This page contains summaries of interpolations as cited by Bart Ehrman in his podcast here. A transcript of that podcast is in his folder in DropBox.
Luke 2:33 Jesus is born and taken to the temple
Luke 2:33 Jesus is born and taken to the temple. and there’s a man in there named Simeon who realizes that this is the Son of God who’s brought to the temple. He’s an infant still, and Simeon recognizes him and sings out a kind of a song of praise. And after that, we’re told in chapter two, verse 33, that when his father and mother marveled at what was said. His father? Most manuscripts change his father to Joseph. Joseph and his mother marveled. And you ask, this is the kind of thing where you’d ask, well, why would a scribe want to change that? Because Luke has emphasized, and the scribes believe, that Joseph is not the father. That’s the whole point. And you get a similar thing later when Jesus is a 12-year-old in the temple.
Luke chapter 2 – Jesus is a 12-year-old who goes with his family to Jerusalem for a Passover feast.
They find him in the temple. His mother finds him in the temple talking with the Jewish leaders about the law. And she’s relieved, but she upbraids him. She says, why are you here? Your father and I have been looking all over for you. And scribes changed it to things like, we have been looking all over for you. So that she doesn’t call Joseph the father. And so that’s interesting why scribes are changing it.
Luke 22:19-20 contains the Last Supper speech. Scribes inserted atonement after Luke removed it.
Bart discusses the issues in the podcast as well as his post Why Would a Scribe Change Luke’s Account of the Last Supper? September 30, 2015. and the followup articles here and here. The passage has to do with what Jesus said and did at the Last Supper. Dr. Ehrman’s post provides the rational for why the text might have been added and the argument for it be deleted.
Here is the form of the text as found in most of the manuscripts. (he put verse numbers in the appropriate places)
17 And he took a cup and gave thanks, and he said: “Take this and divide it among yourselves; 18 for I say to you that from now on I will not drink from the fruit of the vine until the Kingdom of God comes.” 19 And taking bread he gave thanks and broke it and gave it to them saying, “This is my body that is given for you; do this in remembrance of me.” 20 Likewise after supper (he took) the cup, saying, “This cup is the new coverant in my blood that is shed for you. 21 But see, the hand of the one who turns me over is with me at the table….”
He said the words in bold and the underlined are missing from one of our oldest Greek manuscripts and from some Latin manuscripts. In those witnesses then, the text reads as follows:
17 And he took a cup and gave thanks, and he said: “Take this and divide it among yourselves; 18 for I say to you that from now on I will not drink from the fruit of the vine until the Kingdom of God comes.” 19 And taking bread he gave thanks and broke it and gave it to them saying, “This is my body. 21 But see, the hand of the one who turns me over is with me at the table….”
- Scholars are convinced that Mark was one of the sources for the gospel of Luke including this Last Supper passage where in Mark’s gospel, it says Jesus said this is my body given for you.
- there are old manuscripts of Luke, ancient manuscripts that omit about half of that. In these old manuscripts, what happens in Luke is that he gives the cup, he says, take this divided among yourselves. Then he gives them the bread and says take this and divide it among yourselves. He does not say this is my body given for you. And he doesn’t say this cup is my blood being poured out for you. That verse and a half is missing from a very old Greek manuscript and several old Latin manuscripts. And so the question is, did that originally occur in Luke or not?
- in Luke, and it’s imitating the last supper, when you put these verses in, then you’ve got two cups. Cup, bread, cup.
- Luke 22 NRSV – 14 When the hour came, he took his place at the table, and the apostles with him. 15 He said to them, “I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer; 16 for I tell you, I will not eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.” 17 Then he took a cup, and after giving thanks he said, “Take this and divide it among yourselves; 18 for I tell you that from now on I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.” 19 Then he took a loaf of bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” 20 And he did the same with the cup after supper, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.”
- Mark’s gospel, that Luke is based on, understands, as does the apostle Paul, that Jesus’ death brought an atonement for sins; that his death somehow reconciles the person with God.
- You find this repeated in Mark’s gospel. For example, Mark chapter 10:45, Jesus says that the son of man came not to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many. When Luke copied Mark, he left out that verse.
- Jesus dies and the curtain rips so that now people have direct access to God due to the ultimate atonement in Mark. Luke changes that. In Luke, the curtain rips in half before Jesus dies. And so it’s no longer a sign of atonement because the death hasn’t happened yet. Luke has a different symbolic significance for the ripping of the curtain.
- Both of these places, [the last supper and the crucifiction] the author of Luke has gotten rid of Jesus’ death being an atonement.
- the apostles in the book of Acts preach how Christ brings salvation and they never talk about atonement. What happens in Luke is God wants people to repent of their sins and when they repent of their sins, he forgives them. Forgiveness is different from atonement.
- When the apostles preach how Jesus saves you, you repent and God will forgive you. Nothing about atonement. That’s consistent in Luke and Acts, except this verse and a half at the last supper. Interesting. If these verses are original, then for some reason, Luke included a passage on atonement where everywhere else he got rid of it, or scribes added it because they wanted atonement in Luke.
- Mark has a doctrine of atonement. Christ has to die for you. Luke has a doctrine of forgiveness.
