The Causes of the Corruption of the Traditional Text

§ 2

Another and a far graver case of ‘Attraction’ is found in Acts xx. 24. St. Paul, in his address to the elders of Ephesus, refers to the discouragements he has had to encounter. ‘But none of these things move me,’ he grandly exclaims, ‘neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy.’ The Greek for this begins αλλ’ ουδενος λογον ποιουμαι: where some second or third century copyist (misled by the preceding genitive) in place of λογοΝ writes λογοΥ; with what calamitous consequence, has been found largely explained elsewhere229. Happily, the error survives only in Codd. B and C: and their character is already known by the readers of this book and the Companion Volume. So much has been elsewhere offered on this subject that I shall say no more about it here: but proceed to present my reader with another and more famous instance of attraction.

St. Paul in a certain place (2 Cor. iii. 3) tells the Corinthians, in allusion to the language of Exodus xxxi. 12, xxxiv. 1, that they are an epistle not written on ‘stony tables (εν πλαξι λιθιναις),’ but on ‘fleshy tables of the heart (εν πλαξι καρδιας σαρκιναις).’ The one proper proof that this is what St. Paul actually wrote, is not only (1) That the Copies largely preponderate in favour of so exhibiting the place: but (2) That the Versions, with the single exception of ‘that abject slave of manuscripts the Philoxenian [or Harkleian] Syriac,’ are all on the same side: and lastly (3) That the Fathers are as nearly as possible unanimous. Let the evidence for καρδιας (unknown to Tischendorf and the rest) be produced in detail:—

In the second century, Irenaeus230,—the Old Latin,—the Peshitto.

In the third century, Origen seven times231,—the Coptic version.

In the fourth century, the Dialogus232,—Didymus233,—Basil234,—Gregory Nyss.235,—Marcus the Monk236,—Chrysostom in two places237,—Nilus238,—the Vulgate,—and the Gothic versions.

In the fifth century, Cyril239,—Isidorus240,—Theodoret241,—the Armenian—and the Ethiopic versions.

In the seventh century, Victor, Bp. of Carthage addressing Theodorus P.[242]

In the eighth century, J. Damascene243... Besides, of the Latins, Hilary244,—Ambrose245,—Optatus246,—Jerome247,—Tichonius248,—Augustine thirteen times249,—Fulgentius250, and others251... If this be not overwhelming evidence, may I be told what is252?

But then it so happens that—attracted by the two datives between which καρδιας stands, and tempted by the consequent jingle, a surprising number of copies are found to exhibit the ‘perfectly absurd’ and ‘wholly unnatural reading253,’ πλαξι καρδιΑΙΣ σαρκινΑΙΣ. And because (as might have been expected from their character) A254B[Symbol: Aleph]CD255 are all five of the number,—Lachmann, Tischendorf, Tregelles, Alford, Westcott and Hort, one and all adopt and advocate the awkward blunder256. Καρδιαις is also adopted by the Revisers of 1881 without so much as a hint let fall in the margin that the evidence is overwhelmingly against themselves and in favour of the traditional Text of the Authorized Version257.

Footnotes

228 St. Luke vi. 16; Acts i. 13; St. Jude 1.

229 Above, pp. 28-31.

230 753 int.

231 ii. 843 c. Also int ii. 96, 303; iv. 419, 489, 529, 558.

232 Ap. Orig. i. 866 a,—interesting and emphatic testimony.

233 Cord. Cat. in Ps. i. 272.

234 i. 161 e. Cord. Cat. in Ps. i. 844.

235 i. 682 (ουκ εν πλαξι λιθιναις... αλλ’ εν τω της καρδιας πυξιω).

236 Galland. viii. 40 b.

237 vii. 2: x. 475.

238 i. 29.

239 i. 8: ii. 504: v². 65. (Aubert prints καρδιας σαρκινης. The published Concilia (iii. 140) exhibits καρδιας σαρκιναις. Pusey, finding in one of his MSS. αλλ’ εν πλαξι καρδιας λιθιναις (sic), prints καρδιας σαρκιναις.) Ap. Mai, iii. 89, 90.

240 299.

241 iii. 302.

242 Concil. vi. 154.

243 ii. 129.

244 344.

245 i. 762: ii. 668, 1380.

246 Galland. v. 505.

247 vi. 609.

248 Galland. viii. 742 dis.

249 i. 672: ii. 49: iii¹. 472, 560: iv. 1302: v. 743-4: viii. 311: x. 98, 101, 104, 107, 110.

250 Galland. xi. 248.

251 Ps.-Ambrose, ii. 176.

252 Yet strange to say, Tischendorf claims the support of Didymus and Theodoret for καρδιαις, on the ground that in the course of their expository remarks they contrast καρδιαι σαρκιναι (or λογικαι) with πλακες λιθιναι: as if it were not the word πλαξι which alone occasions difficulty. Again, Tischendorf enumerates Cod. E (Paul) among his authorities. Had he then forgotten that E is ‘nothing better than a transcript of Cod. D (Claromontanus), made by some ignorant person’? that ‘the Greek is manifestly worthless, and that it should long since have been removed from the list of authorities’? [Scrivener’s Introd., 4th edit., i. 177. See also Traditional Text, p. 65, and note. Tischendorf is frequently inaccurate in his references to the fathers.]

253 Scrivener’s Introd. ii. 254.

254 A in the Epistles differs from A in the Gospels.

255 Besides GLP and the following cursives,—29, 30, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 55, 74, 104, 106, 109, 112, 113, 115, 137, 219, 221, 238, 252, 255, 257, 262, 277.

256 That I may not be accused of suppressing what is to be said on the other side, let it be here added that the sum of the adverse evidence (besides the testimony of many MSS.) is the Harkleian version:—the doubtful testimony of Eusebius (for, though Valerius reads καρδιας, the MSS. largely preponderate which read καρδιαις in H. E. Mart. Pal. cxiii. § 6. See Burton’s ed. p. 637):—Cyril in one place, as explained above:—and lastly, a quotation from Chrysostom on the Maccabees, given in Cramer’s Catena, vii. 595 (εν πλαξι καρδιαις σαρκιναις), which reappears at the end of eight lines without the word πλαξι.

257 [The papers on Assimilation and Attraction were left by the Dean in the same portfolio. No doubt he would have separated them, if he had lived to complete his work, and amplified his treatment of the latter, for the materials under that head were scanty.—For 2 Cor. iii. 3, see also a note of my own to p. 65 of The Traditional Text.]