From the lists of spurious passages, sentences, and words compiled by Tischendorf and others, we have selected for comment what seem to be the most important from the standpoint of the effect they have upon the teachings of the Bible as a whole. In each case we have offered a brief suggestion as to how the interpolation (or other variant) changes the meaning of the text. In some cases we have suggested a possible reason why the copyist who made the addition may have thought it desirable.
These selections follow, and the spurious text, or portion of text, is shown in bold-face type at the beginning of the paragraph, followed immediately by our own observations. To save space, we have not quoted the entire passage in which these interpolations appear. We strongly recommend, however, that the reader look up these passages in his own Bible, which may likely be the King James Version, and study it in connection with the observations suggested.
Matthew 6:13—“For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.” These words from 1 Chron. 29:11 which were added to our Lord’s Prayer make it contradictory, as Jesus taught us to pray, “Thy kingdom come.” It would be useless to pray for God’s kingdom to come if the divine rule were already fully operative in the earth. At the time these premature words were wrongly added to the Lord’s Prayer, it was a common belief that Christ’s kingdom was already ruling through the church-state systems of the Roman Empire, hence this effort to make the Bible support the claim.
Matthew 16:2-3—“When it is evening, ye say, It will be fair weather: for the sky is red. And in the morning, It will be foul weather to day: for the sky is red and lowring. O ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky; but can ye not discern the signs of the times?” This is merely a tradition, having slight foundation in fact (except when there is a breeze from the west). The use of such a statement in the inspired Word tends to discount the authority of the whole Book in the minds of reasoning people.
Matthew 17:21—“and fasting.” That this is spurious is evident from the fact that Jesus cast out the devil to which reference is made without being prepared by a season of fasting.
Matthew 25:6—“cometh” To announce that the Bridegroom is coming is contrary to the prophecies which show that none would know in advance the time of his arrival. With the spurious word “com- eth” out of the text, the statement reads, “Behold the Bridegroom,” which indicates a recognition that Christ has already returned and is present.
Mark 16:9-20—All these verses are spurious. Christians are not promised protection from harm resulting from snake bites and drinking poison, as in the 18th verse that says: “They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them.” This, like many other interpolations, tends to make the Bible seem unreasonable.
Luke 22:68—“me, nor let me go.” These added words give the thought that Jesus was attempting to put up a defense that would result in acquittal, but this was not the case. Jesus knew that he was to die as man’s Redeemer, and that his hour for the supreme sacrifice had come, so he was not asking to be set free.
Luke 23:34—“Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.” Some copyist added these words with the evident thought of revealing the Master’s benevolence toward his enemies, but apparently they are not in harmony with the known facts. Whatever Jesus requested of the Heavenly Father would be granted. But those who crucified him were not forgiven. It was a national sin for which they have suffered severely.
John 1:18—“the only begotten Son,” originally read “an only begotten god,” referring back to verse 1. E.C. Colwell suggested the change was probably “made for theological consistency,” which would be an unacceptable reason to retain the King James reading.
John 3:13—“which is in heaven.” Jesus, the Son of Man, was not in heaven at the time of his dialogue with Nicodemus. Whoever added these spurious words may have incorporated an earlier scribe’s comment from the margin.
John 5:3,4—From the word “waiting” in the third verse through verse four. These words reflect superstitions which played such an important role in the religious lives of professed Christians during the Dark Ages.
John 7:53-8:11—All these verses are spurious. A very interesting story, sometimes found elsewhere in John, or even late in Luke, but not written by the Apostle John.
Romans 8:26—“for us” These two little words may seem like a harmless addition to this text, but when we analyze the passage we find that by their use the Holy Spirit, or power of God, is made to appear as a person who intercedes at the throne of grace on behalf of Christians, with groanings which cannot be uttered. By omitting these added words, we get the real meaning of the text. It is the Chris- tian’s own spirit, which oftentimes, for the lack of adequate words to express himself, approaches God in the attitude of prayer.
I Corinthians 6:20—“and in your spirit, which are God’s.” An evident attempt to bolster the erroneous theory which was introduced into the church during the Dark Ages that the “spirit” is an entity separate and distinct from the body.
I Corinthians 15:51,52—should read: “Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall all fall asleep, but we shall not all be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, in the last trump:” Five of the very best manuscripts read this way (as does the Armenian, and somewhat the Latin), contrasted with only two of the very best (and five hundred others of lesser quality and later date) which read like the King James Version and most modern versions. The way these high-quality manuscripts read is clearly unacceptable to anyone dedicated to an immortal-soul theology; hence the perceived feeling of need to change it by transferring “not” to the earlier clause.
Ephesians 5:30—“of his flesh, and of his bones.” The body of Christ glorified, of which Christians are prospective members, is not a fleshly body, as these words tend to indicate.
I Timothy 3:16—“God” This change is seen in the Alexandrian manuscript, where a single horizontal line was added to 0C (“who”) to change it to ϴC (“God”). The alteration to the word “God” in this text represents another effort to prove that Jesus and God are one and the same. The personality discussed in this text is Christ Jesus, who is introduced in verse 13. According to the Greek text, the word “who” should be used instead of “God”.
I John 3:16—“of God” These words were supplied by the translators and are not in any Greek text. This may have been another effort to have the Bible seem to prove that God and Jesus are the same. God did not lay down his life for us, but the Son of God did. It is better to read: “Hereby perceive we love,” or “…godly love.”
I John 5:7,8—“in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one. And there are three that bear witness in earth.” These words were added in an effort to prove the Trinitarian doctrine. Only nine Greek manuscripts contain these words, all of late date, against five hundred which do not. Not even the early Latin manuscripts contained them. Most versions currently reject them. It is the only expression in the King James Version of the Bible that would in any way prove a triune God, but it is spurious, and so should not be accepted as part of the inspired Word.
Revelation 20:5 – “But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished.” The Sinaitic and nearly seventy others never contained this sentence, while about 112 manuscripts include it in at least five different forms; only after the 13th century do most manuscripts contain it. These words were added at a time when the church began to claim it was fulfilling scriptural promises concerning the thousand-year reign of Christ. The dead were not being raised during this pseudo-millennium so it was convenient to make the inspired record teach that the resurrection should not be expected until the close of the thousand years.
Revelation 21:24—“of them which are saved” The copyist who added these words had evidently lost sight of the divine promises to bless all the nations of the earth. While the Scriptures do not teach the ultimate universal salvation— universal reconciliation—of all individuals, yet all the families of the earth are to have an opportunity to be blessed during the kingdom reign of Christ, which fact these added words tend to annul.