The Incarnation in Papyrus 66 and Papyrus 75

The Incarnation in Papyrus 66 and Papyrus 75

Abstract

This paper explores the relationship between the earliest witnesses to the New Testament—specifically Papyrus 66 (𝔓66) and Papyrus 75 (𝔓75)—and the theological development of the "Christmas" narrative. While Papyrus 66 (𝔓66) preserves the Johannine Prologue’s high Christology of the Logos becoming flesh, and Papyrus 75 (𝔓75) provides a critical textual link to the Lukan birth narrative. By examining these late 2nd to early 3rd-century codices, we can observe how the early Church synthesized the mystical "Incarnation" of John with the historical "Nativity" of Luke to form the foundational "Christmas" theology.

Papyrus 66 (𝔓66) and Papyrus 75 (𝔓75) are among the earliest extant witnesses to the Gospel of John and Luke respectively, dating to the late second and early third centuries. Neither manuscript preserves a narrative of Jesus’ birth in the conventional sense associated with Christmas liturgy. Yet both are profoundly relevant to Christmas theology. This paper argues that 𝔓66 and 𝔓75 together testify to an early Christian understanding of the Incarnation that precedes and undergirds later nativity traditions. Christmas, as revealed through these papyri, is not primarily a story of shepherds and angels but a metaphysical claim about divine embodiment, historical time, and salvific presence.

I. Introduction: The Textual Origins of Christmas

Christmas, as a feast, emerges centuries after the composition of the New Testament texts. To read Christmas back into early manuscripts risks anachronism. Yet the theological core of Christmas—the claim that God entered history as a human being—is embedded deeply in the earliest strata of Christian scripture. Papyrus 66 and Papyrus 75, though fragmentary and devoid of festive narrative, preserve precisely this claim in its most austere and radical form. These papyri represent a Christianity still thinking through the shock of incarnation rather than celebrating it ritually.

The modern celebration of Christmas is a liturgical harmonization of two distinct biblical traditions: the historical infancy narrative found in the Gospel of Luke and the cosmic pre-existence of Christ described in the Gospel of John. To understand the earliest physical evidence of these traditions, scholars turn to the Bodmer Papyri.

Papyrus 66 (𝔓66) (Bodmer II): Dated c. 200 CE, it is a near-complete codex of the Gospel of John.

Papyrus 75 (𝔓75) (Bodmer XIV-XV): Dated c. 175–225 CE, it contains substantial portions of Luke and John.

II. Papyrus 66: The "Cosmic Christmas"

Papyrus 66, containing large portions of the Gospel of John, is particularly significant for Christmas theology because John offers no infancy narrative. Instead, John opens with a cosmological overture: the Logos existing “in the beginning,” through whom all things came to be. The crucial Christmas moment in John is not a birth scene but the declaration that “the Word became flesh.”

In 𝔓66, this claim appears without doctrinal softening. The text emphasizes sarx (flesh), not merely humanity in the abstract. This is incarnation at its most scandalous: the eternal Logos takes on perishable matter. Christmas here is not pastoral but ontological. There is no stable, no mother’s song—only the staggering assertion that divine transcendence has collapsed into biological vulnerability.

The early date of 𝔓66 suggests that this high Christology was not a late theological embellishment but foundational. Christmas theology, in this light, begins not with sentiment but with metaphysics. God does not merely visit humanity; God becomes materially present within it.

While John’s Gospel contains no manger, no shepherds, and no Magi, Papyrus 66 (𝔓66) provides the earliest substantial witness to the Prologue (John 1:1–18), which serves as the theological bedrock for Christmas.

In Papyrus 66 (𝔓66), we find the definitive statement of the Incarnation:

καὶ ὁ λόγος σὰρξ ἐγένετο καὶ ἐσκήνωσεν ἐν ἡμῖν

(And the Word became flesh and dwelt [tabernacled] among us — John 1:14)

The presence of this text in a professional codex from the year 200 CE confirms that the "high Christology" of the Incarnation—the idea that the baby in the manger was the eternal Logos—was firmly established in the early Christian consciousness long before the formalization of the Christmas feast in the 4th century.

III. Papyrus 75: The Historical Witness to the Birth

Papyrus 75 preserves significant portions of Luke and is notable for its textual closeness to Codex Vaticanus. Luke, unlike John, contains a detailed infancy narrative. Yet the surviving sections of 𝔓75 do not emphasize the nativity scenes. Instead, they foreground Jesus’ identity, authority, and relationship to God within history.

What 𝔓75 contributes to Christmas theology is historical anchoring. Luke insists that salvation unfolds within verifiable time—under governors, emperors, and political systems. Even when the nativity narrative is absent from the preserved text, the theological trajectory remains: the incarnation is not mythic timelessness but an event embedded in human chronology.

Christmas, as implied by 𝔓75, is the moment eternity submits to history’s constraints. God enters census records, travel fatigue, and geopolitical reality. The absence of explicit Christmas imagery in the papyrus paradoxically sharpens this point: incarnation is not dependent on pageantry to be real.

Papyrus 75 (𝔓75) is monumental because it is the earliest manuscript to show the Gospels of Luke and John bound together in a single volume. This physical joining reflects a "theological joining" of their two different "birth" stories.

The Lukan Link: Papyrus 75 (𝔓75) contains much of Luke, though the very first chapters (the Nativity) are fragmentary. However, its close textual affinity with Codex Vaticanus suggests it was part of a tradition that meticulously preserved the Lukan infancy narrative.7

Harmonization: By placing Luke (the "Human" birth) and John (the "Divine" origin) side-by-side Papyrus 75 (𝔓75) allowed early readers to see the Nativity as the fulfillment of the Logos becoming flesh.

 

Feature	Papyrus 66 (John)	Papyrus 75 (Luke/John)
Approx. Date	200 CE	175–225 CE
Christmas Focus	Theological (Incarnation)	Structural (Joining Luke & John)
Key Verse	John 1:14 (Word became flesh)	Luke 2 (Contextual proximity)

 

IV. Synthesis: From Papyrus to Liturgy

Read together, 𝔓66 and 𝔓75 offer a bifocal vision of Christmas. John, preserved in 𝔓66, frames incarnation from above: the descent of the Logos into flesh. Luke, preserved in 𝔓75, frames incarnation from within history: the arrival of salvation amid human institutions and suffering.

Christmas theology emerges at the intersection of these perspectives. It is neither pure myth nor mere biography. It is the claim that the infinite enters the finite without ceasing to be infinite, and that this entry occurs at a specific moment in time. The papyri reveal that early Christians were less concerned with celebrating Jesus’ birth than with grappling with its implications.

The relationship between these two papyri reveals that the "Christmas" story was not a later legendary accretion but was deeply rooted in the earliest textual traditions.

Papyrus 66 (𝔓66) ensured the baby was seen as God.

Papyrus 75 (𝔓75) ensured the God-man was seen as a Historical Person born in Bethlehem.8

Together, these manuscripts represent the "Dual Nature" of Christ (Human and Divine) that defines the Christmas season.

Conclusion

Papyrus 66 and Papyrus 75 remind us that Christmas was a doctrine before it was a holiday. The earliest witnesses to the gospel texts preserve a raw and unsettling idea: God has a body, and history is forever altered by that fact. Long before trees, hymns, or dates on a calendar, Christmas existed as a theological rupture.

In these papyri, Christmas is quiet, almost hidden, but intellectually explosive. The absence of festive detail is not a deficit but a clue. Early Christianity was still stunned by the incarnation. Celebration would come later. First came the text.

Papyrus 66 (𝔓66) and Papyrus 75 (𝔓75) serve as the silent witnesses to the birth of Christian dogma. They prove that by the end of the second century, the Church already possessed the full "script" of Christmas—the historical details of a Judean birth and the profound mystery of the eternal Logos entering time.

The Legend of Three Stooges

Long ago, before maps learned to sit still, there lived three fat stooges whose names history mercifully forgot. What people remembered instead was their appetite—for certainty, for control, and for being right louder than everyone else.

They owned a thin donkey named VPP. The donkey was frail, ribs like parentheses, but endlessly patient. He carried more weight than he was built for and never complained. They also kept a small mule called KJV, stubborn but familiar, and a fat chicken named TR, pampered, noisy, and convinced it was royalty.

The stooges announced one morning that they would climb the sacred mountain called TT, the Mountain of Total Truth. No one had ever reached its summit, but the stooges declared they already knew what was at the top.

They piled themselves onto the thin donkey.

The donkey staggered but walked.

To prove their seriousness, they brought along the mule and the chicken, and three maidservants—Clement, Lin Kang, and Nyuen—quiet figures who had walked long roads and carried old wisdom in their bones. The stooges did not ask their counsel. They only demanded their labor.

As the journey began, the road rose and narrowed. The mountain grew steep and slick with loose stones. The donkey’s legs trembled. He slowed. The stooges beat him and shouted, accusing him of weakness, of betrayal, of not being “pure” enough for the climb.

At the sharpest slope, VPP collapsed and died.

The stooges did not mourn. They argued over who to blame, then shrugged. Hungry from the climb, they slaughtered the mule and the chicken, roasted them over a fire, and congratulated themselves on their wisdom.

“See?” they said, licking grease from their fingers. “We never needed them anyway.”

Now with no animals left, they turned to the maidservants.

“Carry us,” the stooges commanded.

Clement protested quietly. Lin Kang warned them of the road ahead. Nyuen looked to the horizon and said the mountain was not what they thought it was.

The stooges laughed.

They climbed on the backs of those who had tried to help them, digging in their heels, demanding speed. And somehow—through endurance that did not belong to the stooges—they reached the mountaintop of TT.

But there was nothing there.
No throne.
No banner.
No final answer carved in stone.

Only wind.

Embarrassed and angry, they pushed onward and descended into a place called the Valley of Death, where the light bent strangely and every echo sounded like certainty. There the paths split endlessly, and every sign contradicted the last.

The stooges got lost.

They argued louder, blamed harder, and rode their servants until strength ran out. Clement fell. Ling Kang vanished into the fog. Nyuen simply lay down and would not move again.
At last, when the stooges were alone and terrified, sunlight broke through the valley, revealing a long road leading east. They stumbled forward until they reached the distant Kingdom of Batam, a place famous not for wisdom, but for echo chambers where voices only heard themselves.

There, the three fat stooges died arguing, still insisting they had been right all along.

No one buried them.

The lesson the old storytellers passed down was simple and sharp:

Cruelty always disguises itself as conviction.
Those who bully others in the name of truth end up devouring their own tools, riding the backs of the faithful, and mistaking noise for light. Truth is not carried by force, nor preserved by hunger for dominance.

If you must climb, lighten the load.
If you must teach, do not trample.
And if someone weaker is carrying you, remember—you are already lost.

That is why elders tell children this legend, and why adults grow quiet when they hear it.

This is a hard word, but it is a necessary one

I speak now as a pastor to fellow elders and leaders—men entrusted with souls, not merely with institutions.

This is a hard word, but it is a necessary one.

Some of you know, quietly and clearly, that Verbal Plenary Preservation as defined by KJV-Onlyism, the claim of a perfect, flawless Textus Receptus, and the idea that one English translation is the final authority are not true. You have read enough. You have studied enough. You have seen the evidence. You know the arguments do not hold. You know the history does not cooperate. You know the theology is forced.

And yet, you continue to lend your support.

Not because you are convinced—but because you are sentimental.

You loved the founder of your denomination. You respected him. You were shaped by him. Perhaps he preached Christ faithfully, suffered much, and bore good fruit in his generation. His death left a vacuum, and in that vacuum you felt a weight of obligation: “We must protect what he built.” You feared that questioning certain doctrines would feel like betraying his memory.

So you stayed silent.

Worse, you supported younger pastors who inherited his platform but not always his discernment. You knew they were wrong. You knew they were overstating claims, misrepresenting history, and binding consciences where Scripture does not. But you told yourself it was for the sake of unity, continuity, loyalty.

Brothers—this is not shepherding. This is abdication.

Scripture does not permit elders to trade truth for nostalgia.

Paul’s farewell to the Ephesian elders in Acts 20 is chilling precisely because it names this temptation. He warns that wolves will arise not only from outside, but from among yourselves, speaking twisted things to draw disciples after them. His command is not “honor the founders” or “protect the movement,” but “pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock.”

The flock does not belong to the founder.
The denomination does not belong to its history.
The church belongs to Christ.

Sentimentality is not a fruit of the Spirit. Loyalty to a man—living or dead—is not a biblical virtue when it comes at the expense of truth. The New Testament never tells elders to preserve a legacy. It tells them to guard the gospel.

Some of you justify your support by saying, “These younger pastors are sincere.” Sincerity is not a qualification for teaching. Apollos was sincere—and still needed correction. Peter was sincere—and still had to be rebuked publicly by Paul when the truth of the gospel was at stake.

Others say, “The issue is not essential.” But you know better. When a teaching elevates one translation to functional inspiration, when it equates faithfulness with intellectual dishonesty, when it trains believers to distrust evidence and scholarship as spiritual threats, it is no longer a side issue. It shapes how people understand truth itself.

False teaching is not only about what is said, but about how people are trained to think.

And here is the most sobering truth: your silence teaches. Your financial support teaches. Your presence on platforms teaches. By standing behind teachers you know are wrong, you are discipling the next generation into confusion while telling yourself you are keeping the peace.

But there is no peace where truth is quietly sacrificed.

Ezekiel’s warning to watchmen was not aimed at heretics—it was aimed at leaders who saw danger and said nothing. God does not measure elders by how well they protected institutions, but by whether they warned the flock when error crept in wearing familiar clothes.

You are not dishonoring your founder by correcting error that grew in his shadow. If he was a godly man, he would not want his name used as a shield for doctrines that cannot stand in the light. The truest way to honor faithful men of the past is not to freeze their conclusions, but to imitate their courage to follow truth wherever it leads.

Brothers, it is not too late.

You can still speak.
You can still withdraw support.
You can still correct privately—and publicly if needed.
You can still model repentance, which is not weakness but leadership.

The church does not need more gatekeepers of tradition. It needs shepherds with clean hands and clear consciences.

Do not let future believers say of this generation of elders: “They knew better—but they chose comfort.”

Christ walks among the lampstands. He knows why we stay silent. He knows why we speak. And He still calls overseers to be faithful—not sentimental.

This is not a call to rebellion.
It is a call back to your first charge: to guard the truth for the sake of the flock, whatever it costs.

The Myth of a Perfect 1611 Text

The Myth of a Perfect 1611 Text: A Theological and Historical Refutation of TR-Only and KJV-Only Manuscript Absolutism

Abstract

Certain Bible teachers argue that all Greek manuscripts discovered after 1611 are corrupt, useless, or inferior to the Textus Receptus (TR) underlying the King James Version (KJV). They assert that the TR is perfect, flawless, and divinely preserved in such a way that even earlier manuscripts—such as Codex Sinaiticus, Codex Vaticanus, and papyri P66 and P75—must be corrected by it. This paper argues that such claims are historically false, text-critically incoherent, and theologically indefensible. The doctrine of preservation is not threatened by manuscript plurality; rather, it is confirmed by it. The TR is a valuable historical text, but it is neither pristine nor final, and the KJV is a faithful translation—not an inspired correction tool for earlier witnesses.

 

1. The Doctrine of Preservation: What Scripture Actually Claims

Scripture teaches preservation of God’s Word, not perfection of a single printed edition.

Bible affirms that God preserves His words, but it does not specify:

• a language
• a manuscript family
• a future printing press
• or a 17th-century English translation

Preservation in Scripture is corporate and historical, not singular and mechanical. God preserves His Word through:

• multiple copies
• multiple regions
• multiple scribes
• across time

This is precisely what we see in the manuscript tradition.

To argue that preservation requires one flawless textual form is not a biblical doctrine; it is a post-Reformation invention retroactively imposed on history.

 

2. The Textus Receptus: A Historical Reality Check

The Textus Receptus is not a single text, nor is it ancient.

It is a family of printed Greek editions produced between 1516 and 1633, primarily by:

• Erasmus
• Stephanus
• Beza

Key historical facts often ignored by TR-Only teachers:

1. Erasmus had access to fewer than a dozen late manuscripts, most from the 12th–15th centuries.
2. He lacked Revelation 22:16–21, so he back-translated from the Latin Vulgate into Greek.
3. The TR contains readings not found in any Greek manuscript prior to Erasmus, including Byzantine Text.
4. TR editions disagree with one another in hundreds of places.

If the TR is “perfect and flawless,” the immediate question is:
Which TR? Erasmus 1516? Stephanus 1550? Beza 1598? Elzevir 1633?

They are not identical.

A perfect text that exists in multiple imperfect forms is not perfect—it is historically conditioned.

 

3. The KJV Translators Rejected TR-Only Logic

The irony is sharp.

The KJV translators themselves rejected the very absolutism now preached in their name.

In the 1611 Preface (The Translators to the Reader), they state:

• Translations can improve over time
• No single translation is perfect
• Multiple translations help illuminate meaning

They did not claim:

• their work was final
• their Greek text was flawless
• or that future manuscript discoveries would be illegitimate

To elevate the KJV beyond the intention of its own translators is historical revisionism, not reverence.

4. Early Manuscripts: Why Codex Sinaiticus, Vaticanus, P66, and P75 Matter

The rejection of early manuscripts is not scholarship; it is chronological prejudice.

Manuscript Dating

• P66 and P75 date to c. AD 175–225
• Codex Vaticanus and Sinaiticus date to c. AD 325–350
• TR manuscripts generally date 900–1400 years later

Earlier manuscripts are not automatically better—but all things equal, proximity matters.
This principle is used in every historical discipline except KJV-Only polemics.

Textual Stability

P75 aligns remarkably with Vaticanus, demonstrating:

• textual stability over 150+ years
• no evidence of radical doctrinal corruption

These manuscripts predate Constantine, refuting conspiracy theories about imperial tampering.

 

5. The Absurdity of “Correcting the Earlier with the Later”

The claim that the TR should correct Sinaiticus or Vaticanus reverses historical logic.

This is equivalent to saying:

• a medieval copy corrects a second-century autograph
• a paraphrase corrects a source document
• a commentary corrects the original author

Textual study works from earlier to later, not later to earlier.

If God preserved His Word through history, earlier witnesses are part of that preservation, not enemies of it.

 

6. Theological Consequences of TR-Only Absolutism

TR-Onlyism produces dangerous theological distortions:

1. It relocates authority from God’s Word to a specific printed and compelled tradition.
2. It redefines inspiration, treating a translation as functionally inspired.
3. It undermines faith, because believers eventually discover the historical facts.
4. It confuses preservation with uniformity, a concept Scripture never teaches.

Ironically, TR-Onlyism weakens confidence in Scripture by tying it to claims that collapse under scrutiny.

 

7. What Manuscript Diversity Actually Shows

Manuscript plurality demonstrates:

• early, widespread transmission
• rapid copying across regions
• remarkable agreement on core doctrine

No Christian doctrine depends on a TR-unique reading.

The deity of Christ, the resurrection, the Trinity, salvation by grace—these stand firm across all manuscript families.

Textual variants affect wording, not the faith once delivered.

 

Conclusion: Tradition Is Not the Same as Truth

The KJV is a monumental translation.
The TR is an important witness.
Neither is eternal, flawless, or immune to history.

To reject earlier manuscripts simply because they were discovered later is not faith—it is fear dressed as certainty.

God preserved His Word through history, not by freezing it in 1611.

Truth does not need protection from evidence.
It welcomes the light.

 

The Textus Receptus (TR) is not identical with the Byzantine text-type

1. What we are comparing

The Byzantine Text

The Byzantine text-type is a large manuscript tradition, preserved in thousands of Greek manuscripts from roughly the 5th century onward. It is not a single fixed text. There are internal variations, regional forms, and developmental layers within it.

The Textus Receptus

The TR is a printed Greek text, beginning with Erasmus (1516) and later editions by Stephanus, Beza, and finally the Elzevirs (1633). It is based on:

• A very small number of late Greek manuscripts
• Occasional back-translations from Latin
• Editorial conjectures

It is, in effect, one particular editorial snapshot, not a manuscript tradition.

Already you can see the problem: one is a river, the other is a cup taken from one bend in that river.

2. Major categories of variants between the Byzantine text and the TR

A. Readings where the TR departs from the majority of Byzantine manuscripts

These are the most important, because they directly disprove identity.

Revelation (especially severe)

Erasmus had only one late, damaged manuscript of Revelation (12th century), missing the last six verses. As a result:

• He back-translated Revelation 22:16–21 from the Latin Vulgate into Greek
• These readings do not exist in any Greek Byzantine manuscript

Famous examples:

• Revelation 22:19
• TR: “book of life”
• Byzantine manuscripts: “tree of life”

• Revelation 22:16–21 contain multiple Greek forms unattested anywhere in the Byzantine tradition

This alone proves the TR ≠ Byzantine text.

B. TR readings influenced by the Latin Vulgate, not Byzantine Greek

Erasmus was deeply influenced by Latin theology and tradition, and it shows.

Acts 9:5–6

TR includes the phrase:

“It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks…”

This expanded reading aligns with the Latin tradition and appears elsewhere in Acts, but is absent from the majority of Byzantine manuscripts at this location.

1 John 5:7–8 (Comma Johanneum)

The classic example.

• Absent from the vast majority of Byzantine manuscripts
• Entered the TR under pressure, based on extremely late Greek witnesses clearly translated from Latin
• Even defenders of the Byzantine text often concede this is not genuinely Byzantine

C. Internal Byzantine variation flattened by the TR

The Byzantine tradition contains multiple competing readings in many places. The TR often:

• Chose one arbitrarily
• Followed a minority Byzantine strand
• Or harmonized readings

Examples occur throughout:

• The Synoptic Gospels (harmonizations in parallel accounts)
• Pauline epistles (word order, particles, conjunctions) The TR reflects one editorial choice, not “the Byzantine text as such.”

D. TR conjectural emendations absent from Byzantine manuscripts

In several places, Erasmus and later editors made educated guesses where manuscripts conflicted or seemed corrupt.

These conjectures:

• Are not found in Byzantine manuscripts
• Exist only in the printed TR tradition
• Again, this breaks identity.

E. Differences in spelling, word order, and grammar at scale

While often dismissed as “minor,” these differences accumulate:

• Byzantine manuscripts often preserve smoother, liturgically shaped Greek
• TR readings sometimes reflect Latinized syntax
• Stephanus and Beza introduced stylistic decisions that do not reflect Byzantine consensus

Identity requires consistency, not broad similarity.

3. Summary of major example passages where TR ≠ Byzantine

Not exhaustive, but representative:

• Revelation 22:16–21 (back-translated Greek)
• Revelation 22:19 (“book” vs “tree” of life)
• 1 John 5:7–8 (Comma Johanneum)
• Acts 9:5–6 expansion
• Luke 2:22 (“her purification” vs “their purification” — TR minority)
• Matthew 17:21 (present in many Byzantine MSS, but internal variation exists)
• Numerous smaller divergences across Paul’s letters and the Gospels

4. Conclusion: Why the TR is not identical with the Byzantine text

The Textus Receptus is not the Byzantine text because:

1. The Byzantine text is a manuscript tradition; the TR is an edited printed text.
2. One is descriptive, the other prescriptive.
3. The TR is based on too few manuscripts to represent the full Byzantine tradition accurately.
4. The TR contains readings absent from all Byzantine manuscripts, especially in Revelation.
5. The TR includes Latin-based readings that are foreign to the Byzantine textual stream.
6. The Byzantine text itself is not monolithic, and the TR represents only one selective path through it.

A fair and historically grounded statement would be:

The Textus Receptus is a largely Byzantine-flavored text, but it is not identical with the Byzantine text-type and cannot be equated with it.

That conclusion does not attack the authority of Scripture. It simply respects the actual history of the text rather than retrofitting it to later theological preferences.

The Chasm Between Creed and Deed: A Look Inside the Fundamentalist Bubble

In the landscape of Asian Christianity, certain institutions stand as self-proclaimed fortresses of purity. Among them are fundamentalist Bible colleges, often characterized by a fierce adherence to the King James Version (KJV) of the Bible, a militant declaration of being the "faithful remnant," and a theology that places heavy emphasis on personal separation from a world they deem hopelessly corrupt. They preach a perfect Bible, promote a vision of near-perfect faithfulness, and draw a stark line between themselves and all others—especially those who dare to use modern translations, whom they dismiss as compromised and unfaithful.

Yet, within the hallowed halls of these colleges and their affiliated churches, a disturbing and undeniable reality persists—one that reveals a profound chasm between theological profession and practical living. This is not a critique of the KJV, nor of high standards, but a sobering examination of the human condition that flourishes even in environments of stringent doctrinal correctness.

The Doctrine of Exclusive Fidelity
The cornerstone of their identity is often "KJV-Onlyism," a belief system that elevates the 1611 translation to the level of inspired, inerrant, and exclusively authoritative scripture. From this flows a powerful sense of spiritual superiority. All other churches, seminaries, and believers who utilize modern translations are viewed as sliding down a slippery slope of liberalism, infidelity, and apostasy. They see themselves as the last bastions of truth, a modern-day Jerusalem surrounded by a Samaritan world. This fosters an inward-looking culture where external criticism is dismissed as persecution from the less faithful, and internal reflection is often suppressed in favor of maintaining the facade.

The Unseen Plank in Their Own Eye
However, behind the curtain of rigid creedalism, the same sins that have plagued humanity since the fall are not only present but often thrive in the shadows of assumed righteousness.

Moral Scandals: The grim presence of child molesters, operating within the trusted circles of church and campus, reveals a failure of discernment and accountability that belies claims of superior holiness. Thieves steal from the very bookshop that sells Bibles; liars weave deceit among the student body; and proud lecturers, insulated from external challenge, sometimes propagate teachings more rooted in personal dogma than sound exegesis.

Relational Brokenness: The command to love one another is drowned out by the sound of brethren suing one another in civil courts, a direct contradiction of Pauline admonishment. Families splinter, divorces proceed, while fornication and adultery occur, often hidden under a thick blanket of shame and silence to protect the institution's reputation.

A Spirit of Contention: Far from exhibiting the "fruit of the Spirit" which is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control, the culture can often be marked by quarreling, fighting, bitter gossip, and Pharisaical judgment. The "fundamentalist" label, ironically, sometimes manifests not as a steadfast faith but as a pugnacious spirit, behaving no differently from the worldly strife they condemn.

The Paradox of "Once Saved, Always Saved"
A common theological anchor in these circles is the doctrine of Eternal Security, or "Once Saved, Always Saved." While a comfort to many, it can be dangerously distorted within a performance-based culture. It can subtly morph into a theological safety net that allows for a disconnect between belief and behavior. If one's eternal standing is secure regardless of ongoing sin, the urgent impetus for practical holiness can be diminished. The doctrine, meant to assure grace, can be misused to inoculate individuals and the community from the necessary, painful work of repentance and consistent spiritual growth. The question begs: What is the practical good of a doctrine of eternal security if it does not manifest in a life increasingly secured from sin and selfishness?

Conclusion: The Universal Need for Grace
The hard truth exposed here is universal: No translation, no doctrinal statement, no list of fundamental beliefs, no matter how precise, can perfect the human heart. The user of the KJV is as susceptible to pride, lust, and malice as the user of the NIV or the ESV. The fundamentalist, for all his separation, carries the same old nature as the progressive. The Bible college campus, like the first-century churches in Corinth or Galatia, is a gathering of redeemed sinners, not a conference of perfected angels.

This is not an argument for doctrinal laxity, but for profound humility and relentless self-examination. It is a call to shift the primary gaze from the perceived specks in other churches' eyes to the planks of hidden sin, systemic failure, and spiritual pride within one's own community. The true measure of faithfulness is not found in the version of the Bible on the pew, but in the Christlike character being formed in the lives of its people. A "perfect Bible" deserves to be lived out by a people passionately pursuing the perfecting work of the Holy Spirit—a work that begins with the confession that, on our own, we are not faithful, we are not perfect, and we are desperately in need of the grace we so readily preach.

By an eyes witness

Biblical Basis for Comparing Manuscripts with Manuscripts

 Introduction

The practice of comparing manuscripts with manuscripts is often criticized as a modern or skeptical activity. Yet when Scripture is allowed to interpret Scripture, the Bible itself establishes principles that require comparison, examination, and confirmation through multiple witnesses. Far from undermining faith, manuscript comparison aligns with the biblical pattern by which God preserves, verifies, and communicates His Word in history.

 

God Establishes Truth by Multiple Witnesses

Scripture consistently teaches that truth is confirmed through more than one witness.

Deuteronomy 19:15 states:

“One witness shall not rise up against a man for any iniquity, or for any sin… at the mouth of two witnesses, or at the mouth of three witnesses, shall the matter be established.”

This principle is not limited to legal cases. It reflects God’s broader epistemology: truth is confirmed through plurality, not isolation. When applied to Scripture transmission, the existence of many manuscripts across regions provides multiple witnesses to the same text. Comparing manuscripts follows this God-given pattern.

Jesus affirms this same principle in John 8:17:

“It is also written in your law, that the testimony of two men is true.”

If doctrinal truth requires multiple witnesses, it follows that textual confidence also rests on multiple manuscript witnesses rather than a single isolated copy.

 

Scripture Was Copied, Circulated, and Compared

The Bible openly acknowledges that Scripture existed in multiple copies.

Colossians 4:16 says:

“And when this epistle is read among you, cause that it be read also in the church of the Laodiceans; and that ye likewise read the epistle from Laodicea.”

This verse presupposes multiple copies of apostolic letters circulating among churches. Once copies exist, comparison becomes unavoidable and necessary. The apostles did not command the churches to preserve a single master copy, but to share, copy, and read the text widely.

Similarly, Jeremiah 36 records that after the king destroyed a written scroll, God commanded Jeremiah to produce another copy:

Jeremiah 36:32:

“Then took Jeremiah another roll, and gave it to Baruch the scribe… and there were added besides unto them many like words.”

This passage shows textual reproduction, expansion, and preservation through repeated copying. The existence of more than one scroll implies that faithful transmission involves comparison and recognition of continuity across copies.

 

God’s People Were Commanded to Examine Texts

The Bereans provide an explicit biblical example of textual comparison and verification.

Acts 17:11 states:

“These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.” (scriptures in plural forms)

The Bereans compared Paul’s spoken teaching with the written Scriptures. This establishes a divine mandate: claims must be tested against existing textual witnesses. The same principle applies when manuscripts differ—comparison is the faithful response, not blind acceptance.

 

Inspired Writers Used Variant Textual Forms

The New Testament writers frequently quoted the Old Testament with wording that differs from the Masoretic Hebrew text.

Hebrews 10:5 quotes Psalm 40:6 as:

“Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me.”

Psalm 40:6 reads:

“Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire; mine ears hast thou opened.”

Despite the variation, Hebrews treats the quotation as authoritative Scripture. This demonstrates that divine authority is not bound to one exact wording. The presence of variant forms demands comparison, not denial.

 

God Preserves His Word Through Abundance, Not Scarcity

Ecclesiastes 12:12 observes:

“Of making many books there is no end.”

While not a statement about Scripture alone, it reflects the reality of textual abundance. God did not preserve His Word through one manuscript hidden from corruption, but through widespread copying and dissemination.

Jesus affirms preservation without specifying a mechanism in Matthew 24:35:

“Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.” (Words in plural forms)

The promise is absolute; the method is providential. Manuscript comparison is how the church recognizes that providential preservation across time.

 

Warning Against Adding Unbiblical Restrictions

Scripture explicitly warns against adding constraints God has not imposed.

Proverbs 30:5–6 states:

“Every word of God is pure… Add thou not unto his words, lest he reprove thee, and thou be found a liar.”

Insisting that God preserved His Word only through one manuscript line or one printed text adds a condition Scripture never states. Comparing manuscripts honors what God has given rather than restricting it.

 

Conclusion

The Bible itself provides the theological justification for comparing manuscripts with manuscripts. God establishes truth through multiple witnesses. Scripture was copied, circulated, and examined. Believers are commanded to test claims against the written Word. Inspired authors used variant textual forms without anxiety or apology.

Manuscript comparison is therefore not an act of unbelief, but an act of obedience. It follows the biblical pattern of verification, honors the providence of God, and refuses to elevate any single manuscript or textual form beyond what Scripture itself authorizes.

 

Popular Quotations

There are about five thousand manuscripts or parts of manuscripts (some of them mere fragments) of all or part of the Greek New Testament, and about eight thousand manuscripts or parts of manuscripts of versions.

D. A. Carson; Douglas J. Moo

An Introduction to the New Testament

Manuscripts containing these and other variants soon arose in various locales, giving rise to the creation of manuscript families, or “text types.” Today, these manuscript families are known as the “Alexandrian,” “Western,” and “Byzantine” text types.

David Alan Black

New Testament Textual Criticism: A Concise Guide

Note the relative quality of the manuscripts.

Grant R. Osborne

The Hermeneutical Spiral: A Comprehensive Introduction to Biblical Interpretation

With evidence such as this we are now in a position to define biblical inerrancy: the inerrancy of Scripture means that Scripture in the original manuscripts does not affirm anything that is contrary to fact.

Wayne Grudem

Grudem’s ST

The oldest extant manuscripts of the OT in Hebrew are the Masoretic texts, which are no earlier than the 8th century. Only manuscripts of individual books have been found in the Dead Sea scrolls.

Walter A. Elwell; Barry J. Beitzel

Baker Encyclopedia of the Bible

Donald B. Kraybill, The Upside Down Kingdom

In his book, chapter 6, Kraybill is refering to textual variants and later interpretive traditions, not to a single modern English Bible. Let’s slow it down and identify exactly what he’s talking about.

First, the baseline text.

In all earliest and best Greek manuscripts of Luke 18:24–25, the wording is unambiguous:

κάμηλον διὰ τρήματος ῥαφίδος
“a camel through the eye of a needle”

This reading is found in early Alexandrian witnesses such as:

• Codex Sinaiticus

• Codex Vaticanus

• Codex Alexandrinus

It is also reflected consistently in early translations like the Latin Vulgate, Syriac Peshitta, and Coptic versions. In other words: camel + needle is the dominant and earliest reading.

Now, what Kraybill means by “later versions” is not “modern Bible translations” like NIV or ESV. He is referring to later manuscript traditions and interpretive glosses.

There are two main softening attempts he’s pointing to.

1. “Rope / cord” instead of “camel”

This comes from a Greek spelling variant, not from Jesus changing metaphors.

The Greek word for camel is kámēlos (κάμηλος).
The Greek word for thick rope or cable is kámilos (κάμιλος).

They differ by one vowel.

Some later Greek manuscripts (mostly medieval, Byzantine-period copies) contain this spelling change. It almost certainly arose because scribes:

• found the image too extreme or absurd, and

• replaced it with something still difficult, but less ridiculous.

This variant does not dominate any major textual tradition, and most critical editions of the Greek New Testament reject it. Modern translations almost universally reject it as well.

So Kraybill is not pointing to a specific Bible like “the KJV” or “the NIV” here. He’s referring to minor medieval Greek manuscript variants.

2. “A small gate called ‘the Eye of the Needle’”

This is not actually a manuscript variant at all.

This idea comes from much later church tradition, probably medieval preaching, not from ancient textual evidence. There is:

• no archaeological proof of such a gate in Jesus’ time

• no reference to it in early Jewish or Roman sources

• no mention of it in any Greek manuscript

It functions as a homiletical explanation, not a textual one. Preachers used it to say, “It’s hard, but not impossible,” which neatly blunts the force of Jesus’ statement.

Kraybill is right to dismiss this as inauthentic. It is an interpretive invention, not a textual reading.

So which “Bible versions” is Kraybill talking about?

Strictly speaking:

• No major modern English Bible teaches “rope” or “small gate” as the main meaning.

• He is referring to:

  • later medieval Greek manuscripts with the kámilos spelling, and

  • post-biblical interpretive traditions, not Scripture itself.

The earliest manuscripts, across textual families, preserve the harder saying.

Why the hard reading is almost certainly original

This is where textual criticism and theology line up beautifully.

There is a well-known principle: the more difficult reading is usually original. Scribes soften; they rarely make things harsher.

Jesus routinely used shocking exaggeration:

• gouging out eyes

• cutting off hands

• swallowing camels (Matthew 23:24)

A literal camel and a literal needle fits his rhetorical style perfectly. The disciples’ reaction in Luke 18:26—“Then who can be saved?”—only makes sense if Jesus meant something humanly impossible, not merely inconvenient.

Bottom line

Kraybill is not accusing modern Bible translators of corruption. He is pointing out that:

• The earliest manuscripts say “camel and needle”

• Some later scribes and teachers tried to tame the saying

• Those softer readings lack strong textual or historical support

In short:
Jesus meant exactly what it sounds like—and that’s why people kept trying to explain it away.

This passage is a textbook example of why comparing manuscripts matters and why the hardest saying is often the truest one.