Complete textual-variant dossier
No adverse entailment · agrees with the received text
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 the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness.”
Variant class
Omission / addition
2Textus Receptus
Greek reading
The exact TR reading has not yet been entered in the structured field.
Authorized Version
“But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness.” — Matthew 8:12
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 2 variation units within this record's range. The notes ground the relevant decisions in the weight and distribution of external attestation, scribal harmonization to a parallel passage; 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., notes on Matthew 8:12, 8:12
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 same Gospel distinguishes good and bad fish, wise and foolish virgins, and guests with and without the wedding garment.
Bahnsen four-point examination
Arbitrariness
At Matthew 8:12, the critical choice avoids arbitrariness only to the extent that it states public manuscript, transcriptional, and intrinsic grounds. The Textus Receptus, the Byzantine text, and the main modern critical editions agree on shall be cast out. Textual criticism has done good work when it keeps the received verb for stated reasons. The received and critical texts rightly preserve that force.
Inconsistency
The criteria used at Matthew 8:12 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 same Gospel distinguishes good and bad fish, wise and foolish virgins, and guests with and without the wedding garment.
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
— Matthew 8:12 A small ancient stream says the children of the kingdom shall go out. The ancient rival is useful even though the main editions reject it. Scrivener, The New Testament in the Original Greek according to the Text Followed in the Authorised Version.
Internal and transcriptional evidence
A copyist can balance that movement with “shall go out” in verse 12. The phrase “children of the kingdom” describes outward relation and expectation, not saving union that later fails.
Reception and ecclesiastical use
The Textus Receptus, the Byzantine text, and the main modern critical editions agree on shall be cast out.
Providential-preservation analysis
Providential preservation is not used as a substitute for evidence at Matthew 8:12. 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 Textus Receptus, the Byzantine text, and the main modern critical editions agree on shall be cast out. Textual criticism has done good work when it keeps the received verb for stated reasons. The received and critical texts rightly preserve that force.
Conclusion
The phrase “children of the kingdom” describes outward relation and expectation, not saving union that later fails. The same Gospel distinguishes good and bad fish, wise and foolish virgins, and guests with and without the wedding garment. Visible nearness is a privilege that calls for faith; it is not the new birth itself.
The rival “shall go out” may have been formed by the nearby “shall come.” Such rhetorical balancing often sounds elegant, which is why it can tempt memory. Matthew’s received antithesis is stronger: nations come by grace, presumptive heirs are cast out by judgment.
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.
No adverse entailment: agrees with the received text.
Necessary reasoning chain
- The current critical main-text reading assessed at Matthew 8:12 agrees with the received Hebrew/Greek reading at the variation unit governed by this card.
- An adverse preservation entailment at this locus would require the current critical form to displace a different received reading.
- Because no such displacement occurs at the assessed locus, no adverse preservation consequence follows here.
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 the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness.” — Matthew 8:12
A small ancient stream says the children of the kingdom shall go out. The Textus Receptus, the Byzantine text, and the main modern critical editions agree on shall be cast out.
The difference names agency. Going out can sound voluntary; being cast out is judgment.
Verse 11 says many “shall come” from east and west. A copyist can balance that movement with “shall go out” in verse 12. The active verb also avoids an unstated agent in the passive.
Matthew’s passive is not vague. God is the judge. The kingdom’s false heirs do not wander from a feast they dislike; they are removed to outer darkness. The weeping and gnashing of teeth confirm the sentence.
The ancient rival is useful even though the main editions reject it. It shows that age does not compel acceptance and that a smoother parallel can be secondary. Textual criticism has done good work when it keeps the received verb for stated reasons.
Jesus has marveled at a Gentile centurion’s faith. He then sees many coming from every direction to sit with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. “Children of the kingdom” names those who possess outward covenant privilege yet reject the King.
The saying does not declare every Jew excluded. The patriarchs, apostles, first believers, and Jesus himself are Jewish. It warns that descent and visible place cannot replace faith.
The passive verb makes the reversal judicial. Those who assumed the table was theirs meet the King’s verdict; those thought far away enter by grace. The received and critical texts rightly preserve that force.
This agreement should be allowed to stand without manufacturing a party dispute. An old alternative remains worth explaining, and the common judgment remains sound: the unbelieving children shall be cast out.
“Outer darkness” completes the banquet image. Inside are table, fellowship, and patriarchs; outside are darkness, weeping, and teeth ground in grief or rage. The passive verb moves the false heir from assumed possession to enforced exclusion. He does not choose a quiet exit after losing interest in the feast.
The phrase “children of the kingdom” describes outward relation and expectation, not saving union that later fails. The same Gospel distinguishes good and bad fish, wise and foolish virgins, and guests with and without the wedding garment. Visible nearness is a privilege that calls for faith; it is not the new birth itself.
The rival “shall go out” may have been formed by the nearby “shall come.” Such rhetorical balancing often sounds elegant, which is why it can tempt memory. Matthew’s received antithesis is stronger: nations come by grace, presumptive heirs are cast out by judgment.
Sources and further reading
- Matthew 3:7–12; 8:5–13; 21:28–46; Romans 9:1–8.
- Bruce M. Metzger, A Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament, discussion of Matthew 8:12.
- 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-1036
- 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 8:12 — “The Children of the Kingdom Shall Be Cast Out”: The Form of the Judgment Saying,” VAR-1036, Confessional Bibliology Research Center, version 1.0-staging.
Revision history
- — Chris Thomas
- — Chris Thomas