.
Recent advocates of the longer beginning built their cases on two main arguments:
- external evidence of mss support and
- the plausibility of an accidental omission of "son of god"
Most scholars agree that an assumed omission is plausible because the majority of scribes used nomina sacra for "Jesus Christ" and "son of god" with the same ending so that a scribe writing the four letters of „Jesus Christ“ (
Ι Υ Χ Υ) could jump easily over the next four letters of "son of God" (
Υ Υ Θ Υ). Joe and Ben have already discussed it in this thread.
Α Ρ Χ Η Τ Ο Υ Ε Υ Α Γ Γ Ε Λ Ι Ο Υ Ι Υ Χ Υ Υ Υ Θ Υ Κ Α Θ Ω Σ Γ Ε Γ Ρ Α Π Τ Α Ι
But there is a little problem. The majority of the mss does not attest the reading "son of god", but the reading "son of
the god".
Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ] א* Θ 28c 530 582* 820* 1021 1436 1555* 1692 2430 2533 l2211 (syrpal τοῦ κυρίου Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ) copsa(ms) arm geo1 Origengr Origenlat Victorinus-Pettau Asterius Serapion Titus-Bostra Basil Cyril-Jerusalem Severian Jerome3/6 Hesychius WHtext Rivmg NM
Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ υἱοῦ θεοῦ] א1 B D L W 732 1602 2427 Diatessaronp WHmg (NA [υἱοῦ θεοῦ])
Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ υἱοῦ τοῦ θεοῦ] A E F Gsupp H K Δ Π Σ f1 f13 33 180 205 565 579 597 700 892 1006 1009 1010 1071 1079 1195 1216 1230 1242 1243 1253 1292 1342 1344 1365 1424 1505 1546 1646 2148 2174 Byz Lect eth geo2 slav ς
Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ υἱοῦ θεοῦ or Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ υἱοῦ τοῦ θεοῦ] ita itaur itb itc itd itf itff2 itl itq itr1 vg syrp syrh copsa(mss) copbo goth Irenaeuslat2/3 Faustus-Milevis Ambrose Chromatius Jerome3/6 Augustine [NR] CEI ND Rivtext Dio TILC Nv
Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ υἱοῦ τοῦ κυρίου] 1241
Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ τοῦ θεοῦ] 055 pc
Ἰησοῦ] 28*
omit] Irenaeusgr Irenaeuslat1/3 Epiphanius
Naturally, there is no theological difference between „son of god“ and „son of
the god“, but in the latter variant the assumed accidental omission is not plausible because the text would be
Α Ρ Χ Η Τ Ο Υ Ε Υ Α Γ Γ Ε Λ Ι Ο Υ Ι Υ Χ Υ Υ Υ Τ Ο Υ Θ Υ Κ Α Θ Ω Σ Γ Ε Γ Ρ Α Π Τ Α Ι
Besides verse 1:1 and verse 16:19 (LE) the word „God“
occurs 47 times in GMark, 43 times with the definite article and 4 times without an article. Therefore the probality is 90 percent that Mark would have written „son of
the god“ instead of „son of god“. But as I said, in this case the assumed accidental omission is not plausible. (There could be some discussions about minor variants and a deliberate use here and there, but the overall picture would not change.)
| God without an article |
God with the definite article |
| Mk 10:27, Mk 11:22, Mk 12:27, Mk 15:39 |
Mk 1:14, Mk 1:15, Mk 1:24, Mk 2:7, Mk 2:12, Mk 2:26, Mk 3:11, Mk 3:35, Mk 4:11, Mk 4:26, Mk 4:30, Mk 5:7, Mk 5:7, Mk 7:8, Mk 7:9, Mk 7:13, Mk 8:33, Mk 9:1, Mk 9:47, Mk 10:9, Mk 10:14, Mk 10:15, Mk 10:18, Mk 10:23, Mk 10:24, Mk 10:25, Mk 10:27, Mk 12:14, Mk 12:17, Mk 12:17, Mk 12:24, Mk 12:26, Mk 12:26, Mk 12:26, Mk 12:26, Mk 12:29, Mk 12:30, Mk 12:34, Mk 13:19, Mk 14:25, Mk 15:34, Mk 15:34, Mk 15:43 |