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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 30 September 2024
This article explores the relationship of a minor variant in Hebrews 2.9 – Jesus dead ‘apart from God’ (χωρὶς θɛοῦ) – with the minor variant of Mark 15.34 and more broadly with Psalm 22.2, as suggested by Harnack, Michel, Zuntz, Elliott, Ehrman and Rodgers. First, it highlights new elements in the file of the evidence of Heb 2.9 and compares it with the case of Mark 15.34. Secondly, it demonstrates that paying attention to the minor variants of Heb 2.9 and Mark 15.34 allows one to grasp better the diversity of Jewish and early Christian readings of Ps 22.2 or Ps 21.2 LXX: these readings provide a plausible context to explain the emergence of these two minor variants.
1 The writing of this article has been supported by the SNSF project MARK16, Grant No. 175799. It is based on an invited seminar paper presented at the Society of New Testament Studies 2023 Conference. I warmly thank Harold Attridge for his response and permission to quote it (H. Attridge, ‘In Praise of Minor Variants, Heb 2.9’, 2023, unpublished), as well as Teunis van Lopik for his helpful comments and bibliographical references.
2 Ehrman, B. D., The Orthodox Corruption of the Scriptures. The Effect of Early Christological Controversies on the Text of the New Testament (New York/Oxford: University Press, 2011 2) 171–4Google Scholar; see also Ehrman, B. D., ‘Text and Interpretation: The Exegetical Significance of the “Original” Text’, Studies in the Textual Criticism of the New Testament (NTTSD 33; ed. Ehrman, B. D.; Leiden/Boston: Brill, 2006) 307–24CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
3 Rodgers, P., Text and Story. Narrative Studies in New Testament Textual Criticism (Eugene: Pickwick, 2011) 44Google Scholar.
4 von Harnack, A., ‘Zwei alte dogmatische Korrekturen im Hebräerbrief’, Studien zur Geschichte des Neuen Testaments und der alten Kirche (ed. von Harnack, A.; Berlin/Leipzig: De Gruyter, 1931) 235–52Google Scholar, at 244.
5 Michel, O., Der Brief an die Hebräer (Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1975 13) 141–2CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Zuntz, G., The Text of the Epistles. A Disquisition upon the Corpus Paulinum. The Schweich Lectures of the British Academy (London: Oxford University Press, 1953 2) 34–5Google Scholar, 44, and 74.
6 J. K. Elliott, ‘When Jesus was Apart from God. An Examination of Hebrews 2.9’, Expository Times 83.11 (1972) 339–41, at 340.
7 Attridge, H., The Epistle to the Hebrews. A Commentary on the Epistle to the Hebrews (Hermeneia; Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1989) 77Google Scholar, note 77.
8 H. Attridge, ‘La christologie kénotique et l’Épître aux Hébreux’, ETR 89 (2014/3) 293–308, at 303–4.
9 N. Brennan, Divine Christology in the Epistle to the Hebrews. The Son as God (London: Bloomsbury/T & T Clark, 2021); J. Lee, A Jewish Apocalyptic Framework of Eschatology in the Epistle to the Hebrews: Protology and Eschatology as Background (LNTS 662; New York: T&T Clark, 2021); M. Sigismund and S. Kreuzer, eds., Die Schriftzitate im Hebräerbrief als Zeugen für die Überlieferung der Septuaginta (WUNT.II 580; Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2022); D. Young, The Concept of Canon in the Reception of the Epistle to the Hebrews (New York: T&T Clark, 2023); J. Bloor, Purifying the Consciousness in Hebrews: Cult, Defilement and the Perpetual Heavenly, Blood of Jesus (LNTS 675; New York: T&T Clark, 2023); A. G. Urga, Intercession of Jesus in Hebrews (WUNT.II 585; Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2023). See also earlier G. Gäbel, who discusses Heb 2.9 without mentioning the minor variant in Der Kulttheologie des Hebräerbriefes. Eine exegetisch-religionsgeschichtliche Studie (WUNT.II 212; Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2006) 147.
10 For example: J. Swetnam, ‘The Crux at Hebrews 2.9 in its Context’, Biblica 91 (2010) 103–11; P. A. Hartog, ‘The Text of Hebrews 2.9 in Its Patristic Reception’, Bibliotheca Sacra 171 (2014) 52–71; R. B. Evans III, ‘Hebrews 2.5–9: An Exegetical Paper’, The American Journal of Biblical Theology 18.45 (2017) 1–25.
11 See C. Clivaz, ‘Marc 15,34 dans le codex de Bèze et le codex Bobbiensis’, Traditions et traductions des textes bibliques. Études de critique textuelle et d'exégèse en l'hommage de Christian-Bernard Amphoux à l'occasion de son 80e anniversaire (LCA35) (eds. L. Pinchard and J.-C. Haelewyck; Brussels: Safran, 2023) 55–70.
12 Zuntz, The Text, 34.
13 S. P. Brock, ‘Hebrews 2:9B in Syriac Tradition’, NovT 27.3 (1985) 236–44, at 241.
14 Zuntz, The Text, 34.
15 A. M. Donaldson, Explicit References to New Testament Variant Readings among Greek and Latin Church Fathers (Ph.D. diss., University of Notre Dame, 2009) vol.1, 226, note 30.
16 For example, Elliott lists Eusebius among the attestations of the minor variant (Elliott, ‘When Jesus’, 339); Attridge lists Chrysostom and Eusebius (Attridge, The Epistle to the Hebrews, 69, note 5).
17 In the next lines, I comment on only the attestations with lesser-known or new information.
18 See for Chrysostom, Eusebius and Athanasius, N. B. de Carvalho, ‘By God's Grace or Without God in the First Place?’ (Athens: University of Georgia, 2020, unpublished) 2.
19 No mention of χωρὶς θɛοῦ stands in either the Greek or the Armenian version of Cyril's commentary on Hebrews. See P. E. Pusey, ed., Sancti patris nostri Cyrilli … In D. Joannis Evangelium. Accedunt fragmenta varia necnon tractatus ad Tiberium diaconum duo, vol. III (Oxford: Clarendon, 1872) 386–91; Cyril of Alexandria, Commentary on the Letter to Hebrews (Classical Armenian with English translation; Yerevan: Ankyunacar Publishing, 2021) 206–11. Thank you to Sara Scarpellini for her help in checking this reference.
20 This article presents the most exhaustive list of Patristic evidence; for other quite complete lists, see Hartog, ‘The Text of Hebrews 2:9’, 53; de Carvalho, ‘By God's Grace’, 1–3.
21 Severus, C.imp.gr. 3.1/67.14, an attestation rarely mentioned, but pointed out in B. Aland and A. Juckel, eds., Das Neue Testament in Syrischer Überlieferung - II Die Paulinischen Briefe, 3: 1./2. Thessalonischerbrief, 1./2. Timotheusbrief, Titusbrief, Philemonbrief und Hebräerbrief (ANTF 32; Berlin/New York: De Gruyter, 2002) 263. This reference has been cited recently by J. Valentin, ‘He 1,1-4 dans le Vatican Ar. 13 et les manuscrits arabes du Sinaï, avec un complement sur He 2,9’, in a forthcoming BEThL volume; I thank Jean Valentin for having provided it to me. However, it should be noted that the exact reference is not Severus, C.imp.gr. 3.1/67.14, but Severus, C.imp.gr. 3.1/67.16. Moreover, Aland and Juckel twice edit ܐ
ܐ̣ (alāhā, God) in their version of Severus’ quotation, whereas one reads only one mention of ܐ
ܐ̣ in Joseph Lebon's edition (Severus of Antioch, Liber contra impium Grammaticum III.A (SS IV/5, Textus; ed. J. Lebon; Paris: E typographeo Reipublicae, 1929) 67 (Syriac) and 48 (Latin)).
22 For Babai the Great and Shahdost, see Brock, ‘Hebrews’, 239, note 10. Shadhost or Eusthatius of Tarihan was an eighth century ce writer.
23 Quoted from the Liber Heraclidis by Brock, ‘Hebrews’, 237.
24 Brock, ‘Hebrews’, 241. Six Peshitta manuscripts present alternative variants: ‘for he, God, in his grace’, or ‘for he in grace God’ (Brock, ‘Hebrews’, 240).
25 Valentin, ‘He 1,1–4’, forthcoming.
26 Brock, ‘Hebrews’, 240.
27 For an overview of the main points in the Greek and Latin Patristic attestations of χωρὶς θɛοῦ, see Donaldson, Explicit References, vol. 1, 226–30.
28 Origen, Commentary on John 1.40; 28.41; Dialogue with Heraclides 27.6; Commentary on Romans 3.8; 5.7.
29 Diodore, Comm. in Ps. 8.6b-7 (Corpus Christianorum, Series Graeca 6; ed. J. M. Olivier; Turnhout: Brepols, 1980) 49.
30 Jerome, Comm. Gal. 3.10 (CCSL 77A) 85.
31 Donaldson, Explicit References, vol. 1; 227; Jerome, Comm. Gal. 3.10 (CCSL 77A) 85.
32 Ambrose, De Fide II.8.63 and V.13.160, quoted by R. W. Muncey, The New Testament Text of St Ambrose (Texts and Studies; Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1959) 102.
33 Fulgentius, Ad trasimundum regem vandalorum III.III.XX (MPL 65.0284B-C). Amy Donaldson quotes the attestations of Origen, Diodore, Jerome, Pseudo-Oecumenius, Theodore of Mopsuestia, and Theophylact (Donaldson, Explicit References, vol. 2, 526–36).
34 Origen, Commentary on Romans 3.8; 5.7.
35 Severus of Antioch, Liber contra impium Grammaticum III.A (SS IV/5 Textus; ed. J. Lebon; Paris: E typographeo Reipublicae, 1929) 67 (Syriac) and 48 (Latin).
36 See Severus Pol. ant. 1.108.14, Pol. ant. 3.17.9 and Phil. 12.16 (Aland and Juckel, Das Neue Testament, 263).
37 Muncey, The New Testament, 102: ‘Ambrose evidently had a Greek MS. which contained this reading, and he is followed by Theodoret, Fulgentius and Vigilius.’
38 I do not count extra Deum as alternative here because one finds it only as explanation in a marginal note of VL 7 (see 3.3 below); contra White and Wordsworth in their edition of the Vulgate: J. Wordsworth and H. J. White, eds., Nouum Testamentum Domini Nostri Jesu Christi Latine. Secundum editionem santci Hieronymi (Oxonii: Clarendon Press, 1941) pars. 2, fasc. 7, 698.
39 Brock, ‘Hebrews’, 238, note 7.
40 Brock, ‘Hebrews’, 238.
41 J. A. Cramer, ed., Catenae Graecorum Patrum in N. T., vol. 7 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1844) 147; quoted by Brock, ‘Hebrews’, 238, note 7.
42 Elliott, ‘When Jesus’, 339–40.
43 de Carvalho, ‘By God's Grace’, 5–6.
44 Elliott, ‘When Jesus’, 341.
45 C. P. Hammond Bammel, ‘A New Witness to the Scholia from Origen in the Codex von der Goltz’, Origeniana et Rufiniana, vol. 2 (AGLB 29; Freiburg: Herder, 1996) 137–41; C. P. Hammond Bammel, ‘Extracts from Origen in Vat. Pal. 204’, JTS 49.1 (1998) 129–35.
46 Valentin, ‘He 1,1–4’, forthcoming.
47 H. A. G. Houghton, The Latin New Testament. A Guide to its Early History, Texts, and Manuscripts (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2016) 87.
48 See Brock, ‘Hebrews’, 241.
49 Valentin, ‘He 1,1–4’, forthcoming.
50 Contra de Carvalho, ‘By God's Grace’, 4–5, who evokes a ‘change’ in GA 424, based on M. H. Tagami, A Textual Analysis of the Manuscripts Comprising Family 1739 in Hebrews (Ph.D. diss., New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, 2007) 33.
51 E. A. von der Goltz, Eine textkritische Arbeit des zehnten bzw. sechsten Jahrhunderts, herausgegeben nach einem Kodex des Athosklosters Lawra (TU 17.4; Leipzig: Hinrichs, 1899) 87; quoted below.
52 See in the chronological order: Goltz, Eine textkritische Arbeit; K. Lake, J. de Zwaan and M. S. Enslin, ‘Codex 1739’, Six Collations of New Testament Manuscripts (eds. K. and S. Lake; HTS 17; Cambridge/London: Harvard University Press/Oxford University Press, 1932) 141–219; G. Zuntz, A Piece of Early Christian Rhetoric in the New Testament Manuscript 1739 (1946) (Opuscula Selecta; Manchester: Classica, Hellenistica Christiana, 1972) 184–290; Zuntz, The Text, 68–84; J. N. Birdsall, A Study of Ms. 1739 of the Pauline Epistles and its Relationship to Mss. 6, 424, 1908 and M (Ph.D. diss., University of Nottingham, 1959); T. C. Geer, Family 1739 in Acts (Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1994); Hammond Bammel, ‘A New Witness’; Hammond Bammel, ‘Extracts’; A. S. Anderson, The Textual Tradition of the Gospels. Family 1 in Matthew (NTTS 32; Leiden and Boston: Brill, 2004) 35–9; D. C. Parker, An Introduction to the New Testament Manuscripts and their Texts (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008) 261–3; G. Gäbel, ‘The Text of Hebrews in GA 1739 in Selected Other Greek Manuscripts, and in Works of Origen: Preliminary Quantitative Assessments’, The New Testament in Antiquity and Byzantium: Traditional and Digital Approaches to its Texts and Editing. FS K. Wachtel (ANTF 52; eds. H. A. G. Houghton, D. C. Parker, and H. Strutwolf; Berlin: De Gruyter, 2019) 147–63; J. W. Peterson, GA 1739: A Monk, his Manuscript and the Text of Paul's Letters (Ph.D. diss., University of Edinburgh, 2020).
53 Hammond Bammel, ‘Extracts’, 129.
54 Gäbel, ‘The Text of Hebrews’, 147.
55 P. Garnet, ‘Hebrews 2.9: CHARITI or CHWRIS’, Papers of the 1983 Oxford Patristics Conference, vol. 1 (ed. E. A. Livingstone; Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1989) 321–5, at 321; see Zuntz, The Text of the Epistles, 83.
56 Gäbel, ‘The Text of Hebrews’, 161.
57 Goltz, Eine textkritische Arbeit, 87. M 67** is GA 424 (67p).
58 Gäbel, ‘The Text of Hebrews’, 155.
59 Hammond Bammel, ‘Extracts’, 129.
60 Hammond Bammel, ‘Extracts’, 132.
61 Hammond Bammel, ‘Extracts’, 132.
62 F. F. Bruce, Commentary on the Epistle to the Hebrews (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 19902) 32.
63 B. M. Metzger, A Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament (Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, 19942) 594.
64 B. F. Westcott, The Epistle to the Hebrews (London: Macmillan, 1892) 62.
65 Elliott, ‘When Jesus’, 340.
66 Houghton, The Latin New Testament, 87.
67 Wordsworth and H. J. White, Nouum Testamentum, pars. 2, fasc. 7, 698.
68 Houghton, The Latin New Testament, 87–8.
69 Houghton, The Latin New Testament, 88.
70 Clivaz, ‘Marc 15,34’.
71 H. J. Carey, Jesus’ Cry from the Cross: Towards a First Century Understanding of the Intertextual Relationship between Psalm 22 and the Narrative of Mark's Gospel (LNTS 398; London/New York: Bloomsbury/ T&T Clark, 2009) 143; see also 137 and 173.
72 This short comment is even more surprising in that Carey affirms that χωρὶς θɛοῦ is the ‘only textual variant that could alter the significance and meaning of the passage’ (Carey, Jesus’ Cry, 183).
73 F. S. Jones, ‘An Early Aramaic Account of Jesus’ Crucifixion’, Frühes Christentum und Religionsgeschichtliche Schule, Festschrift zum 65. Geburtstag von Gerd Lüdeman (M. Janssen, F. S. Jones and J. Wehnert eds.; NTOA 95; Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2011) 62.
74 Macarius Mage, Apocriticus 2.23.1–6, first published in C. Blondel, ed., Makariou Magnētos apokritikos ē monogénés = Macarii Magnetis quae supersunt ex inedito codice (Apocriticus) (Paris: Klincksieck, 1876) 20–1.
75 Recently, C. A. Evans, Jesus and the Manuscripts: What We Can Learn from the Oldest Texts (Peabody: Eerdmans, 2020) 101, 106, 177, and 1031; previously, see D. C. Parker, Codex Bezae: An Early Christian Manuscript and Its Text (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992) 281.
76 E. A. Lowe, ed., Codices Latini Antiquiores: a Palaeographical Guide to Latin Manuscripts Prior to the Ninth Century. Part IV, Italy: Perugia-Verona, no 465 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1947) 18.
77 One can clearly read today the two last letters of the prima manu maledixisti, highlighted first by Burkitt in 1900, followed by Turner and Harnack. See F. C. Burkitt, ‘On St. Mark XV 34 in “Codex Bobiensis”’, JTS 1.2 (1900) 278–9. In 1904, however, a fire damaged the library of Turin, and the Codex Bobbiensis was covered in water, as recorded by C. Cipolla et al., eds., Il codice evangelico k della Biblioteca universitaria nazionale di Torino, riprodotto in fac-simile per cura della Regia accademia delle scienze di Torino (Turin: G. Malfese, 1913) 11. This event explains why Burkitt and Turner have been able to read more than we can. See C. Clivaz, ‘Mk 16 im Codex Bobbiensis. Neue Materialien zur conclusio brevior des Markusevangeliums’, ZNT 47.24 (2021) 59–85
78 Harnack, ‘Zwei alte dogmatische Korrekturen im Hebräerbrief’, 100.
79 Attridge, ‘In Praise of Minor Variants, Heb 2.9’, unpublished.
80 Attridge, ‘In Praise of Minor Variants, Heb 2.9’, unpublished.
81 Attridge, The Epistle to the Hebrews, 77, note 77.
82 P. Foster, ed., The Gospel of Peter (TNTS 4; Leiden: Brill, 2010) 308.
83 Swete, H. B., ed., The Apocryphal Gospel of St. Peter, the Greek Text of the Newly Discovered Fragment (London: Macmillan, 1893) 9Google Scholar.
84 Brown, R. E., The Death of the Messiah. From Gethsemane to the Grave: A Commentary on the Passion Narratives in the Four Gospels, vol. 2 (Anchor Bible Reference Library; New York: Doubleday, 1998) 1058Google Scholar: ‘The ‘eli of Ps 22:2, could have been read to mean something like “My strong one” or “My strength”. In the 2nd Century A.D., contemporary with GPet, a part of a Jewish attempt to produce a Greek translation more faithful to the Hebrew, Aquila rendered Ps 22.2 as “My strong one [ischure], my strong one”, a translation which Eusebius thought could be more eloquently rendered, “My strength” (Demonstratio Evangelica 10.8.30; GCS 23:476).’
85 Foster, The Gospel of Peter, 163.
86 Attridge, ‘La christologie kénotique’, 303–4.
87 Yohanna, S. S., ed., The Gospel of Mark in the Syriac Harklean Version. An Edition Based upon the Earliest Witnesses (Rome: Pontifical Biblical Institute Gregorian/Biblical Press, 2015) 93Google Scholar.
88 Thank you to Damien Labadie for his help in checking this Syriac point.
89 Swete, The Apocryphal Gospel, 10, note 5: ‘Ephraim tell us (serm. Adv. Haer. 56) that at the assemblies of a Gnostic sect which he connects with the name of Bardaisan, a hymn was sung in which a female voice recited the words […] “My God and my Head, thou hast left me alone”.’ See also Ephrem, Hymne LV.6 (eds. E. Beck and D. Cerbelaud; Ephrem de Nisibe. Hymnes contre les hérésies, vol. 2 (SC 590; Paris: Cerf, 2017) 346–7).
90 B. Randall, ‘The Riddle of Jesus’ Cry from the Cross: The Meaning of ηλι ηλι λαμα σαβαχθανι (Matthew 27:46) and the Literary Function of ɛλωι ɛλωι λɛιμα σαβαχθανι (Mark 15:34)’, The Language Environment of First Century Judaea (R. Buth and R. S. Notley, eds.; JCPS 26; Leiden/Boston: Brill, 2014) 402–3.
91 See note 84 above.
92 Sidersky, D., ‘La parole suprême de Jésus’, Revue de l'histoire des religions 103 (1931) 151–4Google Scholar.
93 Peter J. Williams pointed out in 2004 σαβαχθαχθανι in GA 09 and λιμας αβαχθανη in GA 118 (P. J. Williams, ‘The Linguistic Background to Jesus' Dereliction Cry (Matthew 27:46; Mark 15:34)’, The New Testament in Its First Century Setting, Essays on Context and Background in Honour of B.W. Winter on His 65th Birthday (P. J. Williams, A. D. Clarke, P. M. Head and D. Instone-Brewer, eds.; Grand Rapids/Cambridge: Eerdmans, 2004) 1–12, at 2–3).