Biblegems #236
Question: Why do most modern translations
not include these words from 1 John 5:7-8 found in the King James Bible: ”…testify in heaven: the Father, the Word
and the Holy Spirit, and these three are one. And there are three that testify
on earth: the…”?
First
things first: the inspiration of God’s Word is not what is in question here.
Rather, this is a problem arising out of the transmission and translation
of ancient copies of God’s inspired
Word. The original documents of God’s Word as revealed to the apostles and
prophets is without error:
2Tim. 3:16-17 All
Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and
training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped
for every good work.
As you
can imagine, any time a document gets copied by hand, mistakes can occur.
Misspelled words, torn or damaged originals, bad light, tiredness or poor eyesight
are just a few of the things that can contribute to errors in copying. But here
is the really good news concerning any such errors: The errors from copying and
translation are so few and insignificant
that our human mistakes stand out like shadows cast by the sun.
Here’s how all this relates to 1
John 5:7-8.
When scholars were commissioned
by king James in the early 1600’s to provide the most accurate, authoritative
translation of the Bible ever produced into the English language, the
translators relied heavily upon earlier translation work done by a man named
Erasmus. Erasmus compiled an entire translation of the Bible, printed in 1516
A.D. called the Textus Receptus. His work was based upon approximately nine ancient
Greek manuscripts. Prior to Erasmus, the Latin Vulgate was the accepted,
authoritative Bible translation.
In Erasmus’ original translation process
he discovered that none of the
ancient Greek manuscripts contained the phrase in question, even though that
phrasing was included in the Latin Vulgate of his time. Erasmus was sharply
criticized for not including the phrase in his translation. But he refused to
add it in unless a Greek copy that contained it could be found. In 1520 such a
copy was found, and Erasmus reluctantly included the phrase now found in the
King James Bible. As it turns out, the Greek manuscript provided for him was a
forgery composed by the Franciscan friar Roy, who took the words from the Latin
Vulgate.
In the past two hundred years,
literally thousands of ancient Bible manuscripts and portions of manuscripts
have been discovered. Many of these manuscripts are hundreds of years older and
closer to the originals by far than those available to either the King James
Bible translation committee, or to Erasmus a century earlier. And of all those
manuscripts, not one contains the
phrase in question.
This should not be a cause for
discouragement, but rather of great encouragement. New archeological
discoveries routinely unearth evidence in the form of manuscripts and
historical artifacts that confirm the accuracy and authority of God’s Word as
originally given. Does mankind’s participation in passing on the Scriptures to
future generations contaminate the inerrancy and inspiration of God’s Word?
Rom. 3:4 Not at all! Let God be true, and every man a liar. As it is written: “So that you may be proved right when
you speak and prevail when you judge.”
