Jesus: Man, Messenger, Messiah · 6. Preservation
Variants with theological consequences
In short
- 1.**1 John 5:7-8** — the Comma Johanneum, the sole explicit Trinity text, is a late Latin insertion.
- 2.**Mark 16:9-20** — the longer ending, source of snake-handling and the great commission's signs, is absent from the oldest manuscripts.
- 3.**John 7:53-8:11** — the woman caught in adultery, absent from the earliest witnesses.
- 4.**1 Timothy 3:16** — 'God was manifest in the flesh' rests on a variant reading (ΘΣ for ΟΣ, 'God' for 'who').
- 5.**Luke 22:43-44** — the sweating of blood, absent from important early manuscripts.
The claim being examined
Christians grant that manuscript variants exist but insist none affects doctrine.
The Islamic position
Islam points to specific variants that touch doctrine directly — including the only explicit Trinitarian verse in the Bible.
Analysis
These are not trivial spelling differences. Three of them are printed in modern Bibles inside brackets with a footnote conceding the evidence, and one has been removed from the main text altogether. The 1 Timothy 3:16 case is especially instructive: a two-letter difference in an abbreviated nomen sacrum changes a relative pronoun into a statement of the incarnation. Ehrman's argument that some alterations are theologically motivated — made by orthodox scribes to strengthen orthodox readings — bears directly on the doctrines under discussion.
From the Qur'an
Qur'an 2:79
فَوَيْلٌ لِّلَّذِينَ يَكْتُبُونَ الْكِتَابَ بِأَيْدِيهِمْ ثُمَّ يَقُولُونَ هَٰذَا مِنْ عِندِ اللَّهِ
Woe to those who write the scripture with their own hands then say: This is from God.
From the Bible
1 Timothy 3:16
ΟΣ ἐφανερώθη ἐν σαρκί / ΘΣ ἐφανερώθη ἐν σαρκί
'Who was manifest in the flesh' vs 'God was manifest in the flesh' — a two-letter manuscript difference.
Read it in their BibleLuke 22:44
καὶ ἐγένετο ὁ ἱδρὼς αὐτοῦ ὡσεὶ θρόμβοι αἵματος
His sweat became like drops of blood — absent from several early manuscripts.
Read it in their BibleSources
Abu Zakariya, Jesus: Man, Messenger, Messiah · Bart D. Ehrman, The Orthodox Corruption of Scripture · Bruce Metzger, A Textual Commentary · Jesus: Man, Messenger, Messiah — ch. 6, pp. 136-142
The spoken script for this entry is inside the app.
Members get the word-for-word delivery guide — how to open, what to say, the likely replies and how to close warmly — plus notes, a dawah journal and the study assistant.
Open the app