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 conclusion names repentance as the purpose of Christ’s call. The critical form ends after “sinners,” a reading that remains true but leaves the object of the call implicit.
Variant class
Omission / addition
2Textus Receptus
Greek reading
“I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”
Authorized Version
“I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” — Mark 2:17
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
“I came not to call the righteous, but sinners,” omitting “to repentance.”
Translation or explanation
“I came not to call the righteous, but sinners,” omitting “to repentance.”
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 2:17, 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 stops at “sinners.” The evidence must carry more weight than a theory about what an orthodox scribe would prefer.
Inconsistency
The criteria used at Mark 2:17 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
— Mark 2:17 At Levi’s table Jesus answers the scribes with a physician’s saying: the sick need the doctor. A scribe could expand Mark from Luke and make the purpose of the call explicit. Harmonization among the Gospels is common enough that the possibility cannot be waved away.
Reception and ecclesiastical use
“To repentance” has broad ecclesiastical support and an early place in the Gospel tradition.
Providential-preservation analysis
Providential preservation is not used as a substitute for evidence at Mark 2:17. 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 stops at “sinners.” The evidence must carry more weight than a theory about what an orthodox scribe would prefer.
Conclusion
The infinitive “to repentance” describes the direction of the call, not a condition sinners complete before Christ will receive them. In the Gospel sequence, the divine summons creates the crisis in which turning occurs. That grammar protects the verse from two distortions at once: a call that leaves sin untouched and a repentance treated as prior moral payment for access to the Physician.
Mark’s full conclusion joins grace and change without confusing them. The sick do not heal themselves before the physician arrives, and sinners do not make themselves righteous before Christ calls. His call is merciful precisely because it leads them away from the condition that made the call necessary. Those final two words belong with the scene.
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 2:17, the received text reads “I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” and its Authorized Version representation reads “I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” — Mark 2:17”. The assessed critical reading is “I came not to call the righteous, but sinners,” omitting “to repentance.”. 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 2:17, the received Hebrew/Greek form is “I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”; the Authorized Version represents it as “I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” — Mark 2:17”. The assessed critical form is “I came not to call the righteous, but sinners,” omitting “to repentance.”.
- 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 2:17, the received text reads “I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” and its Authorized Version representation reads “I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” — Mark 2:17”. The assessed critical reading is “I came not to call the righteous, but sinners,” omitting “to repentance.”. 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 2:17Current critical-edition, ECM, or editorial documentation
- German Bible Society — UBS6 publications and relation to NA29Current critical-edition, ECM, or editorial documentation
- 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: Mark 2:17
Received reading: “I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”
Principal competing reading: “I came not to call the righteous, but sinners,” omitting “to repentance.”
Editorial status: Preliminary record accepted for staging; independent review remains pending.
“I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” — Mark 2:17
At Levi’s table Jesus answers the scribes with a physician’s saying: the sick need the doctor. He then defines his mission, “I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” The critical text stops at “sinners.” Luke 5:32 contains the longer ending; Matthew 9:13 has the shorter form.
That parallel pattern produces the chief objection. A scribe could expand Mark from Luke and make the purpose of the call explicit. Harmonization among the Gospels is common enough that the possibility cannot be waved away.
What the call summons sinners to do
The longer phrase is not an alien comment. Mark has already summarized Jesus’ preaching: “repent ye, and believe the gospel.” Calling sinners to repentance therefore repeats the mission as Mark himself introduced it. Levi’s response supplies the narrative picture. He leaves his station, follows Jesus, and opens his house to others who need the same physician.
The shorter text still implies a transforming call. Christ does not summon sinners so that they may remain undisturbed in sin. Yet the received words prevent the saying from being reduced to mere inclusion. The doctor comes because disease requires healing; the Lord calls because sinners must turn.
Accidental loss is not difficult. The Greek ending hamartōlous eis metanoian can fall after a complete contrast already formed by “not righteous but sinners.” Once the ear or eye reaches “sinners,” the sentence sounds finished. A copyist need not object to repentance in order to stop there.
The evidence must carry more weight than a theory about what an orthodox scribe would prefer. “To repentance” has broad ecclesiastical support and an early place in the Gospel tradition. Its agreement with Luke can be explained by common authentic wording just as readily as by copying from Luke.
The infinitive “to repentance” describes the direction of the call, not a condition sinners complete before Christ will receive them. In the Gospel sequence, the divine summons creates the crisis in which turning occurs. That grammar protects the verse from two distortions at once: a call that leaves sin untouched and a repentance treated as prior moral payment for access to the Physician.
Mark’s full conclusion joins grace and change without confusing them. The sick do not heal themselves before the physician arrives, and sinners do not make themselves righteous before Christ calls. His call is merciful precisely because it leads them away from the condition that made the call necessary. Those final two words belong with the scene.
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.
- Matthew 9:9–13; Mark 1:14–15; 2:13–17; Luke 5:27–32.
7Related materials
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- Record
- VAR-2007
- 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.
- 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.
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Corrections and evidence submissions
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Chris Thomas, “Mark 2:17 — “Sinners to Repentance”: The Full Purpose of Christ’s Call,” VAR-2007, Confessional Bibliology Research Center, version 1.0-staging, last revised 2026-07-22.
Revision history
- — Chris Thomas