The Oldest Extant Editions of the Letters of Paul

7/23/2019 The Oldest Extant Editions of the Letters of Paul

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The Oldest Extant Editions of the Letters

of Paul

by David Trobisch

David Trobisch was born in Cameroon (West Africa) as the son of missionaries. The family then moved toAustria. He studied theology at the Universitiesof Tuebingen and Heidelberg in ermany. He taught at the

University of Heidelberg for ten years before acce!ting teaching !ositions at "outh West #issouri "tate

University$ %ale Divinity "chool and &angor Theological "eminary. 'or a more detailed curriculum vitae and

a list of !ublications see htt!www.bts.edufacultytrobisch.htm Used by permission of theauthor.

The Oldest Extant Editions of theLetters of Paul

(David Trobisch, 1999)

David Trobisch was born in Cameroon (West Africa) as the son of missionaries The

famil! then moved to Austria "e studied theolo#! at the $niversitiesof Tuebin#en and

"eidelber# in %erman! "e tau#ht at the $niversit! of "eidelber# for ten !ears before

acce&tin# teachin# &ositions at 'outh West issouri 'tate $niversit! *ale Divinit!'chool and +an#or Theolo#ical 'eminar! ,or a more detailed curriculum vitae and a

list of &ublications see htt&-..wwwbtsedu.facult!.trobischhtm

Table of Contents

Introduction/

Different Editions/

"u#e 0umber of anuscri&ts/

%rou&in# anuscri&ts/

The Authori1ed +!1antine 2ersion/

,ra#mentar! anuscri&ts/

The Manuscrits/

Introduction/!otation of Manuscrits/
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The Oldest Manuscrits of the "hristian #ible/Codex Alexandrinus (A 02)*Codex Ephraemi Rescriptus (C 04)*Codex Sinaiticus ( 01)*Codex Vaticanus ( 0!)*

!u$ber and %e&uence of the Letters of Paul/The 'our Literar nits of the !e* Testa$ent/The Letter to the +ebre*s/Manuscrits "ontainin Onl the Letters of Paul/

Codex oernerianus (" 012)/

Codex Au#iensis ($ 010)/

Codex Claromontanus (% 0&)/

'aprus 4&/

The -rchete/

Introduction/Princile of -rrane$ent/Chronolo#ical rder*

+ndependent arran#ements*,ni-orm Se.uences*ther /anuscripts*Interretation/

,ni-orm umer o- etters/,ni-orm 3itles/%u$$ar/

The "anonical Edition/

Overall Title of the Edition/Princile of -rrane$ent/

etter to 'hilemon*etter to the ere5s*%u$$ar/

Table of Illustrations.

T!&ical &a#e of the %ree3 0ew Testament/

Codex E&hraemi 4escri&tus (C 56)/

The ,our Literar! $nits of the 0ew Testament/

0umber and Contents of %ree3 anuscri&ts of theLetters of Paul/

Codex +oernerianus (% 578)/
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online.org/showarticle.asp?title=91#__RefHeading___Toc439066016http://www.religion-online.org/showarticle.asp?title=91#__RefHeading___Toc439066017http://www.religion-online.org/showarticle.asp?title=91#__RefHeading___Toc439066018http://www.religion-online.org/showarticle.asp?title=91#__RefHeading___Toc439066019http://www.religion-online.org/showarticle.asp?title=91#__RefHeading___Toc439066020http://www.religion-online.org/showarticle.asp?title=91#__RefHeading___Toc439066021http://www.religion-online.org/showarticle.asp?title=91#__RefHeading___Toc439066022http://www.religion-online.org/showarticle.asp?title=91#__RefHeading___Toc439066023http://www.religion-online.org/showarticle.asp?title=91#__RefHeading___Toc439066024http://www.religion-online.org/showarticle.asp?title=91#__RefHeading___Toc439066025http://www.religion-online.org/showarticle.asp?title=91#__RefHeading___Toc439066026http://www.religion-online.org/showarticle.asp?title=91#__RefHeading___Toc439066027http://www.religion-online.org/showarticle.asp?title=91#__RefHeading___Toc439066028http://www.religion-online.org/showarticle.asp?title=91#__RefHeading___Toc439066029http://www.religion-online.org/showarticle.asp?title=91#__RefHeading___Toc439066030http://www.religion-online.org/showarticle.asp?title=91#__RefHeading___Toc439066031http://www.religion-online.org/showarticle.asp?title=91#__RefHeading___Toc439066032http://www.religion-online.org/showarticle.asp?title=91#__RefHeading___Toc439066033http://www.religion-online.org/showarticle.asp?title=91#__RefHeading___Toc439066034http://www.religion-online.org/showarticle.asp?title=91#__RefHeading___Toc439066035http://www.religion-online.org/showarticle.asp?title=91#__RefHeading___Toc439066036http://www.religion-online.org/showarticle.asp?title=91#__RefHeading___Toc439066037http://www.religion-online.org/showarticle.asp?title=91#__RefHeading___Toc439066038http://www.religion-online.org/showarticle.asp?title=91#__RefHeading___Toc439066039http://www.religion-online.org/showarticle.asp?title=91#__RefHeading___Toc439066040http://www.religion-online.org/showarticle.asp?title=91#__RefHeading___Toc439066041http://www.religion-online.org/showarticle.asp?title=91#__RefHeading___Toc439066042http://www.religion-online.org/showarticle.asp?title=91#__RefHeading___Toc439067139http://www.religion-online.org/showarticle.asp?title=91#__RefHeading___Toc439067140http://www.religion-online.org/showarticle.asp?title=91#__RefHeading___Toc439067141http://www.religion-online.org/showarticle.asp?title=91#__RefHeading___Toc439067142http://www.religion-online.org/showarticle.asp?title=91#__RefHeading___Toc439067143


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P69- Letters of Paul arran#ed accordin# to their len#th/

The 'e:uence of The Letters of Paul ;n The anuscri&ts (7)/

The 'e:uence of The Letters of Paul ;n The anuscri&ts (8)/

E&h 7-7 in Codex 'inaiticus-/

Introduction

#efore boo/ rintin *as invented in the 10th centur, allboo/s had to be coied b hand -roxi$atel 233 earlcoies of the letters of Paul have survived to the currentda !o t*o coies are co$letel identical

4hen coies are $ade b hand, $ista/es *ill inevitablaear in the text #ut there are other reasons for thedi5erences in the text of the extant $anuscrits

Di5erent Editions

-t all ti$es boo/s *ere $ade to be sold The text hasbeen revised over the centuries to $eet the needs of theeole *ho actuall used the boo/s Di5erent needsro$ted di5erent editions #ilinual editions *ereroduced for Latin6sea/in students *ho *ere learnin7ree/8 these rovided the Latin translation bet*een thelines or on the ae facin the 7ree/ text, ararah b

ararah Lectionaries *ere roduced to be read aloudb the riest durin *orshi services Other editionsadded introductor assaes to exlain *here and *hPaul *rote the secied letter -s *ith $odern revisionsof the Enlish #ible, old6fashioned exressions *erechaned to $odern ones and stle *as udated

%o$e of the $anuscrits are $ere coies of an olderco #ut often the scribes *ould co$are $ore than oneolder $anuscrit and note all the di5erences in the co

the *ere roducin 4e do the sa$e toda *ith ourcritical text editions. if there are di5erin readins inextant $anuscrits, $odern editors decide *hich onethe believe is the authentic one and rint it as thecritical text, uttin the variants in the aaratus at thebotto$ of the ae
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Typical page of the Greek New Testament


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3he text o- the pa#e co6ers 1 Cor 27148!7!9 3heeditors mar:ed three 5ords 5ith superscriptnumers 4; < and &= these re-er to -ootnotes9 3he

-ootnotes descrie di>erent readin#s supported text 5itnesses9 $or example; -ootnote 4 relates to thepassa#e translated the RSV as (1 Cor 2714)7?3hose 5ho are unspiritual do not recei6e the #i-ts o-"od@s Spirit999?9 +nstead o- ?"od@s Spirit? the old

Ethiopian translation reads ?ol Spirit?; t5o "ree:manuscripts (!!0; 4erences not noted in the edition; nine alternati6espellin#s; three snonms used; one chan#e o- 5ordorder and one additional 5ord9

3he pa#e is reproduced -rom7 3he "ree: e53estament9 Edited F9Aland; /9lac:; C9/9/artini;

9/9/etG#er; A9Hi:#ren (Stutt#art7 HIrttemer#9ielanstalt; 1J&&)9K

suall an Enlish translation *ill not ive the reader allthe infor$ation on the variants of the text The sa$e *astrue in ancient ti$es Onl if the scribes *ere roducina co for scholarl use *ould the carefull note variantsand ive exlanator notes on the $arin #ut if the

*ere roducin a co for a broad audience, the *ould


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tr to roduce an authentic but understandable text, asfree fro$ scribal blunders as ossible

This *as the situation of all ancient literature The lettersof Paul *ere assed on fro$ one eneration to another in

essentiall the sa$e *a as, for exa$le, the *ritins ofAristotle

+ue !u$ber of Manuscrits

"o$ared to an other ancient 7ree/ letter collection,ho*ever, the letters of Paul survive in an enor$ousnu$ber of $anuscrits The lare nu$ber of $anuscritsrovide a lare nu$ber of variant readins and the resultis that there robabl is not a sinle verse of the lettersof Paul that has the sa$e *ordin in all survivin$anuscrits +o* should *e deal *ith this discourainsituation:

7rouin Manuscrits

'ortunatel, the co$lex $anuscrit evidence is not aseni$atic as it see$s at rst siht The tric/ is to nd a

*a to reduce the enor$ous nu$ber to a s$all set of

$anuscrits to be considered One *a is to rou$anuscrits into fa$ilies This $a reduce the nu$berdra$aticall

Let $e ive ou an exa$le - aerbac/ econo$edition of the ;in


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The -uthori@ed #@antine =ersion

More than 20 ercent of 7ree/ $anuscrits of the !e*Testa$ent *ere roduced in the eleventh centur or later

-t this ti$e "hristianit *as no loner connected to the

7ree/ lanuae as closel as it had been in the secondcentur, *hen the !e* Testa$ent ca$e into bein 'ro$the third centur on, the inAuence of the Bo$an church

*as steadil ro*in and *ith it the inAuence of the Latintranslation Durin and after the eleventh centur, theolitical situation of the #@antine E$ire beca$e $oreand $ore recarious 4ars *ere fouht and often lost,aainst Isla$ic tribes in the %outh and aainst#ularians, %lavs and Bussians in the !orth In 130C the

#@antine and the Bo$an "atholic "hurch searatedMa 9, 1C0 the cit of #@antiu$ *as nall ta/en bthe Tur/s and the #@antine E$ire ca$e to an abrutend 'or the 7ree/ $anuscrit tradition of the #ibledurin these centuries this $eans that exe$lars *ereroduced, sold, bouht, and used *ithin a ver li$itedeorahical reion controlled b the #@antine "hurch

-l$ost all $anuscrits, therefore, reroduce the sa$eAuthoriGed Gantine Version

-ll $anuscrits of the -uthori@ed #@antine =ersion canbe dealt *ith as one sinle $anuscrit The di5erences oftext are the result of scribal blunders or the varinuroses for *hich the editions *ere roduced andusuall do not conve an /no*lede of $anuscritsindeendent of the -uthori@ed #@antine =ersion

'ra$entar Manuscrits

Man $anuscrits are not co$lete 4hole aes or

arts of aes are $issin The vast $a?orit of coiesolder than the sixth centur actuall rovide onl s$allortions of text, so$e of the$ bein tin scras ofarus containin but a fe* *ords This results in thefavorable situation that a lare nu$ber of text *itnessesare useful onl for ver s$all ortions of the text -ndbecause *e loo/ at the letters of Paul as a *hole in the


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follo*in, the nu$ber of $anuscrits to be consideredshrin/s further

To be recise, b no* *e are tal/in about no $ore thaneiht $anuscrits #esides the -uthori@ed #@antine

=ersion these eiht $anuscrits for$ the essentialbac/round for the reconstruction of the oriinal text ofthe letters of Paul In the next chater I *ill introducethese eiht $anuscrits to ou

The Manuscrits

Introduction

There is a ood reason to deal *ith $anuscrits of the

letters of Paul before ou deal *ith *hat Paul has to sa#ecause these $anuscrits are all that is left of theletters of Paul 4e do not have an letter *ith PaulFshand*ritin on it If, in studin Paul, ou *ant to o asfar bac/ in histor as ossible, the $anuscrits of hisletters are the oldest ob?ects ou can ta/e in our handsand hsicall touch *ith our ners -n /no*ledeolder than that $a be the result of learnedreconstruction, but, li/e all reconstruction, it could be

*ron %o it is i$ortant to start out at a safe oint Theoldest editions of the letters of Paul are a safe startinoint for our ?ourne to*ards Paul

!otation of Manuscrits

Old $anuscrits usuall are referred to b the na$e ofthe librar *here the are /et toda or the librar *herethe *ere reorted to be found for the rst ti$e Thisalies to all old $anuscrits, not onl to $anuscrits of

the #ible 'or exa$le, a $anuscrit fro$ the =aticanLibrar in Bo$e is referred to as a Codex Vaticanus9

The =atican Librar, ho*ever, treasures hundreds of !e*Testa$ent $anuscrits, and a reference solel b thena$e of this librar is not recise at all Thereforescholars bean to assin each $anuscrit a caital letter


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in addition to the librarFs na$e if the $anuscrit is*ritten in maLuscules, ver si$ilar to our caital letters,or a nu$ber, if the $anuscrit is *ritten in minuscules,

ver si$ilar to our cursive hand*ritin toda 'orexa$le, the oldest /no*n $anuscrit of the "hristian#ible is called Codex Vaticanus () This sste$ *asintroduced in the $iddle of the 12th centur b the7er$an scholarohann a:o Hettstein(1G961H0C)

>ou can easil i$aine that this traditional sste$ hadtrouble to coe *ith the steadil ro*in nu$ber ofmaLuscule manuscriptsthat *ere discovered in librariesand described for the rst ti$e durin the follo*incenturies -fter the Latin alhabet *as used u, scholars

used 7ree/ and +ebre* letters #ut even the $ostsohisticated alhabet *ill run out of letters trin toclassif the $ore than H3 $a?uscule $anuscrits /no*ntoda 'inall a third sste$ *as adoted. all the$anuscrits *ere nu$bered If the $anuscrit is *rittenin $a?uscules, the nu$bers start out *ith a @ero, forexa$le 0! If it is *ritten in minusculesthe $anuscritis referred to *ith a si$le nu$ber, for exa$le 1M!J Ifthe $anuscrit is *ritten on arus, a is ut beforethe nu$ber, for exa$le p4&

-lthouh this sste$ of classication is ver recise,$ost !e* Testa$ent scholars nd it easier to re$e$berlibrar na$es than nu$bers -nd the traditional caitalletters are still *idel used

Each ti$e I refer to a $anuscrit I *ill ive ou all threedesinations, the na$e of the librar, the traditionalcaital letter, and the nu$bers desined for scholarluse

The Oldest Manuscrits of the "hristian #ible

Let $e no* ive ou a short descrition of the four oldestextant editions of the "hristian #ible, co$risin boo/sof the Old Testa$ent and the !e* Testa$ent as *ell

-fter all, the letters of Paul are onl one art of the !e*


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Testa$ent, and all the !e* Testa$ent urorts to be isthe second art of the "hristian #ible

Codex Alexandrinus (A 02)

The rst $anuscrit I *ant to introduce to ou is CodexAlexandrinus(- 3) It *as *ritten in the fth centur;rillos Lu/aris, Patriarch of -lexandria, ave it as aresent to ;in "harles I of Enland in 1GH62 Toda itis /et in the #ritish Museu$ in London This $anuscritcontains all the letters of Paul Onl a fe* aes are$issin

Codex Ephraemi Rescriptus (C 04)

The Codex Ephraemi Rescriptus (" 3C) also *as roduceddurin the fth centur Oriinall it covered the *holeOld Testa$ent and the !e* Testa$ent In the t*elfthcentur the in/ *as carefull *ashed o5 the arch$entand so$eone coied the *or/s of the %rian churchfather Ehrae$ on $an of the aes The other aesare lost If ou loo/ at the $anuscrit no*, all ou see arethe *ritins of Ehrae$ In/, ho*ever, contains acid, andacid leaves $ar/s on the arch$ent 4ith the hel of

$odern technolo, such as ultra6violet lihtin, it isossible to $a/e these $ar/s visible and to read theoriinal scrit This palimpsest, the technical ter$ for are*ritten $anuscrit, still rovides 1C0 of the oriinal2 aes of the !e* Testa$ent Portions of texts fro$ever boo/ of the !e* Testa$ent, *ith the excetion of


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+- ou loo: at the ori#inal pa#e all ou see are

passa#es -rom the 5ritin#s o- the Srian theolo#ianEphraem; 5ritten in cursi6e hand5ritin#(minuscules) and arran#ed in t5o columns9 3o readthis text ou 5ould ha6e to turn the pa#e upsidedo5n9 $or this reproduction the ilical text (end o-the "ospel accordin# to u:e) that 5as 5ritten Brstand 5ashed o> 5as made 6isile a#ain 5ith the help


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o- modern technolo#ies9 +t Blls onl one column andis 5ritten in capital letters (maLuscules)9

3he reproduction is ta:en -rom Furt and arara Aland93he 3ext o- the e5 3estament; 2d ed9 ("rand Rapids7

Eerdmans; 1JNJ)9K

Codex Sinaiticus ( 01)

Codex Sinaiticus ( 31) is the onl one of the four$anuscrits still containin all the boo/s of the !e*Testa$ent It *as discovered 12CC in the librar of the$onaster of %t "atherine at Mount %inai and brouht toBussia in 12G9 In 19 the Bussian overn$ent sold it to

the #ritish Museu$, *here it is /et toda as one of thereat treasures of this $useu$ The $anuscrit *asrobabl *ritten in the fourth centur

Codex Vaticanus ( 0!)

Codex Vaticanus(# 3) *as *ritten in the fourth centur!obod /no*s *here it *as roduced, but it is recordedas belonin to the =atican Librar in Bo$e as far bac/as 1C21 1 Ti$oth, Ti$oth, Titus and Phile$on are

$issin fro$ the end of the $anuscrit

Each of these four $anuscrits *as *rittenindeendentl That is to sa, none of these $anuscritsis a co of an of the others

!u$ber and %e&uence of the Letters of Paul

4hile teachin se$inars for theoloical students at theniversit of +eidelber in 7er$an, I had an interestin

exerience =er fe* of $ students *ere able to tell $eoutriht ho* $an letters of Paul are contained in the!e* Testa$ent -nd out of a rou of fort not a sinlestudent could ive $e the riht order of the letters This

*as all the $ore surrisin in liht of the fact that a hihercentae of these students read the #ible dail and


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could recite b heart lon assaes fro$ the letters ofPaul, such as 1 "orinthians 1

The four oldest $anuscrits described above resent theletters of Paul follo*in the four 7osels, -cts and the

eneral letters In all of the$ the nu$ber of the letters ofPaul is fourteen Their se&uence is unifor$. Bo$ans1 "orinthians "orinthians 7alatians EhesiansPhiliians "olossians 1 Thessalonians Thessalonians+ebre*s 1 Ti$oth Ti$oth Titus and Phile$on

The 'our Literar nits of the !e* Testa$ent

These si$le observations $a teach us t*o i$ortantlessons 'irst, there is an aarent di5erence bet*een thefour oldest editions of the !e* Testa$ent and our$odern Enlish editions, in *hich the letters of Paul donot recede the #eneral letters(


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and the letters of Paul in another unit is eas, but *hatabout -cts:

!o* be read for a surrise -cts is al*as co$bined *iththe eneral letters There are $anuscrits startin out

*ith the letters of Paul follo*ed b -cts and eneralletters, and there are $anuscrits startin out *ith the7osels, follo*ed b the letters of Paul, follo*ed b -ctsand eneral letters, and of course there are $anuscritscontainin -cts and eneral letters onl #ut *ith verrare excetions to the rule there are no $anuscritsco$binin 7osels and -cts onl, or $anuscrits of theeneral letters *ithout -cts -cts$ore or less functionsas the introduction to the eneral letters On second

thouht, this co$bination reall $a/es sense, for the$ain authors of the eneral letters,


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The Letter to the +ebre*s

The second lesson the four oldest existin $anuscrits ofthe !e* Testa$ent teach us is that the letter to the

ere5sis treated as a letter of Paul It has its laceriht in the $iddle of the collection, follo*in Thessalonians and recedin 1 Ti$oth Even thouhthe exact lace of +ebre*s varies in later 7ree/$anuscrits, this letter is al*as coied as one of theletters of Paul8 it is not situated as one of the eneral

lettersThe reason *h $ 7er$an students have such a hardti$e *ith identifin the riht nu$ber and se&uence ofthe letters of Paul is that $ost of the$ re* u *ith thetranslation $ade b Martin Luther Martin Luther, li/e$an learned "hristians fro$ the second centur on*ard,did not thin/ that Paul *as the author of +ebre*sTranslatin the text, he rearraned the order of the !e*Testa$ent letters, $ovin +ebre*s,


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=ersion The rst rinted edition of the 7ree/ !e*Testa$ent *as reared bErasmus o- Rotterdamandublished in 101G +e used onl late #@antine$anuscrits of the t*elfth and thirteenth centur toroduce the text 'ro$ this edition the se&uence of theletters *as assed on to $ost of the follo*in rintededitions and still is the order of todaFs leadin editionsof the "ree: e5 3estament, conse&uentl inAuencinracticall all translations of the !e* Testa$ent Thisorder, ho*ever, does not reresent the arrane$ent ofthe letters of Paul in the four oldest $anuscrits of the#ible

Manuscrits "ontainin Onl the Letters of Paul

!ot all of the $anuscrits containin the letters of Paulresent the *hole !e* Testa$ent -ctuall fe*er thaneiht ercent of all /no*n $anuscrits do In $ost casesthe letters of Paul *ere bound toether *ith -cts and theeneral letters -nd ver often the *ere *ritten in asearate co containin no other !e* Testa$ent

*ritins The follo*in table ives ou the exact data

Num$er and Contents of Greek %anuscripts of the Letters of

Paul&

Furt and arara Aland9 The Text of the !e*Testa$ent; 2d ed9("rand Rapids7 Eerdmans; 1JNJ)J1K

ap 271 34.79%

p 213 27.34%

eap 149 19.13%

apr 76 9.76%

eapr 59 7.57%

pr 6 0.77%


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ep 5 0.64%

TOTAL 779

e O "ospels a O Acts P #eneral letters p O letters o-'aul r O Re6elation

#esides the four $anuscrits $entioned, there are fourothers of e&ual i$ortance for the reconstruction of theoriinal for$ of the letters of Paul -ll four $anuscritscontain no other !e* Testa$ent *ritins than the lettersof Paul Three of the$ are related to each other8 thefourth one is a arus boo/, the oldest /no*n edition ofthe letters of Paul

Codex oernerianus (" 012)

Codex oernerianus(7 31) is a bilinual edition andver robabl *as roduced in the $onaster of%t 7allen, %*it@erland, durin the second half of theninth centur The Latin translation of the 7ree/ text *as

*ritten bet*een the lines b an Irish $on/ It is /ettoda at the %Kchsische Landesbibliothe/ in Dresden,7er$an


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Codex 'oernerianus (G 0)&

3he text (1 Cor 27148!7!) matches exactl thepassa#e #i6en -rom the printed edition o- 3he "ree:


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e5 3estament a -e5 pa#es a#o9 Capital lettersstructure the text and di6ide it into passa#es o-comparale len#th; so8called stichoi9 /anmanuscripts still note the numer o- stichoi at theend o- each oo:; ecause the len#th 5as importantto scries; oo:sellers and oo:uers ali:e tocalculate the price9 3he mar:s placed in the le-tmar#in indicate a .uotation -rom the ld 3estamentand a atin note identiBes it as ta:en -rom the oo:o- +saiah9 3he atin text -ollo5s the "ree: 5ord 5ord and is usuall ta:en -rom the Vul#ate; the mostpopular translation; ut occasionall t5o alternati6e

atin renderin#s -or the same "ree: 5ord are #i6en9ecause the scrie e6identl had no other "ree:

manuscript a6ailale eside the one he copied; itcould 6er 5ell e that this ilin#ual manuscript 5asto e used -or teachin# "ree: to atin8spea:in#mon:s9 At the ottom o- the pa#e the scrie;e6identl an +rishman; added se6eral lines o- +rish;startin# 5ith the 5ords ?3o come to Rome; to cometo Rome; much o- troule; little o- proBt999?documentin# the medie6al ri6alr et5een the +rishmon:s 5ho 5ere to e the Brst missionaries tocentral Europe and the authorities o- the Catholic

Church in Rome9

3he reproduction is ta:en -rom ruce /9 /etG#er;/anuscripts o- the "ree: ile7 An +ntroduction to "ree:'alaeo#raph9 (e5 Dor:; x-ord7 x-ord ,ni6ersit'ress7 1JN1); 10< (plate 2N)9K

Codex Au#iensis ($ 010)

Codex Au#iensis(' 313) ver robabl *as *ritten in the$onaster of Beichenau, situated on the island ofBeichenau in La/e "onstance, 7er$an Li/e "odex#oernerianus, it is a bilinual $anuscrit, but ives theLatin translation on the oosite ae, corresondinline b line It is no* /et in Trinit "ollee in"a$bride, Enland
http://www.religion-online.org/showarticle.asp?title=91#GNThttp://www.religion-online.org/showarticle.asp?title=91#GNT


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In both $anuscrits, ve assaes are $issin in the7ree/ text The scribes left so$e roo$ there to ll in thetext later, but never closed the blan/ sace -arentlso$e aes *ere $issin in the $anuscrit the coiedand no other 7ree/ edition *as available to the$!u$erous di5erences bet*een these t*o $anuscritscan easil be exlained b assu$in that the exe$larthe coied had notes added to the text, and that thesenotes *ere so$eti$es interreted in a di5erent *a bthe t*o scribes Therefore, neither one is a co of theother $anuscrit The *ere roduced indeendentl, butfro$ the sa$e exe$lar

4hat $a/es "odex #oernerianus and "odex -uiensis so

i$ortant: In both, the letter to the +ebre*s is $issinco$letel The re$ainin thirteen letters are iven inthe usual order. Bo$ans 1 "orinthians "orinthians7alatians Ehesians Philiians "olossians1 Thessalonians Thessalonians 1 Ti$oth Ti$othTitus Phile$on

Codex Claromontanus (% 0&)

Codex Claromontanus(D 3G), fro$ the fth or sixth

centur is so$eho* related to these t*o $anuscritsThis too is a bilinual $anuscrit ivin the Latintranslation on the oosite ae #ecause of nu$erousdistinct text6variants, *hich this $anuscrit sharesuni&uel *ith "odex -uiensis and "odex #oernerianus,their close relationshi is evident

The se&uence of the letters is. Bo$ans 1 "orinthians "orinthians 7alatians Ehesians "olossians Philiians1 Thessalonians Thessalonians 1 Ti$oth Ti$oth

Titus Phile$on !o satisfactor exlanation has et beeniven for the unusual order of "olossians and PhiliiansOriinall three aes *ere left blan/ after Phile$on, butlater a Latin list of "anonical boo/s *as coied there, theso6called Catalo#us Claromontanus 'ollo*in this listthe $anuscrit contains +ebre*s The evidence thereforesuests that +ebre*s *as not art of the $anuscrit


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that *as coied to roduce the "odex "laro$ontanus, butthat +ebre*s *as added later

'aprus 4&

The oldest $anuscrit of the letters of Paul usuall isreferred to as paprus 4&, abbreviated p4&


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scribe started *ritin !o* if ou do that ou should bea*are that the inner aes are s$aller than the outerones and hold less text

'or so$e reason, the scribe of CG $ade a $ista/e *hen

he calculated the a$ount of aer he needed -fter hehad lled $ore than half of the boo/, he reali@ed there

*ould not be enouh roo$ for all the text he lanned toco +e started to *rite $ore characters in each line andraduall increased the G lines er ae in the rst halfof the codex to 2, then to 3 and in the end to lineser ae

-lthouh the $anuscrit is in fairl ood condition, theouter aes did not survive The text starts *ithBo$ 0.1H, then runs throuh +ebre*s 1 "orinthians "orinthians Ehesians 7alatians Philiians "olossiansand ends in 1 Thess 0.2 #ecause $an aes stillrovide their oriinal ae nu$bers it is eas to see thatthe seven $issin outer leaves holdin 1C aes of text atthe beinnin left roo$ for 1C corresondin aes atthe end There is no *a to et the rest of1 Thessalonians, Thessalonians, 1 Ti$oth, Ti$oth,Titus and Phile$on on 1C aes of the si@e used b CG -

fair esti$ate lies so$e*here close to $ore aesnecessar to hold all of the exected text 4hat the scribedecided to do, *e do not /no*

It is not necessar to assu$e that so$e of the $issinletters *ere un/no*n to the scribe, althouh it could ofcourse be ossible #ut the scribe evidentl haddi5iculties *ith the lenth of the text T*o fra$ents ofari codices conte$orar to CG have been found inthe sands of Et, one of the$, p!2, reservin textfro$ Titus, the other, pNM, *ith text fro$ Phile$on, thusrovin that these letters *ere /no*n at the ti$e and inthe reion, *here CG *as roduced

4hat caused the unusual se&uence of letters: 4h is+ebre*s ut bet*een Bo$ans and 1 "orinthians and *hdoes Ehesians recede 7alatians:


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I thin/ the solution is ver si$le It *as crucial to ascribe roerl to calculate the lenth of the text beforehe started to *rite a codex consistin of a sinle &uire'acin this situation it robabl is a ood idea to arranethe di5erent arts accordin to the lenth of the textbefore ou start to co the text 'or if ou start out *iththe lonest letters and end *ith the shorter ones, thechances are ood ou can nish the codex *ith the end ofa letter even if our calculation *as *ron In this caseall the scribe *ould need to do is roduce an extra

volu$e out of so$e additional leaves holdin the $issinletters #ut if ou start out *ith the short letters and end

*ith the lon ones the chances are $uch hiher that ouare riht in the $iddle of a letter *hen ou hit the last

ae -nd *ho *ould *ant to use a boo/ that ends in the$iddle of the text:

%o let us have a loo/ at the lenth of the letters 4hich isthe lonest, *hich the shortest:

*4+, "etters of *aul arranged according to their length

Ehesians is loner than 7alatians +ebre*s is shorterthan 1 "orinthians but loner than "orinthians !obod

*ould *ant to searate the t*o letters to the "orinthians


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-n eas solution is to let +ebre*s stand before1 "orinthians -nd that is exactl the se&uence of lettersin CG %o the roducers of CG arraned the letters ofPaul strictl accordin to their lenth. Bo$ans +ebre*s1 "orinthians "orinthians Ehesians7alatiansPhiliians "olossians 1 Thessalonians

The -rchete

Introduction

I *as born in -frica M arents *ere $issionaries Mrandarents *ere $issionaries %o it see$ed vernatural to $e to vie* Paul as a /ind of David Livinstoneof anti&uit

I re* u *ith a icture of Paul travelin throuh -siaand Euroe, foundin conreations, counselin andteachin the $en and *o$en *ho had iven their life to


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collections and di5erent editors co$bined thesecollections at di5erent laces until all /no*n letters*ereincluded

!o* there is a *a to nd out *hether a text tradition

oes bac/ to a sinle archete or not -ll ou have toloo/ for are editorial chanes $ade *hile editin the nal

version of the $anuscrit, chanes not $ade b theauthor 'or exa$le if Paul did not collect and ublish hisletters hi$self, so$eone else $ust have added the titlesof the letters and so$eone else $ust have arraned the$It is this nal editorial touch that denes the archeteThe next ste is to concentrate on ele$ents of this naleditin that are unusual and ver robabl *ould not be

$ade b t*o indeendent editors If all coies of the textsho* these eculiar editorial chanes, the all derivefro$ the sa$e archete

Princile of -rrane$ent

4hat *ould an editor do, if he or she had to order thecorresondence of another erson: "hances are, aneditor *ould tr to arrane letters in a chronoloicalorder That is *hat $ost editors no*adas do *hen the

reare letters for ublication -nd that is *hat editorstried in the das of Paul as *ell #ut *hat do ou do if theletters have no date:

Chronolo#ical rder

The letters of Paul are not dated !e* Testa$ent scholarshave tried do*n throuh the ears, but a enerallacceted chronoloical order of the fourteen letters hasnot et been established

'or exa$le. >ou can nd aru$ents that$irst3hessalonians*as *ritten durin PaulFs rst $issionar

?ourne to Macedonia, thus $a/in it the oldest recordedletter of Paul Others lace it durin his last tri, $a/in1 Thessalonians one of his last letters, and theiraru$ents are lausible In his letter to the 'hilippians


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(Phil 1.1) Paul clearl states that he is in rison *hen he*rites #ut scholars could not aree u to this da*hether he *as in rison in Ehesus, "esarea, Bo$e, oreven so$e other lace, and the conse&uentl dated thisletter ver di5erentl The letters of Paul do not iveenouh infor$ation

!evertheless, t*o letters, 1 "orinthians and Bo$ans iveus al$ost certainl clues to establish their relativechronoloical order

1 "or 1G.16C (!I=)

!o* about the collection for 7odFs eole. Do*hat I told the 7alatian churches to do On therst da of ever *ee/, each one of ou shouldset aside a su$ of $one in /eein *ith hisinco$e, savin it u, so that *hen I co$e nocollections *ill have to be $ade Then, *hen Iarrive, I *ill ive letters of introduction to the$en ou arove and send the$ *ith our iftto


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Puttin the infor$ation of these t*o assaes toetherives us the i$ression that Paul has ?ust visited or isstill visitin "orinth *hen he *rites to the Bo$ans +isfundraisin ca$ain in -chaia see$s co$leted, and heis deter$ined to brin the ift to


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1 O Sinaiticus ( 01); Alexandrinus (A 02); Vaticanus( 0!); Ephraemi Rescriptus (C 04)

2 O oernerianus (" 012); Au#iensis ($ 010)! O AuthoriGed Gantine Version4 O Claromontanus < O p4&

In the rst three se&uences onl the lace of +ebre*sdi5ers This can easil be exlained b assu$in that acollection *ithout +ebre*s existed and +ebre*s *asadded to this collection indeendentl at t*o di5erentlaces

This rocess of addin +ebre*s to a collection of thirteenletters is docu$ented, as *e have seen, b the "odex

"laro$ontanus, *here +ebre*s is added later, follo*inthree aes oriinall left blan/ This codex has these&uence Philiians "olossians reversed I consider thisa $inor variant

In CG the letters are arraned strictl accordin to thelenth of text as I de$onstrated above

ther /anuscripts

#ut *hat about the other $anuscrits: Do the all havethe sa$e se&uence for the letters of Paul:

I dedicated t*o ears of $ doctoral studies to ndin anans*er to this &uestion I chec/ed all reorts of unusualse&uences that I could nd, includin existin$anuscrits, reconstructed ancestors of extant$anuscrits, old co$$entaries, citations b ancient"hristian *riters, the oldest translations, the lists ofcanonical *ritins issued b the Old "hurch and the ver

rst references to the letters of Paul in "hristianliterature -s far as I /no*, this is the $ostco$rehensive surve of this &uestion ever $ade DavidTrobisch,%ie Entstehun# der 'aulusrie-sammlun#7Studien Gu den An-Qn#en christlicher 'uliGisti:(!TO-138 'reibur%ch*ei@. niversitKtsverla8 7Nttinen.

=andenhoec/, 1929)


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I could onl nd three $ore se&uences

One of the$ has the sa$e order as "odex "laro$ontanus,reversin the order of "olossians and Philiians The$anuscrit, usuall referred to as minuscule


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$ade +ebre*s *as to be found bet*een 7alatians andEhesians

The third se&uence is even less sinicant The$anuscrit referred to as minuscule MJ4rovides theletters of Paul in the usual order *ith +ebre*s bet*een Thessalonians and 1 Ti$oth - second scribe added+ebre*s after Phile$on so this $anuscrit todacontains +ebre*s t*ice This robabl haened b$ista/e

Interretation

I thin/ the reverse order of Philiians "olossians in$inuscule 0 and "odex "laro$ontanus is to beconsidered as a $inor variant

In all the other arrane$ents (excet CG) onl the laceof +ebre*s di5ers -nd this, too, can easil be exlainedb the assu$tion that +ebre*s *as added later to acollection of thirteen letters of Paul This thirteen8lettercollectionis still extant in "odex #oernerianus (7 31)and "odex -uiensis (' 313)

T*o further observations conr$ that +ebre*s *as addedlater. The unifor$ nu$ber of thirteen letters in the$anuscrits and the titles of the letters

,ni-orm umer o- etters

There is no $anuscrit evidence to rove that the lettersof Paul ever existed in an edition containin onl so$e ofthe thirteen letters The last aes of a codex are veroften lac/in The outer aes of ever boo/ are easil

exosed to $utilation once the cover ets lost Toconclude fro$ the $issin end of CG or "odex =aticanus(# 3) that so$e letters follo*in Thessalonians *erenot /no*n to the scribes *ho roduced these$anuscrits see$s un*ise


31/37

To hold on to the vie* of an indeendent rouin of theletters of Paul at di5erent "hristian conreations, it isnecessar to assu$e that the collectors not onl orderedthe letters the sa$e *a but that each one of the$ hadaccess to exactl the sa$e nu$ber of thirteen letters, noless and no $ore

,ni-orm 3itles

The other observation reards the titles of the letters Ithin/ ou *ill aree that Paul did not for$ulate the titles

*e read in the !e* Testa$ent *hen he rst *rote theletters If ou *rite a letter ou do not need a title #ut if

ou collect several letters and resent the$ to a broaderaudience ou have to co$e u *ith so$e /ind of na$e forthe letters The function of these titles is to sho* *hereone letter ends and the next one starts, and to $a/e iteasier to refer to the$

-ll the $anuscrits have the sa$e titles for the lettersThe na$e the addressee of the letter8 a literaltranslation fro$ the 7ree/ is ?3o Romans; 3o Corinthians

umer ne; 3o Corinthians umer 35o; 3o "alatians;3o Ephesians, and so forth

This is eseciall note*orth concernin the letter to theEphesians The three oldest $anuscrits, CG, "odex=aticanus (# 3), and "odex %inaiticus ( 31) do not havean address in Eh 1.1, the onl lace *here the Ehesianchurch is $entioned in this letter #ut these $anuscritsdo rovide the title ?3o the Ephesians? >ou do not have tobe an exert to reali@e that scribes could easil ta/e theaddress fro$ the title and ll it in the text *here the

*ould exect it This actuall haened in "odex

=aticanus (# 3) and "odex %inaiticus ( 31), the latercorrection is still evident in these t*o $anuscrits #ut

ou $iht nd it hard to thin/ of a reasonableexlanation *h a scribe should have deleted the addressfro$ the text and leave it in the title %o it is rett clearthat the oldest text of Ehesians did not have an addressin the text +o* then could anone ure out the title:


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!o t*o indeendent editors could co$e u *ith the sa$ena$e

Eph , in Codex -inaiticus,

A critical mar: is put et5een the lines ()9 3hismar: is repeated in the mar#in indicatin# that the"ree: 5ords E E EC (in Ephesus) should eadded here9 3he Ephesian address o6iousl 5as notpart o- the ori#inal text o- the codex ut 5as added a corrector9

3he pa#e o- Codex Sinaiticus (

01) is in acondition that ma:es it di>icult to produce a #oodphoto#raph9 3o demonstrate the e6idence the photoo- the pa#e containin# "al


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Titus Phile$on %econd, it is ver unli/el that t*oeditors *ould arrane the letters of Paul in this *aindeendentl of each other

These t*o assu$tions lead $e to conclude that the

canonical edition of the fourteen letters of Paul as it isresented in the !e* Testa$ent toda oes bac/ to onesinle co of thirteen letters of Paul, and that onl theletter to the +ebre*s *as added at a later stae of thetext6tradition

The "anonical Edition

Let us have a closer loo/ at the canonical edition of thefourteen letters of Paul The titles of the letters revealt*o $ore interestin insihts The suest an overalltitle of the edition, and the indicate the principle o-arran#ementof the edition

Overall Title of the Edition

If a letter collection had letters *ritten b $ore than oneauthor ou *ould robabl refer to the sinle letter bthe authorFs na$e #ut if all the letters of the collection

are *ritten b the sa$e erson, as the letters of Paulurort to be, there is no need to reeat the authorFsna$e in each title sin the address to distinuish the$fro$ each other see$s a ood idea

On the other hand, if ou have a letter collection in *hichthe letters are na$ed b their address, li/e the letters ofPaul, ou can safel conclude that the all *ere *ritten bthe sa$e author The authorFs na$e, ho*ever, beco$esauto$aticall the title of the *hole collection

Therefore the titles 3o Romans, 3o Corinthiansand so onclearl suest that the co$lete title is'aul@s letter to

Romans, or'aul@s $irst letter to Corinthians, and that theoverall title of the collection runs.etters o- 'aul


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The oldest $anuscrits, ho*ever, do not rovide thisoverall title !evertheless, this letter collection is called3he -ourteen letters o- 'aulin $an lists of the "anonical

*ritins and in $ost $anuscrits of the -uthori@ed#@antine =ersion

%o the na$e of the boo/ is letters of Paul, and thechaters received their titles fro$ the na$es of theaddressees of these letters

Princile of -rrane$ent

The second insiht the titles reveal is that the letters*ere arraned accordin to their addressees Obviousl,the letters *ith the sa$e address are ut toether. thet*o letters to the "orinthians, the t*o letters to theThessalonians, and the t*o letters to Ti$oth

'urther$ore the nine letters that are addressed toconreations are roued toether, for$in the rst andlonest art of the boo/ ranin fro$ Bo$ans to Thessalonians

This art is follo*ed b the four letters *hich are, at least

accordin to their titles, addressed to individuals. the t*oletters to Ti$oth, the letter to Titus, and the letter toPhile$on

etter to 'hilemon

It is *orth notin that the letter to 'hilemonactuall isaddressed ?to 'hilemon our dear -riend and -ello55or:er; to Apphia our sister; to Archippus our -ello5soldier and to the church that meets in our home?

(Phl$ 16) -s far as this address is concerned, it *ouldbe ossible to arrane Phile$on a$on the letters tocon#re#ations On the other hand, Paul *rites to onl oneindividual in the follo*in text, so it $a/es erfect senseto ive the letter the na$e of the rst erson $entionedand to ut it toether *ith 1 Ti$oth, Ti$oth and


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Titus There aain a tiht connection bet*een title andse&uence of letters is established

etter to the ere5s

#efore I close this chater, let us have a loo/ at the letterto the +ebre*s aain The codices %inaiticus ( 31),

-lexandrinus (- 3), =aticanus (# 3)and Ehrae$iBescritus (" 3C)lace +ebre*s after Thessalonians#ecause the letter is not addressed to an individual but toa rou, the ere5sF, it *as added as the last one ofPaulFs letters to conreations The -uthori@ed #@antine

=ersion laces it at the end of the collection, follo*inPhile$on The codices #oernerianus and -uiensis do

not have +ebre*s at all The di5erent laces in *hich+ebre*s *as inserted in the letters of Paul clearlindicate that at so$e ti$e the collection consisted onl ofthirteen letters +ebre*s *as lac/in

The title of +ebre*s has the sa$e *ordin in all extant$anuscrits This is eseciall note*orth because thetext itself does not suest this title *ith a sinle *ord Itis ver unli/el that an t*o editors indeendentl fro$each other *ould thin/ of this na$e

On the other hand, the title ives onl the address8 it doesnot ive the na$e of the author of the letter This i$liesthat the reader /no*s the author #ut ho* should he/no*: -nd still, the reader of the canonical edition of theletters of Paul had ood reason to assu$e that he *asreadin a letter of Paul 4h:

To ans*er this &uestion it is instructive to have a loo/ atthe eneral letters - letter of Paul can easil be

distinuished fro$ an other !e* Testa$ent letter

Let us ause for a $o$ent This is a ver i$ortantobservation If ou loo/ at the !e* Testa$ent as a *hole,the titles of the letters are desined to rou the$ intot*o collection. The letters of Paul are na$ed accordin to


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their addressees8 the titles of the eneral letters ive thena$e of their authors,


37/37

'ro$ the si$le observation that the letters are na$edb their addressees, *e learned that the overall title ofthe canonical edition is ?etters o- 'aul? The letters *erearraned accordin to their addressees The letters toconreations for$ one rou (Bo$ans 1 "orinthians "orinthians 7alatians Ehesians Philiians "olossians1 Thessalonians Thessalonians +ebre*s)8 the letters toindividuals for$ the second rou (1 Ti$oth Ti$othTitus Phile$on) of the collection Letters *ith identicaladdressees are laced ad?acent to each other(1 "orinthians "orinthians8 1 Thessalonians Thessalonians8 1 Ti$oth Ti$oth)

!o* that *e have a icture of the text tradition of the

letters of Paul, it is ti$e to investiate eculiarities of thetext itself There are u@@lin observations to $a/e, *e*ill encounter riddles that have not et been solved, and*e *ill discuss co$etin theories of interretation thattr to shed so$e liht on the $steries of the text #ut,after all, *e *ill not be able to solve all the di5iculties Itis the rivilee of an ancient text to /ee so$e of itssecrets to itself, and it is a $atter of honor to resectthat !evertheless, I a$ condent that ou *ill en?o thisart of our ?ourne %o let us have a loo/ at so$e of the

characteristic features of the letters of Paul

The revious text is a slihtl edited version of the rstchater of'aul@s etter Collection7 3racin# the ri#ins('ortress Press. Minneaolis, 199C) b David Trobisch

Documents

The Oldest Extant Editions of the Letters of Paul