Questions of Authority
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There are only two places in the New Testament that come into question about authenticity: Mark 16:9-20 and John 7:53-8:11.
The last part of Mark’s gospel is not found in some of the oldest manuscripts, but it is found in some copies. The language used is somewhat different than that of the rest of the book, leading some to believe that someone other than Mark actually finished this section. But if these last verses are left out, the chapter does not come to a logical ending. Because God does things decently and in order (I Cor. 14:40), these verses do belong; they were inspired by God to be there.
Referring to John 7:53-8:11, the margin notes in the New King James Version (NKJV) state, “NU brackets 7:53 through 8:11 as not in the original text. They are present in over 900 manuscripts of John.” Again, this section does not take away nor add anything that would change the intent of the book. In fact, a theologian once said, “the account has all the earmarks of historical veracity.”
Addressed in the body of the book, one deliberate hoax that was perpetrated after the New Testament was completed is found in I John 5:7-8: “For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one. And there are three that bear witness in earth, the spirit, and the water, and the blood: and these three agree as one.” Transcribers who believed in the pagan Trinity concept added the italicized words to support their beliefs.
Those who use this verse to support the Trinity doctrine are either ignorant of the verse being altered, or are blatantly trying to deceive. Nowhere does the Bible teach the pagan doctrine of the Trinity. Although this verse is found in the KJV and the NKJV, there is a marginal note in the NKJV stating, “NU, M omit the rest of v. 7 and through on earth of v. 8, a passage found in Greek in only four or five very late mss.”
The Critical and Experimental Commentary says of this section that the verse was not found in the Latin Vulgate until the eighth century. Adam Clarke’s Commentary states, “But it is likely that this verse is not genuine. It is wanting in every MS. Of this epistle written before the invention of printing, one excepted, the Codex Montifortii, in Trinity College, Dublin: the others which omit this verse amount to one hundred and twelve.
“It is wanting in both the Syriac, all the Arabic, Ethiopic, the Coptic, Sahidic, Armenian, Slavonian, etc., in a word, in all the ancient versions but the Vulgate; and even of this version many of the most ancient and correct MSS. have it not. It is wanting also in all the ancient Greek fathers; and in most even of the Latin.”