.
. . [Gordon] Fee claims inauthenticity in Jn 5:4 because of the phrase αγγελος κυριου,
claimed to be in “almost all of the early uncials.” Since this phrase does not
tally with Johannine usage, it must have been a Byzantine “creation.” Fee
admits that κυριου is “lacking in the later majority” of MSS
(the bulk of the Byzantine Textform), but he directs his attention to the
“early uncials” (which are not listed). But contra Fee, the “Byzantine”
reading is simply αγγελος
standing alone, in accord with the minuscule data. Further, the uncial evidence
is not as Fee states. According to the apparatuses, αγγελος κυριου
is read by the uncials A K L Y Δ Π 0233.
Of these, only MS A (fifth century) is “early.” The remaining κυριου uncials come from the eighth (L 0233) and
ninth (K Y Δ Π) centuries. In contrast, all remaining
uncials which contain Jn 5:4 read αγγλος
alone, and these date within the same time frame as those uncials
containing the κυριου expansion. In addition, the Jn 5:4 uncials
which do not include κυριου
outnumber those which include; these are the following: sixth century, 078;
eighth century, E; ninth century, C3 (C* omits the entire
verse); F G H M U V Θ Λ Ψ; tenth century, S Γ. The uncial majority reads αγγελος alone in a 2:1 proportion against those
adding the extraneous κυριου.
The sixth-century 078 stands in near-equal contrast to the “early”
fifth-century MS A on the opposing side. Αγγελος κυριου
simply is not the “Byzantine” reading, nor does such predominate even
among the uncials (“early” or “late”). The majority pious expansion αγγελος κυριου
thus cannot be urged as a “proof” of the non-Johannine character of Jn 5:3b-4.
Had such an expansion been original to the Byzantine Textform, there would be
no explanation for its later omission in the majority of uncials or minuscules;
nor was κυριου ever omitted from the same phrase elsewhere
(Mt 1:20, 24; 2:13, 19; Lk 1:11; 2:9; Ac 7:30; 12:7, 23). Since κυριου is not original to the Byzantine text
of Jn 5:4, conclusions regarding inauthenticity cannot be established on this
basis. (Maurice A. Robinson and William G. Pierpont, The Case for the
Byzantine Priority: Inside The Gospel of John [Chilton Book Publishing,
2005], 61-62)
