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
Πίστεως, ‘faith,’ in the received text stands against χάριτος, ‘grace,’ in the main critical form.
Variant class
Substitution or composite variation
2Textus Receptus
Greek reading
Stephen, full of faith and power
Authorized Version
“And Stephen, full of faith and power, did great wonders and miracles among the people. … Then there arose certain of the synagogue, which is called the synagogue of the Libertines, and Cyrenians, and Alexandrians, and of them of Cilicia and of Asia, disputing with Stephen. … And all that sat in the council, looking stedfastly on him, saw his face as it had been the face of an angel.” — Acts 6:8–15
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
Stephen, full of grace and power
Translation or explanation
Stephen, full of grace and power
Metzger’s report of the UBS committee
Metzger reports the UBS4 committee's treatment of 18 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, scribal harmonization to a parallel passage, the likelihood that the competing form is a scribal correction or emendation; the printed confidence ratings represented here are {B}, {C}, {D}. 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 6:8, 6:9, 6:9, 6:9, 6:13, 6:13, 6:15, 6:11, 6:12, 6:11, 6:14, 6:15, 6:12, 6:8, 6:8, 6:8, 6:11, 6:12
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 6:8–15, the critical choice avoids arbitrariness only to the extent that it states public manuscript, transcriptional, and intrinsic grounds. Passage: Acts 6:8–15 Received reading: Stephen, full of faith and power Principal competing reading: Stephen, full of grace and power Issue class: Clustered Variant Editorial status: Preliminary record accepted for staging; independent review remains pending. — Acts 6:8–15 Πίστεως, ‘faith,’ in the received text stands against χάριτος, ‘grace,’ in the main critical form. Later in the unit, the critical text changes the order and extent of the false witnesses’ accusation, while Stephen’s wisdom, Spirit, signs, seizure, and angel-like face remain.
Inconsistency
The criteria used at Acts 6:8–15 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
At Acts 6:8–15, the familiar Authorized Version wording and the competing form do not make exactly the same claim. Later in the unit, the critical text changes the order and extent of the false witnesses’ accusation, while Stephen’s wisdom, Spirit, signs, seizure, and angel-like face remain. Sources and further reading The Holy Bible, Authorized Version, Acts 6:8–15.
Internal and transcriptional evidence
A source-level internal and transcriptional synopsis remains open; consult the full essay.
Reception and ecclesiastical use
— Acts 6:8–15 Πίστεως, ‘faith,’ in the received text stands against χάριτος, ‘grace,’ in the main critical form. Scrivener’s received text underlies the reading “Stephen, full of faith and power.”
Providential-preservation analysis
Providential preservation is not used as a substitute for evidence at Acts 6:8–15. 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 6:8–15 Received reading: Stephen, full of faith and power Principal competing reading: Stephen, full of grace and power Issue class: Clustered Variant Editorial status: Preliminary record accepted for staging; independent review remains pending. — Acts 6:8–15 Πίστεως, ‘faith,’ in the received text stands against χάριτος, ‘grace,’ in the main critical form. Later in the unit, the critical text changes the order and extent of the false witnesses’ accusation, while Stephen’s wisdom, Spirit, signs, seizure, and angel-like face remain.
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. 60–61
At Acts 6:13, it compares the NKJV/TR-oriented wording “They also set up false witnesses who said, ‘This man does not cease to speak blasphemous words against this holy place and the law;’”” with the ESV/critical-text wording “And they set up false witnesses who said, ‘This man never ceases to speak words against this holy place and the law,’”” and associates the passage with WLC 145.
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
Luke does not leave Acts 6:8–15 isolated from its setting. Just outside the selected unit, Acts 6:7 says, “And the word of God increased; and the number of the disciples multiplied in Jerusalem greatly; and a great company of the priests were obedient to the faith.”
The received ‘faith and power’ fits the earlier description of Stephen as full of faith and of the Holy Ghost and should be preserved.
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 6:8–15, the received text reads “Stephen, full of faith and power” and its Authorized Version representation reads “And Stephen, full of faith and power, did great wonders and miracles among the people. … Then there arose certain of the synagogue, which is called the synagogue of the Libertines, and Cyrenians, and Alexandrians, and of them of Cilicia and of Asia, disputing with Stephen.…”. The assessed critical reading is “Stephen, full of grace and power”. 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 6:8–15, the received Hebrew/Greek form is “Stephen, full of faith and power”; the Authorized Version represents it as “And Stephen, full of faith and power, did great wonders and miracles among the people. … Then there arose certain of the synagogue, which is called the synagogue of the Libertines, and Cyrenians, and Alexandrians, and of them of Cilicia and of Asia, disputing with Stephen.…”. The assessed critical form is “Stephen, full of grace and power”.
- 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 6:8–15, the received text reads “Stephen, full of faith and power” and its Authorized Version representation reads “And Stephen, full of faith and power, did great wonders and miracles among the people. … Then there arose certain of the synagogue, which is called the synagogue of the Libertines, and Cyrenians, and Alexandrians, and of them of Cilicia and of Asia, disputing with Stephen.…”. The assessed critical reading is “Stephen, full of grace and power”. 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 6:8–15Current critical-edition, ECM, or editorial documentation
- A List of Omissions and Changes Found in the Critical Text to Verses Used as Proof Texts in the Westminster Standardssupplied PDF pp. 60–61 — Westminster proof-text and translation comparison
- German Bible Society — UBS6 publications and relation to NA29Current critical-edition, ECM, or editorial documentation
Read the full research essay and its sources
Passage: Acts 6:8–15
Received reading: Stephen, full of faith and power
Principal competing reading: Stephen, full of grace and power
Issue class: Clustered Variant
Editorial status: Preliminary record accepted for staging; independent review remains pending.
At Acts 6:8–15, the familiar Authorized Version wording and the
competing form do not make exactly the same claim.
“And Stephen, full of faith and power, did great wonders and miracles
among the people. … Then there arose certain of the synagogue, which is
called the synagogue of the Libertines, and Cyrenians, and Alexandrians,
and of them of Cilicia and of Asia, disputing with Stephen. … And all
that sat in the council, looking stedfastly on him, saw his face as it
had been the face of an angel.” — Acts 6:8–15
Πίστεως, ‘faith,’ in the received text stands against χάριτος,
‘grace,’ in the main critical form. Later in the unit, the critical text
changes the order and extent of the false witnesses’ accusation, while
Stephen’s wisdom, Spirit, signs, seizure, and angel-like face
remain.
Scrivener’s received text underlies the reading “Stephen, full of
faith and power.” The principal competing form is “Stephen, full of
grace and power.”
Because Acts 6:8–15 contains more than one subreading, the unit
cannot be reduced to a single longer-versus-shorter slogan: each change
belongs to its own clause, and a conclusion about one cannot simply be
transferred to the whole paragraph.
Luke does not leave Acts 6:8–15 isolated from its setting. Just
outside the selected unit, Acts 6:7 says, “And the word of God
increased; and the number of the disciples multiplied in Jerusalem
greatly; and a great company of the priests were obedient to the
faith.”
The received ‘faith and power’ fits the earlier description of
Stephen as full of faith and of the Holy Ghost and should be
preserved.
Sources and further reading
- The Holy Bible, Authorized Version, Acts 6:8–15.
- F. H. A. Scrivener, The New Testament in the Original Greek
according to the Text Followed in the Authorised Version (1894),
Acts 6:8–15. - Michael W. Holmes, ed., The Greek New Testament: SBL
Edition, Acts 6:8–15 and apparatus. - Bruce M. Metzger, A Textual Commentary on the Greek New
Testament, discussion at Acts 6:8–15.
7Related materials
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- Record
- VAR-2226
- 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.
Chris Thomas, “Acts 6:8–15 — Faith or Grace, False Witnesses, and Stephen’s Angelic Face,” VAR-2226, Confessional Bibliology Research Center, version 1.0-staging, last revised 2026-07-22.
Revision history
- — Chris Thomas