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 Gospel closes by correcting a rumor, certifying the beloved disciple’s testimony, and—in the received text—ending with Amen; the principal texts share the corrective saying but vary the close.
Variant class
Transposition
2Textus Receptus
Greek reading
The rumor is corrected, the witnessing disciple is identified, the unwritten works are affirmed, and the Gospel ends “Amen.”
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
Minor word-order and article changes occur in verses 23–25, and the SBLGNT and NA28 omit the final “Amen.”
Translation or explanation
Minor word-order and article changes occur in verses 23–25, and the SBLGNT and NA28 omit the final “Amen.”
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; the printed confidence rating represented here is {D}. 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 21:23
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
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 John 21:23–25, 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. Closing Amen can be added through liturgical and scribal custom, but it can also fall away when a copy ends or when editors regard it as a reader’s subscription.
Inconsistency
The criteria used at John 21:23–25 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: John 21:23–25 Received reading: The rumor is corrected, the witnessing disciple is identified, the unwritten works are affirmed, and the Gospel ends “Amen.” Neither variation removes the claim that the witness behind the Gospel is the beloved disciple or the communal affirmation, “we know that his testimony is true.” The word is absent from the SBLGNT and NA28 and from important early witnesses.
Internal and transcriptional evidence
A source-level internal and transcriptional synopsis remains open; consult the full essay.
Reception and ecclesiastical use
Finally, the received text says “Amen.” Its broad ecclesiastical reception gives it a fitting place after the final testimony. Amen gives the church’s received assent to the truth just certified and brings the book to its accustomed end.
Providential-preservation analysis
Providential preservation is not used as a substitute for evidence at John 21:23–25. 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. Closing Amen can be added through liturgical and scribal custom, but it can also fall away when a copy ends or when editors regard it as a reader’s subscription.
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 Causes of the Corruption of the Traditional Text of the Holy GospelsPassage-specific traditional-text argument
John William Burgon; edited by Edward Miller — supplied PDF pp. 26
Burgon directly discusses John 21:25. The local discussion treats the local documentary and contextual evidence as part of his case for the traditional form and challenges the sufficiency or interpretation of the evidence used for the rival reading.
Mark xvi. 9-20, which consists in the circumstance that the last 12 verses are left out by two MSS.? Again,—How can it be called a ‘various reading’ of St. John xxi. 25, to bring the Gospel abruptly to a close, as Tischendorf does, at v. 24? These are really nothing else but indications either of a mutilated or else an interpolated text. And the question to be resolved is,—On which side does the corruption lie? and, How did it originate? Waiving this however, the term is objectionable on other grounds.…
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
Finally, the received text says “Amen.” The word is absent from the SBLGNT and NA28 and from important early witnesses. Closing Amen can be added through liturgical and scribal custom, but it can also fall away when a copy ends or when editors regard it as a reader’s subscription. Its broad ecclesiastical reception gives it a fitting place after the final testimony.
The received close should stand in full. It does not manufacture apostolic authority with one last word; the authority rests in the witnessed Gospel. Amen gives the church’s received assent to the truth just certified and brings the book to its accustomed end.
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 21:23–25, the received text reads “The rumor is corrected, the witnessing disciple is identified, the unwritten works are affirmed, and the Gospel ends “Amen.” and its Authorized Version representation reads . The assessed critical reading is “Minor word-order and article changes occur in verses 23–25, and the SBLGNT and NA28 omit the final “Amen.”. 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 21:23–25, the received Hebrew/Greek form is “The rumor is corrected, the witnessing disciple is identified, the unwritten works are affirmed, and the Gospel ends “Amen.”; the Authorized Version represents it as . The assessed critical form is “Minor word-order and article changes occur in verses 23–25, and the SBLGNT and NA28 omit the final “Amen.”.
- 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 21:23–25, the received text reads “The rumor is corrected, the witnessing disciple is identified, the unwritten works are affirmed, and the Gospel ends “Amen.” and its Authorized Version representation reads . The assessed critical reading is “Minor word-order and article changes occur in verses 23–25, and the SBLGNT and NA28 omit the final “Amen.”. 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 Causes of the Corruption of the Traditional Text of the Holy Gospelssupplied PDF pp. 26 — 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 21:23–25
Received reading: The rumor is corrected, the witnessing disciple is identified, the unwritten works are affirmed, and the Gospel ends “Amen.”
Principal competing reading: Minor word-order and article changes occur in verses 23–25, and the SBLGNT and NA28 omit the final “Amen.”
Editorial status: Preliminary record accepted for staging; independent review remains pending.
Peter asks about the beloved disciple. Jesus replies, “If I will that
he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? follow thou me.” A report
then spreads that the disciple will not die. John corrects it by quoting
the conditional sentence exactly: Jesus did not say that he would not
die.
The question “What is that to thee?” stands in both principal forms.
Word order around “this saying” varies, but the correction remains. The
episode is a miniature lesson in transmission: a remembered word can be
repeated widely and still be misreported when its condition is turned
into a prediction.
Verse 24 identifies the disciple who testifies and wrote these
things. The SBLGNT adds an article before “wrote,” while Scrivener uses
a participle without it; testimony word order also differs. Neither
variation removes the claim that the witness behind the Gospel is the
beloved disciple or the communal affirmation, “we know that his
testimony is true.”
Verse 25 expands beyond any possible exhaustive biography. Jesus did
many other things; if each were written one by one, John supposes the
world itself could not contain the books. The hyperbole honors the
abundance of the incarnate life while reminding readers that the
Gospel’s signs were selected for its stated purpose.
Finally, the received text says “Amen.” The word is absent from the
SBLGNT and NA28 and from important early witnesses. Closing
Amen can be added through liturgical and scribal custom, but it
can also fall away when a copy ends or when editors regard it as a
reader’s subscription. Its broad ecclesiastical reception gives it a
fitting place after the final testimony.
The received close should stand in full. It does not manufacture
apostolic authority with one last word; the authority rests in the
witnessed Gospel. Amen gives the church’s received assent to
the truth just certified and brings the book to its accustomed end.
Sources and further reading
- John 20:30–31; 21:15–25.
- Scrivener, John 21:23–25.
- SBLGNT text and apparatus at John 21:23–25.
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-2200
- 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 21:23–25 — “What Is That to Thee?” The Final Testimony and the Closing “Amen”,” VAR-2200, Confessional Bibliology Research Center, version 1.0-staging, last revised 2026-07-22.
Revision history
- — Chris Thomas