Who saved Israel from Egypt? Ιησους or Κυριος in Jude 5.

In a comment on my last post, Mike Bird asked a really good question regarding the variant reading of Jude 5. There are a number of differences one encounters when dealing with the Greek text of Jude 5. I would like to list the variant reading and the manuscripts that support them before I tell why I chose the reading Ιησους over Κυριος.

a. Κυριος

The reading Κυριος is found in manuscripts: א; C*; Ψ; 436; 945; 1505; 1611; 2138; 1067; 1175; 1292; 1409; 1735 (with Ιησους); 1844. With exception the א and C*, the majority of the manuscripts are minuscules dating from the 9^th century and onward.

b. Ιησους

The reading Ιησους is found manuscripts: A; B; 33; 81; 1241; 1739; 1881; 2344.

(There are also readings that include θεος and θεος Χριστος).

The reason that I chose Ιησους over Κυριος was because I felt it to be the reading with the strongest manuscript support as well as the difficult reading. The fact the name Ιησους is connected with the Exodus makes this reading harder than if it was Κυριος or even θεος. Scribes had the tendency to not make a reading more difficult, but rather to try to smooth it out. Because Jesus is not mentioned in the Exodus, the presence of Ιησους seems to be out of place, therefore a scribe may want to change it to fit the Exodus account where it is God that leads the people out of Egypt.

I would therefore agree with the editor of the NET Bible:

The reading Ιησους (Iēsous, “Jesus”) is deemed too hard by several scholars, since it involves the notion of Jesus acting in the early history of the nation Israel. However, not only does this reading enjoy the strongest support from a variety of early witnesses (e.g., A B 33 81 1241 1739 1881 2344 pc vg co Or^1739mg), but the plethora of variants demonstrate that scribes were uncomfortable with it, for they seemed to exchange Κυριος (kurios, “Lord”) or θεος (theos, “God”) for ᾿Ιησοῦς (though P⁷² has the intriguing reading θεος Χριστος [theos Christos, “God Christ“] for Ιησους). In addition to the evidence supplied in NA²⁷ for this reading, note also {88 322 323 424^c 665 915 2298 eth Cyr Hier Bede}. As difficult as the reading Ιησους is, in light of v. 4 and in light of the progress of revelation (Jude being one of the last books in the NT to be composed), it is wholly appropriate.
- Biblical Studies Press. (2006). The NET Bible First Edition; Bible. English. NET Bible.-

For further Study see Metzger’s Textual Commentary (Κυριος) as well as Richard Bauckham’s commentary on 2 Peter and Jude in the Word Biblical Commentary series (Κυριος).

PS – Maybe if we are lucky, Mike might want to post here giving us a more fuller reason for the variant readings in Jude 5. We shall cross our fingers.

Soli Deo Gloria

EDIT: See also the work by Charles Landon, A Text-Critical Study of the Epistle of Jude, pg. 70-75. He argues that the reading should be Κυριος.

 

EDIT: In his essay "Catholic Christologies in the Catholic Epistles,” J. Michael Ramsey has the following to say regarding Ιησους and Κυριος:

Certainly Jesus is the more difficult reading. The Editors of the UBS Greek New Testament called it “difficult to the point of impossibility,” and so adopted “the Lord” (though with a “D” rating). Bruce Metzger and Allen Wikgren, however, issued a dissent in favor of “Jesus” as the original reading, calling it “the best attested reading among Greek and versional witnesses” (Metzger, Textual Commentary, 726: emphasis mine). It is uncommon for New Testament writers to find Jesus so explicitly in the Old Testament. And when they do (as in John 12.41 and I Cor. 10.4, 9), the human name “Jesus” is not used…Rather, “Jesus” – or possibly “the Lord,” understood as Jesus – is the implied subject of all three incidents of divine judgment to which Jude refers. “Jesus” is most likely the original reading (emphasis mine).

-J. Michael Ramsey. “Catholic Christologies in the Catholic Epistles.” In Contours of Christology in the New Testament. Ed. Richard N. Longeneker. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2005: 284.-