Mark 1:1

Mark 1:1 Cristou/ @ui`ou/ qeou/# {C}

The absence of ui`ou/ qeou/ in a* Q 28<sup>C</sup> al may be due to an oversight in copying, occasioned by the similarity of the endings of the nomina sacra. On the other hand, however, there was always a temptation (to which copyists often succumbed) <sup>1</sup> to expand titles and quasi-titles of books. Since the combination of B D W al in support of ui`ou/ qeou/ is extremely strong, it was not thought advisable to omit the words altogether, yet because of the antiquity of the shorter reading and the possibility of scribal expansion, it was decided to enclose the words within square brackets.

¹ See, for example, the expansions introduced into the title of the book of Revelation (Metzger, The Text of the New Testament, 3rd ed., p. 205).