Matthew 18:15-20 - Revision of the Textus Receptus

The gospel according to Matthew

Chapter 18

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15. Ἐὰν δὲ ἁμαρτήσῃ εἰς σὲ ὁ ἀδελφός σου, ὕπαγε [1] ἔλεγξον αὐτὸν μεταξὺ σοῦ καὶ αὐτοῦ μόνου. Ἐάν σου ἀκούσῃ, ἐκέρδησας τὸν ἀδελφόν σου. “If your brother sins against you[2], go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother.

16. Ἐὰν δὲ μὴ ἀκούσῃ, παράλαβε μετὰ σοῦ ἔτι ἕνα ἢ δύο, ἵνα ἐπὶ στόματος δύο μαρτύρων ἢ τριῶν σταθῇ πᾶν ῥῆμα· But if he does not listen, take one or two more with you, that by the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established.

17. Ἐὰν δὲ παρακούσῃ αὐτῶν, εἰπὸν τῇ ἐκκλησίᾳ. Ἐὰν δὲ καὶ τῆς ἐκκλησίας παρακούσῃ, ἔστω σοι ὥσπερ ὁ ἐθνικὸς καὶ ὁ τελώνης. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to hear the church also, let him be to you as a Gentile or a tax collector.

18. Ἀμὴν λέγω ὑμῖν, ὅσα ἐὰν δήσητε ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς ἔσται δεδεμένα ἐν τῷ[3] οὐρανῷ, καὶ ὅσα ἐὰν λύσητε ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς ἔσται λελυμένα ἐν τῷ οὐρανῷ. Truly I say to you, whatever you bind on earth will have been bound in heaven, and whatever you release on earth will have been released in heaven.

19. Πάλιν [4] λέγω ὑμῖν ὅτι ἐὰν δύο συμφωνήσωσιν ἐξ[5] ὑμῶν ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς περὶ παντὸς πράγματος οὗ ἐὰν αἰτήσωνται, γενήσεται αὐτοῖς παρὰ τοῦ πατρός μου τοῦ ἐν οὐρανοῖς. Again I say to you, that if two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them by my Father who is in heaven.

20. Οὗ γάρ εἰσιν δύο ἢ τρεῖς συνηγμένοι εἰς τὸ ἐμὸν ὄνομα, ἐκεῖ εἰμι ἐν μέσῳ αὐτῶν. For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there I am in their midst.”

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[1] NA-Text and WPF³⁵ omit “και”: א B D Θ Byz^mss | TR: Byz Theophylact. Conjunction omitted. This change does not affect the English translation.

[2] NA-Text brackets “against you”. The collective witness of the majuscules, the minuscules, the versions and the fathers is overwhelmingly against questioning this as part of the text. This part of the text was probably missed in some manuscripts by a copyist error caused by phonetic homoeoteleuton (“αμαρτηση εις σε”, thus missing against you).

[3] NA-Text omits the definite articles before heaven, twice in the verse.

[4] NA-Text, M-Text, P-Text and WPF³⁵ add “αμην”, thus rendering “Again, I truly say to you”: The NA-Text adds it within brackets as a doubtful addition: B E F G H K Y (Θ) Π 058 078 ƒ¹³ 28 33 157 180 205 565 597 700 828 1006 1010 1071 1241 1243 1292 1342 1424 1505 it^a it^b it^c it^f it^ff1 it^g1 it^h itⁿ it^q it^r1 syr^c syr^s syr^pal(mss) cop^bo(mss) cop^sa cop^mae geo¹ Basil Theophylact | TR: א D L N O W Γ Δ Σ ƒ¹ 579 892 it^aur it^d it^e it^ff2 it^l syr^p syr^h eth syr^pal(mss) cop^bo(mss) arm geo² Diatessaron Origen (Commentary on Matthew Book 14 Ch.1) Cyprian Chrysostom Jerome || In chapter 19, we find the exact same construction. Matthew includes the “amen” in verse 23 and in verse 24 he simply says “Again, I say to you”. I could not find any other examples in the New Testament where Jesus says” “Amen I say to you” and right after “Again amen I say to you”. The inclusion of “amen” is probably a scribal harmonization to the preceding verse that is unprecedented in the New Testament. The non-inclusion is well supported, especially among the Antenicene witnesses and then right after by codex א, Jerome and Chrysostom. Therefore, it is safer to not change the TR here.

[5] NA-Text and Vg-St add “εξ” (Latin equivalent: “ex”): א B D L Θ 058 ƒ¹³ 700 892 Jerome Chrysostom | TR: K N W Γ Δ 078 ƒ¹ 28 (33) 565 1010 1241 1424 Byz Theophylact || The support for the inclusion of the conjunction is better and it has been added to the Greek text.

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Notes:

1. Text in red letters are places where the original reading in the Textus Receptus has been revised and corrected;

2. The English translation used as a reference is the WEB brought to conformity as literal as possible to the Textus Receptus. The end product though is not the WEB or a revised WEB and it should not be called WEB. The content of this post is freely available to everyone and it is not supposed to be copyrighted;

3. TR: Textus Receptus. This text is not copyrighted;

4. NA-Text: Nestle-Aland text commonly known as critical text;

5. M-Text: Majority Text; 

6. M-Text^RP - Majority Text compiled by Maurice Robinson & William Pierpont;

6. M-Text^HF - Majority Text compiled by Zane Hodges & Arthur Farstad; 

7. Vg-St: Vulgate of Stuttgart;  

8. WPF³⁵: Wilbur Pickering-family 35;

9. P-Text: Patriarchal Text, also known as Patriarchal Greek New Testament, published by the ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople.

10. The creator of the variant apparatus available in the VarApp kindly gave me permission to freely use the information contained in the material he put together.

 

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To God all the glory for the preservation of the scriptures! He reigns!