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 command tells the rich man to come, take up the cross, and follow Jesus. The critical text omits the cross clause, moving directly from giving to the poor to following.
Variant class
Punctuation
2Textus Receptus
Greek reading
“Come, take up the cross, and follow me.”
Authorized Version
“Come, take up the cross, and follow me.” — Mark 10:21
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
“Come, follow me,” omitting “take up the cross.”
Translation or explanation
“Come, follow me,” omitting “take up the cross.”
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
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 Mark 10:21, 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 critical text omits “take up the cross.” Critics sometimes argue that the cross would be premature before the passion.
Inconsistency
The criteria used at Mark 10:21 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
, The New Testament in the Original Greek according to the Text Followed in the Authorised Version (Cambridge, 1894).
Internal and transcriptional evidence
That earlier verse supplies a natural source for addition. A copyist could import Mark’s famous formula into the personal command, especially because “come” and “follow me” frame the exact place where it fits. Its similarity to 8:34 raises a real harmonization question, but the repetition is exactly what a personal application of earlier teaching should look like.
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 Mark 10:21. 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 critical text omits “take up the cross.” Critics sometimes argue that the cross would be premature before the passion.
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.
Doctrinally Significant Variants ItemisedAttributed doctrinal and canonical-coherence argument
Anonymous compilation — supplied PDF pp. 12–13
Mark 10.21: It sets “Then Jesus beholding him loved him, and said unto him, One thing thou lackest: go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, take up the cross, and follow me. (Mark 10:21 Authorised Version)” against “Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said, "You lack one thing; go, sell what you own, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me." (Mar 10:21 NRS) [COMMENT: the Critical Text omits the words 'take up the cross'.….” Its stated doctrinal argument is that Though there is a parallel account of the rich young ruler in Matthew 19, only this verse in the Byzantine Text relates to us Christ's specific command to the young man to take up the cross. This command, to 'take up the cross' is an essential doctrine of the Christian faith and call. It is very important, then, that we defer to the witness of the Church fathers and to the Byzantine Text in retaining these words. The compilation appeals to The omission of the words 'take up the cross' is supported by Codices Sinaiticus, Vaticanus, Ephraemi, and their Alexandrian allies. The inclusion of the words is supported by the universal witness of the Byzantine Text, going back to Codex Alexandrinus of the 5th century. The words are also cited by Tatian in his Diatessaron of the 2nd century A.D. lv The words are also alluded to by Gregory Nazianzus.lvi
Editorial use: The compilation’s doctrinal inferences and witness claims are reported as its argument, not silently adopted as verified fact. Exact entailment is retained: weakening an explicit statement is not automatically a formal denial of the doctrine.
Conclusion
Mark’s vocabulary for the cross has already moved from prediction to command. In 8:31–34, Jesus announces his suffering and immediately summons the crowd to self-denial. The rich man’s story tests that teaching against property. The repeated clause is therefore thematic application, not merely verbal duplication. A disciple who cannot release treasure is being shown what “deny himself” means before Roman wood ever touches his shoulders.
The received demand should remain. Its similarity to 8:34 raises a real harmonization question, but the repetition is exactly what a personal application of earlier teaching should look like. Jesus does not offer this ruler a different discipleship from the crowd’s. He brings the universal call to one guarded heart: deny yourself at the point of treasure, accept the shame of obedience, and follow the Lord who is going toward Jerusalem.
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 Mark 10:21, the received text reads “Come, take up the cross, and follow me.” and its Authorized Version representation reads “Come, take up the cross, and follow me.” — Mark 10:21”. The assessed critical reading is “Come, follow me,” omitting “take up the cross.”. 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 Mark 10:21, the received Hebrew/Greek form is “Come, take up the cross, and follow me.”; the Authorized Version represents it as “Come, take up the cross, and follow me.” — Mark 10:21”. The assessed critical form is “Come, follow me,” omitting “take up the cross.”.
- 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 Mark 10:21, the received text reads “Come, take up the cross, and follow me.” and its Authorized Version representation reads “Come, take up the cross, and follow me.” — Mark 10:21”. The assessed critical reading is “Come, follow me,” omitting “take up the cross.”. 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 — Mark 10:21Current critical-edition, ECM, or editorial documentation
- Doctrinally Significant Variants Itemisedsupplied PDF pp. 12–13 — Attributed doctrinal and canonical-coherence argument
- German Bible Society — UBS6 publications and relation to NA29Current critical-edition, ECM, or editorial documentation
Read the full research essay and its sources
Passage: Mark 10:21
Received reading: “Come, take up the cross, and follow me.”
Principal competing reading: “Come, follow me,” omitting “take up the cross.”
Editorial status: Preliminary record accepted for staging; independent review remains pending.
“Come, take up the cross, and follow me.” — Mark 10:21
Jesus looks at the rich man, loves him, exposes the possession that possesses him, and says, “Come, take up the cross, and follow me.” The critical text omits “take up the cross.” Mark 8:34 has already used the same demand in the general call to discipleship.
That earlier verse supplies a natural source for addition. A copyist could import Mark’s famous formula into the personal command, especially because “come” and “follow me” frame the exact place where it fits.
The one thing lacking
The command is not a fourth meritorious work placed after selling, giving, and coming. Taking up the cross names the shape of following Jesus when obedience costs status, security, and life itself. For this man the immediate cross is surrender of wealth and the identity built around it.
The phrase can also be omitted through memory. Readers familiar with the shorter call “come, follow me” may reproduce that common form. The Greek words lie between two imperatives and can disappear without a grammatical scar. Liturgical or catechetical abbreviation would make the same smooth result.
Critics sometimes argue that the cross would be premature before the passion. Mark has already recorded Jesus’ prediction of death and has explicitly taught cross-bearing in chapter 8. Within the Gospel’s narrative, the disciples know the demand even if they do not yet understand its full horror.
Christ’s love in verse 21 must not be set against his severity. He loves the man enough to name the idol that outward commandment keeping has concealed. The cross clause prevents “follow me” from becoming sentimental admiration.
Mark’s vocabulary for the cross has already moved from prediction to command. In 8:31–34, Jesus announces his suffering and immediately summons the crowd to self-denial. The rich man’s story tests that teaching against property. The repeated clause is therefore thematic application, not merely verbal duplication. A disciple who cannot release treasure is being shown what “deny himself” means before Roman wood ever touches his shoulders.
The received demand should remain. Its similarity to 8:34 raises a real harmonization question, but the repetition is exactly what a personal application of earlier teaching should look like. Jesus does not offer this ruler a different discipleship from the crowd’s. He brings the universal call to one guarded heart: deny yourself at the point of treasure, accept the shame of obedience, and follow the Lord who is going toward Jerusalem.
Sources and further reading
- F. H. A. Scrivener, ed., The New Testament in the Original Greek according to the Text Followed in the Authorised Version (Cambridge, 1894).
- Michael W. Holmes, ed., The Greek New Testament: SBL Edition (Society of Biblical Literature and Logos Bible Software, 2010), text and apparatus.
- Bruce M. Metzger, A Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament, 2nd ed., notes on the stated passage.
- Mark 8:31–38; 10:17–31; Matthew 19:16–30; Luke 18:18–30.
7Related materials
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- Record
- VAR-2037
- 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 SBLGNT 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, “Mark 10:21 — “Take Up the Cross”: Has the Demand of Discipleship Been Omitted?,” VAR-2037, Confessional Bibliology Research Center, version 1.0-staging, last revised 2026-07-22.
Revision history
- — Chris Thomas