Luke 2:33

 

Luke 2:33
(KJV) And Joseph and his mother marvelled at those things which were spoken of him.
 

(NIV) The child's father and mother marveled at what was said about him.
(NASB) And His father and mother were amazed at the things which were being said about Him.
(ESV) And his father and his mother marveled at what was said about him.
(Darby) And his father and mother wondered at the things which were said concerning him.
(NWT - Jehovah’s Witnesses) And its father and mother continued wondering at the things being spoken about it
(NAB - Roman Catholic) The child’s father and mother were marvelling as what was being said about him
 

Textus Receptus

kai hn iwshj kai h mhthr autou qaumazonteV epi toiV laloumenoiV peri autou

 

Hort-Westcott

kai hn o pathr autou kai h mhthr qaumazonteV epi toiV laloumenoiV peri autou

 

Effect
If you notice something about each of these modern versions, they change “Joseph” to “father.” These modern versions have complete agreement with the Roman Catholic and Jehovah’s Witness Bibles. In the Textus Receptus, the proper name Joseph is written but in the HW Greek, the term was changed to “father” which comes from the Sinaiticus manuscript. The effect of changing “Joseph” to “father” will teach that Jesus had an earthly father which completely voids the cardinal doctrine of the virgin birth of Christ. If Joseph was the earthly father of the Lord Jesus, then He would have had to inherit the sin nature which was passed down from Adam. Gnostics teach that all flesh is evil and there is no way that a holy God could dwell in sinful flesh. By removing verses which support the virgin birth, it brings Jesus down to the level of just a human being. If Jesus was born with a sin nature, then He was an unqualified candidate for atonement for the sins of His people and therefore we Christians are still in our sins. In the second century, a heretic named Marcion disqualified Matthew, Mark, and John as being legitimate gospels and held only that Luke was authentic. However, he tended to make changes in the book of Luke to fit his Gnostic beliefs and may have been the one who changed the text from “Ἰωσὴφ” (Joseph) to “πατὴρ” (father). Nevertheless, whoever changed it, it remained that way for sixteen hundred years, resurrected in the 19th century, and has been accepted by unbelieving modern scholarship and given credence by Christians who use these modern versions without doing any investigation of the version they use.

When trying to understand the subject of the corruption of the modern versions, you must understand it as thousands of small corruptions such as the one we just saw rather than a few large corruptions. If Satan used large and obvious corruptions, then Christians would not accept it but Satan knows that the easiest way to corrupt and derail Christianity is by subtlety through the back door. It is easier to make smaller encroachments through the back door than a major frontal assault. The NIV is the most corrupted of the modern versions yet is used by more Christians and churches than ever before.

 

Corrupted Manuscripts

This verse is corrupted in the following manuscripts:

Aleph 01 - Sinaiticus - Fourth century
B 03 - Vaticanus - Fourth century

D 05 - Bezae Cantabrigiensis - Fifth century

L 019 - Eighth century

W 032 - Fourth/fifth century

1 (miniscule) - Seventh century

700 - (Miniscule) Eleventh century

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