B.F. Westcott and F.J.A. Hort, while revising the Greek New Testament in the nineteenth century, gave decisive weight to a small cluster of Alexandrian manuscripts — chiefly Sinaiticus and Vaticanus — and set aside the mass of the Traditional Text that the churches had used for centuries.
Their work became the foundation of the modern critical text. From that text the major modern English versions have been built. The result is not a neutral update of language. It is a measurable reduction of wording that touches the deity of Christ, the authority of the believer, and the power promised to those who believe.
Dean Burgon exposed their contempt for the Traditional Text in his own day. The pattern has not changed. What follows is not theory. It is what you can open and read for yourself.
This is among the greatest thefts of faith ever accomplished. So many are kept in unbelief, and believers are robbed of reward — here on earth and in the heavenlies. It is a tool to disarm the army of God.
When verses that teach the believer’s authority, the necessity of faith, the deity of Christ, or the power of His blood are omitted, bracketed, or rewritten, the reader is left with a thinner gospel and a weaker walk. The evidence below is arranged so you can verify every line.
These omissions or alterations diminish teachings on the believer’s authority, faith practices, and supernatural empowerment.
“And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues… they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.”
Omitted, bracketed, or footnoted as doubtful (NIV, ESV, and many others).
Evidence: Present in over 1,650 Greek manuscripts — more than 99% of the extant Greek evidence. Supported by the great mass of Latin, Syriac, Gothic and other versions, and cited by Irenaeus in the second century. Omitted in only a handful of Greek witnesses, principally Sinaiticus and Vaticanus. The longer ending is the text the churches actually used.
What is lost: The post-resurrection commission of power — casting out devils, new tongues, healing — essential to bold faith and the Great Commission.
“Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting.”
Completely omitted (NIV, ESV, and others).
Evidence: Present in the overwhelming majority of Greek manuscripts, in the Latin and Syriac traditions, and known to early writers. Absent from a small cluster of Alexandrian witnesses. The omission is not a minor spelling difference; the entire verse disappears.
What is lost: The explicit teaching that certain demonic strongholds yield only to prayer and fasting — a call to spiritual discipline and power.
“And Philip said, If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.”
Completely omitted (NIV, ESV, and others).
Evidence: Present in a substantial body of Greek manuscripts and in the Old Latin and other early versions. Cited by Irenaeus and Cyprian in the second and third centuries. The confession “I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God” is the heart of the passage.
What is lost: The clear requirement of heart-belief and confession of Christ’s deity before baptism — the conversion confession itself.
“…For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.”
Omitted or relegated to a footnote (NIV, ESV, and others).
Evidence: Present in the large majority of Greek manuscripts and in the liturgical life of the churches for centuries. Absent from a small group of early Alexandrian witnesses. The doxology is not a late ornamental addition in the traditional stream; it is the way the prayer was received and prayed.
What is lost: The open ascription of kingdom, power and glory to God at the close of the model prayer.
These changes obscure the deity or unique sonship of Jesus Christ and open the door to systems that deny who He is.
“And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh…”
“He” or “who” was manifested in the flesh (NIV, ESV, and others).
Evidence: The reading “God was manifest” dominates the Greek manuscript tradition. The critical text prefers a relative pronoun found in a small number of early witnesses. The difference is not cosmetic. One reading states that God was manifest in the flesh. The other removes the explicit subject.
What is lost: A plain declaration of the incarnation — God Himself manifested in flesh. Systems that deny the eternal deity of Christ gain ground when the verse no longer says “God.”
“…the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood.”
Often “church of the Lord” (or similar), softening or removing the force of God purchasing with His own blood.
Evidence: “Church of God… his own blood” is strongly attested in the traditional stream. The alternative readings reduce the direct statement that God shed blood.
What is lost: The force of divine atonement — God purchasing the church with His own blood. Groups that reject God shedding blood find the altered wording more convenient.
“No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father…”
“The only God” / “only begotten God” or similar (NIV, ESV, and others).
Evidence: “Only begotten Son” is the reading of the large majority of manuscripts and of early fathers. The critical text follows a minority of early witnesses that read “God” in a way that shifts the traditional phrasing of unique Sonship.
What is lost: The clear presentation of the only begotten Son revealing the Father. Alterations here blur the unique relationship the verse was written to declare.
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son…”
“One and only Son” — the word “begotten” removed (NIV, ESV, and others).
Evidence: “Only begotten” (monogenes) is the traditional rendering reflecting unique divine sonship. Modern versions often drop “begotten” in favour of a softer phrase that no longer carries the same force.
What is lost: The unique, unshared sonship of Christ. Systems that treat Jesus as one spirit-brother among many, or as a created being, find the diluted wording less obstructive.
“For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one.”
Completely omitted from the text (NIV, ESV, and others).
This is the most contested of the traditional readings. The Greek manuscript support for the full wording is late and limited. At the same time, the verse stands in the Received Text, was defended by men who knew the evidence, and removes from modern Bibles the one place in the epistle where the Father, the Word and the Holy Ghost are explicitly said to be one in heaven. Whether one accepts the reading or not, the effect of its removal is the same: the clearest Trinitarian statement in the passage is gone.
Systems that reject the Trinity — Jehovah’s Witnesses, Oneness groups, Unitarians — have no difficulty with a text that no longer contains it.
You do not need a seminary library. Open a King James Bible and a modern critical version (NIV, ESV, NASB, and the like) side by side.
Look up Mark 16:9–20, Matthew 17:21, Acts 8:37, 1 Timothy 3:16, Acts 20:28, John 1:18, John 3:16, 1 John 5:7.
Note every omission, every bracket, every footnote that says “some manuscripts do not have,” and every place where “God” or “begotten” has been softened or removed.
Ask what is lost — power, confession, deity, blood, Trinity. Then ask who benefits when those lines are gone.
The changes are not random. They cluster around the identity of Christ, the authority of the believer, and the power of the gospel. That is not coincidence. It is the fruit of a critical method that preferred a small, corruptible stream over the text the churches had received and used.
God has magnified His word above all His name. The Book that carried the gospel across the English-speaking world still says “God was manifest in the flesh,” still records the signs that follow them that believe, still confesses that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and still declares that the church was purchased with His own blood. Hold fast that which is good.
See also Textual Origins, The Book of the LORD and KJB Lineage.