Ti me erotas peri tou agathou; eis estin ho agathos (Why do you ask me about the good? one is good) - Aleph, L, Q(B,D,f1,syrs)
Ti me erotas peri tou agathou; eis estin ho agathos, ho Theos - lat, syrc, copbo
Problem: UBS in Matthew 19:17 contradicts UBS in Mark 10:18 and Luke 18:19 (wherein all texts agree here with the Byzantine).
Discussion: Presumably Jesus spoke in Aramaic, but there is no way that whatever He said could legitimately yield the last two translations into Greek given above.1 That the Latin versions offer a conflation suggests that both the other variants must have existed in the second century. Indeed, the Diatessaron overtly places the Byzantine reading in the first half of that century.
During the 2nd century, the Church in Egypt was dominated by Gnosticism. That such a "nice" gnostic variant came into being is no surprise, but why do modern editors embrace it? Because it is the "more obscure one" (Metzger, p. 49). This "obscurity" was so attractive to the UBS Committee that they printed another "patchwork quilt". The precise text of UBS3 is found only in the corrector of Codex B. Further, no two of the main Greek MSS given as supporting this eclectic text (A,B,D,L,Q,f1) precisely agree! Most modern versions join UBS in this error also.
(all missing) - P66,75vid, Aleph*, A, B, L, N, W, 063, f1, 33, lat, syrc,h, cop
Problem: UBS in John 6:11 contradicts UBS in Mat.14:19, Mk.6:41 and Luk.9:16 (all agree here with the Byzantine).
Discussion: Mat.14:19, Mk.6:41 and Luk.9:16 all have Jesus giving the broken bread and fish to the disciples, who then distributed to the crowd. They do not have Jesus Himself giving directly to the crowd. The attempt to defend the UBS reading here by an appeal to an "analogy" like Herod's slaughter of the innocents is lame. Mat.2:16 records that Herod "sent and killed" all the male children in Bethlehem, but the actual killing would have been done by soldiers, not by Herod the Great himself. But even this statement says that he "sent", which overtly means it was an order carried out by others.
John 6:11 is in the middle of a detailed narrative account wherein the disciples have already been actively participating. In fact, verse 10 records that Jesus had given them an order. The UBS rendering of verse 11 is unacceptable.57 Inconceivably, almost all modern versions join UBS in this error.
2 As in 1 Corinthians 5:1, the UBS apparatus again gives the user no inkling that there is serious variation at this point. Metzger also offers no comment.
