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
Three forms circulate: salting everyone with fire, salting every sacrifice with salt, or the received combination of both. The second clause links Jesus’ saying to Leviticus 2:13.
Variant class
Punctuation
2Textus Receptus
Greek reading
“Every one shall be salted with fire, and every sacrifice shall be salted with salt.”
Authorized Version
“For every one shall be salted with fire, and every sacrifice shall be salted with salt.” — Mark 9:49
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
“Every one shall be salted with fire” alone; another stream has only “every sacrifice shall be salted with salt.”
Translation or explanation
“Every one shall be salted with fire” alone; another stream has only “every sacrifice shall be salted with salt.”
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 the likelihood of scribal or liturgical expansion; the printed confidence rating represented here is {B}. 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 Mark 9:49
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
No UBS6 / intended NA29 main-text change is recorded for this passage in the controlled 169-change ledger.
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
Exegetical or interpretive consequence
Exact proposition affected
The triune identity of the Father, the Son/Word, and the Holy Ghost.
Doctrinal analysis
Exegetical or interpretive consequence. The record does not establish that the variant by itself removes an entire Christian doctrine; explicit wording, exegesis, and cumulative testimony must be distinguished.
Controlled source-list matches
Doctrinal significance and Westminster use
This passage is listed in one or both controlling research files. Their claims are reported with exact source identity and confessional use; list membership does not by itself establish the original reading or the Research Center’s final entailment.
Doctrinally significant variant listMark 9.49b
Doctrinally Significant Variants Itemised
Anonymous compilation — supplied source file pp. 12
Doctrine or doctrinal consequence identified by the source
The words 'and every sacrifice shall be salted with salt' have a mystical importance, and are well supported by the universal witness of the Byzantine Text, and by the early fathers Tatian and Ephraim the Syrian. We would concur with Ephraim the Syrian that the 'sacrifices' are the sacrifices of the believers themselves, and the salt wherewith they are salted is their sincere and true faith. The omission of these words, which are attested to by the universal witness of the Byzantine Text and by the Church fathers, deprives the believer of a very sublime mystery concerning the faith of God's elect, as set forth from the lips of our Lord and Saviour.
Source-reported readings and witness argument
Received reading reported
... and every sacrifice shall be salted with salt (Mark 9:49 Authorised Version)
Critical reading reported
[Omit]
Manuscript and patristic support reported by the source
The omission of the above phrase by the Nestle-Aland text is supported by Codices Sinaiticus, Vaticanus, Ephraemi, and other Alexandrian manuscripts. The inclusion of the words is supported by the universal witness of the Byzantine Text going back to Codex Alexandrinus of the 5th century, and is also supported by Tatian's Diatessaron of the 2nd century, and Ephraim the Syrian of the 4th century A.D.
Editorial qualification: The compilation’s doctrinal inferences and witness claims are reported as its argument, not silently adopted as verified fact. Exact entailment is retained: weakening an explicit statement is not automatically a formal denial of the doctrine.
Bahnsen four-point examination
Arbitrariness
At Mark 9:49, the critical choice avoids arbitrariness only to the extent that it states public manuscript, transcriptional, and intrinsic grounds. Editorial status: Preliminary record accepted for staging; independent review remains pending. Critics often see it as a marginal explanation of Jesus’ difficult statement that later entered the text—sometimes replacing the first clause, sometimes following it.
Inconsistency
The criteria used at Mark 9:49 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
Exegetical or interpretive consequence: The triune identity of the Father, the Son/Word, and the Holy Ghost.
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
Salt in the ancient world carried culinary, preservative, and covenant associations. , The New Testament in the Original Greek according to the Text Followed in the Authorised Version (Cambridge, 1894).
Internal and transcriptional evidence
If a scribe invented the second merely to explain the first, the result does not actually define how fire salts. The context has moved from Gehenna’s unquenched fire to the disciple’s self-denial.
Reception and ecclesiastical use
The Textus Receptus joins them: “Every one shall be salted with fire, and every sacrifice shall be salted with salt.”
Providential-preservation analysis
Providential preservation is not used as a substitute for evidence at Mark 9:49. 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
Editorial status: Preliminary record accepted for staging; independent review remains pending. Critics often see it as a marginal explanation of Jesus’ difficult statement that later entered the text—sometimes replacing the first clause, sometimes following it.
Passage-specific evidence from consulted works
Core 0.6.3 supplied-source audit complete: 3 passage-specific notes attached. Incidental citations and global-method sources are retained in the audit report rather than presented as local textual evidence.
The Causes of the Corruption of the Traditional Text of the Holy GospelsPassage-specific traditional-text argument
John William Burgon; edited by Edward Miller — supplied PDF pp. 211
Burgon directly discusses Mark 9:49. The local discussion treats Greek manuscript evidence, ancient versions as part of his case for the traditional form and challenges the sufficiency or interpretation of the evidence used for the rival reading.
John reported to his Master all that occurred. Besides this, the evidence on the Traditional side is too strong to admit of it not being the genuine reading. (4) St. Mark ix. 49. ‘For (α) every one shall be salted with fire, (β) and every sacrifice 275 shall be salted with salt.’ The authorities are— α. אBLΔ, fifteen Cursives, some MSS. of the Bohairic, some of the Armenian, and the Lewis. β. D, six copies of the Old Latin, three MSS. of the Vulgate. Chromatius of Aquileia (Galland. viii. 338). 622 Cp. St. Luke xviii. 2, 3. Τις is used with ἐξ, St. Luke xi. 15, xxiv.
Editorial use: Burgon’s witness lists and textual judgments are historical source claims. They are useful evidence and argument, but this release does not represent them as a fresh collation against the current ECM/NA apparatus.
The Revision RevisedPassage-specific traditional-text argument
John William Burgon — supplied PDF pp. 308
Burgon directly discusses Mark 9:49. The local discussion treats Greek manuscript evidence, ancient versions, patristic citation, internal and transcriptional considerations as part of his case for the traditional form and challenges the sufficiency or interpretation of the evidence used for the rival reading.
Editorial use: Burgon’s witness lists and textual judgments are historical source claims. They are useful evidence and argument, but this release does not represent them as a fresh collation against the current ECM/NA apparatus.
Doctrinally Significant Variants ItemisedAttributed doctrinal and canonical-coherence argument
Anonymous compilation — supplied PDF pp. 12
Mark 9.49b: It sets “... and every sacrifice shall be salted with salt (Mark 9:49 Authorised Version)” against “[Omit].” Its stated doctrinal argument is that The words 'and every sacrifice shall be salted with salt' have a mystical importance, and are well supported by the universal witness of the Byzantine Text, and by the early fathers Tatian and Ephraim the Syrian. We would concur with Ephraim the Syrianliv that the 'sacrifices' are the sacrifices of the believers themselves, and the salt wherewith they are salted is their sincere and true faith. The omission of these words, which are attested to by the universal witness of the Byzantine Text and by the Church fathers, deprives the believer of a very sublime mystery concerning the faith of God's elect, as set forth from the lips of our Lord and Saviour. The compilation appeals to The omission of the above phrase by the Nestle-Aland text is supported by Codices Sinaiticus, Vaticanus, Ephraemi, and other Alexandrian manuscripts. The inclusion of the words is supported by the universal witness of the Byzantine Text going back to Codex Alexandrinus of the 5th century, and is also supported by Tatian's Diatessaron of the 2nd century,lii and Ephraim the Syrian of the 4th century A.D. liii
Editorial use: The compilation’s doctrinal inferences and witness claims are reported as its argument, not silently adopted as verified fact. Exact entailment is retained: weakening an explicit statement is not automatically a formal denial of the doctrine.
Conclusion
Salt in the ancient world carried culinary, preservative, and covenant associations. The Levitical command narrows the image here toward sacrifice without exhausting it. Verse 50 then turns from what happens to “every one” and “every sacrifice” to an imperative addressed to the disciples. The textual second clause makes that turn less abrupt by giving covenant salt a scriptural home before Jesus applies it to communal peace.
The received combination should stand, while its complex transmission is acknowledged. It preserves both the enigmatic warning and its scriptural horizon. Removing the sacrificial line leaves verse 50 connected only by the word “salt”; retaining it shows why salt can signify faithful devotion rather than mere preservation or flavor.
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 Mark 9:49, the received text reads “Every one shall be salted with fire, and every sacrifice shall be salted with salt.” and its Authorized Version representation reads “For every one shall be salted with fire, and every sacrifice shall be salted with salt.” — Mark 9:49”. The assessed critical reading is “Every one shall be salted with fire” alone; another stream has only “every sacrifice shall be salted with salt.”. The immediate consequence is that the critical text no longer states the received wording at this locus. The immediate local effect is exegetical or interpretive; this argument does not claim that a distinct Christian doctrine disappears from the verse.
Necessary reasoning chain
- At Mark 9:49, the received Hebrew/Greek form is “Every one shall be salted with fire, and every sacrifice shall be salted with salt.”; the Authorized Version represents it as “For every one shall be salted with fire, and every sacrifice shall be salted with salt.” — Mark 9:49”. The assessed critical form is “Every one shall be salted with fire” alone; another stream has only “every sacrifice shall be salted with salt.”.
- 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 Mark 9:49, the received text reads “Every one shall be salted with fire, and every sacrifice shall be salted with salt.” and its Authorized Version representation reads “For every one shall be salted with fire, and every sacrifice shall be salted with salt.” — Mark 9:49”. The assessed critical reading is “Every one shall be salted with fire” alone; another stream has only “every sacrifice shall be salted with salt.”. The immediate consequence is that the critical text no longer states the received wording at this locus. The immediate local effect is exegetical or interpretive; this argument does not claim that a distinct Christian doctrine disappears from the verse.
- 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
- F. H. A. Scrivener, The New Testament in the Original Greek according to the Text followed in the Authorized VersionReceived Greek reading
- Digital ECM — Mark 9:49Current critical-edition, ECM, or editorial documentation
- The Causes of the Corruption of the Traditional Text of the Holy Gospelssupplied PDF pp. 211 — Passage-specific traditional-text argument
- The Revision Revisedsupplied PDF pp. 308 — Passage-specific traditional-text argument
Read the full research essay and its sources
Passage: Mark 9:49
Received reading: “Every one shall be salted with fire, and every sacrifice shall be salted with salt.”
Principal competing reading: “Every one shall be salted with fire” alone; another stream has only “every sacrifice shall be salted with salt.”
Editorial status: Preliminary record accepted for staging; independent review remains pending.
“For every one shall be salted with fire, and every sacrifice shall be salted with salt.” — Mark 9:49
Mark 9:49 survives in three principal forms. One says, “Every one shall be salted with fire.” Another says, “Every sacrifice shall be salted with salt.” The Textus Receptus joins them: “Every one shall be salted with fire, and every sacrifice shall be salted with salt.”
The sacrificial clause echoes Leviticus 2:13, which requires the salt of God’s covenant with every offering. Critics often see it as a marginal explanation of Jesus’ difficult statement that later entered the text—sometimes replacing the first clause, sometimes following it.
Fire, sacrifice, and covenant salt
The combined reading makes a demanding progression. Fire tests and purifies every disciple; sacrificial salt marks consecration and covenant faithfulness. Verse 50 then commands, “Have salt in yourselves, and have peace one with another.” The Old Testament clause prepares that moral application.
A marginal gloss is possible. A reader searching Scripture for the strange phrase “salted with fire” could write Leviticus beside it. The separate survival of the sacrificial sentence supports that history. Yet the reverse process also fits: a difficult two-part saying can lose one half in different lines of transmission, leaving the surviving clauses to circulate separately.
The two lines are not synonymous. If a scribe invented the second merely to explain the first, the result does not actually define how fire salts. It broadens the image from ordeal to offering. That creative movement is more natural in Jesus’ compressed teaching than in a prosaic explanatory note.
The context has moved from Gehenna’s unquenched fire to the disciple’s self-denial. Christ does not promise escape from every painful fire. He calls his people to become living offerings whose covenant salt has not gone flat. Peace within the apostolic company is one test of that consecration after their argument over greatness.
Salt in the ancient world carried culinary, preservative, and covenant associations. The Levitical command narrows the image here toward sacrifice without exhausting it. Verse 50 then turns from what happens to “every one” and “every sacrifice” to an imperative addressed to the disciples. The textual second clause makes that turn less abrupt by giving covenant salt a scriptural home before Jesus applies it to communal peace.
The received combination should stand, while its complex transmission is acknowledged. It preserves both the enigmatic warning and its scriptural horizon. Removing the sacrificial line leaves verse 50 connected only by the word “salt”; retaining it shows why salt can signify faithful devotion rather than mere preservation or flavor.
Sources and further reading
- F. H. A. Scrivener, ed., The New Testament in the Original Greek according to the Text Followed in the Authorised Version (Cambridge, 1894).
- Michael W. Holmes, ed., The Greek New Testament: SBL Edition (Society of Biblical Literature and Logos Bible Software, 2010), text and apparatus.
- Bruce M. Metzger, A Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament, 2nd ed., notes on the stated passage.
- Leviticus 2:13; Ezekiel 43:24; Mark 9:42–50; Romans 12:1.
7Related materials
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- Record
- VAR-2035
- Status
- Preliminary
- Version
- 1.1-dossier
- Review
- Level B — Editorial synthesis
- Editor
- Chris Thomas
- Reviewer
- Independent reviewer pending assignment
- First date
- 1st century · Date Range
- Last revised
- 2026-07-22
Evidence and editorial controls
- Verification
- Passage, principal readings, and stated editorial comparison checked against Scrivener’s received Greek text and the SBLGNT apparatus; exhaustive manuscript collation remains open. 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. Supplied-source audit completed in Core 0.6.3. Accepted local notes were matched by canonical passage and manually bounded; source claims remain attributed where current apparatus verification is pending.
- Rights and access
- Original editorial synthesis. Biblical readings are short scholarly quotations; cited editions and digital witnesses retain their stated rights and access conditions.
- Known limitations
- The three principal forms require witness-by-witness treatment in a full apparatus; this article evaluates their literary relation rather than claiming a new comprehensive collation.
Links from this record
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Records that cite or connect here
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Chris Thomas, “Mark 9:49 — “Every Sacrifice Shall Be Salted with Salt”: The Disputed Second Clause,” VAR-2035, Confessional Bibliology Research Center, version 1.0-staging, last revised 2026-07-22.
Revision history
- — Chris Thomas