Matthew 26:26

ἄρτον for τὸν ἄρτον on very strong evidence, though the article is found in A and several other uncials. The evidence is more evenly divided between ποτήριον and τὸ ποτήριον (Matthew 26:27). The former has the support, among others, of א and B.

26. For ἐδίδου … καὶ the true reading is δούς.

26. τοῦτό ἐστιν κ.τ.λ. Accurately, ‘this is the body of me;’ St Luke adds, ‘which is in the act of being given for you’ (τὸ ὑπὲρ ὑμῶν διδόμενον); St Paul, ‘which is in the act of being broken for you’ (τὸ ὑπὲρ ὑμῶν κλώμενον. Lachmann and Tischendorf omit κλώμενον); the sacrifice had begun, the body of Christ was already being offered. The expression may be paraphrased: ‘This—the bread—and not the paschal lamb, represents—is to the faithful—the body of Me, who am even now being offered a sacrifice for you.’ Without entering on the great controversy of which these four words have been the centre, we may note that; (1) the thought is not presented now for the first time to the disciples. It was the ‘hard saying’ which had turned many from Christ, see John 6:51-57; John 6:66. (2) The special form of the controversy is due to a mediæval philosophy which has passed away leaving ‘the dispute of the sacraments’ as a legacy. St Luke and St Paul have the addition, ‘this do in remembrance of me’—now, as a memorial of Me, not of the Passover deliverance.