Complete textual-variant dossier
Adverse entailment established
Sections distinguish readings, edition history, evidence, theological consequences, and the Research Center's evaluation. CBGM is an analytical tool; editorial committees—not the software—make textual decisions.
1Passage and issue
Passage
Issue
> “But when they persecute you in this city, flee ye into another.”
Variant class
Punctuation
2Textus Receptus
Greek reading
The Textus Receptus keeps ἄλλην with the received church text.
Authorized Version
“But when they persecute you in this city, flee ye into another.” — Matthew 10:23
Edition note
The Research Center uses the received Greek text underlying the Authorized Version as its baseline; edition-specific differences are recorded when the variation unit requires them.
Historical annotation witness
Erasmus’s Annotationes
Erasmus’s printed Greek text, his Latin annotation, and the Research Center’s evaluation are distinct evidence. Each edition remains separately identified because Erasmus revised the Annotationes across his five editions.
Not yet assessed. No inference about Erasmus’s silence has been made. A Latin annotation and translation will appear here only after an edition and exact locus have been verified.
The Erasmus annotation audit has not yet been completed for this locus. Do not infer from this status that Erasmus was silent.
Westminster and Dutch annotation witnesses
Westminster Annotations
Not yet assessed. No inference from silence is made.
Dutch Annotations
Not yet assessed. No inference from silence is made.
3NA28 baseline and critical-text rationale
NA28 baseline reading
No distinct NA28 reading has been entered; the received and NA28 texts may agree at this unit.
Translation or explanation
The received and current critical texts may agree at this unit; consult the full essay for any versional or apparatus-only variation.
Metzger’s report of the UBS committee
Metzger reports the UBS4 committee's treatment of the variation unit. The note grounds the relevant decision in a proposed mechanism of accidental omission, the likelihood of scribal or liturgical expansion; the printed confidence rating represented here is {C}. This is a controlled synopsis rather than a quotation.
Locator: Bruce M. Metzger, A Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament, 2nd ed., note on Matthew 10:23
ECM / CBGM evidence and editors
No passage-specific ECM/CBGM editorial explanation is attached to this record. Official method sources describe the CBGM as a set of coherence procedures, not a decision-maker: editors define variation units and local stemmata and evaluate pre-genealogical, genealogical, and stemmatic coherence together with transcriptional, intrinsic, and other philological evidence.
4UBS6 and intended NA29 revision
UBS6 retains the NA28 / UBS5 Greek main-text wording in Matthew, so no main-text change is shown for this passage. The separate project ledger covers Acts, Mark, and Revelation.
No change row is attached to this passage.
UBS6 is published, and the German Bible Society identifies its Greek main text as identical to the intended NA29 main text. The complete NA29 volume and its apparatus remain forthcoming. Project-ledger rows retain their source and verification statements until they are checked against the published UBS6 text and, when available, the NA29 apparatus.
5Doctrinal and four-point analysis
Effect class
No meaningful doctrinal effect
Exact proposition affected
The bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Doctrinal analysis
No doctrine turns on the choice, and the Authorized Version does not conceal the difference by rendering both words alike; it gives the English sense they share. The added Western clause shows how interpretation can enter without bad theology. Christ’s final words in the verse have generated several interpretations: the coming may refer to resurrection, judgment upon Jerusalem, the advance of the Son’s royal authority, or the final advent.
Bahnsen four-point examination
Arbitrariness
At Matthew 10:23, the critical choice avoids arbitrariness only to the extent that it states public manuscript, transcriptional, and intrinsic grounds. The received and critical texts both tell the disciples to flee to another city. The critical text uses ἑτέραν, which can carry the thought of another of a different kind, though in common New Testament use the two words often overlap. Modern editors choose ἑτέραν chiefly because of the early Alexandrian evidence.
Inconsistency
The criteria used at Matthew 10:23 must be applied to comparable readings as well. A principle such as age, difficulty, brevity, or coherence cannot be decisive here and quietly reversed elsewhere merely to escape a historical, grammatical, or theological difficulty.
Consequences
No meaningful doctrinal effect: No doctrine turns on the choice, and the Authorized Version does not conceal the difference by rendering both words alike; it gives the English sense they share. The added Western clause shows how interpretation can enter without bad theology. Christ’s final words in the verse have generated several interpretations: the coming may refer to resurrection, judgment upon Jerusalem, the advance of the Son’s royal authority, or the final advent.
Preconditions of intelligibility
The argument presupposes stable authorship, meaningful language, objective logical norms, transmissible evidence, and a coherent account of how Scripture can be received and identified by the church. The analysis tests whether the method can make those conditions intelligible without reducing the text to an indefinitely revisable editorial construct.
This framework examines an argument and its conditions; it does not claim to read an editor's private motives.
6Argument for the received reading
External and historical evidence
Otherwise a reader may be frightened by a controversy that the manuscripts do not contain. No doctrine turns on the choice, and the Authorized Version does not conceal the difference by rendering both words alike; it gives the English sense they share. Matthew’s charge remains as the Authorized Version gives it: when one city drives Christ’s messengers out, they are to flee into another and keep preaching.
Internal and transcriptional evidence
That setting also explains why a copyist might lengthen the line. The Bezan addition answers the question in the style of the passage.
Reception and ecclesiastical use
Another—and the next The Textus Receptus uses ἄλλην, the ordinary word for “another.” The Textus Receptus keeps ἄλλην with the received church text.
Providential-preservation analysis
Providential preservation is not used as a substitute for evidence at Matthew 10:23. It supplies the confessional context in which manuscript transmission, broad reception, and the church's actual possession of Scripture are evaluated together.
Canonical coherence with the rest of Scripture
Canonical coherence remains an explicit test: a proposed reading must make grammatical and theological sense within the immediate context and the rest of Scripture. No conflict is asserted merely because two editions differ; the claimed incoherence must be demonstrated at this passage.
Canonical-coherence verdict
The Authorized Version is retained where its representation of the TR forms a coherent reading within the immediate context and the rest of Scripture. Any competing form must demonstrate an equal or better canonical fit rather than merely invoke an edition or method label.
Response to the principal critical argument
The received and critical texts both tell the disciples to flee to another city. The critical text uses ἑτέραν, which can carry the thought of another of a different kind, though in common New Testament use the two words often overlap. Modern editors choose ἑτέραν chiefly because of the early Alexandrian evidence.
Conclusion
Christ’s final words in the verse have generated several interpretations: the coming may refer to resurrection, judgment upon Jerusalem, the advance of the Son’s royal authority, or the final advent. The small adjective “another” does not decide that larger question. It governs the immediate movement through Israel’s towns.
The text therefore joins endurance and mobility. Flight is not always faithlessness, and staying is not always courage. The servant’s aim is obedience to the mission, not the performance of bravery before persecutors.
Logical entailment
The Authorized Version serves as the faithful English representation. The preservation claim applies immediately to the authentic Hebrew and Greek texts—not to an English translation as though it were the inspired source.
Canonical-status rule: Physical printing is not canonical inclusion. If an edition prints a passage in double brackets while judging it secondary or non-original, it disagrees with the received text concerning the identity and extent of inspired Scripture.
Status: Established
Immediate textual or doctrinal consequence
At Matthew 10:23, the received text reads “The Textus Receptus keeps ἄλλην with the received church text.” and its Authorized Version representation reads “But when they persecute you in this city, flee ye into another.” — Matthew 10:23”. The assessed critical reading is “The received and current critical texts may agree at this unit; consult the full essay for any versional or apparatus-only variation.”. The immediate consequence is that the critical text no longer states the received wording at this locus. No local Christian doctrine is lost; the immediate effect is confined to this textual difference.
Necessary reasoning chain
- At Matthew 10:23, the received Hebrew/Greek form is “The Textus Receptus keeps ἄλλην with the received church text.”; the Authorized Version represents it as “But when they persecute you in this city, flee ye into another.” — Matthew 10:23”. The assessed critical form is “The received and current critical texts may agree at this unit; consult the full essay for any versional or apparatus-only variation.”.
- The received and critical forms are not the same at this locus. Therefore, if the competing critical form is original, the received form is secondary rather than the authentic wording at this place. The immediate consequence is: At Matthew 10:23, the received text reads “The Textus Receptus keeps ἄλλην with the received church text.” and its Authorized Version representation reads “But when they persecute you in this city, flee ye into another.” — Matthew 10:23”. The assessed critical reading is “The received and current critical texts may agree at this unit; consult the full essay for any versional or apparatus-only variation.”. The immediate consequence is that the critical text no longer states the received wording at this locus. No local Christian doctrine is lost; the immediate effect is confined to this textual difference.
- If the received form at this place is secondary rather than original, then the authentic Hebrew/Greek text was not kept pure at this place in the received textual tradition; therefore the unqualified confessional preservation claim must be denied or redefined.
Ultimate preservation consequence
If the competing reading is original and the received reading is secondary, then God did not preserve and keep pure the authentic text at this place in the received textual tradition. The unqualified confessional claim that Scripture was kept pure in all ages must therefore be denied or redefined.
Sources
- Westminster Confession of Faith (1647)Chapter 1, section 8 — Governing confessional preservation claim
- German Bible Society — UBS6 publications and relation to NA29Current critical-edition, ECM, or editorial documentation
- German Bible Society — The Sixth Edition of the Greek New TestamentCurrent critical-edition, ECM, or editorial documentation
- INTF — Online Tools for the ECMCurrent critical-edition, ECM, or editorial documentation
- German Bible Society — Interview with Hugh HoughtonCurrent critical-edition, ECM, or editorial documentation
Read the full research essay and its sources
“But when they persecute you in this city, flee ye into another.” — Matthew 10:23
At first glance this looks like a missing-verse dispute. It is not. The received and critical texts both tell the disciples to flee to another city. Their main difference is the Greek adjective translated “another.” A much longer form, preserved especially by Codex Bezae, adds a second instruction about flight.
Small distinctions deserve exact names. Otherwise a reader may be frightened by a controversy that the manuscripts do not contain.
Another—and the next
The Textus Receptus uses ἄλλην, the ordinary word for “another.” The critical text uses ἑτέραν, which can carry the thought of another of a different kind, though in common New Testament use the two words often overlap. In this sentence both yield the same plain English: “flee to another.”
Codex Bezae expands the command: if they persecute you in the other city, flee to the next. The extra line may have begun as an explanation of Christ’s following words, “Ye shall not have gone over the cities of Israel, till the Son of man be come.” It may also have dropped by an eye-skip between repeated forms of “another.” The divided position and narrow support of the longer instruction weigh against treating it as Matthew’s text.
Modern editors choose ἑτέραν chiefly because of the early Alexandrian evidence. The Textus Receptus keeps ἄλλην with the received church text. No doctrine turns on the choice, and the Authorized Version does not conceal the difference by rendering both words alike; it gives the English sense they share.
The command is not cowardice
Jesus does not tell the Twelve to deny him or abandon their charge. Flight carries the gospel to the next city. A servant may remain when duty binds him, and he may leave when persecution would end the work in one place while another field stands open. The verse joins courage to prudence.
That setting also explains why a copyist might lengthen the line. Readers naturally ask, “What happens when the next city also persecutes them?” The Bezan addition answers the question in the style of the passage. A useful answer is not therefore an inspired sentence.
The received ἄλλην is simple, old, and widely carried. The critical ἑτέραν changes no command, while the long Western form likely preserves interpretation rather than text. Matthew’s charge remains as the Authorized Version gives it: when one city drives Christ’s messengers out, they are to flee into another and keep preaching.
The added Western clause shows how interpretation can enter without bad theology. If persecution follows in the second city, of course the same prudence may apply again. The gloss answers a reasonable pastoral question. Its usefulness is what made it easy to preserve and hard to recognize once the margin disappeared.
Christ’s final words in the verse have generated several interpretations: the coming may refer to resurrection, judgment upon Jerusalem, the advance of the Son’s royal authority, or the final advent. The small adjective “another” does not decide that larger question. It governs the immediate movement through Israel’s towns.
The text therefore joins endurance and mobility. Flight is not always faithlessness, and staying is not always courage. The servant’s aim is obedience to the mission, not the performance of bravery before persecutors.
Sources and further reading
- Matthew 10:16–28; Acts 8:1–4; 9:23–30; 14:5–7.
- Bruce M. Metzger, A Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament, note on Matthew 10:23.
- Frederick H. A. Scrivener, A Plain Introduction to the Criticism of the New Testament.
7Related materials
Open a group to follow connected articles, books, biographies, media, research notes, variants, or downloads. Research Center relationships use permanent record IDs; external items retain their actual link.
- Record
- VAR-1044
- Status
- Preliminary
- Version
- 1.1-dossier
- Review
- Level B — Editorial synthesis
- Editor
- Chris Thomas
- Reviewer
- Independent reviewer pending assignment
- First date
- 2026-07-22 · Exact Day
- Last revised
- 2026-07-22
Evidence and editorial controls
- Verification
- Recovered project data; bibliographic and source-level verification remains record-specific. Metzger commentary entries were matched by exact passage where present; ECM/CBGM rationale is passage-specific only when an official editorial explanation is cited. Ledger rows are identified as UBS6 / intended NA29 data but retain their row-level verification caveats pending direct collation.
- Rights and access
- Original editorial synthesis; cited sources retain their stated rights.
- Known limitations
- Staging record; independent review remains open.
Links from this record
No public outgoing links are recorded.
Records that cite or connect here
No public backlinks are recorded.
Corrections and evidence submissions
No correction submission is presently attached to this record. Submit evidence or read the correction policy.
Chris Thomas, “Matthew 10:23 — “Flee Ye into Another”: The Text of Christ’s Persecution Instruction,” VAR-1044, Confessional Bibliology Research Center, version 1.0-staging.
Revision history
- — Chris Thomas
- — Chris Thomas