Colossians 3:6

Colossians 3:6 @evpi. tou.j ui`ou.j th/j avpeiqei,aj# {C}

It is exceedingly difficult to decide whether the words evpi. … avpeiqei,aj were added in most witnesses by copyists who recollected Ephesians 5:6 (where no manuscript omits the words), or whether they are absent from î⁴⁶ B cop^sa eth^ro and several Fathers (Clement Cyprian Macrobius Ambrosiaster Ephraem Jerome) because of an accident in transmission. In view of (a) the very widespread testimony supporting the longer reading (a A C D^vid F G H K L P almost all minuscules it vg syr^{p, h} cop^bo goth arm eth^pp Clement Chrysostom al) and (b) the inconcinnity produced by the shorter reading with the following evn oi-j, as well as (c) the impression that kai. u`mei/j in ver. Colossians 3:7 assumes a previous mention of unbelieving Gentiles, a majority of the Committee decided to retain the words in the text but to enclose them within square brackets in order to indicate a measure of doubt as to their genuineness in Colossians.