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 Samaritan confession names Jesus “the Christ, the Saviour of the world” in the received text; the critical form keeps “Saviour” but omits “the Christ.”
Variant class
Omission / addition
2Textus Receptus
Greek reading
“This is indeed the Christ, the Saviour of the world.”
Authorized Version
“We have heard him ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Saviour of the world.” — John 4:42
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.
3NA28 baseline and critical-text rationale
NA28 baseline reading
“This is truly the Saviour of the world.”
Translation or explanation
“This is truly the Saviour of the world.”
Metzger’s report of the UBS committee
No passage-specific Metzger synopsis has yet passed editorial verification for this record.
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 4:42, 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. The principal critical form ends with “world.”
Inconsistency
The criteria used at John 4:42 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
A source-level external-evidence synopsis remains open; consult the full essay and cited apparatus.
Internal and transcriptional evidence
and a copyist might carry the title into the concluding confession.
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 4:42. 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. The principal critical form ends with “world.”
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. 51
At John 4:42, it compares the NKJV/TR-oriented wording “Then they said to the woman, ‘Now we believe, not because of what you said, for we ourselves have heard Him and we know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world.’”” with the ESV/critical-text wording “They said to the woman, ‘It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is indeed the Savior of the world.’”” and associates the passage with WCF 14.2.
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
An accidental loss is possible at the end of a sentence, particularly where the preceding title already supplies a complete and memorable conclusion. Deliberate shortening is less easy to prove, but documentary absence should not be treated as self-explanatory.
The received form gives the narrative its full answer without adding a foreign idea. It should be preserved. The Samaritans’ faith rests no longer on borrowed report but on Christ’s own word, and the one they heard is both Israel’s promised Messiah and the Saviour whose reach extends to the world.
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 John 4:42, the received text reads “This is indeed the Christ, the Saviour of the world.” and its Authorized Version representation reads “We have heard him ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Saviour of the world.” — John 4:42”. The assessed critical reading is “This is truly the Saviour of the world.”. 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 4:42, the received Hebrew/Greek form is “This is indeed the Christ, the Saviour of the world.”; the Authorized Version represents it as “We have heard him ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Saviour of the world.” — John 4:42”. The assessed critical form is “This is truly the Saviour of the world.”.
- 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 4:42, the received text reads “This is indeed the Christ, the Saviour of the world.” and its Authorized Version representation reads “We have heard him ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Saviour of the world.” — John 4:42”. The assessed critical reading is “This is truly the Saviour of the world.”. 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
- A List of Omissions and Changes Found in the Critical Text to Verses Used as Proof Texts in the Westminster Standardssupplied PDF pp. 51 — Westminster proof-text and translation comparison
- 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 4:42
Received reading: “This is indeed the Christ, the Saviour of the world.”
Principal competing reading: “This is truly the Saviour of the world.”
Editorial status: Preliminary record accepted for staging; independent review remains pending.
The woman first asks whether Jesus may be the Christ. After two days
of hearing him, the Samaritans answer with a confession larger than her
question:
“We have heard him ourselves, and know that this is indeed the
Christ, the Saviour of the world.” — John 4:42
The received Greek places ὁ Χριστός after “the Saviour of
the world.” The principal critical form ends with “world.” Nothing in
the shorter reading denies that Jesus is Christ; the title appears
throughout John. The difference concerns whether the Samaritans
explicitly unite messianic identity and universal salvation at this
moment.
“The Christ” can be explained as an expansion. Verse 29 has just
asked, “Is not this the Christ?” and a copyist might carry the title
into the concluding confession. That is a real internal argument. It is
not conclusive, because John frequently answers an earlier question by
repeating and enlarging its words. The woman’s tentative possibility
becomes the townspeople’s settled knowledge.
The order in Greek is also significant. They do not merely echo her.
They confess the Saviour of the world and then identify him as the
Christ. The title closes the episode and prepares for the royal
official, where Jesus’ power is not confined to one locality or
class.
An accidental loss is possible at the end of a sentence, particularly
where the preceding title already supplies a complete and memorable
conclusion. Deliberate shortening is less easy to prove, but documentary
absence should not be treated as self-explanatory.
The received form gives the narrative its full answer without adding
a foreign idea. It should be preserved. The Samaritans’ faith rests no
longer on borrowed report but on Christ’s own word, and the one they
heard is both Israel’s promised Messiah and the Saviour whose reach
extends to the world.
Sources and further reading
7Related materials
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- Record
- VAR-2141
- 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 4:42 — “This Is Indeed the Christ, the Saviour of the World”,” VAR-2141, Confessional Bibliology Research Center, version 1.0-staging, last revised 2026-07-22.
Revision history
- — Chris Thomas