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Vaticanus, and Sinaitcus are the two main manuscripts that almost all of the new translations are based on. They are indirectly the result of the work of Origenes Adamantius (AD 184-254). Some feel that we should not bring up the errors and apostasy of the early and later Textual critics who corrupted the Bible. I beg to differ! It helps us see the problem much more clearly. Satan is clearly the head of this conspiricy, and he uses men. Matthew 7:16-20 "Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them." The below indicated men deleted words and phrases that honored the Lord Jesus Christ, and affected about every important doctrine of the Bible including it incarnation, deity, and resurrection of Christ. Origenes Adamantius (or Origen for short) was the third in a line of heretics that corrupted the Word of God. Tatian, a pupil of Justin Martyr (AD 100 -165), was a Gnostic (see note #1). "...Tatian wrote a Harmony of the Gospels...called the Diatessaron....The Gospels were...notoriously orrupted by his hand..." (Which Bible, pg. 191) Clement of Alexandria, Egypt (AD 150-217), was Tatian's pupil. "Clement himself claimed the...title of Gnostic often." (Church Leaders In Primitive Times, pg. 286; cf. The Revision Revised, pg 336) Clement established a school there in Alexandria. "[He] expressly tells us that he would not hand down Christian teachings, pure and unmixed, but rather clothed with preceptsof pagan philosophy." (Which Bible, pg. 191) "Clement and Origen used concepts of Platonism and Pythagoreanism..." (Eerdmans' Handbook To The History Of Christianity, pg. 109) (see note #2) "All the writhigs of the outstanding heretical teachers were possessed by Clement, and he freely quoted from their corrupt manuscripts as if they were the words of Scripture." (Which Bible, pgs. 191-192) Origen was Clement's pupil and took over the apostate school that he started. Origen originated the Christ denying Arian heresy (see note #3) Origen also believed in the reexistence of the soul (i.e. reincarnation); baptismal regeneration; purgatory; etc. Eusebius (AD 260-340) and Constantine the Roman Emperor (AD 306-337): "Eusebius worshipped at the altar of Origin's teachings. He...used Origen's six column Bible...in his Biblical labors....As the Emperor Constantine embraced Christianity, it became necessary for him to choose...(which Bible text to sanction. He had 3 to choose from: the Constantinoplitan [TR], the Hesychian, or the Eusebio-Origen)....[The Emperor] preferred the one edited by Eusebius and written by Origin...[who] combined Christianity with Gnostisticism [see note #1] in his philosophy, even as Constantine himself was the political genius that was seeking to unite Christianity with pagan Rome." (Which Bible, pg. 192, 194, 195) Eusebius like Origen also leaned toward Arianism, [see note #3] as did the Emperor. Constantine, the new "Christian" Pontifex Maximus, commissioned Eusebius to prepare 50 copies of the bible. These are the main source for the corruptions we see today. First John 5:7 is perhaps the weakest link in the chain for the TR. Origen did not believe in the Deity of Christ nor the Trinity so he or one of his followers excised it from the Greek text early in Church History. However, the Latin speaking church preserved it from the earliest time of Church History. One that I once debated concerning the superiority of the KJV said, "Tischendorf's New Testament which compares Codex [A] Alexandrinus, Codex [B] Vaticanus, and Codex [Aleph] Sinaiticus with the KJV omitts 1 John 5:7 is from these 3 MSS. My understanding is that 2nd century Greek copies don't exist."
FOOT NOTES: 1. Gnosticism: It emphasized, "knowledge for salvation, as for example in the Dead Sea Scrolls....[T]hey set a transcendent God over against an ignorant creator....Gnostics viewed the material creation as evil. [But s]parks of divinity...[are] in the bodies of certain 'spiritual' individuals destined for salvation....God sends down to them a redeemed who brings them salvation in the form of secret knowledge (gnosis)....[S]ome Gnostics indulged in extreme...licentious behavior....[others] venerated the serpent for bringing 'knowledge' to Adam and Eve....[They] maintained that Christ was not a material being..." (Eerdmans' Handbook To The History Of Christianity, pg. 98, 100) 2. Pythagoreanism: One of the doctrines of the Greek philosophy of Pythagoreanism is reincarnation: "Pythagoras [BC 530] and his followers held that after death the souls of men passed into other bodies..." (1828 Webster's Dictionary under "metempsychosis") 3. Arianism: This heresy taught that Jesus Christ was a created being. Origen taught that the "Son owed his being eternally to the Father...and was inferior to him....Origen's ideas were deeply colored by Middle Platonism, which graded existence into different levels." (Eerdmans' Handbook To The History Of Christianity, pg. 112) Origen's pupil Dionysius, Bishop of Alexandria, use words which implied that the Father had created the Son and that there had been a time when the Son did not exist." (A History of Heresy, pg. 45) Origen taught the Lord Jesus Christ is a created being who did not have eternal existence as God. (1936 Encyclopedia Britannica, Vol. 16, pgs 900-902)
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