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 αὐτοῦ, ‘his,’ and δέ, giving the coordinated English clauses familiar from the Authorized Version.
Variant class
Omission / addition
2Textus Receptus
Greek reading
we are his witnesses of these things; and so is also the Holy Ghost
Authorized Version
“And we are his witnesses of these things; and so is also the Holy Ghost, whom God hath given to them that obey him.” — Acts 5:32
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.
3NA28 baseline and critical-text rationale
NA28 baseline reading
we are witnesses of these things, and the Holy Ghost
Translation or explanation
we are witnesses of these things, and the Holy Ghost
Metzger’s report of the UBS committee
Metzger reports the UBS4 committee's treatment of 2 variation units within this record's range. The notes ground the relevant decisions in the weight and distribution of external attestation, a proposed mechanism of accidental omission, the likelihood that the competing form is a scribal correction or emendation, possible theological pressure in transmission; the printed confidence ratings represented here are {C}, {B}. This is a controlled synopsis rather than a quotation.
Locator: Bruce M. Metzger, A Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament, 2nd ed., notes on Acts 5:32, 5:32
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
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.
Bahnsen four-point examination
Arbitrariness
At Acts 5:32, the critical choice avoids arbitrariness only to the extent that it states public manuscript, transcriptional, and intrinsic grounds. Passage: Acts 5:32 Received reading: we are his witnesses of these things; and so is also the Holy Ghost Principal competing reading: we are witnesses of these things, and the Holy Ghost 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 “we are witnesses of these things, and the Holy Ghost.” The shorter critical form still names the apostles and the Holy Ghost as witnesses, but it does not state the possessive relation as explicitly.
Inconsistency
The criteria used at Acts 5:32 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: No single doctrinal proposition is directly changed; the principal consequence is exegetical, historical, or cumulative.
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
Passage: Acts 5:32 Received reading: we are his witnesses of these things; and so is also the Holy Ghost Principal competing reading: we are witnesses of these things, and the Holy Ghost Issue class: Textual Variant Editorial status: Preliminary record accepted for staging; independent review remains pending. The Authorized Version presents Acts 5:32 as “we are his witnesses of these things; and so is also the Holy Ghost.” In the competing textual or editorial form, the line is “we are witnesses of these things, and the Holy Ghost.”
Internal and transcriptional evidence
Retain the received pronoun and connective; they sharpen rather than create the testimony described by Peter.
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 Acts 5:32. 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: Acts 5:32 Received reading: we are his witnesses of these things; and so is also the Holy Ghost Principal competing reading: we are witnesses of these things, and the Holy Ghost 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 “we are witnesses of these things, and the Holy Ghost.” The shorter critical form still names the apostles and the Holy Ghost as witnesses, but it does not state the possessive relation as explicitly.
Conclusion
Luke does not leave Acts 5:32 isolated from its setting. Just outside the selected unit, Acts 5:31 says, “Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour, for to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins.” Acts 5:33 says, “When they heard that, they were cut to the heart, and took counsel to slay them.”
Retain the received pronoun and connective; they sharpen rather than create the testimony described by Peter.
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.
Status: Established
Immediate textual or doctrinal consequence
At Acts 5:32, the received text reads “we are his witnesses of these things; and so is also the Holy Ghost” and its Authorized Version representation reads “And we are his witnesses of these things; and so is also the Holy Ghost, whom God hath given to them that obey him.” — Acts 5:32”. The assessed critical reading is “we are witnesses of these things, and the Holy Ghost”. 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 Acts 5:32, the received Hebrew/Greek form is “we are his witnesses of these things; and so is also the Holy Ghost”; the Authorized Version represents it as “And we are his witnesses of these things; and so is also the Holy Ghost, whom God hath given to them that obey him.” — Acts 5:32”. The assessed critical form is “we are witnesses of these things, and the Holy Ghost”.
- 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 Acts 5:32, the received text reads “we are his witnesses of these things; and so is also the Holy Ghost” and its Authorized Version representation reads “And we are his witnesses of these things; and so is also the Holy Ghost, whom God hath given to them that obey him.” — Acts 5:32”. The assessed critical reading is “we are witnesses of these things, and the Holy Ghost”. 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 — Acts 5:32Current critical-edition, ECM, or editorial documentation
- 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
Read the full research essay and its sources
Passage: Acts 5:32
Received reading: we are his witnesses of these things; and so is also the Holy Ghost
Principal competing reading: we are witnesses of these things, and the Holy Ghost
Issue class: Textual Variant
Editorial status: Preliminary record accepted for staging; independent review remains pending.
The Authorized Version presents Acts 5:32 as “we are his witnesses of
these things; and so is also the Holy Ghost.” In the competing textual
or editorial form, the line is “we are witnesses of these things, and
the Holy Ghost.”
“And we are his witnesses of these things; and so is also the Holy
Ghost, whom God hath given to them that obey him.” — Acts 5:32
Scrivener includes αὐτοῦ, ‘his,’ and δέ, giving the coordinated
English clauses familiar from the Authorized Version. The shorter
critical form still names the apostles and the Holy Ghost as witnesses,
but it does not state the possessive relation as explicitly.
The variation at Acts 5:32 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.
Luke does not leave Acts 5:32 isolated from its setting. Just outside
the selected unit, Acts 5:31 says, “Him hath God exalted with his right
hand to be a Prince and a Saviour, for to give repentance to Israel, and
forgiveness of sins.” Acts 5:33 says, “When they heard that, they were
cut to the heart, and took counsel to slay them.”
Retain the received pronoun and connective; they sharpen rather than
create the testimony described by Peter.
Sources and further reading
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-2222
- 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.
- 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.
Chris Thomas, “Acts 5:32 — “We Are His Witnesses”: Does the Possessive Pronoun Belong?,” VAR-2222, Confessional Bibliology Research Center, version 1.0-staging, last revised 2026-07-22.
Revision history
- — Chris Thomas