LOGOSby Kai'Ros
← The Why KJV? Course

Module IV · The Defense

Week 10 of 12

What Was Removed

The verses modern versions omit or bracket — Mark 16, John 8, 1 John 5:7, Acts 8:37, and more.

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Key Texts

See: What Was Changed →

The Hook

'Open a modern Bible to Mark 16 and look for verses 9 through 20. You may find them in brackets, in a footnote, or marked as doubtful. Now look at Acts 8:37, John 7:53-8:11, 1 John 5:7. Verses the church read for centuries — quietly going missing.'

Point 1

Whole verses, gone or doubted. Modern versions omit or bracket more than a dozen verses found in the KJV — including the last twelve verses of Mark (the resurrection appearances and the Great Commission), the woman taken in adultery (John 8), the Ethiopian's confession (Acts 8:37), and others. (See the What Was Changed tab for the full list.)

Point 2

These are not trivial. Mark 16:9-20 contains the risen Christ's command to preach the gospel to every creature. Acts 8:37 contains the confession of faith before baptism. 1 John 5:7 is the clearest statement of the Trinity in Scripture. These omissions touch the gospel itself.

Point 3

The pattern is removal, not addition. The honest question is not 'did the KJV add these?' but 'on what authority did the modern versions remove what the whole church received?' — and the answer is: on the authority of a few Egyptian manuscripts that fail the witness test.

The Line They Must Not Forget

The modern versions quietly remove or question verses the church received for centuries — and the verses removed are not trivial; they touch the gospel.

The Appeal

Show your people the brackets and footnotes in a modern Bible with their own eyes. Nothing convinces like seeing the missing verses for themselves.

This Week

Be able to:

Find three omitted or bracketed verses in a modern version and show the full KJV reading beside them.

Practice with the Pastor

When you’re challenged this week, here’s what you’ll hear — and how to answer.

The Challenge

“Your KJV added verses that aren't in the originals.”

See the workbook’s answer ↓
Turn the question around. The honest issue is not whether the KJV added, but on what authority the modern versions REMOVED what the whole church received for centuries. The verses are present in the vast majority of manuscripts; they are absent mainly in a few Egyptian ones. The burden is on the side that subtracts (Deut 4:2; Rev 22:19).

The Anchor

“(The anchor, when all else fails)”

See the workbook’s answer ↓
Return always to the promise. God said His words are pure and that He would keep and preserve them forever (Ps 12:6-7; Matt 24:35). A position that requires God's true Word to have been lost for 1,500 years cannot be true, because God does not lose what He swore to keep. That is the rock you stand on when the manuscript arguments run out.

Going Deeper on This Lesson

Where this lesson connects across Logos.

The Manuscript Divide

Two Streams →

The Byzantine majority vs. the Alexandrian minority — by the numbers.

Go Deeper

Giants in the Earth →

The complete teaching reference on the translators, the rules, and the methodology behind the King James Bible.