Has the Bible been corrupted, altered, edited, revised, or tampered with?

Our object, in the present paper, is to give such a sample as our narrow limits may permit, of some remarkable changes which it has been proposed to make in the common text of the Greek Testament. For though God, in His providence, has not failed to watch over His word, yet was it entrusted to the responsibility of man, who has broken down here, as everywhere else. Man has not known how to keep the holy deposit as became him. There were accidental slips of the copyists, as even yet there are, spite of extreme care, not a few errors of the press. Words, clauses, sentences might be, and often were, omitted by oversight. Interchanges of words that bore some resemblance occurred now and then. Then, again, it was not uncommon for marginal notes, originally meant as explanations, etc., to creep into the text through the ignorance or negligence of some after-scribe. Finally, it can hardly be doubted that there are traces of intentional tampering with the copies, occasionally in the way of wholly unfounded additions; more frequently attempts at correcting terms and expressions, grammatical or other supposed errors; and, last of all, assimilations of scripture statements, as, for instance, in the corresponding parts of the four gospels. To these and other kindred causes are due the various readings of the ancient MSS. Numerous as they are, they are not out of proportion to the vast body of the copies.

Other Versions. As soon as one is fairly familiar with the text of our authorized version, it is very desirable to get one or more versions. The original Greek or Hebrew can be rendered of course in different ways, and yet the translation be faithful. It is this diversity of translation which proves so helpful as one advances in Bible knowledge. The way a sentence is translated, the different words used, or their arrangement, often prove a very suggestive help. Back of this is the question of the text, particularly of the New Testament which, as is well known, has been more or less improved by the discovery of ancient manuscripts since the time our admirable "Authorized" version was made. As we have already said, none need be disturbed at the thought that the text has been altered in certain places. If we remember that our Bibles were, for many centuries before the discovery of printing, copied by the slow and laborious means of handwriting, we may be sure that many little slips occurred, no matter how careful the copyist might be. It is worthy of note, however, that amongst the hundreds of manuscripts which are in existence, in the most faulty of these, not a single doctrine of divine truth has been affected, if we take the Bible as a whole. The vast majority of these errors are so manifest and of such unimportant character that their correction raises no question.

A number of passages in Scripture, however, have been rendered obscure by this faulty copying. Occasionally, too, the copyist has dropped out a word, phrase, or even a sentence which is found in other manuscripts; and occasionally what was evidently a marginal note or explanation has been incorporated into the text by a succession of copyists who have apparently thought it helpful to the understanding of the passage. Thus, the familiar passage which found its way into our version (1 John 5:7-8) is an interpolation which was probably introduced by some monk copyist more than a thousand years after Christ, and does not exist in any manuscript that can be considered for a moment as authoritative on such matters. There are very few passages so glaring as this, but quite a few where the text has been more or less affected, and where a judicious and reverent scholarship has, by faithful research, found out the more ancient reading and the exact original wording.

Now, wherever this has been ascertained, of course we should make use of it; and here was one of the great needs for a revision of the text. The Revised Version of 1881, together with the recommendations of the American editors of the same, furnish very many helpful suggestions along these lines. Care, however, should be taken by the student, not to slavishly follow the suggestions of the revisers, for in some cases they are themselves open to further revision, and (with the exception of manuscript corrections mentioned above) are no improvement upon the Authorized Version — rather the reverse.

1° Des fautes se sont glissées dans le texte par la négligence des copistes, alors que la Parole de Dieu n’existait que sous forme de manuscrits; ou bien, des changements ont été introduits dans ces manuscrits par des personnes qui, dans leur ignorance du vrai sens, l’altéraient, soit en s’efforçant de l’expliquer, soit en essayant de l’harmoniser avec d’autres passages des Écritures.

The next step was to endeavour to ascertain the cause of the variations. In many places it was, purely accidental. The writers had in some places mistaken one word for another. In others, words were accidentally omitted; and in others, words were added. In other places the alterations appeared to be done purposely. Apparently the copier had thought he could improve the wording, without perhaps thinking of the importance that would be attached to the identical [original?] words of this famous will.

Now the ascertaining of the cause of the variations was at once the means of removing a great many of them as variations. They were ascertained to have been accidental alterations, and were dismissed accordingly. But this would not clear up all. In some the preponderance of the evidence was overwhelming for one reading over another so as to settle indisputably which was correct, and this decided many questions. Still, a few remained in which it was difficult to decide which was the word actually used in the original.

In those days there was perhaps no copy of the scriptures in an assembly but that which was publicly read; and from a good motive these alterations were made to render the sense more intelligible to the hearers. Still they are alterations, and have to be corrected in order to be exact.

Seeing that copyists of the original Scriptures were not inspired, as the Scriptures themselves are, it follows that with all the possible care taken to make a perfectly correct copy, mistakes and errors might creep in. These copyists however were so very careful in their work, that these errors and variations between the many copies are only very slight, and do not in the least degree diminish or weaken the testimony to the great fundamentals of the Christian faith. The proportion of important variations to the whole of the Scriptures is likened to a handful of corn compared with a field of wheat. Or again, if you look into a mirror in which a speck or two of quicksilver has got scratched, you would have no doubt as to what you see in the glass. So it is with the Holy Scriptures, over which God has so manifestly put His powerful and preserving hand.

But the survival of hundreds and thousands of manuscript copies of the Scriptures, either in part or in whole, proves absolutely the existence of the original Scriptures, and the very high esteem in which they were held. These manuscripts are unanimous in giving to us the great fundamental doctrines of Christianity unimpaired in the slightest degree. The variations in the manuscripts are so minute in the main, that they are happily likened to a handful of grain as compared with a field of many acres of ripening corn.

The number of copies of the Scriptures runs into many hundreds. It is true there are various readings, but the general agreement is so very great that we have every confidence that we have the Word of God in our hands. If you take all the disputed passages, as the result of various renderings of the ancient manuscripts, it is as but a mere handful of grain compared to a whole field of wheat. It is as if you had a looking glass with a mere speck or two of the quicksilver defective. If you looked into such a glass, and saw your reflection, you would have no doubt as to what you saw, though the glass had sustained this trifling defect. So with the Word of God.

While upon the subject of the infallible inspiration of Scripture, I will say a few words upon the texts, versions, etc. To be very simple, you know that until a late date all copies were made by pen. The accuracy of these copies depended, of course, upon the care of the copyist. But, even with the greatest care, it was impossible, humanly speaking, to keep out all errors. We find, therefore, that among the hundreds of manuscripts there are a large number of small variations. Most of these scarcely affect the meaning at all, being slight omissions or insertions of letters, small words, etc. Other cases occur where the meaning of a certain verse may be altered; but I think I am safe in saying that in no one manuscript is there embodied a false doctrine, or a true one eliminated. It is certainly a great mercy of God that He has preserved His truth uncontaminated through all these centuries.

The version ordinarily in use was made from a text based chiefly on manuscripts of a late date. Since that time much earlier manuscripts have been discovered or examined. Other things being equal, the earlier the date of the manuscript, the greater its accuracy. Careful study examines all the manuscripts and reaches a text which is best supported by the oldest and most reliable authorities. Our knowledge of the text has therefore improved since the King James version was made.

The result of all the labours of which we have been speaking has been most happy for all those who rightly value the integrity of the word of God. No doubt human weakness has left its traces here also, as is the case wherever anything has been entrusted to man; but the providence of God has watched over His word, so that, in spite of the great differences between the systems which learned men have followed for the revision of the text, they have nevertheless arrived at almost identical results. Apart from one or two passages, the various editions of the Greek text are almost everywhere in accordance with each other as regards the different readings which have any importance. The variations we meet with are few in number, of a secondary order, and, in a translation, would often be almost imperceptible; and the labours of the learned men who have compared the numerous MSS known at present have had the happy effect of removing the mistakes with which the first editions of the Greek text were disfigured.