The Acts of the Apostles

252 THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES
and in Methodius. Moreover, Wellhausen has decis-
ively proved
—
cf.also Resch''s learned notes on ttviktov
—that TTviKTOv is included in the prohibition of aiima
(if aijua means " partaking of blood " ;
it only occurs
in those authorities where afjULa has this meaning),
and cannot stand as a separate member of the list.^
Accordingly, the original decree, as reported by St.
Luke, read in its second half as follows : ^ A'7r€-)(earOai
eiScoXoOvTCov Koi aijmaTog koi Tropveia^ e^ wv SiaTrjpovvre?
eauToi'9 €v irpaPeaQe. As soon as this is recognised, the
question concerning the original meaning of the Decree
becomes no longer a question of text hut simply of inter-
pretation. The Western authorities (and D) have
made it quite clear, by the interpolation {oa-a fxrj
OeXere eavroh ylvecrOai erepo) jmrj iroieiv), which inter-
pretation they preferred.^ But is this not really the
meaning intended by St. Luke ? Resch and—already
* It is also in favour of the original absence of irvkKrhv that the
insertion of the word can be easily explained {vide infra), and that
as a general rule interpolations into the text [especially in D, but
also elsewhere] are far more frequent than omissions [amid the
enormous number of additions in D can we point to a single omission
which is not due to grammatical considerations or to carelessness?
—rid« Weiss in Texte u. Unters., Bd. 9, s. 37/*.]. If irvt.KTSv stood
originally in the text, and was afterwards omitted, this would have
implied gross interference with the text. If it was originally absent,
and then inserted with the intention of giving what was thought
to be a correct interpretation of alfxa, this would scarcely have been
called interpolation. However, Wellhausen's supposition that in
the case that af/xa means " shedding of blood " vj'iktSv may be
original (but not if it means ''partaking of blood," as he supposes)
seems scarcely possible ; for it is incredible that any one should
have set together in this fashion the abominations of idolatry,
murder, fornication, and eating things strangled.
2 It is here assumed that these words are interpolated. That
this was probably so vide infra.