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
> “Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them.”
Variant class
Substitution or composite variation
2Textus Receptus
Greek reading
— Matthew 6:1 The Textus Receptus reads alms.
Authorized Version
“Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them.” — Matthew 6:1
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.
Westminster and Dutch annotation witnesses
Westminster Annotations
Not yet assessed. No inference from silence is made.
Dutch Annotations
Not yet assessed. No inference from silence is made.
3NA28 baseline and critical-text rationale
NA28 baseline reading
The critical text reads righteousness: “Do not practice your righteousness before men.”
Translation or explanation
The critical text reads righteousness: “Do not practice your righteousness before men.”
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
The triune identity of the Father, the Son/Word, and the Holy Ghost.
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.
Controlled source-list matches
Doctrinal significance and Westminster use
This passage is listed in one or both controlling research files. Their claims are reported with exact source identity and confessional use; list membership does not by itself establish the original reading or the Research Center’s final entailment.
Doctrinally significant variant listMatthew 6.1
Doctrinally Significant Variants Itemised
Anonymous compilation — supplied source file pp. 2–3
Doctrine or doctrinal consequence identified by the source
The Alexandrian Text makes Christ to contradict Himself. It makes Christ to forbid His disciples to practice works of righteousness before men, to be seen of them, when, in fact, He specifically told them in vs 16 of the previous chapter: Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven. (Matthew 5:16 Authorised Version). How can Christ command His disciples to let their light shine before men, that men may see their good works, and glorify their Father which is in heaven, and then, in the very next chapter, forbid them to do works of righteousness before men, that they be seen of men? Truth cannot contradict itself. But the Alexandrian Text makes Christ to contradict Himself, and thus, to speak untruth. The Alexandrian Text is plainly in error doctrinally. The Byzantine Text has the correct reading. It is our alms which we are to do in secret, not works of righteousness in general. Alms, along with our prayers, we are to do in secret, but works of righteousness in general we are always to do openly, letting our light shine before men, so that men would glorify our Father which is in heaven.
Source-reported readings and witness argument
Received reading reported
Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them… (Mat 6:1 KJV)
Critical reading reported
"Beware of practicing your righteousness before men to be noticed by them… (Mat 6:1 NAU)
Manuscript and patristic support reported by the source
The Nestle-Aland Text reading of 'righteousness' is supported by the corrector of Codex Sinaiticus, by Codex Vaticanus, and by Codex Bezae. The Byzantine Text of 'alms' is supported by Origen in his Homily on this passage in the 3rd century (whose citation predates both Vaticanus and Sinaiticus by a century), and by Chrysostom in his Homily on this passage, in the 4th century. 'Alms' is also the universal reading of the Byzantine Text.
Editorial qualification: 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.
Bahnsen four-point examination
Arbitrariness
At Matthew 6:1, the critical choice avoids arbitrariness only to the extent that it states public manuscript, transcriptional, and intrinsic grounds. The critical text reads righteousness: “Do not practice your righteousness before men.” Critics can explain alms as a scribe’s attempt to make verse 1 match the almsgiving that begins in verse 2. Scrivener, A Plain Introduction to the Criticism of the New Testament.
Inconsistency
The criteria used at Matthew 6:1 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: The triune identity of the Father, the Son/Word, and the Holy Ghost.
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 hand gives money or food; an eye looks for witnesses; a trumpet sounds.
Internal and transcriptional evidence
Matthew has just spoken of a righteousness exceeding that of scribes and Pharisees. Critics can explain alms as a scribe’s attempt to make verse 1 match the almsgiving that begins in verse 2. A copyist might expand the concrete alms into the noble umbrella righteousness, especially after Matthew 5:20.
Reception and ecclesiastical use
— Matthew 6:1 The Textus Receptus reads alms. The concrete flow into verse 2, the lexical path by which alms could be generalized, and the continuous received text favor alms.
Providential-preservation analysis
Providential preservation is not used as a substitute for evidence at Matthew 6:1. 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 reads righteousness: “Do not practice your righteousness before men.” Critics can explain alms as a scribe’s attempt to make verse 1 match the almsgiving that begins in verse 2. Scrivener, A Plain Introduction to the Criticism of the New Testament.
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. 2–3
Matthew 6.1: It sets “Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them… (Mat 6:1 KJV)” against “"Beware of practicing your righteousness before men to be noticed by them… (Mat 6:1 NAU).” Its stated doctrinal argument is that The Alexandrian Text makes Christ to contradict Himself. It makes Christ to forbid His disciples to practice works of righteousness before men, to be seen of them, when, in fact, He specifically told them in vs 16 of the previous chapter: Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven. (Matthew 5:16 Authorised Version). How can Christ command His disciples to let their light shine before men, that men may see their good works, and glorify their Father which is in heaven, and then, in the very next chapter, forbid them to do works of righteousness before men, that they be seen of men? Truth cannot contradict itself.… The compilation appeals to The Nestle-Aland Text reading of 'righteousness' is supported by the corrector of Codex Sinaiticus, by Codex Vaticanus, and by Codex Bezae. The Byzantine Text of 'alms' is supported by Origen in his Homily on this passage in the 3rd centuryvi (whose citation predates both Vaticanus and Sinaiticus by a century), and by Chrysostom in his Homily on this passage, in the 4th century.vii 'Alms' is also the universal…
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
The trumpet in verse 2 may be a vivid figure rather than a documented synagogue custom. Either way, the sound names self-advertisement. Modern forms can be quieter: a camera at the gift, a donor list cultivated for status, or a story told so that the poor person becomes scenery around the giver.
The received opening reaches those practices directly. It does not remove almsgiving from righteousness; it refuses to let the larger word hide the deed. The Father sees the gift, the recipient, the motive, and the cost. Secret mercy is still righteous because his sight, not public applause, gives the final measure.
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 Matthew 6:1, the received text reads “— Matthew 6:1 The Textus Receptus reads alms.” and its Authorized Version representation reads “Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them.” — Matthew 6:1”. The assessed critical reading is “The critical text reads righteousness: “Do not practice your righteousness before men.”. 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 6:1, the received Hebrew/Greek form is “— Matthew 6:1 The Textus Receptus reads alms.”; the Authorized Version represents it as “Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them.” — Matthew 6:1”. The assessed critical form is “The critical text reads righteousness: “Do not practice your righteousness before men.”.
- 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 6:1, the received text reads “— Matthew 6:1 The Textus Receptus reads alms.” and its Authorized Version representation reads “Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them.” — Matthew 6:1”. The assessed critical reading is “The critical text reads righteousness: “Do not practice your righteousness before men.”. 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
- Doctrinally Significant Variants Itemisedsupplied PDF pp. 2–3 — Attributed doctrinal and canonical-coherence argument
- 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
“Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them.” — Matthew 6:1
The Textus Receptus reads alms. The critical text reads righteousness: “Do not practice your righteousness before men.” One word either begins the first example or serves as a heading over alms, prayer, and fasting.
The broader term has strong early support. Matthew has just spoken of a righteousness exceeding that of scribes and Pharisees. A heading about practicing righteousness then introduces three acts often linked with Jewish piety. Critics can explain alms as a scribe’s attempt to make verse 1 match the almsgiving that begins in verse 2.
That argument has real literary force. But headings are not Matthew’s only way of joining paragraphs. The repeated “when thou” and the repeated Father’s reward already bind the three practices.
The Greek words for righteousness and almsgiving had also drawn close in Jewish and Christian usage. Mercy to the poor could be called a righteous act. A copyist might expand the concrete alms into the noble umbrella righteousness, especially after Matthew 5:20.
A warning with a named deed
“Alms” makes the opening immediate. A hand gives money or food; an eye looks for witnesses; a trumpet sounds. Jesus moves from the act to its motive without first naming a category.
The warning is not against visible goodness. A disciple’s light may shine before men so they glorify the Father. The sin is doing the deed to be seen. The same outward gift can be love toward the needy or payment for praise.
The received reading also keeps the word righteousness from being reduced to three religious exercises. The righteousness of the kingdom fills the whole sermon. Alms, prayer, and fasting are particular places where hypocrisy tests it.
The early evidence for “righteousness” makes this a close case. The concrete flow into verse 2, the lexical path by which alms could be generalized, and the continuous received text favor alms. Christ puts a real coin in the hand before he puts the heart under judgment.
The singular “alms” in older English names charitable giving as a practice, not one coin. The Greek word is tied to mercy. This prevents the act from becoming a fee paid to acquire a reputation for righteousness. The giver meets a needy person and gives because compassion answers need.
The trumpet in verse 2 may be a vivid figure rather than a documented synagogue custom. Either way, the sound names self-advertisement. Modern forms can be quieter: a camera at the gift, a donor list cultivated for status, or a story told so that the poor person becomes scenery around the giver.
The received opening reaches those practices directly. It does not remove almsgiving from righteousness; it refuses to let the larger word hide the deed. The Father sees the gift, the recipient, the motive, and the cost. Secret mercy is still righteous because his sight, not public applause, gives the final measure.
Sources and further reading
- Matthew 5:16, 20; 6:1–18; Acts 10:1–4.
- Bruce M. Metzger, A Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament, note on Matthew 6:1.
- Frederick H. A. Scrivener, A Plain Introduction to the Criticism of the New Testament.
7Related materials
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- Record
- VAR-1023
- 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.
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 6:1 — Alms or Righteousness? What Must Not Be Practiced for Human Praise?,” VAR-1023, Confessional Bibliology Research Center, version 1.0-staging.
Revision history
- — Chris Thomas
- — Chris Thomas