for people whom he favors. Lit. “for human beings of (God’s) good
pleasure.” The reading in the best mss. here is the gen. eudokias, “of good pleasure” (B*, א*,
A, D, W, and many ancient versions [including the Vg, whence the Roman Catholic
tradition] and patristic citations). It is regarded by Metzger (TCGNT, 133) as the lectio difficilior. In the Koine text-tradition, ms. Θ, and some ancient versions, one finds the
nom. eudokia.
This difference of reading led historically to two traditional
renderings of the angels’ song, one three-membered, the other two-membered:
Glory to God in the highest,
and on earth peace,
good will toward men.
(KJV, using the nom. eudokia)
Glory to God in the highest.
and on earth peace among men of good will.
(CCD, using the gen. eudokias)
In the first form the three nouns in the nom., doxa, eirēnē, and eudokia,
were used to support the structuring of the song. In the second, two-membered
form, the chiastic parallelism noted above was used, even though it was not
perfect; the second member is longer than the first.
In more recent times both of these renderings have been abandoned in
favor of one that is almost certainly correct:
Glory in highest heaven to God;
and on earth peace for people whom he favors.
Thus “glory” and “peace” are parallel; “in highest heaven” and “on
earth” are so too; and “God” parallels “people whom he favors.” Not only is
this a better parallelism, but it reckons with the better reading, gen. eudokias, “people of (his) good pleasure,” i.e. toward whom he
manifests his good pleasure, his predilection.
Some reasons for translating eudokia
as referring to God’s “good pleasure” can be mentioned: (a) The term has been
subject to recent restudy because it has always been apparent that the
difference between the “good will” of the traditional two-membered and
three-membered forms of the song were being heard with the overtones of the
Reformation/Counter-Reformation debate. (b) J. Jeremias (“Anthrōpoi eudokias (Lc 2.14),” ZNW
28 [1929] 13–20), on the basis of the LXX translation of Hebrew rāṣôn and its cognates by eudokia and its cognates (e.g. Ps
51:18), argued that eudokia must also
refer here to God’s “good pleasure.” (c) Luke himself uses the word eudokia in this sense in 10:21, “Indeed,
Father, this was your good pleasure.” (d) C.-H. Hunzinger (“Neues Licht auf Lc
2.14 anthrōpoi eudokias,” ZNW 44 [1952–1953] 85–90; see also ZNW 49 [1958] 129–130) called attention
to Hebrew parallels to the Lucan expression in some Qumran texts: 1QH 4:32–33, bĕnê rĕṣônô, “sons of his good will”;
1QH 11:9, lĕkôl bĕnê rĕṣônĕkā, “for
all the sons of your good pleasure”; possibly also in 4QpPsa 1–2 ii
24–25, if Allegro’s restoration is accepted [pišrô ʿal ʾanšê] rēṣôn[ô], “[the interpretation of it concerns
the people of his] good pleasure.” (e) I discovered the same phrase in both an
Aramaic Qumran text, 4QḥʿAc 18, beʾĕnōš
rēʿût[ēh], “among men of [his]
good pleasure,” and in the Sahidic translation of Luke 2:14, hen enrōme empefwōš,
“among men of his pleasure” (see “ ‘Peace upon Earth among Men of His Good
Will’ (Lk 2:14),” ESBNT, 101–104.
This evidence makes it clear that the angels’ song dealt neither with
the “good will” to be manifested on earth by human beings toward one another
(so the KJV), nor with the “good
will” as the disposition required of human beings to be recipients of the peace
(so the CCD), nor even with the “good
will” or esteem that some people might enjoy among others (Tatian and the
Peshitta [see R. Köbert, Bib 42
(1961) 90–91]). Rather, eudokia was
to be understood of God’s “good pleasure,” and the complete phrase, anthrōpoi eudokias, as “people whom God
has favored,” i.e. with his grace or predilection.
A remote parallel has been found in an ancient Ugaritic text, ʿAnat 3.10ff, “Pour out peace over the earth, loving consideration over the
fields” (see A. Goetze, BASOR 93
[1944] 17–20). Cf. ANET, 136. (Joseph
A. Fitzmyer, The Gospel According to Luke I-IX: Introduction, Translation,
and Notes [AYB 28; New Haven: Yale University Press, 2008], 410-12)
