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A BRIEF HISTORICAL SYNOPSIS
In 1881 A.D., part of the Church of England (Anglican) decided to revise the King James Bible (the Authorized Version). 1 The Greek New Testament upon which this translation had been based was the result of years of study and work by the brilliant scholar, Desiderius Erasmus (1466-1536 A.D.). Being satisfied with the King James Bible, the northern convocation of the Church of England did not want a revision. However, the southern convocation favored a change and proceeded alone. A committee of Hebrew and Greek scholars was selected and was charged to change the obsolete spelling, update punctuations, change archaic words like "concupiscence" to "unholy desires", etc. and thus update the language. As the Southern convocation was content with the text itself, no real overhaul of the version was intended. All changes were to be of minor significance.
That is not what the committee did. The men composing the revision committee went against the directive which the Anglican Church had given them. Without authorization and in totally direct insubordination, rather than merely improve the English they produced a radically different Greek text a very different New Testament! They did not even use the Greek text upon which the King James was based. Cast aside as worthless were the Greek manuscripts upon which not only the King James but the many other English bibles which had preceded the King James had been based (i.e., the Great Bible, the Bishops' Bible, Matthew's, Geneva etc.). They thus produced an entirely different "Bible". This is one of the least known facts and greatest guarded secrets within the confines of Christendom. Few people, laymen or pastors, are aware of these happenings.
We must understand that if we have a version other than the King James, it has been based upon a Greek text different from the one used to produce the King James Bible. Although it was misleadingly named the "Revised" Version, it was not a revision. Instead, the committee altered the original Greek and substituted a radically different Greek text introducing c.5,337 alterations yet almost no one is cognizant of this! From whence came this new Greek text? To answer and unravel this calls for a look into the past. Several diverse paths must be followed and examined. Strengthen yourself gentle reader, that which follows is a dreadful account of compromise, deception, and betrayal all directed against the Living God, His Word, and His people.
It might be well to begin by considering what manuscript evidence is available today as to the true text of the New Testament. We have no New Testament manuscripts which are complete. We only have pieces, fragments, chapters, books etc. No first century manuscripts of the New Testament are in existence today. We have 88 Greek papyri manuscripts. The papyri are of newspaper type quality, usually rolled but sometimes in book form. Most papyri consist of small fragments and thus do not contain many verses. Of the 88, only an estimated thirteen (15%) support Vaticanus B and Sinaiticus Aleph which are the two foremost manuscripts supporting the above mentioned radical new Greek text; about seventy-five (c.85%) support the Greek Received Text upon which the King James was founded (hereafter designated "TR").3
2 Kurt Aland, "The Greek New Testament: Its Present and Future Editions", Journal of Biblical Literature, LXXXVII (June, 1968), p. 184. Aland is Europe's leading textual critic and director of the center at Munster, West Germany where c.80% of the extant Greek MSS, mss and papyri are stored on microfilm. At the writing of his book, Aland listed 81 papyri; however, a few more have been located since the 1968 publication cited here, bringing the total to 88.
3 D.A. Waite, Defending the King James Bible, (Collingswood, NJ: The Bible For Today Press, 1992), p. 54.