Acts 11:25,26

Acts 11:25-26

Codex Bezae, supported in part by other Western witnesses, reads avkou,saj de. o[ti Sau/lo,j evstin eivj Qarso.n evxh/lqen avnazhtw/n auvto,n( kai. w`j suntucw.n pareka,lesen evlqei/n eivj VAntio,ceian) oi[tinej parageno,menoi evniauto.n o[lon sunecu,qhsan o;clon i`kano,n( kai. to,te prw/ton evcrhma,tisan evn VAntiocei,a| oi` maqhtai. Creistianoi, (“And having heard that Saul was at Tarsus, he went out to seek him; and when he had met him, he entreated him to come to Antioch. When they had come, for a whole year a large company of people were stirred up, and then for the first time the disciples in Antioch were called Christians”).

Ropes was inclined to think that the verb sunecu,qhsan, so unexpected in the context, was original, and that sunacqh/nai was substituted in all other texts. The variation of verbs, however, is more probably part of a corruption that involved also the accidental omission of the words th|/ evkklhsi,a| kai. evdi,daskon between the verb and o;clon i`kano,n (“When they had come, for a whole year [people] were stirred up in the church, and they were teaching a large company of people”).

It is difficult to see why the Western text should have been shortened if it were original; on the other hand, the Alexandrian text may have been rewritten to show more clearly why Barnabas went to Tarsus, and to indicate that Saul was not “brought” to Antioch, but was “entreated” to come.