The reading of the Ethiopian eunuch conversion story without Acts 8:37

Question

"Acts 8:37 is widely seen by Textual Critics to be a later interpolation into the text. [...] It has generally been assumed that the verse was initially a margin added by those who found the narrative of Acts 8 lacking, which later found its way into the body of the text." (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confession_of_the_Ethiopian_Eunuch)

As a result, it has been removed from most of the modern English versions of the Bible:

• New American Standard Bible (NASB 2020) - Nestle-Aland 28: Ommitted
• English Standard Version (ESV) - Nestle-Aland 28: Ommitted
• New King James Version (NKJV) - Textus Receptus:

37 Then Philip said, “If you believe with all your heart, you may.” And he answered and said, “I believe that Jesus Christ
is the Son of God.”

• Christian Standard Bible (CSB) - Nestle-Aland 28: Ommitted
• New International Version (NIV) - Nestle-Aland 28: Ommitted

If v37 narrative was never inspired by the Holy Spirit, never occurred in the first place, and was wrongly added to old English versions (Textus Receptus), then that leaves us with the following sequence of events:

1. Philip asked the Ethiopian if he understood Isaiah.
2. The Ethiopian responded no using a rhetorical question and asked Philip for help.
3. Philip preached Jesus.
4. They came to some water unintentionally.
5. The Ethiopian asked if he could be baptized.
6. [v37 ommitted text]
7. The Ethiopian ordered the chariot to stop.
8. Philipe baptized the Ethiopian.

And when the text is read without the ommitted verse (v37), it seems like a piece of the story of the Ethiopian conversion (Acts 8:26-40) is missing now. Can the story still stand well from a Koine Greek grammar standpoint without looking perplexing or doubtful?

Additonal resources

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confession_of_the_Ethiopian_Eunuch
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_New_Testament_verses_not_included_in_modern_English_translations#Acts_8:37
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acts_8#Verse_37
• Why is Acts 8:37 omitted in some Bibles?

Answer 1

It is for very good reason that Acts 8:37 is omitted from almost all edited editions of the GNT except the Textus Receptus for the following reasons:

• it was absent from all GNT MSS until its addition in the 9th century.
• it is absent from all majorscule MSS except E08
• it is absent from the vast majority of GNT MSS
• it is absent from the majority of the Byzantine MSS
• of the 5000 + GNT MSS, it is present in only eight miniscule MSS. Even among these, the text varies and is far from uniform.
• it is absent from Jerome's Vulgate of 400 AD (it is included in the Clementine text of 1592)

The text of this passage of Acts 8:36, 38 reads:

36 As they traveled along the road and came to some water, the eunuch said, “Look, here is water! What is there to prevent me from being baptized?” 38 And he gave orders to stop the chariot. Then both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water, and Philip baptized him.

This is the way the text read for 1000 before the edition of V37 by the Itala versions in 9th century. Note that the above text is coherent and grammatically complete. Nothing about the narrative demands the addition.

Answer 2

Bruce Metzger was on the committee for the United Bible Societies’ Greek New Testament. He wrote this commentary to explain their decisions. I condensed his article, but what is left out is the early church baptismal formula was added as a note in the column of the text, then added in later copies.

  8:37      omit verse {A}

Ver. 37 is a Western addition, not found in 𝔓45, א A B C 33 81 614 vg syrp, copsa, eth, but is read, with many minor variations, by E, many minuscules, itgig, vgmss syrh with * copG67 arm. There is no reason why scribes should have omitted the material, if it had originally stood in the text. It should be noted too that τὸν Ἰησοῦν Χριστόν is not a Lukan expression.... Although the passage does not appear in the late medieval manuscript on which Erasmus chiefly depended for his edition (ms. 2), it stands in the margin of another (ms. 4), from which he inserted it into his text because he “judged that it had been omitted by the carelessness of scribes (arbitror omissum librariorum incuria).” -- Metzger, B. M., United Bible Societies. (1994). A textual commentary on the Greek New Testament, second edition a companion volume to the United Bible Societies’ Greek New Testament (4th rev. ed.) (pp. 315–316). United Bible Societies.

In the Gospel of Luke and Acts ιησουν χριστον doesn't occur with the article. The closest is τον κυριον ιησουν χριστον in Acts 16:31. However, the article with κυριον is common because κυριον is used for persons, so κυριον with the article is used for Jesus Christ or God the Father.