passion traditions reinterpreted As the synopsis indicates, the shorter text has no reference to Jesus’
blood or the atoning character of Jesus’ death. The text seems to reflect
an ideology where Jesus death was not interpreted in terms of sacrifice
and atonement. The significance of Luke’s shorter text has often been
debated but scholars have been mainly interested in the question whether
the shorter text should be regarded as the original one. Although these
considerations cannot be avoided here, I will mainly focus on an aspect
which has received less attention but which may open a new viewpoint
in the discussion about the tradition-historical setting of the shorter
reading.^2 I will compare the shorter reading with the fragments derived
from theGospel of the Ebionites. This gospel provides an interesting point
of comparison for the shorter reading because of its fierce criticism of
sacrifices.
...Arguments for and against the Shorter Reading
WestcottandHortarguedthat,whentheOldLatinandtheOldSyr-
iac versions agreed with Codex Bezae, they represented an older, non-
interpolated text. This is precisely the case in Luke :b–. However,
after the publication of the second edition of the Greek New Testament,
where the so-called “Western non-interpolations” were abandoned, the
Greek New Testament and Nestle–Aland editions have agreed on the
longer Lukan text as the original reading.^3
Although textual critics may still have to discuss the significance of the
Old Latin and the Old Syriac versions agreeing with each other against
B and its allies,^4 I do not venture here to launch a new defense of the
Western non-interpolations, regardless of how tempting that might be in
light of the hypothesis to be developed in the following. The manuscript
evidence for the longer reading is overwhelming (provided one does
not accept Westcott and Hort’s principle) and I consider the longer
reading older. Nevertheless, the defenders of the shorter reading have
also presented theological arguments in favor of their solution. Because
this theological discussion has bearing on the topic of this chapter, I will
take it up here.(^2) I am indebted to Matti Myllykoski for originally bringing to my attention the
significance of the Codex Bezae in the study of Jewish Christianity and especially in the
discussion about the tradition history of Luke :–.
(^3) For the overview of the different editions, see Fitzmyer , .
(^4) Cf. Petersen , –.