Mark 12:31

δευτέρα αὕτη ([2797][2798][2799][2800]) rather than καὶ δευτέρα ὁμοία αὕτη ([2801][2802][2803][2804]).

[2797] Codex Sinaiticus. 4th cent. Discovered by Tischendorf in 1859 at the Monastery of St Katharine on Mount Sinai. Now at St Petersburg. The whole Gospel, ending at Mark 16:8. Photographic facsimile, 1911.

[2798] Codex Vaticanus. 4th cent., but perhaps a little later than א. In the Vatican Library almost since its foundation by Pope Nicolas V., and one of its greatest treasures. The whole Gospel, ending at Mark 16:8. Photographic facsimile, 1889.

[2799] Codex Regius. 8th cent. An important witness. At Paris. Contains Mark 1:1 to Mark 10:15; Mark 10:30 to Mark 15:1; Mark 15:20 to Mark 16:20, but the shorter ending is inserted between Mark 16:8 and Mark 16:9, showing that the scribe preferred it to the longer one.

[2800] Codex Sangallensis. 9th or 10th cent. Contains the Gospels nearly complete, with an interlinear Latin translation. The text of Mark is specially good, agreeing often with CL. At St Gall.
[2801] Codex Alexandrinus. 5th cent. Brought by Cyril Lucar, Patriarch of Constantinople, from Alexandria, and afterwards presented by him to King Charles I. in 1628. In the British Museum. The whole Gospel. Photographic facsimile, 1879.

[2802] Codex Bezae. 6th cent. Has a Latin translation (d) side by side with the Greek text, and the two do not quite always agree. Presented by Beza to the University Library of Cambridge in 1581. Remarkable for its frequent divergences from other texts. Contains Mark, except Mark 16:15-20, which has been added by a later hand. Photographic facsimile, 1899.

[2803] Codex Monacensis. 10th cent. Contains Mark 6:47 to Mark 16:20. Many verses in 14, 15, 16 are defective.

[2804] Codex Petropolitanus. 9th cent. Gospels almost complete. Mark 16:18-20 is in a later hand.

31. Ἀγαπήσεις τὸν πλησίον σου. In both cases it is ἀγάπη, as described 1 Corinthians 13, that is enjoined; φιλήσεις would have been less suitable, and in the case of love to God very unusual. Both in Exod. and Deut., the commandments are given in fut. indic. (οὐ ποιήσεις κ.τ.λ.), as here. See on Mark 10:19. The Scribe had asked about the πρώτη πάντων. Christ answers and goes on to show him what the “first of all” involves; see on 1 John 4:20-21. The second, which is involved in the first, is given in the exact words of LXX. (Leviticus 19:18). So also Romans 13:9; Galatians 5:14; James 2:8, where it is called βασιλικὸς νόμος. But in none of these passages is the love of God coupled with the love of one’s neighbour; contrast Didache i. 2. The wording of Leviticus 19:18 encouraged Jews to put a very restricted meaning on τὸν πλησίον: no Gentile was a “neighbour.” Contrast John 15:12; Luke 10:36. The duty of loving one’s neighbour is more evident than that of loving God, yet the latter is prior in dignity and importance; for He is closer to us than our neighbours are, “nearer than hands and feet,” and the duty to love Him as our Father is the foundation of the duty to love them as brethren. These two commandments are found side by side in the Testaments, “Love the Lord in all your life, and one another in a true heart” (Daniel 5:3). Philo (De Septenario, p. 282 Mang.) mentions as the two ἀνωτάτω κεφάλαια, εὐσέβεια and ὁσιότης towards God, φιλανθρωπία and δικαιοσύνη towards men. See Sanday and Headlam, Romans, p. 376.