tatian and others in the second century. It sometimes omits passages found in other text types, but more characteristically it has additions (as we have just seen is the case in Luke). Its changes and additions clarify passages that the scribe evidently thought were unclear. Its tendency is to harmonize passages and generally to try to remove difficulties.
In a notable series of passages in Luke and Acts, the Western text omits readings that are well attested elsewhere. Notably is this the case with a series of passages that Westcott and Hort called "Western non-interpolations,” a cumbersome expression referring to passages lacking in the Western text that they thought must be interpolations in the so-called neutral text. They saw the neutral text as far and away the most trustworthy, but they made exceptions here. They reasoned that since the Western text so consistently includes additional material and longer readings, special attention must be given to it when it omits passages. In Luke some of these Western omissions are as follows: the words to Martha, "You are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed” (Luke 10:41-42), the command to repeat the Lord’s Supper together with the words about the cup following those about the bread (22:1920), the prayer for forgiveness of those who crucified Jesus (23:34), the words "he is not here; he has risen” (24:6), Peter’s visit to the tomb (24:12), Jesus’ showing his hands and feet (24:40), and the ascension (24:51).
Some of the differences between the Western text and other authorities are clearly very significant. But in estimating them, most recent scholars think it likely that Westcott and Hort put too great a weight on Western omissions. The principal reason for this is the discovery of a number of papyri that show that the neutral text of Westcott and Hort, which these days is generally called Alexandrian, is not a fourth-century creation but goes back to the second. Particularly important are the great p 75 (the oldest MS of this gospel, which dates from the end of the second century or the beginning of the third) and p 45 (about much the same date). The text type they represent is thus very old, and its preservation in MSS such as Codex Vaticanus (B) shows that it was copied faithfully through the years. It is an austere form of text, tending to eschew picturesque elaborations such as those we find in the Western text. It still seems to most textual critics the best form of the text, although they do not regard it in the same way as did Westcott and Hort, and they recognize that there are mistakes in it, so that each variant must be judged on its merits. The tendency in recent discussions is indeed to take the Western text into consideration but not to give it veto power. Especially is this the case where D is the only Greek MS to support a reading (which happens with quite a few Western readings; the strength of supporting evidence is with the Old Latin). There will still remain uncertainty about some readings, but there is considerable agreement about most. There is no reason for doubting that we have Luke’s text substantially as he wrote