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 and critical forms both retain the exception about washing the feet; they differ chiefly in word order and the idiom introducing the exception.
Variant class
Transposition
2Textus Receptus
Greek reading
“He that is washed needeth not save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit.”
Authorized Version
The Authorized Version rendering has not yet been entered in the structured field.
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
“One who has bathed does not have need, except to wash his feet, but is completely clean.”
Translation or explanation
“One who has bathed does not have need, except to wash his feet, but is completely clean.”
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 comparative difficulty of the readings; the printed confidence rating represented here is {B}. 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 John 13:10
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
UBS6 retains the NA28 / UBS5 Greek main-text wording in John, so no main-text change is shown for this passage. The separate project ledger covers Acts, Mark, and Revelation.
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
Whatever doctrinal application is made, it must respect the next clause: eleven are clean; one has never shared their cleanness.
Bahnsen four-point examination
Arbitrariness
At John 13:10, 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. Some witnesses shorten the exception, but the current critical text does not remove it.
Inconsistency
The criteria used at John 13:10 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: Whatever doctrinal application is made, it must respect the next clause: eleven are clean; one has never shared their cleanness.
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
Some witnesses shorten the exception, but the current critical text does not remove it. A version that says “except for his feet” and the Authorized Version’s “save to wash his feet” agree on the substantive phrase. Major apparatuses on the omission of the feet clause in minority witnesses.
Internal and transcriptional evidence
Textual precision keeps interpretation from leaning on a false omission. Major apparatuses on the omission of the feet clause in minority witnesses.
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 John 13:10. 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. Some witnesses shorten the exception, but the current critical text does not remove it.
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 Last Twelve Verses of the Gospel According to S. MarkPassage-specific traditional-text argument
John William Burgon — supplied PDF pp. 141
Burgon directly discusses John 13:10. The local discussion treats Greek manuscript evidence, ancient versions, patristic citation as part of his case for the traditional form and challenges the sufficiency or interpretation of the evidence used for the rival reading.
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
Textual precision keeps interpretation from leaning on a false omission. A version that says “except for his feet” and the Authorized Version’s “save to wash his feet” agree on the substantive phrase. Their English cadence differs because the Greek constructions do.
The received order is clear once its idiom is understood and should be preserved. The disciple cleansed by Christ does not need an entirely new bath at every failure, yet contact with the road still requires the Master’s washing. Whatever doctrinal application is made, it must respect the next clause: eleven are clean; one has never shared their cleanness.
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 John 13:10, the received text reads “He that is washed needeth not save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit.” and its Authorized Version representation reads . The assessed critical reading is “One who has bathed does not have need, except to wash his feet, but is completely clean.”. 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 John 13:10, the received Hebrew/Greek form is “He that is washed needeth not save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit.”; the Authorized Version represents it as . The assessed critical form is “One who has bathed does not have need, except to wash his feet, but is completely clean.”.
- 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 John 13:10, the received text reads “He that is washed needeth not save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit.” and its Authorized Version representation reads . The assessed critical reading is “One who has bathed does not have need, except to wash his feet, but is completely clean.”. 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
- German Bible Society — UBS6 publications and relation to NA29Current critical-edition, ECM, or editorial documentation
- The Last Twelve Verses of the Gospel According to S. Marksupplied PDF pp. 141 — Passage-specific traditional-text argument
- 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: John 13:10
Received reading: “He that is washed needeth not save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit.”
Principal competing reading: “One who has bathed does not have need, except to wash his feet, but is completely clean.”
Editorial status: Preliminary record accepted for staging; independent review remains pending.
Peter first refuses the washing, then asks for hands and head as well
as feet. Jesus answers by distinguishing a person who has bathed from
the local washing still needed: “He that is washed needeth not save to
wash his feet, but is clean every whit.”
The phrase “save to” means “except to.” Scrivener expresses the lack
of need with one word order and the exception with ē; the
SBLGNT rearranges “has no need” and uses ei mē, “except.” Both
principal forms contain “the feet” and the declaration of complete
cleanness. Some witnesses shorten the exception, but the current
critical text does not remove it.
The washing imagery has produced competing sacramental readings. The
aorist “has bathed” can represent a decisive cleansing, while dusty feet
require repeated care. Yet Jesus immediately says, “Ye are clean, but
not all,” identifying Judas’ uncleanness at the level of personal
relation rather than hygiene. The sign speaks of participation in Christ
and the humble service by which his disciples are shaped.
Textual precision keeps interpretation from leaning on a false
omission. A version that says “except for his feet” and the Authorized
Version’s “save to wash his feet” agree on the substantive phrase. Their
English cadence differs because the Greek constructions do.
The received order is clear once its idiom is understood and should
be preserved. The disciple cleansed by Christ does not need an entirely
new bath at every failure, yet contact with the road still requires the
Master’s washing. Whatever doctrinal application is made, it must
respect the next clause: eleven are clean; one has never shared their
cleanness.
Sources and further reading
- John 13:5–11; 15:3; 1 John 1:7–9.
- Scrivener and SBLGNT at John 13:10.
- Major apparatuses on the omission of the feet clause in minority
witnesses.
7Related materials
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- Record
- VAR-2185
- 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 current SBLGNT text and 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, “John 13:10 — “Save to Wash His Feet”: The Text of the Cleansing Saying,” VAR-2185, Confessional Bibliology Research Center, version 1.0-staging, last revised 2026-07-22.
Revision history
- — Chris Thomas