Matthew 18:11
( KJV) For the Son of man is come to save that which was lost.
(NIV) Omitted
(NWT) Omitted (Jehovah’s Witness Bible)
(NAB) Omitted (Roman Catholic Bible)
(1881 RV) Omitted
(ESV) Omitted
(NASB) [" For the Son of Man has come to save that which was lost.]
Footnote in NASB >>> Early mss do not contain this verse
Corrupted Manuscripts
Aleph 01 - Sinaiticus - Fourth century
B 03 - Vaticanus - Fourth century
L 019 - Eighth century
Effect 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 F.D. 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.