Novum Testamentum XXXVI, 2 (1994), EJ.

Brill, Leiden

A NOTE ON ACTS 1:14

by

CURT NICCUM
Lubbock, Texas

Recent interest in the "anti-feminist tendency" of the

"Western" 'text of Acts has resurfaced an article by Walter Thiele. 1
In this arti~le, Thiele claims to have discovered an independent
witness to Codex Bezae' s addition of X<XL -dXVOl<; at Acts 1: 14 2 which
verifies the importance of this reading for the history of the text. In
particular, the readingnow attests the tendency of the "Western"
text to denigrate ,"omen and not the peculiarities of a single
manuscript!, 3 With this~ so-called
.
"antifeminist tendency" in the

i
1 Walter Thiele, "Eine Bemerkung zu Act 1,14," ZNW 53(1962): 110-111.
This work rec,eivcs notice by Ben Witherington, "The Anti-Feminist Tendencies
of the 'Westem' Text of Acts," JBL 103 (1984): 82; and Richard 1. Pervo, "Social
and Religious Aspects of the 'Westem' Text," The Living Text: Essays in HonoT 01
Emest 111: Sau'1deTs (eds. Dennis E. Gl"Oh and RobertJewett; New York: University
Press of America,. 1985) 235-237.
2 The Latin side ofCodex Bezae also contains the addition. It apparently reads

el libeTis, the codex being barely legible at this location.

3 Thiele, "Bemerkung," 1,10-111. Unlike many others (see works listed below),

Thiele recog'l-izes the precariousness of using singular readings to argue the

existence of a tendency within a text-type.
Fo!" additional proponents of the "Western" text's "antifeminist" tendency see
J. Hastings, '''Women in the Acts of the Apostles," ET 4(1892-3): 434-436;
William M. Rarnsay, Tlze ChuTeh in the Roman Em/JiTe BefoTe A.D. 170 (London:
Hodder and Stoughton, 1893) 161-162; and St. Paullhe TravelleT and the R~man
Citizen (Lond6n: Hodder and Stoughton, 1925) 268; Adolph von Harnack, "Uber
die beiden R dzensionen der Geschichte der Prisca und Aquila in Act. Apost. 18: 1-
27, " Studien ' ZUT Cesehiehte des Neuen Testaments und deT alten Kirehe, 1: Zur
neutestamentlic~en Textkritik (Berlin : de Gruyter, 1931) 48-61; P.H. Menoud, "The
Western Text and the Theology of Acts," BSNTS 2(1951): 30-31; Carlo Martini,
"La Traditin Textuelle des Actes des Aptres el les Tendances de I'Eglise
ancienne," Les Aetes des Aptres (ed. J . Kremer; BETL 48; Leuven: University
Press, 1979) 21-35; J. Phillip Schaelling, "The Westen Text o[ the Book of Acts:
A Mirror of. Doctrinal Struggles in the Early Christian Church, " Apocryphal
Writings and the Latter-Day Saints (ed. C. Wilfred Griggs ; Provo: Brigham Young
University, 1986) 155-172; Wolfgang Schrage, "Ethische Tendenzen in der Text-
berlicferung des Neuen Testaments," Studien zum Text 1I.nd Zllr Ethik d., Ncum
Testaments (ed . W. Schrage; Berlin: De Gruyter , 1986) 386-388; and Bruce M .
./
 ACTS 1: 14 197

"Western" text of Acts, Jeff Childers and 1 have dealt elsewhere. 4

Thie!e's i,lli:erpretation of the textual evidence remains to be
challenged .
Thiele derives his independent testimony for the Bezan addition
from chapter headings preserved in a number of Vulgate manu -
scripts. 5 These chapter headings, however, are of much greater
antiquity, :having originally accompanied an Old Latin text. 6 The
heading for Acts 1: 12 -14 reads : De congregatione apostolorum et oratione
quam cum ~ltricibus suis mulieribus celebrabant. 7 According to Thiele,
cum altricibus suis mulieribus refers unequivocally to a text which
ineludes ' ~children" among the company in the upper room. 8
This interpretation of the evidence is possible. ane would cer-
tainly expect chapter headings to reflect the biblical text . 9 On the
other hand, scribes could hardly resist the temptation to offer in ter-
pretive gu ;dance for the reader , especially when merely summariz-
ing (ratht than copying) the biblical text. 10 Since cum altricibus suis
mulieT~bus comments on "women" not "children," and altricibus
hardly elucidates the text preserved by Codex Bezae, this chapter
heading pr-obably reflects the exegesis of Acts 1: 14 current at the
time of its .composition. In other words, the relationship between it
and the B~zan reading is more likely interpretive than textual.

Metzger, The Text of the New Testament (3rd ed.; New York: Oxford University
Press, 1992) 295-296.
4 '''Anti-Feminist' Tendency in the 'Western' Text of Acts?" Essays on Women
in Earliest Christianity (ed. Carroll D. Osburn; Joplin, Mo .: College Press, forth-
coming 1993,) 469-492.
5 Thiele refers specifically to the tluee mss. used in the Oxford-Vulgate edition
and notes that others exist, "Bemerkung," 111. Donatien de Bruyne lists 24
Vulgate mss : which contain these chapter headings, Sommaires, Divisions, et Rubri-
ques de la BiMe Latine (Namur: Auguste Godenne, 1914) 416.
6 De Bruyne ascribes them to a circle of Donatists. He also gives their text in
full, Sommaires, 370-380. See alsoJ. Wordsworth and H.J. White, Novum Testamen-
tum domini nos/ri [esu Christi latine secundum editionem Sancti Hieronymi (3 vols.;
Oxford: Oxfol d University Press, 1905) 1:5.
7 De Bruy:l<:, Sommaires, 370 .
B Thiele, "Bemerkung," 111.
9 Most of ese chapter headings do follow the biblical text. For examplc,
heading XX: V for the passage beginning at Acts 9:32 reads: De aenean et thabita
quos elemosinae causa apostolus et uisitauit et suscitauit.
'o This phenomenon also occurs among these headings. Heading XII for Acts
4:32[f. reads: De substantia indiuisa credentium et de mendacio in anania et saPhira perpetua
morte damnato : See also Acts 8: 14 and heading XVIII: De eodem simone qui cum emere
se posse a petro sanctum spiritum credidesset spiritali prouidentia praedamnatus esto
198 CURT NICCUM
I
Apparendy, the simple mathematical problem presented by this
pericope provides the link between thc two. The author of Acts
enumerates 29 people present at the assembly . 11 According to verse
15, though ; the group numbers about 120. In order to help alleviate
this discrepancy, the Old Latn commentator implied that the wives
nursed children, thus making the crowd much larger. The scribe of
Codex Bezae, or more likely that of an earlier manuscript from
which it descends, changed the biblical text to make the children's
presence explicit. 12 This best explains both the different wording
(altricibus v'ersus xod 't'iX\lOL~) and the common exegetical approach.
Note th1t Bezae's reading and the Old Latin chapter heading
assume thy "women" are the apostles' wives. Neither one con-
sciously repuces the role of the women disciples in the early church.
Thiele misconstrues the evidence when he writes, "Die Frauen
k6nnen jetzt nicht mehr als cine eigenstandige Gruppe neben den
Aposteln, Maria, undden BrdernJesu be trachtet werden, sie sind
jetzt nur die 'Far'nilie.nangeh6rigen' del' Aposte!''' 13 Within this
pericope the author of Acts emphasizes the presence of ]esus'
family. A :similar emphasis on the wives of the apostles would not
be ou t of place. Indeed, the anarthrous 'YU\I(xL~[V corroborates this.
The "eig~nsi.ndige Gruppe" actually consists of the family 01' the
Messiah aJnd the families of the eleven (soon to be twelve) princes
who will rule Israel, not male disciples to the exclusion 01' female
disciplesY Bezae's text and the Old Latn heading merely reflect
an earlyinterpretation, ifnot the original meaning, ofthis passage .
Pace Thiele, the Old Latin chapter heading is not tcxtually
related to 'the Bezan text. Therefore , the addition of x(Xi 't'iX\lOL~ in
Codex. Be'z ae must still, be regarded as a singular reading. Thiele
correctly realizes the importance of the Bezan addition for the

11 This irlcludes eleven apostlcs and their wives (vv . 13-14), Jesus' mother and
(four) brotllers (v. 14; see also Mt. 13:55), and two addi tional disciples (v . 23).
12 This reading lits the already established Bezan tendency of resolving incon-

sisteneies rather than su pportin g the chimerical "anti[eminist tendcncy." For

instance, at 3: 11 Bezae reads <X1tOpwo.tvoo O. 'tO IThpoo xo" 'Iwc<vvoo
aov~1top'to xpcx'twv cxlho~ which brings the party out a [ the temple where the
portico actall)' stood. Assuming the Gaius af 20:4 to be the Macedonian Gaius
01' 19:29, Bezae "corrects" p~cx'('o~ (Asia Minor) to oo~ipw~ (Macedonia).
Perceiving ;that one did not read "the voices" of the prophets every Sabbath
(13:27), Bezae substitutes 't0:~ 1PC<'Pcx~ for 't0:~ 'PwvC<~.
13 Thiele, "Bemerkung," 111.

14 See Lk. 22 :30.

 ACTS 1:14 199

history of!the texto Its irnportance, however, does not stern frarn its
"theological tendeney." Instead, Bezae's addition, eonfirmed by
an Old Latin ehapter heading, gives a glimpse into the early
exegesis of Acts 1: 14 and exhibits the effect of external influences
an textual transrnissian .

".: '.