164. Matthew 26:67 - 68

David Inglis, In Elenchus 68 he then confirms what he saw, and comments: That “they that held,” “mocked,” “smite,” “strike,” and “Prophesy, who is it that smote thee,” was not appearance, but indicative of tangibility and physical reality, is plain to everyone, Marcion, even if you have gone blind and will not acknowledge God’s plain truth. The KJV has all the actions mentioned by Epiphanius, but between Jesus being ‘smote’ and ‘struck,’ it also has Jesus being blindfolded. As Epiphanius does not mention the blindfolding, and this action is definitely “indicative of tangibility and physical reality,” it seems certain that he did not see it in Mcg. This is similar to the parallels in both Mk and Mt, in which Jesus is hit but not blindfolded: And some began to spit on him, and to cover his face, and to buffet him, and the servants did strike him with the palms of their hands, and to say unto him, Prophesy: [Mk 14:65] Then did they spit in his face, and buffeted him; and others smote him with the palms of their hands, Saying, Prophesy unto us, thou Christ, Who is he that smote thee? [Mt 26:67-68] The lack of the blindfolding in Mt (and the slightly different ‘covering’ in Mk) makes it likely that in Mcg it was not an omission by Marcion, but that this was what was in whatever ms formed the basis of Mcg.