Matthew 18:11
 
Matthew 18:11
(KJV) For the Son of man is come to save that which was lost.
(1611 KJV) For the sonne of man is come to saue that which was lost.
(1587 Geneva Bible) For the Sonne of man is come to saue that which was lost.
(1526 Tyndale) Ye and the sonne of man is come to saue that which is lost.
 
Counterfeit Versions
(CEB) Omitted
(CEV) Omitted

(CSB) Omitted

(ESV) Omitted
(1881 RV) Omitted
(GNB) Omitted
(THE MESSAGE) omitted
(NCV) [The Son of Man came to save lost people.]
(NASB) 　[" For the Son of Man has come to save that which was lost.]
(NIRV) omitted
(NIV) Omitted
(NLT) Omitted
(RSV) omitted
(NWT) Omitted (Jehovah’s Witness Bible)
(NAB) Omitted (Roman Catholic Bible)
 
Textus Receptus - Traditional Text
ηλθεν γαρ ο υιος του ανθρωπου σωσαι το απολωλος
 
Hort-Westcott - Critical Text
Omitted
 
Corrupted Manuscripts
This verse is corrupted in the following manuscripts:
Aleph 01 - Sinaiticus - Nineteenth Century Counterfeit
B 03 - Vaticanus - Fourth century
L 019 - Seventh century (original)
Theta 038 - Ninth century
1 (Minuscule) - Seventh century
13 (Minuscule) - Eighth century
33 (Minuscule) - Ninth Century
892 - (Minuscule) - Ninth century
 
Manuscripts which agree with the Textus Receptus for this verse
Byzantine Text (450-1450 A.D.)
D 05 - Bezae Cantabrigiensis - Fifth century
K 017 - Ninth century
W 032 - Fourth/fifth century
X 033 - Tenth century
Delta 037 - Ninth century
28 (Minuscule) - Eleventh century
565 - (Minuscule) - Ninth century
700 - (Minuscule) Eleventh century
1079 - (minuscule) - Tenth Century
 
Published Critical Greek Texts with Corruptions
Omits entire verse
Lachmann, Karl - 1842
Tischendorf, Constantine - 1869
Tregelles, Samuel - 1857
Alford, Henry - 1849 revised in 1871 (in brackets or margin)
Westcott and Hort - 1881
Weiss, Bernhard - 1894
Nestle - 1927 as revised in seventeenth edition in 1941
Nestle-Aland - 1979 - Twenty Sixth Edition
Nestle-Aland - 1993 - Twenty Seventh Edition
United Bible Societies - 1983 - Fourth Edition
Von Soden, Freiherr - 1902
 
Affected Teaching
This verse describes the mission of the Lord Jesus Christ. This verse also met its death in the second century. The Gnostics believed that knowledge was the key to immortality, so therefore they would have to delete this verse since it is by knowledge that someone can attain eternal life. This concept was well accepted into the 19th century by a man named Frederick Dennison Maurice who claimed that eternal life was having the knowledge of God. F.D. Maurice was the principle man that Satan used to inculcate Unitarianism, Communism, and Universalism into Christianity and with the insertion of these beliefs, a new Bible had to be produced whereby the ideas of these three systems could be implanted in the pages in a very subtle way. Hort was a student of Frederick Dennison Maurice. The new Bible had to be man centered in which the modern versions are.
 
This verse is missing in the Vaticanus and the Sinaiticus and “L” which is the Regius manuscript (c. 750 AD), so Hort and Westcott had regarded this verse as a “rejected reading.” After all, if man was going to save himself by his own abilities, then the mission of the Lord Jesus Christ was no longer needed. The problem is that Matthew 18:11 is surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses for its authenticity. It is confirmed by the Old Latin Vulgate (c. 90-150 AD), the entire Universal Eastern Church, The Peshitto, The Coptic, Armenian, Ethiopic, Georgian and Slavonic Versions, plus the entire line of manuscripts leading up to the King James Bible. It is also witnessed by Tertullian, Ambrose (4th century), and Augustine. Matthew 18:11 is in the majority of both cursive and uncial manuscripts which contain the book of Matthew or fragments thereof. To remove this verse, when it belongs there, is to remove the reason the Lord Jesus came to Earth. The reason for his death, burial, and resurrection was for the eternal salvation of His people as stated in Matthew 1:21. Bring this belief system up to day, the New Age System believes that a person can be promoted to the higher spiritual planes without any outside help and therefore the New Age system rejects the efficacious sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ as does the Unitarian. Matthew 18:11 belongs in the Bible and woe unto those who take it out and also woe unto the Christians who accept these deletions without questioning them.

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