This post covers Mark 1:26-27 // Luke 4:36-37. The results of this 5-part series are summarized in concluding remarks at
the end of this post.
(26)
S* καὶ ἐθαμβήθησαν ἅπαντες
Mark καὶ ἐθαμβήθησαν ἅπαντες
Luke καὶ ἐγένετο θάμβος ἐπὶ πάντας.
S* And they were all amazed
Mark And they
were all amazed
Luke And amazement came on
all
Luke’s diction is more refined. It is probably secondary with respect to
the more colloquial diction of Mark.
(27)
S* καὶ συνελάλουν πρὸς ἀλλήλους λέγοντες,
Mark ὥστε συζητεῖν πρὸς ἑαυτοὺς λέγοντας,
Luke καὶ συνελάλουν πρὸς ἀλλήλους λέγοντες,
S* and were conversing with one
another saying,
Mark so that
they debated among themselves saying,
Luke and they were
conversing with one another saying,
In this instance, it is Mark that preserves more refined diction. If
Luke had Mark in front of him, rather than the posited common source, we would
have to assume that Luke dialed down the register of his source. But that does
not jive with the profile of Luke the redactor we build up from elsewhere.
(29)
S* Τί ἐστιν τοῦτο ὅτι ἐν ἐξουσίᾳ καὶ τοῖς πνεύμασι τοῖς ἀκαθάρτοις ἐπιτάσσει,
Mark Τί ἐστιν τοῦτο; διδαχὴ καινὴ κατʼ ἐξουσίαν· καὶ τοῖς πνεύμασι τοῖς ἀκαθάρτοις ἐπιτάσσει,
Luke Τίς ὁ λόγος οὗτος ὅτι ἐν ἐξουσίᾳ καὶ δυνάμει ἐπιτάσσει τοῖς ἀκαθάρτοις πνεύμασιν,
S* “What is this, that he
commands even defiled spirits with authority,
Mark “What is
this? A new teaching with authority. Even defiled spirits he commands.
Luke “What thing is
this, that he commands * * the defiled spirits with authority and power,
In this instance, the wording of a putative common source of Mark and Luke is
a matter of uncertainty. A guess: διδαχὴ καινὴ κατʼ ἐξουσίαν·represents a secondary assimilation to τῇ διδαχῇ αὐτοῦ (Matt 4:28 // Mark 1:22 // Luke 4:32). The text preserved
in Luke is cleaner, though it has the plusses ὁ λόγος and καὶ δυνάμει over
against Mark, plusses that might well be non-original. I retain the καὶ before τοῖς πνεύμασι τοῖς ἀκαθάρτοις,
the less refined diction of this last phrase, and the opening clause found in
Mark over against that in Luke (though ἐστιν is conceivably an addition). With respect to Mark’s διδαχὴ καινὴ κατʼἐξουσίαν, there are grounds for wonderment that, on the
hypothesis that Luke had Mark before him, he did not follow Mark at that point.
(30)
S* καὶ ἐξέρχονται;
Mark καὶ ὑπακούουσιν αὐτῷ.
Luke καὶ ἐξέρχονται;
S* and they come out?”
Mark and they
obey him.
Luke and they come out?”
Again, it is Mark that preserves a more polished text. The redundant
diction preserved in Luke is of a piece with the style of the wording of the
content under review here wherever both Mark and Luke attest to it.
(31)
S* καὶ ἐξῆλθεν ἡ ἀκοὴ αὐτοῦ εὐθὺς πανταχοῦ εἰς ὅλην τὴν περίχωρον.
Mark καὶ ἐξῆλθεν ἡ ἀκοὴ αὐτοῦ εὐθὺς πανταχοῦ εἰς ὅλην τὴν περίχωρον τῆς Γαλιλαίας.
Luke καὶ ἐξεπορεύετο ἦχος περὶ αὐτοῦ εἰς πάντα τόπον τῆς περιχώρου.
S* And news of him went out right
then all around to the whole surrounding territory.
Mark And news of
him went out right then all around to the whole surrounding territory of
Galilee.
Luke And echo regarding
him was going out to every place of the surrounding territory.
On this reconstruction, the putative source of Mark and Luke, with ἔξελθε ἐξ αὐτοῦ . . . καὶ . . . ἐξῆλθεν followed by καὶ ἐξέρχονται; καὶ ἐξῆλθεν,
lacked the level of verbal variation one expects in higher register Greek,
remedied by Mark and Luke both, but in different ways. In this locus, Luke in
the interests of stylistic variation seems to replace ἐξῆλθεν with ἐξεπορεύετο. Luke’s ἦχος περὶ αὐτοῦ also dials up the style relative to Mark’s ἡ ἀκοὴ αὐτοῦ. τῆς Γαλιλαίας in
Mark appears to be a specificatory gloss.
Concluding Remarks
The material reviewed bears out Carl Conrad’s observation cited at the
onset:
I think it very likely that Mark's gospel is the earliest of the genre and
that it depends heavily upon oral tradition . . . I suspect that the
"solecisms" in Greek Mark derive fundamentally from those pericopes
or oral traditions not created by the author but altered only enough to fit
into his redactional framework . . . At any rate, it seems to me that the
author/redactor of Greek Mark did nothing akin to the wholesale stylistic
recasting of phrasing of traditional elements seen in Luke and in Matthew with
a view to making the narrative smoother and more readable.
On the other hand, the evidence of the material reviewed here does not
comport well with the notion that Matthew and/or Luke had Mark as we know it in
hand. If Matthew had a copy of Mark before him, it is not clear why he didn’t
copy over: (2) Simon’s [brother Andrew]; (5) Jesus and says;
(6) to be fishers of men; (12) Zebedee and with the hired
hands. If Luke had a copy of Mark before him, it is not clear why he didn’t
copy over (19) saying; (27) so that they debated among themselves;
(29) a new teaching; (30) they obey him; and (31) of Galilee.
The just-mentioned loci of variation, along with the others, comport well
with the hypothesis that Mark, Matthew, and Luke reflect a common source, similar
to, but not identical with, the tradition Mark attests to, but also tweaks here and there. That being so, the old
hypothesis of an Ur-Markus is not to be discounted.
The Reconstructed Common Source
καὶ ἐγένετο θάμβος ἐπὶ πάντας καὶ συνελάλουν πρὸς ἀλλήλους λέγοντες, Τίς ὁ λόγος οὗτος ὅτι ἐν ἐξουσίᾳ καὶ τοῖς πνεύμασι τοῖς ἀκαθάρτοις ἐπιτάσσει, καὶ ἐξέρχονται; καὶ ἐξῆλθεν ἡ ἀκοὴ αὐτοῦ εὐθὺς πανταχοῦ εἰς ὅλην τὴν περίχωρον.
And amazement came on all. They were saying to one another, “What thing is
this, that he commands even defiled spirits with authority, and they come out?”
And news of him went out right then all around to the whole surrounding
territory.
Mark 1:27-28
καὶ ἐθαμβήθησαν ἅπαντες ὥστε συζητεῖν πρὸς ἑαυτοὺς λέγοντας, Τί ἐστιν τοῦτο; διδαχὴ καινὴ κατʼ
ἐξουσίαν· καὶ τοῖς πνεύμασι τοῖς ἀκαθάρτοις ἐπιτάσσει, καὶ ὑπακούουσιν αὐτῷ. καὶ ἐξῆλθεν ἡ ἀκοὴ αὐτοῦ εὐθὺς πανταχοῦ εἰς ὅλην τὴν περίχωρον τῆς Γαλιλαίας.
Luke 4:36-37
καὶ ἐγένετο θάμβος ἐπὶ πάντας καὶ συνελάλουν πρὸς ἀλλήλους λέγοντες, Τίς ὁ λόγος οὗτος ὅτι ἐν ἐξουσίᾳ καὶ δυνάμει ἐπιτάσσει τοῖς ἀκαθάρτοις πνεύμασιν καὶ ἐξέρχονται; καὶ ἐξεπορεύετο ἦχος περὶ αὐτοῦ εἰς πάντα τόπον τῆς περιχώρου.
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