Josep Rius-Camps - Jenny Read-Heimerdinger, «The Variant Readings of the Western Text of the Acts of the Apostles (XXII) (Acts 14:28–15:41)», Vol. 23 (2010) 175-200
In Chapter 15 of Acts, a point of critical importance for the growth of the Church and its relationship with Judaism is reached. Luke narrates the difficulty posed for Jewish Jesus-believers by the increasing number of Gentiles believers and the decision taken by the Church leaders in Jerusalem not to subject them to the usual conditions for proselytes. In the Bezan text, some conflict of opinion between Peter, Paul and Barnabas on the one hand, and James on the other is apparent, a tension that is attenuated in the Alexandrian text. Further conflict is also highlighted in Codex Bezae between Paul and Barnabas who separate following the meeting in Jerusalem.
190 Josep Rius-Camps and Jenny Read-Heimerdinger
Jesus-believers (pace Boismard and Lamouille, II, p. 106, according to
whom, ‘L’archétype de D omettait l’expression τοις εξ εθνοις [sic!]; le
scribe de D l’a réinsérée à une mauvaise place’).
15:24 (ἐξ ἡμῶν) ἐξελθόντες D, exeuntes d P33.74 )2 A C E H (L) P Ψ 049.
056. 33. 1739 M latt syp.h (sa) bo aeth; Irlat Orlat Socr Pac || om. B )* 88.
915. 1175; CAp Amph Chr Ps-Vig.— ἐτάραξαν (ἡμᾶς) B P74 ) Ds.m. rell ||
ἐξετάρ- D*, perturbaverunt d.
D05 provides the detail that the trouble-makers were not just from
the Ierousalem church (or even the leadership, if ἡμῶν is to be taken in
the narrow sense of the authors of the letter), but that they had ‘gone out’
from them, so underlining their membership of the church. B03 describes
them as having ‘troubled’ the Gentiles in Antioch, whereas D05, with the
compound of the verb, has the stronger ‘disturbed, upset’.
15:25 (ἡμῖν) ἐκλεξαμένοις B P45vid A L Ψ 33. 1739 Mpt latt (syp) || ἐκλε-
ξαμένους (ἄνδρας) D, electos d ) C E H P 049. 056 Mpt syh; Irlat CAp
Amph Chr Socr.
B03 reads the dative participle, agreeing with ἡμῖν. D05 has the
participle in the accusative, referring to the subject of the infinitive
πέμψαι, as at 15:22.
(ἀγαπητοῖς) ἡμῶν B P74 ) rell, nostris d || ὑμῶν D 945. 1646.
D05 reads unmistakably ΥΜΩΝ.
15:26 (ἀνθρώποις) παραδεδωκόσι τὰς ψυχὰς αὐτῶν B P74 ) rell ||
παραδεδώκασιν τὴν ψυχὴν αὐ. D, qui tradiderunt animam suam d
bomss; Irlat.— (Χριστοῦ) εὶς πάντα πειρασμόν D E, in omni temptationi d
257. 383. 614. 1799. 2147. 2412 e l syhmg || om. B P74 ) rell.
B03 reads the perfect participle, agreeing with ἀνθρώποις. D05 reads
the perfect indicative which should be preceded by a relative pronoun (qui
tradiderunt d); alternatively, the D05 reading is a copyist’s mistake (A >
O). The singular of D05, ‘who gave up their life’, links the two participants
closely together. The reading εἰς πάντα πειρασμόν (cf. Lk. 4:13) may be
an allusion to the threat of being killed (cf. 20:19; 21:31), but the wider
sense of the word ψυχή, which refers not only to physical life but to one’s
whole being, suggests a willingness to forgo one’s own interests and plans
(cf. Jesus who ‘lays down his life’ as the good shepherd, Jn. 10:11.15).
In that sense, it allows the overall comment in D05, παραδεδώκασιν
τὴν ψυχὴν αὐτῶν εἰς πάντα πειρασμόν, to be taken as a reference to
the readiness of Paul and Barnabas to be placed under the authority of