Two New Articles on Hebrews in NTS

Two new articles on Hebrews have appeared in the latest issue of New Testament Studies:

Malik, Peter. “On Citing the Sahidic Version of Hebrews: Theoretical Reflections and Examples from Textual Practice.” New Testament Studies 68.1 (2022): 61–75.

"The Sahidic Coptic is one of the earliest and most important versions of the New Testament. Thus, it is essential that its witness be related to the Greek tradition with adequate methodological precision. This article attempts to pave the way for such an undertaking in the Epistle to the Hebrews, a New Testament book which, currently, lacks a major critical edition of its Greek text or an edition of its Sahidic version. Firstly, the present study offers methodological reflections on citing the Sahidic version, with a particular focus on transmissional, editorial, linguistic and translation-technical issues. And secondly, a selection of the most significant variant units in Hebrews is examined with a view to relating the Sahidic evidence to the Greek variant spectrum at each point."


McKay, J. Michael, Jr. “Is Joshua a Type of Christ in Hebrews 4.8? An Assessment of the Referent of Ἰησοῦς.” New Testament Studies 68.1 (2022): 105–18.

"The referent of Ἰησοῦς in Heb 4.8 is traditionally understood to refer to Joshua son of Nun and frequently as a type referring to Jesus the Christ. I will argue against this reading and, instead, maintain that the referent of Ἰησοῦς is Jesus. Two lines of evidence are provided. First, analysis of the context demonstrates that the ‘Joshua’ option disrupts the author's argument, and that understanding the referent to be Jesus clarifies the argument. Second, the use of the nomina sacra abbreviations to refer to Jesus in the earliest manuscripts demonstrates that they interpreted Ἰησοῦς as referring to Jesus."