Codex Sinaiticus & 2 Peter 1:1

Sam Shamoun
Sam Shamoun

Table of Contents

Codex Sinaiticus (a supposed 4th century AD Greek manuscript of the Holy Bible) contains an interesting variant in 2 Peter 1:1. Instead of using the abbreviation (which scholars call nomina sacra) for "God" (ΘΥ – Theou), it has the word "Lord" (ΚΥ  – Kyriou), which changes the reading from “our God and Savior Jesus Christ” to "our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ." 

As one noted NT textual critic explains:

2 Peter 1:1b

All three editions (TR WH NU) read dikaiosune tou theou hemon kai soteros Iesou Christou ("righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ”), with excellent support: P72 B C Maj. Instead of theou (God), a few witnesses (ℵא Ψ vgMSS syrph copsa) read kyriou ("Lord"), yielding the rendering: "righteousness of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ." In the Greek, there is one definite article (TOU) governing the two titles theou ("God") and soteros ("Savior") joined by the conjunction kai ("and"). According to a Greek grammatical rule called the "Granville Sharp Rule" (see Dana and Mantey 1927,147; also Titus 2:13), this structure indicates that the two nouns describe one person—in this case, Jesus Christ. Thus, this statement indicates that Jesus Christ is both God and Savior. This is the view of the great majority of twentieth-century commentators, grammarians, and authors of general works on Christology or 2 Peter (see Harris 1992,230-238 for a full discussion and bibliography). (Philip W. Comfort, New Testament Text and Translation Commentary: Commentary on the variant readings of the ancient New Testament manuscripts and how they relate to the major English translations [Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Il, in 2008], p. 758; emphasis mine)

Further Reading

KJV AND SHARP’S FIRST RULE

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