Mark 1:1 — is “the Son of God” original?
Whether Mark 1:1 originally includes “the Son of God” remains disputed between υἱοῦ θεοῦ and Ἰησοῦ χριστοῦ. The listed witnesses preserve both a fuller and a short opening.
What the APB prints.
Every witness, on the record.
What a blind committee did here.
The APB's translation committee works blind: it is never told it is translating the Bible, never given a book name or a verse number, and it never sees the witnesses above. Whatever it did at this verse, it did on the language alone — and its record is public.
The committee record supplies no matching rationale note, while the pericope audit verdict is clean. The blind committee’s printed APB verse ends after Christ: “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ.” The supplied record shows that stopping point without an explanation.
The case for each reading.
If “Son of God” belongs
Reading A adds υἱοῦ θεοῦ after χριστοῦ, yielding the stated …Son of God ending. Nestle-Aland 28 (2012) reads υἱοῦ θεοῦ; its row says that the phrase appears in brackets in some printings. Robinson-Pierpont Byzantine Textform (2005) has the fuller wording υἱοῦ τοῦ θεοῦ, with the article. The apparatus likewise records υἱοῦ θεοῦ and υἱοῦ τοῦ θεοῦ as alternatives to χριστοῦ. Codex Sinaiticus (original hand) is listed without the phrase, but its row reports that a corrector added it. On this side, the opening extends beyond Christ to identify him as …Son of God.
If the short opening is original
Reading B ends with Ἰησοῦ χριστοῦ: …of Jesus Christ — full stop. Westcott-Hort (1881) reads χριστοῦ, and its row says that it prints the short opening. Codex Sinaiticus (original hand) (4th century A.D.) likewise reads Ἰησοῦ χριστοῦ, with no Son of God phrase in its original hand. The apparatus sets χριστοῦ in WH against the longer additions. The APB text at Mark 1:1 also stops with Jesus Christ. On this side, the question is whether the title is absent from the opening rather than supplied after χριστοῦ.
The listed evidence presents two forms: υἱοῦ θεοῦ, including υἱοῦ τοῦ θεοῦ, or an opening that ends at Ἰησοῦ χριστοῦ. The packet does not settle why the forms differ. What does not change here is the supplied APB wording of Mark 1:2: Just as it is written in Isaiah the prophet.
Asked plainly.
Does Mark 1:1 include the Son of God phrase?
The listed witnesses are divided. Nestle-Aland 28 and Robinson-Pierpont Byzantine Textform have fuller forms, while Westcott-Hort and Codex Sinaiticus (original hand) have the short opening.
What does the APB print at Mark 1:1?
The APB prints: “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ.”
What is the difference between the two readings?
Reading A continues after χριστοῦ with υἱοῦ θεοῦ or υἱοῦ τοῦ θεοῦ. Reading B ends with Ἰησοῦ χριστοῦ.
More places where the manuscripts argue.
Witness readings for critical editions are quoted from the SBLGNT apparatus (CC BY 4.0); Hebrew text from the Westminster Leningrad Codex (Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible). Readings of ancient manuscripts and versions are cited as published scholarly fact with their sources linked above. Nothing on this page declares a winner — the evidence is the point.
Weigh it yourself.
The registry doesn't tell you which reading is true. It puts every witness on one page, shows what a blind committee did with the same language, and leaves the verdict where it belongs — with the reader.