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
The received text explicitly applies Isaiah 53:12 to Jesus crucified between two thieves. The critical text omits the whole verse as a likely import from Luke 22:37.
Variant class
Omission / addition
2Textus Receptus
Greek reading
The full fulfillment citation, “And he was numbered with the transgressors.”
Authorized Version
“And the scripture was fulfilled, which saith, And he was numbered with the transgressors.” — Mark 15:28
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
Omission of Mark 15:28.
Translation or explanation
Omission of Mark 15:28.
Metzger’s report of the UBS committee
No passage-specific Metzger synopsis has yet passed editorial verification for this record.
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
No single doctrinal proposition is directly changed; the principal consequence is exegetical, historical, or cumulative.
Doctrinal analysis
The same fact can explain a marginal addition, so the decisive work still belongs to transmission and Markan placement rather than theology alone.
Bahnsen four-point examination
Arbitrariness
At Mark 15:28, 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. The critical text omits the entire verse. Mark also uses explicit fulfillment formulas less often than Matthew, which makes the verse look editorial to critics.
Inconsistency
The criteria used at Mark 15:28 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 same fact can explain a marginal addition, so the decisive work still belongs to transmission and Markan placement rather than theology alone.
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
, The New Testament in the Original Greek according to the Text Followed in the Authorised Version (Cambridge, 1894).
Internal and transcriptional evidence
Principal competing reading: Omission of Mark 15:28. Luke gives the most obvious route for addition. Omission can occur because the narrative runs smoothly from verse 27 to verse 29.
Reception and ecclesiastical use
— Mark 15:28 Between the notice of the two thieves and the mockery of passersby, the received text states: “The scripture was fulfilled … And he was numbered with the transgressors.”
Providential-preservation analysis
Providential preservation is not used as a substitute for evidence at Mark 15:28. 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. The critical text omits the entire verse. Mark also uses explicit fulfillment formulas less often than Matthew, which makes the verse look editorial to critics.
Passage-specific evidence from consulted works
Core 0.6.3 supplied-source audit complete: 1 passage-specific note 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. 69
Burgon directly discusses Mark 15:28. The local discussion treats Greek manuscript evidence as part of his case for the traditional form and challenges the sufficiency or interpretation of the evidence used for the rival reading.
To read this place in its purity you have to take up any ordinary cursive copy. 4. Take another instance. St. Mark xv. 28 has been hitherto read in all Churches as follows And the Scripture was fulfilled, which saith, “And He was numbered with the transgressors.”’ In these last days however the discovery is announced that every word of this is an unauthor- ized addition to the inspired text. Griesbach indeed only marks the verse as probably 161 Cyril Alex. (four times) and the Verona Codex (b), besides L and a few other copies, even append the same familiar words to καὶ πᾶσαν μαλακίαν in St. Matt. x. 1.
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.
Conclusion
Isaiah’s wording had already entered Jesus’ own interpretation in Luke before the arrest. That intertextual fact makes the fulfillment line especially apt in Mark: the numbered place between transgressors is not an observer’s clever discovery after Easter. It belongs to the scriptural necessity Christ announced. The same fact can explain a marginal addition, so the decisive work still belongs to transmission and Markan placement rather than theology alone.
The received fulfillment statement should remain. Its relation to Luke may reflect Jesus’ own prior interpretation of the coming passion, now realized in Mark’s scene. The shorter text still depicts the prophecy, but the longer one names it. That inspired naming prevents the central cross from being read as an accident placed between two deserved executions.
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 15:28, the received text reads “The full fulfillment citation, “And he was numbered with the transgressors.” and its Authorized Version representation reads “And the scripture was fulfilled, which saith, And he was numbered with the transgressors.” — Mark 15:28”. The assessed critical reading is “Omission of Mark 15:28.”. 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 15:28, the received Hebrew/Greek form is “The full fulfillment citation, “And he was numbered with the transgressors.”; the Authorized Version represents it as “And the scripture was fulfilled, which saith, And he was numbered with the transgressors.” — Mark 15:28”. The assessed critical form is “Omission of Mark 15:28.”.
- 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 15:28, the received text reads “The full fulfillment citation, “And he was numbered with the transgressors.” and its Authorized Version representation reads “And the scripture was fulfilled, which saith, And he was numbered with the transgressors.” — Mark 15:28”. The assessed critical reading is “Omission of Mark 15:28.”. 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 15:28Current critical-edition, ECM, or editorial documentation
- The Causes of the Corruption of the Traditional Text of the Holy Gospelssupplied PDF pp. 69 — Passage-specific traditional-text argument
- German Bible Society — UBS6 publications and relation to NA29Current critical-edition, ECM, or editorial documentation
Read the full research essay and its sources
Passage: Mark 15:28
Received reading: The full fulfillment citation, “And he was numbered with the transgressors.”
Principal competing reading: Omission of Mark 15:28.
Editorial status: Preliminary record accepted for staging; independent review remains pending.
“And the scripture was fulfilled, which saith, And he was numbered with the transgressors.” — Mark 15:28
Between the notice of the two thieves and the mockery of passersby, the received text states: “The scripture was fulfilled … And he was numbered with the transgressors.” The critical text omits the entire verse. The quotation comes from Isaiah 53:12 and is spoken by Jesus in Luke 22:37.
Luke gives the most obvious route for addition. A reader sees Christ crucified between criminals, remembers his own citation of Isaiah, and writes the fulfillment beside Mark. Mark also uses explicit fulfillment formulas less often than Matthew, which makes the verse look editorial to critics.
Narrative placement is part of the evidence
The saying does not merely label the two thieves. It interprets Jesus’ place among them as the Servant’s willing identification with transgressors. The surrounding mockery treats him as one failed criminal among others; Scripture reveals that this numbered position belongs to the saving purpose of God.
Omission can occur because the narrative runs smoothly from verse 27 to verse 29. A self-contained scriptural comment between them is easy to pass over, especially in copies or lections that prioritize the passion’s action. Similar endings around “transgressors” and the following participial forms may also contribute.
Mark does quote Scripture explicitly when the narrative calls for it. The rarity of a formula cannot prove that a particular occurrence is foreign. An evangelist is not required to use every construction at the same statistical rate.
The verse does not claim that proximity to criminals made Jesus morally one of them. Isaiah’s Servant is righteous and bears the sin of many. Numbering concerns public treatment and representative suffering. The same chapter will record the centurion’s confession, overturning the court’s classification.
Isaiah’s wording had already entered Jesus’ own interpretation in Luke before the arrest. That intertextual fact makes the fulfillment line especially apt in Mark: the numbered place between transgressors is not an observer’s clever discovery after Easter. It belongs to the scriptural necessity Christ announced. The same fact can explain a marginal addition, so the decisive work still belongs to transmission and Markan placement rather than theology alone.
The received fulfillment statement should remain. Its relation to Luke may reflect Jesus’ own prior interpretation of the coming passion, now realized in Mark’s scene. The shorter text still depicts the prophecy, but the longer one names it. That inspired naming prevents the central cross from being read as an accident placed between two deserved executions.
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.
- Isaiah 52:13–53:12; Mark 15:21–32; Luke 22:35–38; 23:32–43; Acts 8:26–35.
7Related materials
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- Record
- VAR-2047
- 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
- This staging record summarizes the principal variation unit and representative evidence. It is not a fresh collation of every extant manuscript, version, lectionary, or patristic citation.
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, “Mark 15:28 — “He Was Numbered with the Transgressors”: Is the Fulfilled Prophecy Authentic?,” VAR-2047, Confessional Bibliology Research Center, version 1.0-staging, last revised 2026-07-22.
Revision history
- — Chris Thomas