Mark 16:9-20

(Mark 16:9-20 KJV) Now when Jesus was risen early the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had cast seven devils. {10} And she went and told them that had been with him, as they mourned and wept. {11} And they, when they had heard that he was alive, and had been seen of her, believed not. {12} After that he appeared in another form unto two of them, as they walked, and went into the country. {13} And they went and told it unto the residue: neither believed they them. {14} Afterward he appeared unto the eleven as they sat at meat, and upbraided them with their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they believed not them which had seen him after he was risen. {15} And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. {16} He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned. {17} And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; {18} They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover. {19} So then after the Lord had spoken unto them, he was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God. {20} And they went forth, and preached every where, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following. Amen.

This week’s post is going to be done a little differently. One of the most attacked portions of Scripture is Mark 16:9-20. This portion of Mark is found in 618 extant manuscripts. The two manuscripts which they are not found in are the Vaticanus and Sinaiticus, which are the two primary underlying manuscripts used in every modern version. This means that the evidence is overwhelming in favor of Mark 16:9-20, 618 versus 2. Keep in mind that the modern versions are based on 45 manuscripts out of 5255 which is less than 1% of all available manuscripts. This is why they can say that this portion of Mark is not part of Scripture because they reject 5210 of the 5255 manuscripts.

If your company promised you a salary of $5255 per month and then only paid you $45 per month, you would scream. So why don’t you scream when they do that to your Bible? In this week’s post, I am going to list the lies which these modern versions print in reference to Mark 16:9-20. They get away with doing this because they know Christians will never investigate anything relegating all their theological thinking to their Pastor or favorite theologian. Recently R.C. Sproul announced a major work in which he is going to use the English Standard Version (ESV). Now many people like R.C. Sproul and will now go out and buy one simply because he uses it.

Footnotes on Mark 16:9-20
(CSB) 16:9-20 in Brackets - [Some of the earliest mss conclude with 16:8.]
(NIV) The most reliable early manuscripts and other ancient witnesses do not have Mark 16:9-20.

(NASV) Later mss add vv 9-20 & Some of the oldest manuscripts do not contain vv. 9-20

(Amplified) Some of the earliest manuscripts do not contain verses 9-20.

(ESV) Some of the earliest manuscripts do not include 16:9-20. Some manuscripts end the book with 16:8; others include verses 9-20 immediately after verse 8. A few manuscripts insert additional material after verse 14; one Latin manuscript adds after verse 8 the following: But they reported briefly to Peter and those with him all that they had been told. And after this, Jesus himself sent out by means of them, from east to west, the sacred and imperishable proclamation of eternal salvation. Other manuscripts include this same wording after verse 8, then continue with verses 9-20

(HCSB) 16:9-20 Other mss omit bracketed text.

(RSV) Other ancient authorities omit verses 9-20. Some ancient authorities conclude Mark instead with the following; But they reported briefly to Peter and those with him all that they had been told. And after this, Jesus himself sent out by means of them, from east to west, the sacred and imperishable proclamation of eternal salvation.

(1881 RV) The two oldest Greek manuscripts, and some other authorities, omit from verse 9 to the end. Some other authorities have a different ending to the Gospel.

(1901 ASV) The two oldest Greek manuscripts, and some other authorities, omit from verse 9 to the end. Some other authorities have a different ending to the Gospel.

(TNIV) The earliest manuscripts and some other ancient witnesses do not have Mark 16:9-20
 
Where Mark 16:9-20 is found:
Men like John MacArthur and others make false claims that Mark 16:9-20 is not found in any old manuscripts. Once again when a person does not do real studies which can yield truth they remain ignorant as anyone can be. Mark 16:9-20 is found in many ancient manuscripts, in fact, 620 of them. A very partial list is below.
 
Byzantine Text (450-1450 A.D.)
A 02 - Alexandrinus - Fifth century
C 04 - Ephraemi Rescriptus - Fifth century
D 05 - Bezae Cantabrigiensis - Fifth century
K 017 - Ninth century
Q 026 - Fifth century
W 032 - Fourth/fifth century
X 033 - Tenth century
Delta 037 - Ninth century
Theta 038 - Ninth century
PI-041 - Ninth century
28 (Minuscule) - Eleventh century
33 (Minuscule) - Ninth Century
137 - (Minuscule) - Twelfth Century
138 - (Minuscule) - Eleventh Century
565 - (Minuscule) - Ninth century
700 - (Minuscule) Eleventh century
892 - (Minuscule) - Ninth century
1010 - (Minuscule) - Twelfth Century
1110 - (Minuscule) - Eleventh Century
1210 - (Minuscule) - Eleventh Century
1215 -- (Minuscule) - Thirteenth Century
1216 - (Minuscule) - Ninth Century
1217 - (Minuscule) - 1186 A.D.
1221 - (Minuscule) - Eleventh Century
1582 - (Minuscule) - 948 A.D.
 
Where Mark 16:9-20 is omitted
Aleph 01 - Sinaiticus - Nineteenth Century Counterfeit
B 03 - Vaticanus - Fourth century
304 - Minuscule Twelfth century
2386 - (Minuscule) - Eleventh Century
 
Early Patristic Evidence (Revision Revised - Dean Burgon - page 423)
2nd Century - Justin Martyr - Irenaeus - Tertullian
3rd Century - Hippolytus - Vincentius at the Seventh Council of Carthage 258 A.D. - Acta Pilati - Apostolical Constitutions
4th Century - Eusebius - Macarias Magnes - Aphraates - Didymium - The Syriac Acts of the Apostles - Epiphanius - Leontius - Ambrose - Chrysostom - Jerome - Augustine
5th Century - Leo - Nestorius - Cyril of Alexandria - Victor of Antioch - Patricius - Marius Mercator
6th Century - Gregentius - Prosper of Aquitaine- John of Thessalonica - Hesychius - Gregentius - Modestus, Bishop of Jerusalem
 
Early Bible Versions which contain Mark 16:9-20
2nd Century - Old Latin and Peshitta Syriac versions, Tatian’s Diatessaron
3rd Century - Coptic and Sahidic versions
4th Century - Curetonian Syriac and Gothic versions, Syriac table of Canons
5th Century - Armenian version (some copies), Philoxenian Syriac
6th and 7th Centuries - Georgian and Ethiopic versions

Affected Teaching
Notice the words that these false versions use concerning their corrupted manuscripts, “authorities,” “witnesses,” “early,” “ancient” and “oldest.” If I were a new Christian, these words, when used so convincingly, would cause me to instantly question as to whether Mark 16:9-20 is really part of the book of Mark. They speak of the oldest Greek manuscripts but there are Textus Receptus readings going back to the first and second century in the form of church lectionaries. Their ancient manuscripts are the two made from Origen’s Hexapla by Eusebius in 331 A.D., hardly earlier than the first or second century.

This questioning of Mark 16:9-20 is also stating that God was unable to preserve and protect His Word since man was able to add anything they wanted. This is really an attack on the character of God. The Bible would definitely come in second place when you have the church of Rome which places tradition and ritual much higher than Scripture. So for them, the adding of words by scribes would not be something catastrophic. However, for the true Bible believing Christian, it is catastrophic because if scribes down through the ages were able to add anything they desired, then we would have no way of knowing what God’s Word really says in contrast to what was added by man.

However, God has not left His children without reliable witnesses. He allowed 618 manuscripts to remain extant so that we may know that Mark 16:9-20 is indeed part of the inspired Canon. God knew very well that His Word was going to be attacked by the Gnostics and the intellectual community down through the ages, including the times we live in right now. We can choose to believe that God was able to preserve His Word for 1800 years or we can believe that the word of God did not exist until two Roman Catholic Occultists put together a per-version with less than 1% of the available manuscripts. As a matter of fact, the actual percentage is .0085632 of the existing manuscript evidence.

When we use the King James Bible, we are confident that we have the preserved word of God. He preserved it in the Masoretic Text (Ben Chayyim Text) and the Textus Receptus. We do not need the approval of some unsaved apostate to tell us that we do not have the word of God in the KJB. It’s interesting that in the prefaces of the modern versions they are always comparing it to the King James Bible, but never to the other modern versions. It smells like a well orchestrated attack on the King James Bible by every modern version. Gee, I wonder why?

One quick question which I already asked last week. If you needed a heart valve replacement and the cardiologist, while in school, was required to study several books on this technique and the pages came to 5255, but he did not think that the information in 5210 of those pages were necessary, so he only studied 45 pages of the material. How confident would you be in his abilities to perform that operation?


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