Barabbas’ Full Name?

Matthew 27:16 ESV And they had then a notorious prisoner called Barabbas.

Matthew 27:16 NIV “At that time they had a well-known prisoner whose name was Jesus Barabbas.

Barabbas was the prisoner whom the Jews chose for Pontius Pilate to set free rather than Jesus. What is less known about Barabbas is that his full name might actually be Jesus Barabbas.

In most known Greek manuscripts, Barabbas’ name in Matthew 26:16–17 is simply “Barabbas” (Βαραββᾶν). A few manuscripts have Barabbas’ name as “Jesus Barabbas” (Ἰησοῦν [τὸν] Βαραββᾶν). However, these “Jesus Barabbas” manuscripts were produced at a later date. This decreases the probability that it may have been the original reading.

Nonetheless, there are other considerations which have cautioned scholars against rejecting the “Jesus Barabbas” reading too quickly. Even though the “Jesus Barabbas” reading is only found in later manuscripts, it is still possible that they could be preserving an earlier reading which may even reflect the original text.

Consider the following two scenarios:

• Copyist A’s source text read “Barabbas”, but he copied it as “Jesus Barabbas” in his manuscript.
• Copyist B’s source text read “Jesus Barabbas”, but he copied it as “Barabbas” in his manuscript.

Which scenario is more likely to have happened? It is difficult to think of a reason why a copyist would add “Jesus” to Barabbas’ name, if indeed his source text just had “Barabbas”. On the other hand, it is more likely that copyists saw the name “Jesus Barabbas” in their source text, but copied it as “Barabbas”, omitting the name “Jesus” from Barabbas’ name because they did not like it that an evil person like Barabbas would share the same name as the Messiah.

Moreover, if indeed the original reading was “Jesus Barabbas”, it would better explain why, in verse 17, Pilate referred to Jesus as “Jesus who is called Christ”. Pilate would have been giving the Jews a choice between two Jesuses: “Jesus Barabbas or Jesus who is called Christ”!

Conclusion

Did the original text of Matthew 27:16–17 contain Barabbas’ name as “Jesus Barabbas” or simply “Barabbas”? Most scholars believe that the original text read “Barabbas”, and this reading is reflected in most translations. However, some scholars believe that the original text read “Jesus Barabbas”, and this reading is reflected in the NIV, CEV, and NET.