06_Biblica_1_D_Callan_Layout 1 05/11/12 12:20 Pagina 441 441 READING THE EARLIEST COPIES OF 2 PETER corrections are usually thought to have been made a considerable time after the writing of the original manuscript. According to Milne and Skeat, some assign them to the fifth, others to the seventh century 25. At least some of the other corrections described above were probably made before Sinaiticus left the scriptorium. 2. The Meaning of 2 Peter in Codex Sinaiticus I will discuss two ways in which the distinctive features of 2 Peter in Sinaiticus have the effect of giving the letter a meaning significantly different from that of the probable original text. a) Jesus as distinct from God The most important feature of the content of 2 Peter in Codex Sinaiticus is that it does not present Jesus as divine to the same de- gree as is done by the probable original text of 2 Peter. In 1,1 the text of Sinaiticus says that the addressees have received faith eij dikaiosunhn tou ku hmwn kai swthroj Iu Xu (for the justice of our lord and savior Jesus Christ) rather than en dikaiosunh tou qeou hmwn kai swthroj Ihsou Xristou (by the justice of our God and savior Jesus Christ) as in the likely original text. Sinaiticus does not identify Jesus as God, while the probable original text does identify Jesus as God 26. In addition, the statement that the ad- dressees received faith “for the justice” of Jesus is less suggestive of an understanding of Jesus as divine than is saying that they re- ceived faith “by” his justice. The latter implies that Jesus is the one who bestows faith; the former suggests that faith allows one to have the justice that characterizes Jesus. Another peculiarity of Sinaiticus that suggests it does not iden- tify Jesus with God is the phrase ton qn kai (God and) after proj in 1,3. Verse 3 begins with a reference to “his divine power”; other things being equal, the antecedent of “his” is likely to be Jesus, the person named immediately beforehand. Verse 3 goes on to say that “his divine power” has given author and addressees all things. In 25 MILNE ‒ SKEAT, Scribes and Correctors, 65. 26 EHRMAN, Orthodox Corruption of Scripture, 266-267, comments on the alteration of qeoj into kurioj in Sinaiticus (and some other manuscripts) and implies that this is an anti-Patripassianist change.