Jesus: Man, Messenger, Messiah · 5. Originals That Matter
Mark 1:41 — did Jesus feel compassion, or become angry?
In short
- 1.Most manuscripts read SPLANCHNISTHEIS, 'moved with compassion'.
- 2. Bezae and Old Latin witnesses read ORGISTHEIS, 'becoming angry'.
- 3.By the harder-reading criterion, 'angry' is original: no scribe would make Jesus (PBUH) angry at a leper.
- 4.Matthew and Luke, both using Mark, omit the word entirely — precisely what you would expect if their copies said 'angry'.
The claim being examined
Jesus (PBUH) heals a leper 'moved with compassion' — a text used to characterise his whole ministry.
The Islamic position
The earliest recoverable reading portrays a more human, emotionally complex Jesus (PBUH); the softened reading is later editorial care.
Analysis
This is Ehrman's flagship example in chapter 5, and its strength is the internal evidence rather than the manuscript count. He notes that Mark elsewhere portrays an angry Jesus (PBUH) (3:5; 1:43 uses harsh verbs — *embrimesamenos*, 'snorting with indignation', and *exebalen*, 'threw him out'), so the reading fits the author. Matthew and Luke's shared omission of the emotion word is difficult to explain if their source read 'compassion', since both are happy to call Jesus (PBUH) compassionate elsewhere.
From the Qur'an
مَّا ٱلْمَسِيحُ ٱبْنُ مَرْيَمَ إِلَّا رَسُولٌۭ قَدْ خَلَتْ مِن قَبْلِهِ ٱلرُّسُلُ
mā l-masīḥu ub'nu maryama illā rasūlun qad khalat min qablihi l-rusulu
The Messiah, son of Mary, was not but a messenger; messengers have passed on before him.
From the Bible
Greek: orgistheis / splanchnistheis
And becoming angry [or: moved with compassion], he stretched out his hand and touched him.
Read it in their BibleGreek: embrimesamenos… exebalen
And sternly warning him, he immediately threw him out.
Read it in their BibleSources
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