Abstract In Luke 10:38, a certain woman named Martha welcomes Jesus and offers him hospitality while her sister Mary listens at his feet. Although the story is familiar, the text itself contains a number of complex text-critical issues. This paper will focus on Luke 10:38b, which contains a difficult, though often overlooked, text-critical challenge. The issue centers on whether or not Martha welcomed Jesus “into her house” (εἰς τὸν οἶκον αὐτῆς). Many early manuscripts from different textual traditions (i.e., א, A, D) include the phrase. A few early manuscripts, however, omit the phrase (𝔓45, 𝔓75, B) leading the editors of NA28, Bruce Metzger, and others to conclude in favor of the shorter reading, arguing that εἰς τὸν οἶκον αὐτῆς was a later addition to the text, since the verb appears to need an additional phrase. In this paper, I argue that εἰς τὸν οἶκον αὐτῆς is more likely reflective of an earlier tradition for three reasons: (1) the unlikely addition of a prepositional phrase following the verb, (2) the scribal habits of 𝔓45 and 𝔓75, and (3) theological and culture concerns surrounding Martha as homeowner. This analysis will show ὑπεδέξατο αὐτόν εἰς τὸν οἶκον αὐτῆς is more likely to represent an earlier tradition.
Jennifer S. Wyant (Tue,) studied this question.