Matthew 6:13b in minuscule 13. |
At the close of Matthew 6:13, most modern versions of the
New Testament place the phrase, “For yours is the kingdom and the power and the
glory forever; Amen” in a footnote, whereas the KJV, NKJV, WEB, and MEV have it
in the text. (The hyper-paraphrase The Message also has it in the text,
albeit in a rather distorted form.)
Let’s take a closer look at the evidence pertaining to this textual
contest.
In about 98.5% of
the Greek manuscripts that contain Matthew 6:13 (something around 1,500 MSS),
the words ἀλλὰ ῥῦσαι ἡμᾶς ἀπὸ τοῦ πονηροῦ (“but deliver us from evil”) are followed
by ὅτι σοῦ ἐστιν ἡ βασιλεία καὶ ἡ δύναμις καὶ ἡ δόξα εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας ἀμήν (“For
Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever, Amen”).
Some anomalous
readings in this phrase appear in Greek manuscripts and versions, as the late
Bruce Metzger pointed out in his Textual
Commentary on the Greek New Testament:
it “occurs in several forms,”
which he listed, citing the Sahidic and Fayummic versions – which don’t mention
“the kingdom” – and the habitually anomalous Old Latin Codex Bobbiensis – which
only has the Latin equivalent of “For
yours is the power forever and ever” – and minor liturgical expansions
found in “some Greek manuscripts” and “Several late manuscripts.” However, Metzger frugally declined to share
with readers the consistency with which the vast majority of Greek manuscripts
perpetuate the words (with some allowance for spelling).
Matthew 6:13 in Codex W. |
Fortunately this gap
in Metzger’s comments has been filled in by data presented by Jonathan
Borland, who has pointed out that 1,416 manuscripts preserve the phrase
exactly, and that all of the MSS from the 900s and earlier that have the phrase
“contain the doxology completely intact, letter for letter.” Among
these 105 MSS are Codices E G K L M S U V W Δ Θ Π Σ Φ Ω 047 0211 0233
0257 0287 and minuscules such as 33 123 151 274 405 461 565 773 892 1073 1077 1079
1080 1110 1172 1346 1424 1701 1816 2142 2414 and 2812.
There is a
smattering of variations among MSS that support the inclusion of the doxology,
but their attestation is practically trivial:
● The final “Amen” is missing in 16 MSS, at least in
the text written by the main scribe.
● In 20 MSS, an extra “and ever” appears between “forever” and “Amen.”
● In 20 MSS, an extra “and ever” appears between “forever” and “Amen.”
● Five manuscripts
read the equivalent of “For yours is the
kingdom and the power forever, Amen.”
● Six manuscripts read the equivalent of “For yours is the kingdom and the glory forever, Amen.”
● Six manuscripts read the equivalent of “For yours is the kingdom and the glory forever, Amen.”
Why is a passage with so much manuscript-support
not included in the base-text of the NIV, ESV, CSB, etc.? Because it is absent from several important
early witnesses. These include Vaticanus
and Sinaiticus (the flagship manuscripts of the Alexandrian Text – as well as
Codex Bezae (the flagship MS of the Western Text), Codex Z (035, from the
500s), 0170 (400s or 500s), and the leading members of family-1, and a
smattering of other minuscules (130, 372, 890, 1090c, 2701s,
2737, 2780*, and 2786.
In addition, most Old Latin copies do not include the doxology; nor do the Middle Egyptian version and the earliest strata of the Bohairic version.
In addition, most Old Latin copies do not include the doxology; nor do the Middle Egyptian version and the earliest strata of the Bohairic version.
Turning to the
versional support for inclusion of the doxology, we find that the Peshitta
(late 300s/early 400s), the Gothic version (mid-300s), the Palestinian Aramaic,
the Harklean Syriac (616), and the Armenian (c. 430), Georgian, and Ethiopic
versions favor inclusion. The Curetonian
Syriac supports “for yours is the kingdom and the glory forever, Amen.” Although the Vulgate and most Old Latin
witnesses support non-inclusion, VL 7 (g1) supports the whole
passage except “Amen,” and Codex Bobbiensis (VL
1, k) supports “For yours is the power
forever and ever, Amen.” Miller (1893)
also cited Codex Brixianus (VL 10, f)
and VL 13 (q) as support for
inclusion. The Sahidic and Fayummic
versions are both cited in the UBS apparatus (ed. 2) as support for “For yours
is the power and the glory forever, Amen.”
We
now come to the patristic evidence. Some
very significant patristic writings support the non-inclusion of the
doxology:
● Origen (first
half of the 200s, in Caesarea )
● Acts of Thomas (200s)
● Hilary of Poitiers (mid-300s),
● Caesarius of
Nazianzus (mid-300s),
● Gregory of Nyssa
(mid-late 300s),
● Cyril of
Alexandria (early 400s),
● Maximus the
Confessor (early 600s), and, in Latin,
● Tertullian (c.
200, in North Africa ),
● Cyprian
(mid-200s, in North Africa ), and
● Ambrose (late
300s),
● Chromatius of
Aquileia (late 300s),
● Augustine (early 400s), and
● Peter Chrysologus
(mid-400s).
Let not your fasts be with the
hypocrites. For they fast on the second
and fifth day of the week. Instead, fast
on the fourth day, and the Preparation-Day (Friday). Do not pray like the hypocrites, but rather
as the Lord commanded in His Gospel, like this:
“Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed is
Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in
heaven. Give us today our daily
(needful) bread, and forgive us our debt as we also forgive our debtors. And bring us not into temptation, but deliver
us from the evil one. For Yours is the power and the glory
forever.”
In chapter 9, the Didache contains a model-prayer for the communion service which includes the following statement: “As this broken bread was once scattered on the mountains, and after it had been brought together became one, so may thy church be gathered together from the ends of the earth unto thy kingdom, for thine is the glory, and the power, through Jesus Christ, forever.”
In
chapter 10, the Didache
presents a model prayer to be given following the communion-service; it begins
with the phrase, “We thank
You, holy Father, for Your holy name which You caused to dwell in our hearts.”
Here is its final
paragraph, slightly adjusted from the translations by Kirsopp
Lake and J. B.
Lightfoot, slightly modernized:
“Remember, Lord, your Church, to
deliver it from all evil and to perfect it in your love, and gather it together
from the four winds – the sanctified people – into your
kingdom which you have prepared for it. For yours is the power and the glory
for ever. May grace come and may this
world pass away. Hosanna to the God of David. If any man is holy, let him come;
if any man is not, let him repent. Maranatha, Amen.”
All three of
these passages in the Didache look
like adaptations of the doxology in Matthew 6:13. Particularly
in chapter 10, there are thematic connections to the Lord’s Prayer as presented
in Matthew 6:9-13: we see in close
proximity, and in the same order, a reference to the Father, to His name, and
to deliverance from evil – and then to the Father’s kingdom, and then the
phrase “for Yours is the power and the
glory forever.”
When considering
the testimony of the Didache,
however, two things need to be kept in mind:
first, that the most complete manuscript of the Didache was produced in 1056, and its liturgical contents might
have been influenced by factors that did not exist when it was initially
composed. In other words, it is possible
that the doxology-phrase might have been added to the Didache’s contents some time after the second century. Second, and dovetailing with that, the incorporation
of parts of the Didache into other
compositions such as Apostolic Constitutions Book VII (generally assigned to 380) and a sermon of St. Boniface suggests that its text was subject to customization, which is all the more
reason why some researchers have suggested that it is somewhat precarious to
treat the text of the Didache’s
eleventh-century representative as if it must echo the second-century
text.
Fortunately we have
a bit more data which may help us balance these factors. The main witness to the text of the Didache is Codex
Hierosolymitanus 54 was discovered in 1873 by Philotheos Bryennios, the
metropolitan of Nicomedia , at Constantinople . It contains not only the text of the Didache but some other early Christian
compositions as well, such as the Epistle
of Barnabas, First Clement, Second Clement, the long form of the Epistles of Ignatius, and the text known
as the Epistle of Mary
of Kassobelae to Ignatius.
In 1922, Arthur
Hunt published two small fragments which contained text from the first three
chapters (1:3c-4a and 2:7b-3:2a) of the Didache – although the text of this fifth- or sixth-century
witness, P.
Oxy. 15.1782, varied from the contents of Codex Hierosolymitanus. The relevance of the textual variations in P.Oxy. 15.1782, however, are a matter of debate, inasmuch as this witness takes
the form of a miniature codex – the fragments measure only 5 x 5.8 cm and 5.7 x
4.8 cm – and such small books may have been intended to include merely an
abridged sample of the Didache’s contents.
In
1924, the document known as Br. Mus. Or. 9271 was published by George Horner: it is a Coptic text “of a Middle Egyptian
kind,” written on papyrus, that contains Didache
10:3b-12:2a. Its production-date was
estimated to be perhaps as early as 400.
Horner, in Journal of Theological
Studies, provided an English translation of the text from this one-sheet
fragment; here is the final paragraph of its text of the communion-prayer in
chapter 10, as translated by Horner:
“Remember,
O Lord, thy Church that thou shouldst deliver her from all the evil and perfect
her by Thy love, and gather her from the four winds into thy kingdom which thou
preparedst for her. Because thine is the
power and the glory eternal, hamen. Let
come the Lord, and let this world pass away, hamen. Osanna to the house of David. He who is holy, let him come, he who is not
holy, let him repent. The Lord came, Amen.”
In case the close
agreement between Codex Hierosolymitanus 54 and Br. Mus. Or. 9271 is not clear,
here is a line-by-line comparison; Horner’s translation from the Coptic text is
in bold italicized black print; a translation of Codex H54 is in bold blue
print:
“Remember, O Lord, thy Church
“Remember,
Lord, your Church,
that
thou shouldst deliver her from all the evil
to
deliver it from all evil
and
perfect her by Thy love,
and
to perfect it in your love,
and
gather her from the four winds into thy kingdom
and
gather it together from the four winds
– the sanctified people – into your kingdom
which
thou preparedst for her.
which
you have prepared for it.
Because
thine is the power and the glory eternal, hamen.
For
yours is the power and the glory forever.
Let
come the Lord, and let this world pass away, hamen.
May grace come and may this world pass
away.
Osanna to the house of David.
Hosanna to the God of David.
He who is holy, let him come,
If
any man is holy, let him come;
he
who is not holy, let him repent.
if
any man is not, let him repent.
The Lord came, Amen.”
Maranatha, Amen.”
Clearly both manuscripts
are presenting the same prayer, and clearly the phrase “For yours is the power and the glory forever” is in them both.
I note that while
it is possible that a moment of inattentiveness could cause a scribe’s
line of sight to skip from the ἡ before βασιλεία (“kingdom”) to the ἡ before
δύναμις (“power”) and thus fail to preserve the reference to the kingdom,
another and probably better explanation of the absence of the reference to the
kingdom in this prayer (and in chapter 9) is that because this doxology-phrase is immediately preceded by
a reference to God’s kingdom, the term was not used so as to avoid
superfluity.
Inasmuch as the Didache repeatedly borrows language from
the Gospel of Matthew and uses Matthew’s form of the Lord’s model prayer (this is so indisputable that the point need not be
argued), the concerns of those who are hesitant to affirm that Codex
Hierosolymitanus 54 shows that the author of the Didache was familiar with a
text of Matthew 6:13 that included the doxology may be alleviated by the
combined testimony of Codex Hierosolymitanus 54 and Br. Mus. Or. 9271.
Inasmuch as the Didache was probably
composed when people who knew the apostle Matthew were still alive, this is an
extremely weighty witness for the inclusion of the doxology in the original
text of Matthew 6:13.
To be continued in Part 2.
Readers are encouraged to explore the
embedded links to additional resources.
I am Catholic and we always say the whole phrase, "For the kingdom and power and glory are your's forever." after the Lord's Prayer. That is a part of our liturgy. So we include it.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your excellent research.
ReplyDelete"The doxology is absent in ℵ B D Z 0170 [f1-pt] 1090c and in 10 other insignificant witnesses from the 14th century or later. . . "All the manuscripts from the 10th century and earlier (105 witnesses!) contain the doxology completely intact, letter for letter.” {JCB}
ReplyDeleteThis shows how stable the text was, century after century. There simply is no such phenomena amongst the mss, spread out over as many centuries, that share any given distinctly Alexandrian reading.
I would question the assertion that "all the manuscripts from the 10th century and earlier ... contain the doxology completely intact" when pre-10th century MSS lacking the doxology were already cited in the previous quoted portion.
ReplyDeleteAlso, one key reason for omitting the doxology may lie in the liturgical practice of the Greek Orthodox church, since after the recitation of most of the prayer by the laity, only the priest recites the closing doxology, and that in a low voice.
Good research. Personally I find the omission (as James noted) by Origen in his thorough and enjoyable piece “On Prayer” difficult to overcome. And Origen was not shy about noting and exploring variants among copies found in both OT and NT. Similar wording can be found in Revelation 4:11 so either way it’s a valid praise to express to God.
ReplyDeleteSteve
Maurice Robinson,
ReplyDeleteWhat was being claimed obviously was not that the doxology was present in every pre-10th century manuscript, but that variations to the doxology are ONLY present in later manuscripts. Those earlier ones that do have it, have it exactly--unlike the "oldest and best manuscripts" which rarely agree exactly other than in what they leave out--and anything multiplied by zero is always zero, so that's not exactly the kind of perfect agreement to brag about, especially if that's all you have.
I am no scholar but I know that it's God's Kingdom. I find it significant that newer versions leave this out.
ReplyDelete