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 Textus Receptus names Christ at verse 8 and includes a woe against scribes and Pharisees at verse 14.
Variant class
Punctuation
2Textus Receptus
Greek reading
The Textus Receptus names Christ at verse 8 and includes a woe against scribes and Pharisees at verse 14.
Authorized Version
“For one is your Master, even Christ; and all ye are brethren.” — Matthew 23:8
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
The critical text omits “even Christ” in verse 8 and the whole of verse 14.
Translation or explanation
The critical text omits “even Christ” in verse 8 and the whole of verse 14.
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 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
Christ sees both doctrine and appetite.
Bahnsen four-point examination
Arbitrariness
At Matthew 23:8, the critical choice avoids arbitrariness only to the extent that it states public manuscript, transcriptional, and intrinsic grounds. The critical text omits “even Christ” in verse 8 and the whole of verse 14. Some critical witnesses read “one is your teacher” without the name. Critics therefore see the earlier name as an expansion from verse 10.
Inconsistency
The criteria used at Matthew 23:8 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: Christ sees both doctrine and appetite.
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
Some critical witnesses read “one is your teacher” without the name. The change of order between witnesses may reflect uncertainty about whether the first woe should concern barred heaven or devoured houses, not uncertainty about whether Jesus spoke the words. The Authorized Version’s “Master” gives the shared claim to directive authority.
Internal and transcriptional evidence
The Textus Receptus names Christ at verse 8 and includes a woe against scribes and Pharisees at verse 14. Neither omission leaves the chapter mild: verse 10 again names Christ, and six other woes remain. The woe that moved Verse 14 reads: “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!
Reception and ecclesiastical use
The Textus Receptus names Christ at verse 8 and includes a woe against scribes and Pharisees at verse 14. The full warning belongs, and it lands where the received text has long placed it.
Providential-preservation analysis
Providential preservation is not used as a substitute for evidence at Matthew 23:8. 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
The critical text omits “even Christ” in verse 8 and the whole of verse 14. Some critical witnesses read “one is your teacher” without the name. Critics therefore see the earlier name as an expansion from verse 10.
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. 21
At Matthew 23:8, it compares the NKJV/TR-oriented wording “But you, do not be called ‘Rabbi’; for One is your Teacher, the Christ, and you are all brethren.”” with the ESV/critical-text wording “But you are not to be called rabbi, for you have one teacher, and you are all brothers.”” and associates the passage with WCF 20.2.
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
The twice-named Christ is therefore not empty repetition. One occurrence guards the brotherhood from rabbinic pride; the next guards it from rival directors. The Father, the Christ, and the brethren form the paragraph’s ordered relations.
The widow woe applies that order to power. Men who enjoy honor while consuming vulnerable households deny the Master they name. Long prayer can become cover for long theft. Keeping verse 14 ensures that textual discussion does not leave the chapter’s institutional sin abstract.
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 23:8, the received text reads “The Textus Receptus names Christ at verse 8 and includes a woe against scribes and Pharisees at verse 14.” and its Authorized Version representation reads “For one is your Master, even Christ; and all ye are brethren.” — Matthew 23:8”. The assessed critical reading is “The critical text omits “even Christ” in verse 8 and the whole of verse 14.”. 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 23:8, the received Hebrew/Greek form is “The Textus Receptus names Christ at verse 8 and includes a woe against scribes and Pharisees at verse 14.”; the Authorized Version represents it as “For one is your Master, even Christ; and all ye are brethren.” — Matthew 23:8”. The assessed critical form is “The critical text omits “even Christ” in verse 8 and the whole of verse 14.”.
- 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 23:8, the received text reads “The Textus Receptus names Christ at verse 8 and includes a woe against scribes and Pharisees at verse 14.” and its Authorized Version representation reads “For one is your Master, even Christ; and all ye are brethren.” — Matthew 23:8”. The assessed critical reading is “The critical text omits “even Christ” in verse 8 and the whole of verse 14.”. 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
- A List of Omissions and Changes Found in the Critical Text to Verses Used as Proof Texts in the Westminster Standardssupplied PDF pp. 21 — Westminster proof-text and translation comparison
- 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
Read the full research essay and its sources
The Textus Receptus names Christ at verse 8 and includes a woe against scribes and Pharisees at verse 14. The critical text omits “even Christ” in verse 8 and the whole of verse 14. Neither omission leaves the chapter mild: verse 10 again names Christ, and six other woes remain. The issue is Matthew’s full pattern.
“For one is your Master, even Christ; and all ye are brethren.” — Matthew 23:8
One teacher, one Christ
The received Greek calls the one Master ὁ Χριστός. Some critical witnesses read “one is your teacher” without the name. Two verses later all main texts say, “one is your Master, even Christ.” Critics therefore see the earlier name as an expansion from verse 10.
Matthew’s repetition can be deliberate. Verse 8 forbids the proud title Rabbi because the disciples have one Master and are brothers. Verse 9 forbids an absolute spiritual fatherhood because they have one Father in heaven. Verse 10 returns to masters and names Christ again. The repeated name holds the warning together: Christ’s unique rule creates the brethren’s equality.
The command does not ban every use of teacher or father. Paul can call himself a spiritual father and the New Testament appoints teachers. Jesus condemns titles used to seize the authority, honor, or conscience that belongs to God and his Christ.
The woe that moved
Verse 14 reads: “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye devour widows’ houses, and for a pretence make long prayer: therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation.” It is absent from several early lines. Among copies that include it, some place it before verse 13 and others after.
That movement gives the critical case real force. Mark 12:40 and Luke 20:47 contain the same charge, so the saying could have been imported and then set in different places.
Yet a line restored from a margin also enters at different points. The content fits Matthew’s woes: abuse of the weak hidden beneath public religion. The change of order between witnesses may reflect uncertainty about whether the first woe should concern barred heaven or devoured houses, not uncertainty about whether Jesus spoke the words.
The received position makes a stern descent. The teachers shut the kingdom, consume widows while praying, and cross sea and land to reproduce their error. Christ sees both doctrine and appetite. The full warning belongs, and it lands where the received text has long placed it.
Verse 8 and verse 10 use related but not identical teacher-words in Greek. The Authorized Version’s “Master” gives the shared claim to directive authority. Modern English may use teacher and instructor, but the warning concerns more than classroom skill: no disciple may become the conscience-owning center that Christ alone is.
The twice-named Christ is therefore not empty repetition. One occurrence guards the brotherhood from rabbinic pride; the next guards it from rival directors. The Father, the Christ, and the brethren form the paragraph’s ordered relations.
The widow woe applies that order to power. Men who enjoy honor while consuming vulnerable households deny the Master they name. Long prayer can become cover for long theft. Keeping verse 14 ensures that textual discussion does not leave the chapter’s institutional sin abstract.
Further reading
- Matthew 23:1–15; Mark 12:38–40; Luke 20:45–47.
- Bruce M. Metzger, A Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament, note on Matthew 23:13–14.
- Frederick H. A. Scrivener, The New Testament in the Original Greek according to the Text Followed in the Authorised Version.
7Related materials
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- Record
- VAR-1070
- 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. 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; cited sources retain their stated rights.
- Known limitations
- Staging record; independent review remains open.
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Chris Thomas, “Matthew 23:8, 13–14 — “One Is Your Master, Even Christ” and the Missing Woe,” VAR-1070, Confessional Bibliology Research Center, version 1.0-staging.
Revision history
- — Chris Thomas
- — Chris Thomas