Vaticanus Two-Dot-Plus-Bar Symbols Marking Added Text, Including 1 Corinthians 14.34–5

What is it about?

The original scribe of the oldest Bible in Greek marked the exact location of textual variants that add multiple words that were not in the original text of the New Testament by putting two dots and a bar in the margin and leaving a gap at the exact point the textual variant begins in the following line of text. One marks "Let women be silent in the churches... for it is a disgrace for a woman to speak in church" as not in the original text. The added text marked by each of these symbols in the Vaticanus Gospels is not in the text of Vaticanus since its Gospels were copied from a manuscript so early they were not affected by any of these additions. Furthermore, the Vaticanus Gospels' text is so early it has virtually no periods marking the end of sentences.

Featured Image

Why is it important?

This article is important because it demonstrates that the original scribe of the oldest Bible in Greek copied an extraordinarily early copy of the Gospels and was remarkably accurate in reproducing that text accurately, not even adding periods at the ends of sentences. By identifying the silencing of women as a later addition, it confirms that Paul was consistent in teaching that there is no male-female division in Christ.

Perspectives