Abstract It has been suggested that a number of textual variants in the Bethany account in John 11:1, 2, 3, 5; 12:2 suggest that Martha was not originally present but was interpolated at a later stage to minimize the importance of Mary. This article will argue that these variants are best explained not by a theory of interpolation but by a general tendency to downplay the role of women and by subsequent attempts to harmonize the text to the immediate context. In particular, we will see that an alteration to 11:1 defined Martha by her relationship to her male relative (Lazarus) rather than to her sister Mary and inadvertently created tensions with 11:2–3. This led to later adjustments that we see in the text, in particular in P66. This article makes a contribution to the subject of textual variants that suppress women, a topic that will require more research in the future.
Richard G. Fellows (Sun,) studied this question.