Matthew Chapter 3 — Withdrawal to Galilee

🔗Overview

UPDV chapter 3 now covers Jesus' withdrawal to Galilee (3:1). The temptation narrative formerly printed at this location is no longer included; the decision is recorded in Variant Exceptions and Summary of Excluded Passages.

🔗Omitted Temptation Narrative

Canonical Matthew 4:1-11 is excluded from the reconstructed Matthew text. The same Synoptic temptation unit is also omitted at Mark 1:12-13 and Luke 4:1-13.

The decision follows the reconstructed baseline gospel text (*Ev) policy. Klinghardt reports that the whole Luke 3:1b-4:13 complex was missing in *Ev and specifically names the temptation story among the absent units. Roth likewise lists Luke 4:1-13 as not present in the reconstructed text. This is a larger structural absence claim, not a word-level variant inside the surviving canonical manuscript tradition.

🔗Withdrawal to Galilee (3:1)

"Now he withdrew into Galilee." This transitional verse comes from canonical Matthew 4:12, but the UPDV no longer prints the clause "when he heard that John was delivered up." That timing hinge depends on the same Mark 1:14 source-composition problem discussed in The Calling of the Disciples: John 1:35-42 places Andrew and Simon's first encounter with Jesus during John the Baptist's public ministry, and John 3:24 explicitly says John had not yet been cast into prison while Jesus and John were both active. The UPDV therefore retains the withdrawal into Galilee but removes the imprisonment-timing clause from the transition.

The canonical text continues with a formula quotation (Matt 4:13-16, citing Isaiah 9:1-2 to provide scriptural warrant for Jesus' move to Capernaum), which is omitted. The formula quotation follows the compiler's standard editorial pattern — a redactional sentence transfers Jesus to Capernaum (4:13), then the characteristic ἵνα πληρωθῇ (hina plērōthē, "that it might be fulfilled") formula introduces the Isaiah citation.

Canonical 4:17 — "From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand" — is retained as UPDV 4:1, opening the next chapter. Davies and Allison note that the compiler deliberately shaped this declaration to be identical to John's preaching at 3:2, dropping Mark's "the gospel of God," "the time is fulfilled," and "believe in the gospel" (from Mark 1:15) to create a parallel between the two preachers. This is the same phrase the UPDV deleted from John the Baptist's introduction in chapter 2 — but the logic is consistent. Placing it in John's mouth was an editorial fabrication, creating a parallel that did not exist in the source; placing it in Jesus' mouth is an editorial condensation of his authentic Markan preaching. The methodological question is: if the phrasing is the compiler's editorial work, why retain it rather than restoring Mark's fuller form? The answer lies in the distinction between editorial additions and editorial abbreviations. The UPDV strips material the compiler added to his sources — formula quotations, proof texts, transitional framework — and corrects the order he rearranged. But when the compiler condenses a Markan pericope without inserting new content, the shorter version still represents traditional material, not editorial invention. Mark 1:15 and Matthew 4:17 convey the same core proclamation; the compiler abbreviated rather than fabricated.

🔗References

• Davies, W. D. and Dale C. Allison Jr. A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Gospel according to Saint Matthew. 3 vols. International Critical Commentary. Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1988–1997.
• Klinghardt, Matthias. The Oldest Gospel and the Formation of the Canonical Gospels, Part II: Reconstruction - Translation - Variants. Leuven: Peeters, 2021.
• Roth, Dieter T. The Text of Marcion's Gospel. Leiden: Brill, 2015.