Jesus: Man, Messenger, Messiah · 6. Theological Alterations
Luke 3:22 — 'today I have begotten you'
In short
- 1.Codex Bezae and a wide range of second- and third-century Fathers read: **'You are my Son, today I have begotten you.'**
- 2.That is a direct quotation of **Psalm 2:7**, a royal enthronement text.
- 3.Most later manuscripts harmonise Luke to the wording of Mark 1:11.
- 4.Harmonisation to a parallel Gospel is a well-known scribal habit, which makes the distinctive reading the likelier original.
The claim being examined
At Jesus's baptism the voice from heaven says: 'You are my beloved Son, in you I am well pleased.'
The Islamic position
The earlier attested reading quotes Psalm 2:7 — 'today I have begotten you' — which reads naturally in an adoptionist sense, and was changed.
Analysis
Ehrman's argument runs on both external and internal grounds: the distinctive reading is attested early and widely across the geographical spread of the Fathers, and it is the reading a scribe would remove rather than create, since 'today I have begotten you' invites the conclusion that Jesus became Son at the baptism. He notes Luke's own use of Psalm 2 in Acts 13:33 as evidence that the evangelist was comfortable with the enthronement language.
From the Qur'an
Q 19:35
مَا كَانَ لِلَّهِ أَن يَتَّخِذَ مِن وَلَدٍ ۖ سُبْحَٰنَهُۥ
It is not for Allah to take a son; exalted is He.
From the Bible
Luke 3:22 (Bezae)
Greek: huios mou ei sy, ego semeron gegenneka se
You are my Son, today I have begotten you.
Read it in their BiblePsalm 2:7
Hebrew: beni attah, ani hayyom yelidtikha
You are my son; today I have begotten you.
Read it in their BibleSources
Bart D. Ehrman · Bart D. Ehrman, *Misquoting Jesus: The Story Behind Who Changed the Bible and Why* (HarperSanFrancisco, 2005), ch. 6, pp. 158-161
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