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Split a/b
GC: Variant a has a small, coherent attestation with the two witnesses most closely related to A at the top (03, P74). Variant b has a perfectly coherent majority attestation. The group is led by 03 which becomes visible with IR=?.
TC: Although there is a general tendency to favor compound forms instead of simplex in Koine Greek, the resulting argument for a<b is weakened by the inclination in 03 to prefer the shorter form, and by the fact that in this special case the simplex is used more frequently than the compound.[1]
[1] The TLG shows nearly five times more entries for the simplex. Barrett (882) regards στηρίζων as “probably right” without stating his reasons; Pervo (456) prefers the simplex because it was “less common”.