Fifth, some things in them are superfluous.
Fifth, some things in them are superfluous.
§ 361. (V) “It is evident that some things are found in all the Greek codices that are not parts of divine Scripture, such as the addition to the Lord’s Prayer in Matthew 6: ‘For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever.’ These words are not part of the text but were added by the Greeks, and we can know this from two things: First, from the fact that Tertullian, Cyprian, Ambrose, Jerome, and Augustine explain the Lord’s Prayer yet make no mention of these words. Second, from the fact that the Greeks do speak these words in their liturgy, but they do not connect with the Lord’s Prayer.” Benedictus Arias Montanus makes the same claim—that this sentence does not belong to the text but that some people inserted it into the text later. This he tries to prove by saying that “the Greeks even today say it, though only their priests may offer those words. They respond with this in the Mass when the choir has said: ‘Deliver us from evil.’ Also, none of the Latin interpreters mention it. In his commentary, Maldonatus thinks that this happened as a result of a custom of the Greeks, who used to terminate their prayers with a doxology and praise.” Huntlaeus, Controv., 1, q. 12, § 3: “Sometimes our adversaries add to the written Word of God what is not written. For example, they add to Matt. 6:13 those words: ‘For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever.’ Scarcely any of the fathers read these words before Chrysostom, who lived four hundred years after Christ.”
We respond. (1) Robertus Stephanus discovered these words in a very old codex that, except for one other, is the oldest. ** It is contained in the Antwerp Bible. ** (2) The Syrian paraphrast has the same, ** as does also the Hebrew text of Matthew that Münsterus published in 1537. ** (3) Chrysostom, Theophylact, and Euthymius interpret it as the conclusion of the Lord’s Prayer. (4) The apostle repeats the last petition about deliverance from every evil and adds the short sentence: “to Him be glory forever” (2 Tim. 4:18).
** In the Catena aurea, Thomas Aquinas offers from Chrysostom an outstanding explanation of these words. The words that Thomas took from Chrysostom read this way: “Just as the recollection of the enemy in what He had said, ‘Deliver us from evil,’ had made us concerned, again He supplies boldness in this, which is added in some books, ‘For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory.’ If His is the kingdom, then we need not be fearful, for he who does battle with us has been subjected to Him. And because His power and glory are infinite, not only can He deliver from evil, but He also can even make glorious.” **
(5) Those words are in conformity with Holy Scripture, especially with David’s thanksgiving (1 Chron. 29:11). (6) Bellarmine says, “It is evident that this short statement is found in every Greek edition.” How, then, will one be able to prove that the Greek codices have been falsified here? Erasmus and Johannes Dietenberger admit the same thing in their glosses, that “this appendix is found in all the Greek versions.” Brugensis bears witness that “with the exception of a single codex of Paris, all the other books have it added.” Why, then, should we refuse to accept it as a genuine part of Scripture? (7) Nevertheless, because it was omitted for a long time among the Latins, it was not practical to upset the Church, which is greatly offended by novelties, over this matter. That is why the Latin fathers do not explain it. (8) On the other hand, here we must rather accept the reasoning of the Greek fathers. Indeed, no one can doubt that they studied and investigated the trustworthiness of the Greek editions thoroughly. (9) Nothing can be drawn from the liturgy of the Greeks against the canonical authority of this phrase, for the practice of our own churches shows that it was not unusual for the response of the people to be connected, as far as the sense is concerned, with the voice of the priest who was preceding in the prayer. Laurentius Valla, therefore, draws the correct conclusion when he says, “Nothing has been added here by the Greeks; rather, the Latins have taken something away” (Expos. orationis Dominicae).