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
> “Moreover if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone.”
Variant class
Punctuation
2Textus Receptus
Greek reading
The exact TR reading has not yet been entered in the structured field.
Authorized Version
“Moreover if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone.” — Matthew 18:15
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
No distinct NA28 reading has been entered; the received and NA28 texts may agree at this unit.
Translation or explanation
The received and current critical texts may agree at this unit; consult the full essay for any versional or apparatus-only variation.
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, a proposed mechanism of accidental omission; the printed confidence rating represented here is {C}. 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 Matthew 18:15
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 Matthew, 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 Matthew 18:15, the critical choice avoids arbitrariness only to the extent that it states public manuscript, transcriptional, and intrinsic grounds. Critical editions doubt or omit both phrases. Critics can explain the addition from Peter’s question in verse 21: “How oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him?” The critical text stops after “his brother.”
Inconsistency
The criteria used at Matthew 18:15 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
“Their trespasses” Verse 35 in the Authorized Version reads, “if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses.” Witnesses enter only after the private appeal fails.
Internal and transcriptional evidence
Critics can explain the addition from Peter’s question in verse 21: “How oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him?” The grammar is compressed but intelligible: each man must forgive his brother the offenses committed. A smoothing copyist might drop the awkward final words once the sentence already seemed complete.
Reception and ecclesiastical use
In verse 15, the received text says a brother sins against thee. That reading can make the church’s duty cover any known sin. The church is not given a cold procedure.
Providential-preservation analysis
Providential preservation is not used as a substitute for evidence at Matthew 18:15. 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
Critical editions doubt or omit both phrases. Critics can explain the addition from Peter’s question in verse 21: “How oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him?” The critical text stops after “his brother.”
Conclusion
That order does not silence victims of crimes or abuse. A threat to others, a public offense, or conduct under civil jurisdiction can require immediate help and lawful reporting. Matthew 18 is not a device for isolating the weak with a dangerous person. “Against thee” identifies the ordinary personal case, not every possible sin.
At verse 35, “from your hearts” prevents the procedure from ending in outward compliance alone. The received “their trespasses” gives the heart something definite to release. Ecclesiastical reconciliation without inward mercy can reproduce the unforgiving servant under a more orderly name.
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 Matthew 18:15, the received text reads and its Authorized Version representation reads “Moreover if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone.” — Matthew 18:15”. The assessed critical reading is “The received and current critical texts may agree at this unit; consult the full essay for any versional or apparatus-only variation.”. 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 Matthew 18:15, the received Hebrew/Greek form is ; the Authorized Version represents it as “Moreover if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone.” — Matthew 18:15”. The assessed critical form is “The received and current critical texts may agree at this unit; consult the full essay for any versional or apparatus-only variation.”.
- 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 Matthew 18:15, the received text reads and its Authorized Version representation reads “Moreover if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone.” — Matthew 18:15”. The assessed critical reading is “The received and current critical texts may agree at this unit; consult the full essay for any versional or apparatus-only variation.”. 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
- 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
- INTF — Online Tools for the ECMCurrent critical-edition, ECM, or editorial documentation
- German Bible Society — Interview with Hugh HoughtonCurrent critical-edition, ECM, or editorial documentation
Read the full research essay and its sources
“Moreover if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone.” — Matthew 18:15
Two short phrases make Christ’s commands personal. In verse 15, the received text says a brother sins against thee. In verse 35, the unforgiving servant warns every man to forgive his brother their trespasses from the heart. Critical editions doubt or omit both phrases.
The first has divided early support; the second stands in a narrower received line. Each needs its own judgment.
Without εἰς σέ, Christ says, “If thy brother shall sin, go and tell him.” That reading can make the church’s duty cover any known sin. With the phrase, the command begins with an offense suffered by the person who goes.
Critics can explain the addition from Peter’s question in verse 21: “How oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him?” A reader may have carried the personal words backward. Yet the phrase can also be omitted to widen the rule, or lost in a short run of common words. Its presence keeps the first step modest. The injured believer goes privately, not as a roving inspector of every fault.
This does not forbid intervention in public or dangerous sin. Other texts govern those cases. Matthew 18:15 begins with personal reconciliation and then widens only if the brother will not hear.
“Their trespasses”
Verse 35 in the Authorized Version reads, “if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses.” The critical text stops after “his brother.” The sense of forgiveness remains; the object is implied.
The fuller phrase may be explained from Matthew 6:14–15, where “their trespasses” appears twice. That is the most direct argument against it. The received form, however, closes the parable with the same concrete debt-language that opened the chapter’s conflict. Forgiveness is not a warm attitude toward a brother while his wrong remains treasured. It releases the trespass from private vengeance.
The grammar is compressed but intelligible: each man must forgive his brother the offenses committed. A smoothing copyist might drop the awkward final words once the sentence already seemed complete.
Both phrases belong to Matthew’s personal movement: against thee, between thee and him, hear thee, gained thy brother, forgive his trespasses. The church is not given a cold procedure. Christ sends offended and offending people toward truth, repentance, and mercy.
The first phrase also limits gossip. The person sinned against goes to the brother privately. He does not begin by assembling supporters, publishing an accusation, or waiting for the offender to discover the grievance. Witnesses enter only after the private appeal fails.
That order does not silence victims of crimes or abuse. A threat to others, a public offense, or conduct under civil jurisdiction can require immediate help and lawful reporting. Matthew 18 is not a device for isolating the weak with a dangerous person. “Against thee” identifies the ordinary personal case, not every possible sin.
At verse 35, “from your hearts” prevents the procedure from ending in outward compliance alone. The received “their trespasses” gives the heart something definite to release. Ecclesiastical reconciliation without inward mercy can reproduce the unforgiving servant under a more orderly name.
Further reading
- Matthew 6:12–15; 18:15–35; Luke 17:3–4.
- Bruce M. Metzger, A Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament, notes on Matthew 18:15 and 18:35.
- James Ussher, A Body of Divinity, treatment of repentance and forgiveness.
7Related materials
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- Record
- VAR-1063
- Status
- Preliminary
- Version
- 1.1-dossier
- Review
- Level B — Editorial synthesis
- Editor
- Chris Thomas
- Reviewer
- Independent reviewer pending assignment
- First date
- 2026-07-22 · Exact Day
- Last revised
- 2026-07-22
Evidence and editorial controls
- Verification
- Recovered project data; bibliographic and source-level verification remains record-specific. 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; cited sources retain their stated rights.
- Known limitations
- Staging record; independent review remains open.
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, “Matthew 18:15, 35 — “Against Thee” and “Their Trespasses”: Two Disputed Personalizing Clauses,” VAR-1063, Confessional Bibliology Research Center, version 1.0-staging.
Revision history
- — Chris Thomas
- — Chris Thomas