The Lord's prayer in Matthew 6:13 of the KJV reads: 'And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.' The RSV and NIV read only 'And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil' omitting the ending 'For thine is the kingdom...'
Luke 10:1 of the NIV reads: 'After this the Lord appointed seventy-two.' But the KJV and the RSV say that it was seventy as opposed to seventy-two. This discrepancy is also noticeable at Luke 10:17.
Mark 2:17 of the KJV reads: 'I came not to call the righteous, but sinners unto repentance.' The RSV and NIV have deleted the words 'unto repentance' as being an addition to the text. The same discrepancy is also found at Matthew 9:13.
Revelation 4:8 reads: 'Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty.' The Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge commentary explains: "Holy, holy, holy - the thrice repeated attribute has ever been understood by the Church to refer to the Blessed Trinity." It is then interesting to note that the manuscript Codex Vaticanus repeats this word no fewer than nine times, whilst the manuscript MS.2000 gives it thirteen repetitions. Other manuscripts range from between four to eight times.
In respect of the popular Revised Standard Version, 1946 edition, one should also be aware that certain passages which had initially been deleted and relegated to footnotes following doubts about their authenticity were subsequently reinstated to the main text in the later New Revised Standard Version. It is thereby easy to see how the text of Christian scripture has been manipulated over time and passages which for centuries have been revered as the inspired words of God are all too easily erased and amended in the name of correction. It is also impossible to say with certainty how long this trend will continue, and at which point Christianity will (after almost 2000 years) finally agree and be satisfied that no further changes are needed to the New Testament!
The Christian New Testament
