In Gal 1:10, Rom 1:1, and Phil 1:1 Paul refers to himself as δοῦλος Χριστοῦ (Ἰησοῦ). This self-designation is open to interpretation. What is the function of this claim of roles, which is slightly varied syntagmatically in the three passages mentioned, i.e., tends to be linguistically flexible on Paul's part and thus adapted to the context in each case? The present contribution is intended to expand the interpretive framework with an aspect that has been rather neglected in previous Pauline research, when it invokes the interpretive context of Roman law. For it is Roman law that is of particular interest for the self-definition as a slave. In Roman legal discourse, which finds universal application through the ius gentium as the ‘law of all men' (Gaius 1.1), i.e. also application to non-Romans or the peregrinus, the scope of action for slaves in relation to their ‘masters' is also conceptually determined by taking into account the ‘human characteristic of the slave'. Within the interpretive framework of ancient Roman law, therefore, those lines of meaning in Pauline self-fashioning as δοῦλος Χριστοῦ Ἰησοῦ that reveal self-designation in subordination to Christ as enabling ambition, zeal, honour, and success are particularly revealing. These aspects include (1) the Pauline description of status and the legitimation and exposition of his (2) relationship to the “Lord”, the description of (3) his areas of work and responsibilities, and his (4) socio-economic living conditions and lifestyle. Thus, against the background of ancient Roman law, which primarily focused on its pragmatisation rather than problematising the socio-historical reality of slaves or the moral-philosophical attitude toward slavery, certain aspects of Paul's understanding of himself and his apostolate can be more sharply defined.

After reviewing and offering a critical evaluation of the main interpretations of the sayings in Mark 9.43–7, the paper proposes a new reading that considers them in the Jewish context and in their co-text (Mark 9.33–50). The context is the marginal condition in which physically impaired people lived in Jewish society and communities. In view of this context, it is possible to point out the consistency of Jesus’ logia on self-maiming in order to enter the kingdom of God (Mark 9.43–7) with their co-text. The disciples are urged not only not to scandalise the little ones of the community (Mark 9.42), but also to share their minority state, thus avoiding stumbling in their own discipleship because of claims of greatness and superiority.

The tears of the ‘daughters of Jerusalem’ in Luke 23.27–31 are often taken as a representation of pathos. However, women's public performance of lamentation serves several purposes in the biblical prophets and Greco-Roman historiography and rhetoric. Women are responsible for mourning rituals following a death to honour the deceased and their family. They express communal lament following defeat in war. Women use tears to protest political and legal situations, swaying public opinion and decisions. The rhetorical functions of women's mourning in antiquity offer valuable insight into the potential purposes of mourning in Luke 23.27–31. The women's initial display of tears honours Jesus. The disruption of the negative perception of Jesus at this point in the narrative suggests the women's tears may be political protest. The redirection of their tears to themselves and their children provides the audience with a model response to the destruction of Jerusalem. As in Jer 9.17–22, the mourning of Luke's ‘daughters of Jerusalem’ is prophetic.

This article examines the language of seed reception within the Parable of the Sower in Mark and Luke. The paper argues that Mark's diction introduces reproductive terms into the seed figure and that Luke edits Mark to include even more distinctively gynaecological and reproductive terminology. The result is a parable in Luke that turns the audience into uterine receptacles of the seed/logos.

While surviving the shipwreck and the viper bite in Acts 28.1–6 have often been recognised as symbolic assertions of Paul's innocence, the viper may hold further symbolic significance. Following his act of matricide in 59 ce, Nero was linked to Aeschylus’ portrayal of Orestes, who, in turn, was linked to a tradition that understood a viper's birth as matricidal. Thus, through his encounter with the viper, Paul symbolically ‘appears before’ the emperor Nero—something that is anticipated yet never happens overtly in the narrative of Acts itself.

This article surveys the subscriptions to the Gospel of Mark in 157 Greek manuscripts, noting their gradual development from being identical to the title in the earliest phase to becoming more and more elaborate and significant for the history of interpretation. Early on, as reflected in the title, the Second Gospel was associated with Mark, known to be Peter's disciple and interpreter. In the fourth or fifth century, an editor added the information that it was written (or spoken) by Mark in Latin in Rome as reflected in the Peshitta and later Byzantine manuscripts. At some point between the seventh and ninth centuries, an unknown editor added dates for each of the four Gospels from a source which has been attributed to Hippolytus’ Chronicle, and in the process made a cascading error which resulted in too early dates for Mark, Luke and John. In the archetype of Family 13, these traditions were combined which suggests that the archetype of Family 13 is no earlier than the eighth century. A main factor behind this gradual growth of the subscriptions is authentication and authorisation – in the case of the Second Gospel, the association with Mark and Peter legitimates its claim of apostolicity and orthodoxy. Moreover, the situating of each Gospel in time and space through the subscriptions not only satisfies human curiosity but contributes to the construction of an ancient Christian ‘landscape of memory’, reflecting the collective memory of the early Christians, thus shaping and enhancing their identity.

Four of the witnesses selected for the Editio Critica Maior of Mark are witnesses to a unique combination of catena commentaries on the Gospels not found in any other manuscripts. An analysis of their text in the Gospel of Mark, using the tools of the Coherence-Based Genealogical Method, shows that they also feature an almost identical form of the biblical text that frequently diverges from both the Majority Text and all other Greek New Testament manuscripts. These four manuscripts, GA 238, GA 377, GA 807 and GA 1160, therefore, constitute a group within the textual tradition of the Gospels. This article provides the evidence that GA 377 is a direct copy of GA 807. No other instances of direct copying can be proven within the group, but their agreement raises the possibility that they are siblings. The format of the catenae may explain the high degree of homogeneity in this group of Gospels manuscripts.

This article argues that, based on a close reading of the ancient textual, documentary and epigraphic evidence, the expression ὁ μικρός in Mark 15.40 is most likely a nickname regarding this James’ particular height or potentially an affectionate indication that he is a child. The expression ὁ μικρός is not an indication of comparative age to another person (‘younger’). The evidence from ancient epigraphy and the LXX, initially provided by Adolf Deissmann to support a longstanding reading of ὁ μικρός as ‘the younger’ in Mark 15.40, proves to be less than reliable.

The article presents evidence for a direct, both formal and contentual, dependence of Jesus’ triple accusation in Luke 23.2 upon Socrates’ triple accusation in Plato's Apol. 24b–c.