Textual variant
The Ethiopian’s confession
Editions differ on whether Acts 8 contains the exchange in which Philip requires belief with all the heart and the Ethiopian confesses that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.
Variant, not contradiction
Variant unit
Manuscript- Unit
- Acts 8:37
- Passages
- Acts 8:37
- Readings recorded
- 2
Text as seeded
TextThe passage text CodexTrace holds, in the seeded translation.
And Philip said, If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.
Readings
ManuscriptIncluded
The exchange stands between the request for baptism and the baptism itself.
Translation: Present in the King James Version.
Omitted
The narrative moves from the request for baptism directly to the command to stop the chariot.
Translation: Omitted from the running text of most modern translations, producing a gap in the verse numbering.
Witness evidence
ManuscriptManuscripts, versions and citations supporting each reading, with the source each entry came from.
Research pending. CodexTrace has not curated a witness list for this variant unit, and does not approximate one — an unverified siglum is indistinguishable from a verified one to most readers. Curating this requires attaching witness rows, each with its own source record.
Translation and interpretive impact
InterpretationTranslation impact
Readers of modern translations commonly encounter a numbering gap at this point.
Interpretive impact
The verse is cited in discussion of confession preceding baptism, so its status bears on that discussion.
Manuscript resources
ManuscriptCodex Bezae Cantabrigiensis
D · Commonly dated to the fifth century
Linked contradiction records
AnalysisClaims whose tension may be explained, in whole or part, by this variant.
No contradiction record is linked to this variant.
Sources
Source- [1]
CodexTrace. "CodexTrace editorial research". licence: CC-BY-4.0
Critical / scholarlyotherCC-BY-4.0 - [2]
King James Version (Authorised Version)
"King James Version (Authorised Version)". licence: public-domain-us
Primarytranslationpublic-domain-usLink unverified
Community
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