Jesus: Man, Messenger, Messiah · 5. Originals That Matter
Luke 22:43-44 — the bloody sweat in Gethsemane
Handle with care. The manuscript evidence here is genuinely split and the passage is old, whether or not Luke wrote it. Present it as a scholarly dispute you are reporting, not a settled forgery.
In short
- 1.Missing from important early manuscripts, including P75 and (as a first hand) Vaticanus and Sinaiticus.
- 2.The surrounding passage is a tight chiasm; the two verses break its symmetry.
- 3.Luke systematically removes distress from his Markan source — he omits Jesus's (PBUH) 'deeply grieved' and the cry of dereliction.
- 4.Ehrman argues the verses were added against docetism, to prove Jesus (PBUH) genuinely suffered in a real body.
The claim being examined
An angel strengthens Jesus (PBUH) and his sweat becomes like great drops of blood — the classic image of his agony.
The Islamic position
The verses interrupt a deliberately composed structure and are absent from major early witnesses; Luke's own portrait of Jesus (PBUH) is calm and in control.
Analysis
Chapter 5 treats these verses as a deliberate insertion made for doctrinal reasons. The case stacks up from three directions: the earliest manuscripts, the shape of the passage, and Luke's own habits as an editor. The wider point Ehrman draws is that Luke's Jesus (PBUH) goes to his death composed — praying for his executioners, promising paradise to the criminal — a portrait these verses cut across. Give the counter-argument honestly: some scholars, including Metzger's committee, judged the verses early even if not written by Luke.
From the Bible
Greek: hosei thromboi haimatos
And being in agony he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling to the ground.
Read it in their BibleSources
The spoken script for this entry is inside the app.
Members get the word-for-word delivery guide — how to open, what to say, the likely replies and how to close warmly — plus notes, a dawah journal and the study assistant.
Open the app