Christian Texts and History • On the weight of the variants

The basic insight is therefore quite simple: If Mcn is older than Luke (that is the central claim), and if at the same time numerous Mcn readings appear as variants in the Luke manuscripts (that is undisputed), then these variants have a pre-New Testament origin and represent a pre-New Testament text. In this case, the consequence is inescapable: the search for the oldest variants does not always lead to the text of Luke, which has become canonical, but to a precursor. This is where the real irritation of the Mcn priority thesis for textual criticism lies. 25 All efforts in textual criticism since Carl Lachmann have aimed at establishing an oldest textual form. 26 Since, in addition to the Marcionite Gospel, there are also the ten letters of the Marcionite Apostolos collection and there is a suspicion that these letters are also older than their canonical versions, this irritation is not insignificant.