Page:The New Testament in the original Greek - Introduction and Appendix (1882).pdf/256

218 vowels, current in uncial times, as between and,  and ; including the confusion between  and. This solitary blunder is for  in James i 17. The final might possibly be derived from an  which stands at the head of the next verse in a good cursive (40) and in two Syriac texts, and which has much intrinsic force: on this supposition the reading of  and B, though erroneous, would be nearer to the true reading than the common reading. But the evidence as a whole does not point to so deeply seated a corruption; and it may be fairly assumed that the reading is due either to thoughtless assimilation to the preceding genitive or to a mental separation of  from  and consequent correction of the supposed solecism. But, though a series of such coincidences would imply community of proximate origin, a single instance does not, nor would two or three. Our extant MSS afford examples of more startling coincidences, unquestionably accidental, as (A) for  in 2 Pet. ii 4, (AC) for  in 1 Pet. i 23, and  (*C*D*) for, followed by , in Acts viii 13, the subject of the verb being. The coincident readings of and Β likewise include one or two peculiar spellings having a somewhat problematical appearance: they occur however in peculiar words, in which it is difficult to find a trustworthy criterion of intrinsic certainty or even probability. They include likewise a few substantive readings which are capable of being accounted for as blunders, but which may as reasonably be admitted as genuine, and in most cases are sustained by internal evidence.