A Mutilated New Testament

Few readers of God’s Word have the least notion of the differences between the Greek manuscripts on which almost all modern versions of Scripture are based and those used in the translation of the King James Version. That the two manuscripts, the Codex Sinaiticus and the Codex Vaticanus, contain not only deliberate alterations but are also the product of extremely careless copyists cannot be denied. Yet it is these two faulty manuscripts upon which so much weight is placed by the recent translators of Scripture. When the New International Version states in reference to Mark 16:9-20 that

they fail to mention both that hundreds of carefully copied manuscripts do indeed contain these words, and that in the Codex Vaticanus, the space for these verses is very clearly left, indicating a careless omission.

Not only are the Codex Sinaiticus and the Codex Vaticanus riddled with careless omissions and numerous spelling mistakes, but they also include such spurious books as the Apocrypha, Bel and the Dragon, and the Epistle of Barnabas.

Let us examine some of the great truths that have been totally omitted from the New International Version. These include:

Perhaps a church which demands penance and offerings for the dead from poor widows, could not tolerate such straight testimony.

Let us examine a further omission from the New International Version .

This emphatic truth, the very words of Jesus, has been deleted. Perhaps it suits the Roman Church since the passage does not accord with the Roman Catholic doctrine that priests have the right to forgive sin. Roman Catholics still deny that God directly forgives our sins.

Mark sought to emphasize Christ’s fulfillment of prophecy when, after describing Christ’s crucifixion between two thieves, he quoted from Isaiah 53:12. This important confirmation of Christ’s fulfillment of prophecy finds no place in the text of the New International Version.

A portion of the story of the healing of the infirm man by the pool of Bethesda is omitted (John 5:4). The affirmation of belief in Jesus by the Ethiopian eunuch (Acts 8:37) is deleted, as is the complaint of the Jewish leaders that the chief captain, Lysias, rescued Paul from their hands (Acts 24:7). These are simply a few instances when entire verses have been deleted from Scripture.

In only one case does the New International Version seek to cover a loss of Scripture by dividing one verse in two to preserve the correct numbering of verses. This version omits 1 John 5:7 but divides verse 8 into two to provide a seventh verse. In all other cases the verse is entirely omitted and can be found only as a footnote, indicating that it is not a true portion of Scripture.

In addition, no fewer than 180 phrases and clauses, many of them significant, are missing in the New International Version. Ask someone to repeat the Lord’s prayer as rendered by this version of Scripture. If he should be able to do so, and it is doubtful, you will note that the following is not in his recitation:

Once again the impact of Christ’s fulfillment of prophecy is not in this modern version. Quoting David’s prophecy from Psalm 22:18, Matthew asserted:

Yet the New International Version sees fit to omit this fact.

According to this version, when Christ was tempted by the devil, Luke did not record Christ’s words:

On occasions these omissions have been used with telling effect to destroy Bible truth. Those who minimize the meaning of the term in Christ to that of an empty affirmation of belief are delighted to quote the following verse:

Diligent students of the Bible will recognize that a vital explanatory clause has been omitted at the conclusion of this verse:

Furthermore, this text places an entirely different complexion upon one’s understanding of the preceding verses of Romans 7.

According to the New International Version, the following advice to a bishop is not found in Scripture:

The history of the greed of the Papacy may provide a reason for this omission. Nor is Christ’s assertion:

to be found in the New International Version.

In the grand declaration of victories obtained over the beast and his image and the number of his name, the victory "over his mark " (Revelation 15:2) escapes mention.

These serve simply as a few examples of the mass destruction of Scripture in modern versions. The avid student of the Word may study further by reference to Appendix B.

For some curious reason the name of the Lord is omitted on 173 occasions. Jesus is deleted on 38, Christ on 43, Lord on 35, God on 31, and other names on 26 occasions.

Perhaps even more startling are the 229 instances where differences in meaning have been expressed without any omission. Compare the following texts as examples:

This bias in translating discloses a calculated effort to insinuate the Roman Catholic doctrine of original sin into Scripture.

In this chapter, we have only introduced the subject of scriptural mutilation. The many thousands of alterations cannot be fully documented in this book. But God’s people need to be aware that massive destruction and alteration of God’s precious Word has been foisted upon Christians in the guise of the use of modern English language. The desirable use of contemporary English must not be achieved at the incalculable expense of Bible purity.