Question:
Do the modern translations delete 17 verses from scripture?
Answer:
One of the unfortunate facts about religion (including Christianity) is that
it is very easy to create a frenzy over simple issues that could be resolved by
a little effort to become informed. When dealing with the KJV only crowd, I have
found it difficult to even get people to look at the facts because they are
afraid that fact will overthrow their faith. In reality, our faith is in God and
His word, not a translation. At times people act as if the Bible was written in
King James. The misinformation is a lack of understanding as to what resources
our translators used as their text.
Textual Criticism is a complex and detailed field of study, but to put it into
simplest terms, translators generally follow either the Majority Text or the
Minority Text. The Majority Text was the most widespread throughout the first
and second century world and can be compared together to complete the Bible from
thousands of sources that all remained strikingly consistent in spite of the
fact that laymen were responsible for hand-copying for their own assemblies. I
don't remember the number off hand but the Majority text has something to the
effect of 23,000 copies or fragments of copies. The KJV and the NKJV primarily
use the Majority Text.
The Minority text is a small handful of manuscripts that were often preserved by
Egyptian priest - some were Gnostic priests. The Minority text are older than
the Majority Text but fewer in number and were not distributed among the early
churches. The NIV and NASB use the Minority Text.
Many critics argue that the Minority text are the oldest and therefore the most
reliable. Other critics argue that the Majority text was widely accepted by the
early church and we have ample examples to validate the accuracy of these
scriptures.
I personally side with the Majority text, however it is important to keep in
mind that if scripture is taken as a whole (as it should be), the gospel is not
changed nor do doctrinal issues vary. Among all inconsistencies among all known
manuscripts, there are only 2% differences in grammar, words used and other
variations. There are zero changes in interpretation or doctrine. In truth,
preference is the real issue at hand. I personally don't like the wording of
versions like the NIV, but I would not say it is evil.
The 17 so-called omitted verses are passages found in the Majority text that are
not found it the Minority Text. If we want to be dogmatic, we can argue that the
Majority Text added to God's word - or we can argue that the Minority Text took
away from God's word. The translators did not pick and choose as the KJV only
critics claim. They sided with the Minority text as the basis of their
translation.
Eddie Snipes
Exchanged Life Outreach
http://www.exchangedlife.com
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