Recently, a friend discovered that Matthew 18:11 is missing from modern English versions. That verse is in the King James Version: “For the Son of man is come to save that which was lost.” (Matthew 18:11, KJV 1900) Looking at most modern versions, however, you will notice that Matthew 18:10 is followed by verse 12. Is this some grand conspiracy to change the Bible? Let’s find out.
Let’s first blow the conspiracy out of the water and then explain what happened. If this was some grand plan to change how Bible readers understand Christ, they failed miserably. The same phrase that is missing in Matthew 18:11 remains in Luke 19:10. “For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.” (Luke 19:10, NASB 2020) Oops. Why remove it from Matthew and not Luke?
To understand this, we have to delve into the scholarly world of textual criticism and the analysis of Greek texts of the New Testament. But first, we have to look at our own beliefs about God’s Word. Your church probably has something like this in its belief statement.
The Bible is created and inspired by God. It is His Word to mankind and reveals to us the nature and character of our God. It was written by human authors under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. It is the supreme source of authority and truth on all matters of faith and godly living. Because the Bible is inspired by God, we can be confident that it is completely sufficient to provide for all our spiritual needs, true without errors, and relevant for all time. Nothing may be taken from it and nothing may be added. (Crosspoint Community Church).
How we view the Bible does matter. There is some nuance in beliefs between the various denominations. The statement above is one example.
But here’s the problem: we don’t have the original manuscripts from writers of the New Testament. Scholars over hundreds of years have taken the ancient manuscripts and fragments (of which there are well over 5000) and used various systems to arrive at the best construct of the original. Two streams diverge at this point. One stream is Erasmus, who published his Greek New Testament in 1516. His work is the basis for all of the early English versions, including the King James Version. However, in a few documented instances, he pulled from the Latin Vulgate Bible to fill in the gaps in Greek text.
Modern English versions are based on the work of Nestle-Aland (first published in 1897), which continues to pull together the best textual research from several areas of scholarship to compile their Greek New Testament (now on version 28). And then comes the work of translating Greek into readable and understandable English (and other languages).
The English versions of the Bible are created using various translation methods. The New American Standard seeks to be as word-for-word as possible. The NLT and others seek a readable thought for thought translation. The ESV, NIV, and CSB work towards a readable merger of word-for-word and thought-for-thought. The NKJV aims to modernize the KJV’s language. The Message Bible takes thought for thought too far, in my opinion, and reads more like a commentary, helpful but not as authoritative. I’ve read many versions, but my preferred Bible to get to the meat of things and get as close to the original as possible is the NASB. But honestly, I care more that you’re reading the Bible than which version you choose to use.
The goal of most modern versions isn’t to change the faith or reduce Christ in any way. It is to get as close as possible to the original words that flowed with the inspiration of the Holy Spirit from the pens of the New Testament authors. So what happened to Mathew 18:11? It simply isn’t in the oldest and most reliable examples of the Greek text. Neither have we “lost” that truth since it remains in Luke 19:10.
Jesus did come to seek and save that which was lost – and He’s still at it.
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