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
> “But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.”
Variant class
Punctuation
2Textus Receptus
Greek reading
The Textus Receptus and the broad Greek tradition also keep them.
Authorized Version
“But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” — Matthew 6:15
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, scribal harmonization to a parallel passage, the likelihood of scribal or liturgical expansion, authorial usage, grammar, or immediate context; the printed confidence rating represented here is {D}. 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 6:15
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
The omission can be explained without accusing a scribe of softening doctrine.
Bahnsen four-point examination
Arbitrariness
At Matthew 6:15, the critical choice avoids arbitrariness only to the extent that it states public manuscript, transcriptional, and intrinsic grounds. Critics can call the second phrase an addition made to balance the two conditions.
Inconsistency
The criteria used at Matthew 6:15 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: The omission can be explained without accusing a scribe of softening doctrine.
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
That split alone corrects the lazy phrase “the two oldest manuscripts omit.” “The earliest manuscripts” may hide disagreement between the very witnesses being summarized.
Internal and transcriptional evidence
Critics can call the second phrase an addition made to balance the two conditions. The omission can be explained without accusing a scribe of softening doctrine.
Reception and ecclesiastical use
The Textus Receptus and the broad Greek tradition also keep them.
Providential-preservation analysis
Providential preservation is not used as a substitute for evidence at Matthew 6:15. 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
Critics can call the second phrase an addition made to balance the two conditions.
Conclusion
The repeated phrase also belongs to oral teaching. A hearer who cannot see punctuation needs the object restated: forgive men their trespasses; refuse to forgive men their trespasses. What can look redundant on a printed page can carry the balance when the sermon is heard.
The warning finally drives the Lord’s Prayer into community. “Our Father” and “our debts” cannot coexist with a private treasury of grievances. The text names the stored items. They are trespasses—real crossings of God’s boundary—and precisely those must be placed under the mercy one asks from him.
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 6:15, the received text reads “The Textus Receptus and the broad Greek tradition also keep them.” and its Authorized Version representation reads “But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” — Matthew 6:15”. 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 6:15, the received Hebrew/Greek form is “The Textus Receptus and the broad Greek tradition also keep them.”; the Authorized Version represents it as “But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” — Matthew 6:15”. 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 6:15, the received text reads “The Textus Receptus and the broad Greek tradition also keep them.” and its Authorized Version representation reads “But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” — Matthew 6:15”. 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
“But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” — Matthew 6:15
The final words their trespasses are absent from a notable early stream. Sinaiticus omits them; Vaticanus keeps them. The Textus Receptus and the broad Greek tradition also keep them.
That split alone corrects the lazy phrase “the two oldest manuscripts omit.” Here the famous pair divide.
Verse 14 says, “if ye forgive men their trespasses.” Verse 15 then says, “if ye forgive not men their trespasses.” Critics can call the second phrase an addition made to balance the two conditions.
Balance can be Matthew’s craft. The positive and negative clauses are meant to answer one another. Repeating the object leaves no room to redefine the second line as a vague failure to be pleasant.
The same repetition can cause loss. An eye that has just copied “men” may jump ahead to the next main verb, especially when the familiar object seems supplied by memory. The shorter sentence remains grammatical: “if ye forgive not men, neither will your Father forgive you.”
Jesus does not sell pardon in exchange for our pardon. A heart made merciful by grace cannot settle into final, cherished refusal of mercy. The warning exposes a profession that asks God to cancel ten thousand talents while strangling a fellow servant over a hundred pence.
“Their trespasses” keeps the issue concrete. Forgiveness concerns real wrongs, not imaginary offenses alone. It may coexist with truth, discipline, restitution, and protection. It cannot coexist with a heart that needs the debt kept alive for vengeance.
The received phrase has strong early support through Vaticanus, broad later continuity, and exact parallel function. The omission can be explained without accusing a scribe of softening doctrine. Matthew’s full warning should stand: the trespasses we refuse to forgive reveal what we think of the pardon we ask.
Sinaiticus and Vaticanus are often invoked together because they agree in many important readings. Their split here shows why sigla must be read verse by verse. “The earliest manuscripts” may hide disagreement between the very witnesses being summarized. Accurate description is not pedantry; it prevents prestige from replacing evidence.
The repeated phrase also belongs to oral teaching. A hearer who cannot see punctuation needs the object restated: forgive men their trespasses; refuse to forgive men their trespasses. What can look redundant on a printed page can carry the balance when the sermon is heard.
The warning finally drives the Lord’s Prayer into community. “Our Father” and “our debts” cannot coexist with a private treasury of grievances. The text names the stored items. They are trespasses—real crossings of God’s boundary—and precisely those must be placed under the mercy one asks from him.
Further reading
- Matthew 6:12–15; 18:21–35; Mark 11:25–26.
- Codices Sinaiticus and Vaticanus at Matthew 6:15.
- Bruce M. Metzger, A Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament, note on Matthew 6:15.
7Related materials
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- Record
- VAR-1028
- 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 6:15 — “Their Trespasses”: Has the Warning about Forgiveness Been Reduced?,” VAR-1028, Confessional Bibliology Research Center, version 1.0-staging.
Revision history
- — Chris Thomas
- — Chris Thomas