The Textus Receptus names Christ at verse 8 and includes a woe against scribes and Pharisees at verse 14. The critical text omits “even Christ” in verse 8 and the whole of verse 14. Neither omission leaves the chapter mild: verse 10 again names Christ, and six other woes remain. The issue is Matthew’s full pattern.
“For one is your Master, even Christ; and all ye are brethren.” — Matthew 23:8
One teacher, one Christ
The received Greek calls the one Master ὁ Χριστός. Some critical witnesses read “one is your teacher” without the name. Two verses later all main texts say, “one is your Master, even Christ.” Critics therefore see the earlier name as an expansion from verse 10.
Matthew’s repetition can be deliberate. Verse 8 forbids the proud title Rabbi because the disciples have one Master and are brothers. Verse 9 forbids an absolute spiritual fatherhood because they have one Father in heaven. Verse 10 returns to masters and names Christ again. The repeated name holds the warning together: Christ’s unique rule creates the brethren’s equality.
The command does not ban every use of teacher or father. Paul can call himself a spiritual father and the New Testament appoints teachers. Jesus condemns titles used to seize the authority, honor, or conscience that belongs to God and his Christ.
The woe that moved
Verse 14 reads: “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye devour widows’ houses, and for a pretence make long prayer: therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation.” It is absent from several early lines. Among copies that include it, some place it before verse 13 and others after.
That movement gives the critical case real force. Mark 12:40 and Luke 20:47 contain the same charge, so the saying could have been imported and then set in different places.
Yet a line restored from a margin also enters at different points. The content fits Matthew’s woes: abuse of the weak hidden beneath public religion. The change of order between witnesses may reflect uncertainty about whether the first woe should concern barred heaven or devoured houses, not uncertainty about whether Jesus spoke the words.
The received position makes a stern descent. The teachers shut the kingdom, consume widows while praying, and cross sea and land to reproduce their error. Christ sees both doctrine and appetite. The full warning belongs, and it lands where the received text has long placed it.
Verse 8 and verse 10 use related but not identical teacher-words in Greek. The Authorized Version’s “Master” gives the shared claim to directive authority. Modern English may use teacher and instructor, but the warning concerns more than classroom skill: no disciple may become the conscience-owning center that Christ alone is.
The twice-named Christ is therefore not empty repetition. One occurrence guards the brotherhood from rabbinic pride; the next guards it from rival directors. The Father, the Christ, and the brethren form the paragraph’s ordered relations.
The widow woe applies that order to power. Men who enjoy honor while consuming vulnerable households deny the Master they name. Long prayer can become cover for long theft. Keeping verse 14 ensures that textual discussion does not leave the chapter’s institutional sin abstract.
Further reading
- Matthew 23:1–15; Mark 12:38–40; Luke 20:45–47.
- Bruce M. Metzger, A Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament, note on Matthew 23:13–14.
- Frederick H. A. Scrivener, The New Testament in the Original Greek according to the Text Followed in the Authorised Version.