1 Peter 5:5, a Variant, and Tischendorf's Apparatus

[Jorge]

Greetings!

This is my first time posting here. I have Bibleworks 6.0.

Ok, here's what I need help with. I want to know what witnesses cite hypotassomenoi (Scrivener, e.g. KJV and NKJV) in 1 Peter 5:5. I'm having a hard time understanding Tischendorf's apparatus. It seems like he cited 3 manuscripts: K[018], L[020], and P[025], all of which date in the 9th century. But if this is right, why doesn't the NA27 cite K[018] and L[020]? What other witnesses are used to support this reading with hypotassomenoi besides what Tischendorf's critical apparatus reports?

In my NA27 I'm told that the witnesses which have allelois + hypotassomenoi ("submiting to one another") are P and m. P stands for P[025] in this case, and dates in the 9th century. m stands for the majority text, but this seems vague to me. If by m it is meant the majority of manuscripts, what are their dates? How do I find this out?

Thanks for your help.

In Christ,
Jorge Afanador

[Adelphos]

Greetings!If by m it is meant the majority of manuscripts, what are their dates? How do I find this out?

Jorge,

None of the critical apparatuses give complete citations. In fact, they generally only present a small amount of the actual manuscript, patristic, and versional evidence, although they often try to compensate for this by lumping a group of manuscripts into one category, even though the method for doing this is subjective in the highest degree.

Furthermore, the critical apparatuses you mentioned all contain numerous errors. In fact, Swanson, whose collations BW 7 is providing as an add-on module, stated that he was absolutely astounded at the number of errors in the NA27 apparatus. Of course, those of us who have collated manuscripts have been saying this for years.

In short, if you want to ascertain what the symbols in a particular apparatus mean, you must study the preface material in that particular apparatus where the symbols are explained. Each apparatus is different, although in many cases their symbols mean the same thing.

The apparatuses you mentioned, i.e., NA27 and Tischendorf, both contain a large section explaining their sigla. I recommend that you go through these carefully, and even print them out for reference sheets, if necessary.

Also, when you hear a term like "majority text," you would be wise to take that with an ocean of sand. The term "majority text" today refers to a text based on Von Soden's apparatus, and Von Soden's "majority text" employed a grand total of about 400 manuscripts out of more than 5,000 manuscripts extant. Nor are Von Soden's citations, as far as they go, even close to being accurate. In short, the term "majority text" is a "text" that is based on less than 10 percent of the extant Greek manuscripts, and that 10 percent is riddled with errors according to all of Von Soden's comtemporaries.

In short, if you base your conclusions on any single critical apparatus without comparing other apparatuses and other primary source collations, like Swanson's, which I suspect will be out soon, you are committing scholarly suicide.