Journal of Confessional Bibliology — Scripture Alone, Preserved by Providence

Acts 17:26 — “Made of One Blood All Nations of Men”: Does “Blood” Belong?

by | Jul 22, 2026

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

Scrivener includes αἵματος, ‘blood,’ after ‘one’; SBLGNT and NA28 omit it.

Variant class

Omission / addition

2Textus Receptus

Greek reading

hath made of one blood all nations of men

Authorized Version

“And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation;” —

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

made from one every nation of mankind

Translation or explanation

made from one every nation of mankind

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 weight and distribution of external attestation, a proposed mechanism of accidental omission. 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

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

Weakening of explicit biblical testimony

Exact proposition affected

The saving and atoning work of Jesus Christ.

Doctrinal analysis

Weakening of explicit biblical testimony. 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.

Westminster proof-text list

A List of Omissions and Changes Found in the Critical Text to Verses Used as Proof Texts in the Westminster Standards

Seth Stark — supplied source file pp. 65

Textual wording marked in the source

Received/NKJV side: blood

Critical/ESV side: man

Westminster doctrines and propositions supported
WCF 5.1 — Of Providence

Portion identified in the source as supported by this proof text:

  • direct, dispose, and govern all creatures, actions, and things,
WCF 6.3 — Of the Fall of Man, of Sin, and of the Punishment Thereof

Portion identified in the source as supported by this proof text:

  • They being the root of all mankind, the guilt of this sin was imputed;
WLC 22 — Did all mankind fall in that first transgression?

Portion identified in the source as supported by this proof text:

  • The covenant being made with Adam as a public person, not for himself only, but for his posterity, all mankind descending from him by ordinary generation, Source marks this portion as relying only on this cited proof text

Editorial qualification: This establishes a confessional proof-text and reception connection. It does not by itself establish the original reading, and its English-version comparison must be checked against the Greek variation unit.

Bahnsen four-point examination

Arbitrariness

At , the critical choice avoids arbitrariness only to the extent that it states public manuscript, transcriptional, and intrinsic grounds. Passage: Received reading: hath made of one blood all nations of men Principal competing reading: made from one every nation of mankind Issue class: Textual Variant Editorial status: Preliminary record accepted for staging; independent review remains pending. In the competing textual or editorial form, the line is “made from one every nation of mankind.”

Inconsistency

The criteria used at 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

Weakening of explicit biblical testimony: The saving and atoning work of Jesus Christ.

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 Authorized Version presents as “hath made of one blood all nations of men.” Sources and further reading The Holy Bible, Authorized Version, . Scrivener, The New Testament in the Original Greek according to the Text Followed in the Authorised Version (1894), .

Internal and transcriptional evidence

The shorter form can mean ‘from one man,’ but that noun must be supplied from the context, whereas the received wording expressly declares the common blood of humanity.

Reception and ecclesiastical use

The received reading and its ecclesiastical use require passage-specific documentation; the age of a witness and the age of a reading must not be confused.

Providential-preservation analysis

Providential preservation is not used as a substitute for evidence at . 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

Passage: Received reading: hath made of one blood all nations of men Principal competing reading: made from one every nation of mankind Issue class: Textual Variant Editorial status: Preliminary record accepted for staging; independent review remains pending. In the competing textual or editorial form, the line is “made from one every nation of mankind.”

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.

A List of Omissions and Changes Found in the Critical Text to Verses Used as Proof Texts in the Westminster StandardsWestminster proof-text and translation comparison

Seth Stark — supplied PDF pp. 65

At , it compares the NKJV/TR-oriented wording “And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings,”” with the ESV/critical-text wording “And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place,”” and associates the passage with WCF 5.1, WLC 22.

Editorial use: This establishes a confessional proof-text and reception connection. It does not by itself establish the original reading, and its English-version comparison must be checked against the Greek variation unit.

Conclusion

The neighboring verses keep the question tied to the episode: says, “Neither is worshipped with men’s hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things.” says, “That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us.”

Retain ‘one blood’ for its grammatical completeness and its direct testimony to mankind’s unity under the Creator.

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 , the received text reads “hath made of one blood all nations of men” and its Authorized Version representation reads “And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation;” — ”. The assessed critical reading is “made from one every nation of mankind”. The immediate consequence is that the critical text no longer states the received wording at this locus. The card classifies the change as a weakening of explicit biblical testimony, not by itself as a formal denial of the larger doctrine.

Necessary reasoning chain

  1. At , the received Hebrew/Greek form is “hath made of one blood all nations of men”; the Authorized Version represents it as “And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation;” — ”. The assessed critical form is “made from one every nation of mankind”.
  2. 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 , the received text reads “hath made of one blood all nations of men” and its Authorized Version representation reads “And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation;” — ”. The assessed critical reading is “made from one every nation of mankind”. The immediate consequence is that the critical text no longer states the received wording at this locus. The card classifies the change as a weakening of explicit biblical testimony, not by itself as a formal denial of the larger doctrine.
  3. 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

Read the full research essay and its sources

Passage:

Received reading: hath made of one blood all nations of men

Principal competing reading: made from one every nation of mankind

Issue class: Textual Variant

Editorial status: Preliminary record accepted for staging; independent review remains pending.

Scrivener includes αἵματος, ‘blood,’ after ‘one’; SBLGNT and NA28
omit it. The shorter form can mean ‘from one man,’ but that noun must be
supplied from the context, whereas the received wording expressly
declares the common blood of humanity.

The Authorized Version presents as “hath made of one blood
all nations of men.” In the competing textual or editorial form, the
line is “made from one every nation of mankind.”

“And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all
the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed,
and the bounds of their habitation;” —

The variation at changes emphasis or explicitness within
an otherwise recognizable account; shared words should be acknowledged
before the distinct reading is defended, and the difference should not
be enlarged beyond the clause that carries it.

The neighboring verses keep the question tied to the
episode: says, “Neither is worshipped with men’s hands, as
though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath,
and all things.” says, “That they should seek the Lord, if
haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from
every one of us.”

Retain ‘one blood’ for its grammatical completeness and its direct
testimony to mankind’s unity under the Creator.

Sources and further reading

  • The Holy Bible, Authorized Version, .
  • F. H. A. Scrivener, The New Testament in the Original Greek
    according to the Text Followed in the Authorised Version     (1894),
    .
  • Michael W. Holmes, ed., The Greek New Testament: SBL
    Edition    , and apparatus.

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Record
VAR-2272
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, received reading, principal SBLGNT reading, and reported NA28 alignment checked against Scrivener’s received Greek text and the official SBLGNT text and comparison 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. Authorized Version Scripture is public domain in the United States; cited editions and digital witnesses retain their stated rights and access conditions.
Known limitations
This staging record summarizes the defined variation unit and representative edition evidence. It is not a fresh collation of every extant manuscript, version, lectionary, patristic citation, or ECM coherence relation.

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.

Recommended citation

Chris Thomas, “Acts 17:26 — “Made of One Blood All Nations of Men”: Does “Blood” Belong?,” VAR-2272, Confessional Bibliology Research Center, version 1.0-staging, last revised 2026-07-22.

Revision history
  1. — Chris Thomas