Comparing Sinaiticus to the Byzantine Text in Luke

            Continuing the examination of deviations between the text of Codex Sinaiticus and the Byzantine Text in the Gospels, let’s look today at some meaningful differences the two in the Gospel of Luke.  In Luke, Sinaiticus’ text differs from not only the Byzantine Text, but from virtually all other manuscripts, with great frequency – but usually the differences do not drastically affect the meaning of the sentences in which they occur.  The list of translatable differences between the text of Codex Sinaiticus (À) and the Byzantine Text exceeds 100, but I chose the following 60, not just in the interest of brevity, but also because they make it especially obvious that the text of Codex Sinaiticus is different not only in its wording, but in its meaning. 

            Consider these differences between what Sinaiticus says, and what the Byzantine Text says:

● 1.  In Luke 1:26, is Nazareth located in Judea, or in Galilee?

            À:  Judea

            Byz:  Galilee

● 2.  In Luke 1:28, does the angel tell Mary, “Blessed are you among women?”

            À:  no

            Byz:  yes

● 3.  Does Luke 1:65 say that people spoke of all these things in the hill-country of Judea?

            À:  no

            Byz:  yes

● 4.  At the end of Luke 2:14, does the angel say, “Peace on earth; goodwill to men,” or “Peace on earth to men with whom God is pleased”?

            Byz:   Peace on earth; goodwill to men

            À:  Peace on earth to men with whom God is pleased

● 5.  According to Luke 2:37, how many years had Anna been a widow?

            À:  about 74 years

            Byz:  about 84 years   

● 6.  Does Luke 2:43 refer to Joseph and Mary as His “parents,” or as “Joseph and His mother”?

            À:  parents

            Byz:  Joseph and His mother

● 7.  In Luke 2:44, did they look for Jesus among His kinsfolk and acquaintances, or are only his kinsfolk mentioned?

            À:  kinsfolk

            Byz:  kinsfolk and acquaintances

● 8.  In Luke 3:1, in what territory did Pontius Pilate serve as governor?

            À:  the text does not say

            Byz:  Judea

● 9.  Does Jesus’ genealogy in Luke 3:32 mention Boaz and Salmon, or Balls and Sala?

            À:  Balls and Sala

            Byz:  Boaz and Salmon

● 10.  In Luke 3:33, was Adam the father of Admin?

            À:  yes

            Byz:  no

● 11.  Does Luke 4:4 include the phrase “but by every word of God”?

            À:  no

            Byz:  yes

● 12.  Does Luke 4:5 say that the devil took Jesus up on a high mountain?

            À:  no

            Byz:  yes

● 13.  In Luke 4:8, does Jesus say “You get behind me, Satan”?

            À:  no

            Byz:  yes

● 14.  Does Luke 4:18 include the phrase “to heal the broken-hearted”?

            À:  no

            Byz:  yes

● 15.  In Luke 5:14, did Jesus tell the healed leper to show himself to the priest?

            À:  no

            Byz:  yes

● 16.  Besides tax collectors, did others sit down in Luke 5:29?

            À:  others are not mentioned

            Byz:  yes

● 17.  Does Luke 5:38 include the phrase, “and both are preserved together”?

            À:  no

            Byz:  yes

● 18.  Does Luke 6:17 mention people from Perea?

            À:  yes

            Byz:  no

● 19.  Does Jesus say in Luke 6:44 that people do not gather grapes from a bramble-bush, or that people do not gather grapes from a sprout?

            À:  from a sprout

            Byz:  from a bramble-bush

● 20.  In Luke 6:48, did Jesus say that the house “was well-built,” or that it was “built upon the rock”? 

            À:  it was well-built

            Byz:  it was built upon the rock

● 21.  In Luke 8:37, where was the multitude from?

            À:  around the country of the Gergesenes

            Byz:  around the country of the Gadarenes

● 22.  Does Luke 8:40 say that the people in the crowd were all looking for Jesus, or that they were all looking for God?

            À:  for God (τον Θν)

            Byz:  for Jesus (αυτον, Him)

● 23.  Does Luke 8:47 include the statement that the women saw that she was not hid?

            À:  no

            Byz:  yes

● 24.  Does Luke 8:47 say that the woman told the crowd why she had touched Jesus?

            À: no

            Byz:  yes

● 25.  Does Luke 8:54, referring to those who mocked, mention that Jesus put them all out?

            À:  no

            Byz:  yes

● 26.  Does Luke 8:55 say that the girl who had been dead arose immediately?

            À:  no

            Byz:  yes

● 27.  Does Luke 9:7 describe Herod as a tetrarch?

            À:  no

            Byz:  yes

● 28.  Does Luke 9:10 mention Bethsaida by name?

            À:  no

            Byz:  yes

● 29.  In Luke 10:32, does the Parable of the Good Samaritan include a Levite?

            À:  no

            Byz:  yes

● 30.  At the end of Luke 12:37, did Jesus say that the master, when he comes, will serve his faithful servants?

            À:  no 

            Byz:  yes

● 31.  Does Jesus say in Luke 12:39 that the master of the house would have watched if he had known when the thief was coming?

            À:  no

            Byz:  yes

● 32.  In Luke 12:52, did Jesus say that there shall be five in one house divided?

            À:  no

            Byz:  yes

● 33.  Does the ruler of the synagogue say in Luke 13:14 that it is fitting for man to work six days a week?

            À:  no

            Byz:  yes

● 34.  Does Jesus say in Luke 13:25 that some people shall stand outside when they ask for the door to be opened?

            À:  no

            Byz:  yes  

● 35.  In Luke 14:15-16, does someone say, “Blessed are those who shall eat bread in the kingdom of God”?  

            À:  no

            Byz:  yes

● 36.  In Luke 15:13, does Jesus mention that the prodigal son wasted his wealth on riotous living?

            À:  no

            Byz:  yes

● 37.  Does Luke 16:16 say that everyone is pressing into the kingdom of God?

            À:  no

            Byz:  yes

● 38.  Does Jesus conclude Luke 17:9 with the comment, “I know not”?

            À:  no

            Byz:  yes

● 39.  In Luke 17:10, does Jesus make a statement about what should be done when everything that was commanded has been done?

            À:  no

            Byz:  yes

● 40.  In Luke 17:12, does Luke mention that the ten lepers stood afar off?

            À:  no

            Byz:  yes

● 41.  In Luke 17:35, does Jesus say that two shall be grinding; one shall be taken and the other shall be left?

            À:  no

            Byz:  yes

● 42.  In the parable in Luke 18:11, does the Pharisee in the temple pray “with himself”?

            À:  no

            Byz:  yes

● 43.  Does Luke 18:24 report that Jesus became very sorrowful?   

            À:  no

            Byz:  yes

● 44.  In Luke 20:23, does Jesus ask a question?

            À:  no

            Byz:  yes

● 45.  In Luke 20:28, did the Sadducees mention the qualification about a man dying childless? 

            À:  no

            Byz:  yes

● 46.  In Luke 20:30, did the Sadducees specifically say that the second brother took the woman as his wife, and died childless?

            À:  no

            Byz:  yes

● 47.  In Luke 21:8, does Jesus predict that many will come and say, “The time is near”?

            À:  no

            Byz:  yes

● 48.  Does Luke 22:6 mention that Judas made a promise?

            À:  no

            Byz:  yes

● 49.  In Luke 22:53, did Jesus tell those arresting Him, “This is your hour”?

            À:  no

            Byz:  yes

● 50.  Does Luke 22:64 mention that Jesus was being struck on the face?

            À:  no

            Byz:  yes

● 51.  In Luke 23:5, did the people say that Jesus had been teaching throughout all of Judea?

            À: no

            Byz:  yes

● 52.  In Luke 23:42, did the repentant thief address Jesus as “Lord”?

            À:  no
            Byz:  yes

● 53.  Does Luke 24:1 report that the women at the tomb had some others with them?

            À:  no

            Byz:  yes

● 54.  In Luke 24:12, did Peter see the linen clothes lying by themselves?

            À:  no

            Byz:  yes

● 55.  According to Luke 24:13, how far was Emmaus from Jerusalem?

            À:  one hundred and sixty stadia

            Byz:  sixty stadia 

● 56.  Does Luke 24:27 say that Jesus explained all of the Scriptures about Him?

            À:  no

            Byz:  yes

● 57.  In Luke 24:31, does Luke say that when the two travelers’ eyes were opened, they knew Him?

            À:  no

            Byz:  yes

● 58.  Does Luke 24:42 say that Jesus ate a piece of honeycomb?

            À:  no

            Byz:  yes

● 59.  In Luke 24:46, does Jesus say that it was fitting for the Messiah to suffer?

            À:  no

            Byz:  yes

● 60.  Does Luke 24:51 say that Jesus was carried up into heaven?

            À:  no

            Byz:  yes

            As was the case with the comparisons between the Byzantine Text and the text written by the copyist of Sinaiticus in Matthew and Mark, my purpose is not to show which text is better; it is to show that they are different.  The doctrine of inerrancy is difficult to maintain when one’s text says that Nazareth is in Judea.  And if one uses a text that does not contain Mark 16:19 and Luke 24:51b, one must concede that Jesus’ bodily ascension is not reported anywhere in the Gospels.  In addition, many things are said in the Byzantine Text that the text written by the copyist of Codex Sinaiticus does not say – it is not a matter of conveying the same thing in different words; it is a matter of losing data. 

            At some point, readers should be asking, “How reliable is the text of Codex Sinaiticus?”  A longer list of its unusual readings would demonstrate that it is more unreliable than the average medieval Byzantine manuscript – but to just give some idea of its unreliability:  red dots that accompany a listing indicate that À disagrees not only with the Byzantine Text, but also with the Nestle-Aland compilation (41 out of these 60 entries).          

Nestle-Aland in Luke 15: Alexandrian or Eclectic?

          Is the Nestle-Aland compilation basically a slightly tweaked presentation of the Alexandrian Text, relying very heavily on Codex Vaticanus and Codex Sinaiticus?  Or is it an eclectic text based on thousands of manuscripts?  In the previous post, I investigated Galatians chapter 1 and found that the text in NA27 can be almost completely derived from readings in Vaticanus and/or Sinaiticus.  The Byzantine Text’s unique contribution to Galatians 1 amounts to .3% of the text.  What about the text in the Gospels?  Let’s investigate, using Luke 15 as a sample-passage – a chapter known for its parables:  the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the prodigal son.

          Sifting through the horizontal-line comparison prepared by Reuben Swanson for the text of the Gospel of Luke, we find that out of 51 lines of text, Swanson reports that NA and B agree in 39 of them.  Out of the remaining 12 lines of text in which NA and B do not agree, the NA compilation agrees with Sinaiticus in six of them.  This leaves six text-lines in Luke 15 in which NA does not consist of the contents of either B or À.  Here are those six deviations:   

● In a line in which verse 10 begins, NA reads γίνεται χαρα, adopting the word-order found in B and À but not adopting their spelling. (They both read γεινεται χαρα.)  Apparently, only one manuscript used by Swanson (minuscule 579) has this reading; the Byzantine Text reads χαρα γίνεται instead. 

● At the beginning of verse 14, NA reads λιμος ισχυρα, adopting the second word in agreement with B and À but rejecting their spelling of the first word (λειμος).  The occurrence of λιμος and ισχυρα side-by-side here appears to be attested in only a few manuscripts, one of which is Codex L.  The Byzantine Text reads λιμος ισχυρος instead.    

● In the middle of verse 15, NA rejects the spelling of B and À (where both read πολειτων), adopting instead the spelling used in Codex L and in the Byzantine Text (πολιτων).

● Near the end of verse 17, NA rejects the reading found in Papyrus 75, B and À (λειμω ωδε) and the shorter reading found in the Byzantine Text (λιμω), and the transposition supported by other manuscripts (including Codices D, N, and Θ), adopting instead the reading found in Codex L (λιμω ωδε).  (The transposed reading, whether ωδε λειμω or ωδε λιμω, explains its rivals:  when ωδε was accidentally skipped after the preceding word δε, it was lost in the Byzantine Text, and in the Alexandrian Text, after the loss was detected, the word ωδε was moved, as a practical preventative measure, to the other side of λειμω or λιμω.)  

● At the end of verse 21, NA rejects the reading found in B and À (and in Codex D and a minority of minuscules including 700), ποίησόν με ως ενα των μισθίων σου (that is, “Make me as one of your hired servants,” the same phrase found in verse 19), adopting the shorter reading supported by almost all other Greek manuscripts, including Papyrus 75, Codex L, and the Byzantine Text.  (More Greek manuscripts support the variant in B and À here than support the non-inclusion of Mark 16:9-20; yet this variant does not even receive a footnote in translations such as the ESV, HCSB, NIV, and NASB.)

● At the beginning of verse 25, NA adopts the word-order in B (ουτος ο υιος μου), and then adopts the next variant from À (ανέζησεν, instead of B’s εζησεν) – a combination found in only a few manuscripts, including Papyrus 75 and Codex L.  NA also rejects the Byzantine Text’s inclusion of the word και.

          Thus, out of the six text-lines in Luke 16 that do not agree with either Vaticanus or Sinaiticus, Novum Testamentum Graece adopts a reading found in the Byzantine Text in two of them.  The effect of the Byzantine Text upon the text in Luke 16 thus amounts to the removal of one letter in the À-B text in verse 15, and the removal of seven words at the end of verse 21. 

          One could argue that the real impetus for these deviations was Codex L – a strongly Alexandrian witness in Luke – rather than the Byzantine Text, inasmuch as Codex L’s readings were adopted in both of these places and in verses 14 and 25.  Nevertheless, presuming the maximum discernible impact of the Byzantine Text, out of Luke 16’s 2,703 letters in the Nestle-Aland compilation, had the Byzantine Text not been consulted, the text in verse 15 would be one letter longer, and the text in verse 21 would be 27 letters (that is, seven words) longer, yielding a total of 2,731 letters.  Thus, the impact of the Byzantine Text upon the text of Luke 15 in the Nestle-Aland compilation may be said to be discernible in 1% of the text.