Saturday, March 12, 2022

Nomina Sacra and the Earliest Manuscripts of Matthew 28:19

  

The varying number of nomina sacra found in some early manuscripts containing Matt 28.19 (εις το ονομα του Πατρος και του Υιου και του αγιου Πνευματος) are illustrative: Codex Vaticanus here has none of the words marked as nomina sacra, whereas Codex Bezae has one nomen sacrum (Spirit), Codex Sinaiticus and Codex Washingtonianus two (Father and Spirit) and Codex Alexandrinus and the Majority Text—probably influenced by the practice of baptizing in the Triune Name—three (Father, Son and Spirit).

 

Besides the suitable designation ‘embryonic creed’, we could also speak of the nomina sacra as an important link bridging the potential structural, theological and narrative gap between the Scriptures and the second-century oral kerygma, the developing regular fidei. (Thomas Bokedal, The Formation and Significance of the Christian Biblical Canon: A Study in Text, Ritual and Interpretation [London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2014], 116)