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Author	: Bill Kochman
Publish	: Jan. 1, 2009
Update	: Jun. 9, 2025
Parts	: 08

Synopsis:



Continuing our discussion from part seven, here again is the list of Bible verses I shared with you from part seven for your personal consideration. Please notice their structural and elemental similarities:

"And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned. And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; 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."


"And said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day: And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem."


"Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you. And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost:"


"But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth."


"And declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead: By whom we have received grace and apostleship, for obedience to the faith among all nations, for his name:"


"Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen."


As you can undoubtedly see, all of the previous verses deal with a central theme. That is to say, the "Great Commission", which is Jesus' mandate to His followers to preach the Gospel of Salvation to all nations by the power of the Holy Spirit. With the lonely exception of the final verses from Matthew, all of the other verses have something very unique in common. Aside from the fact that they contain the "Great Commission" message, we also see that:

1. They shall perform miracles "in my name" - Mark 16:15-18
2. They shall preach "in his name" - Luke 24:46-47
3. They shall be witnesses "unto me" - Acts 1:8
4. They shall be obedient "for his name" - Romans 1:4-5
5. They shall be sent by Jesus - John 20:21-22

In every case, they shall do all of these things in His Name, or unto Him, or for His Name, or by Him, and not "in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost". The Apostle Paul makes it even more plain when he states in his Epistle to the Colossians the following:

"And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him."


Does the Apostle Paul even slightly hint at doing anything at all "in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost"? Most definitely not. It is just not there, is it? So just like all of the other Apostles, Paul is also sticking to using the name of Jesus only. Period.

So in comparing what Eusebius wrote regarding the verse; and in examining what we actually find written in the entire New Testament; and in seeing what the Lord actually said to them about the "Great Commission"; and in following the actions of the First Century Apostles through the Book of Acts; and in reading what is written in the Epistles; it is difficult not to conclude that Matthew 28:19 contains spurious text which was intentionally inserted into the verse at a later date by the Trinitarian-leaning "Church Fathers", who were motivated by their desire to force their misguided doctrine regarding the necessity of water baptism for Salvation, as well as the so-called "Holy Trinity" doctrine, upon the heathen masses which they wanted to control.

Returning briefly one additional time to Professor Frederick Cornwallis Conybeare, his position regarding the reliability of Matthew 28:19, as it is currently printed in so many of our modern Bibles, is summed up as follows:

----- Begin Quote -----

"In the course of my reading I have been able to substantiate these doubts of the authenticity of the text Matthew 28:19 by adducing patristic evidence against it, so weighty, that in future, the most conservative of divines will shrink from resting on it any dogmatic fabric at all, while the more enlightened will discard it as completely as they have its fellow-text of the three witnesses."

----- End Quote -----

In short, Professor Conybeare is stating that Matthew 28:19, in its current form with the triune phrase intact, cannot be trusted any more than 1 John 5:7-8. That is what he means by the phrase "fellow-text of the three witnesses". As we have seen, Conybeare is by no means alone in his view concerning Matthew 28:19. Since the earliest centuries following the Ascension of our Lord and Savior, Bible-believing Christians have been rejecting the spurious triune phrase. While we've examined the opinions of a few theologians in this series who concur with Conybeare's view, if you take the time to conduct your own research, you will discover that there are many more than those whom I have mentioned in this series.

Rather than foolishly embrace the subtle deceptions of the Roman Catholic "Church Fathers" -- such as Athanasius, and other similar Trinitarians -- after diligent and prayerful study, these intelligent men have embraced the truth of the Scriptures. Why have they done this? Because as many of us likewise understand, God's Word is the only true Authority and Foundation of our faith, and NOT the misguided ramblings of Roman Catholic theologians who fail miserably to "rightly divide the word of truth", as the Apostle Paul so elegantly wrote to Timothy, as we see in the following Bible verse:

"Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth."


The Book of Proverbs offers us some similar advice when it states the following:

"A false balance is abomination to the LORD: but a just weight is his delight."


"Divers weights are an abomination unto the LORD; and a false balance is not good."


So as I point out in my article "Rightly Dividing the Word of Truth", we must carefully compare and weigh the meaning of the Scriptures, in order to arrive at the truth. Not only do these Roman Catholic theologians fail to rightly divide the word of truth, but they in fact attempt to insert their own spurious text into it repeatedly, and for century after century. They invent verses, and invent doctrines, seemingly out of thin air. One minute a verse is not there, and the next minute it is, as we have seen with Matthew 28:19 and 1 John 5:7-8.

So what it really comes down to is who you will choose to believe: Jesus Christ and His First Century Apostles, or the allegedly wise "Church Fathers", the majority of whom lived centuries later, and who never really knew Jesus Christ or the Lord's Apostles personally. It should really bother you that these people who support the belief in the necessity of water baptism in order to obtain Salvation, and who try to convince us to accept the misguided doctrine of the "Holy Trinity", are always pointing to the writings of the "Church Fathers", as if these individuals are the ultimate authority when it comes to our Christian beliefs.

As I said, if their blatant corruption of Matthew 28:19 and 1 John 5:7-8 is an example of the wisdom which these Roman Catholic forefathers possess, then I for one will surely pay them no heed whatsoever, unless the doctrines they teach are in full agreement with the Holy Scriptures. As for me, I will continue to lean on the wisdom and direct guidance of God's Holy Spirit, in order to understand the Bible, as I have done now for many years. How about you?

In case you haven't fully understood why the "Church Fathers" are so heavily promoted by the Roman Catholic Church, as well as by their derivative churches, such as the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Anglican Communion, etc., allow me to explain it to you in a few words.

As we saw earlier in this series, for a long time, centuries in fact, the Roman Catholic Church has believed that it alone has the sole power and authority to grant Salvation. Not only that, but as I point out in the article "Have You Read the New Scriptures Yet?", it has convinced itself that Christian doctrine can only be established by the "Holy Mother Church" and the allegedly infallible pope. Furthermore, it has taught for centuries that the words and doctrines which are promoted by the "Mother Church" take precedence over what is contained in the Scriptures. Any dedicated Catholic will be forced to confess this truth if you press them enough on the issue.

In short, similar to the Mormons, the Holy Bible is only used to support and confirm what the Catholic Church has already decided is true. This approach is totally contrary to how we Bible-believing Christians operate. Catholics refer to this approach of deriving Christian doctrine from the Holy Bible as "sola escritura" or Scripture only, and they're convinced that our approach is wrong. Considering the issues which we have examined in this series, one really has to wonder about their claim.

As I explained earlier, we must have an unchanging, reliable, authoritative source for establishing, as well as confirming, our Christian beliefs, and that can only be the inspired Word of God, as found in the Bible. This series has clearly shown that the word of the Roman Catholic Church has been anything but unchanging and reliable over the centuries. Their foolish, untrustworthy transcribers have inserted text, changed text, removed text, and invented doctrines as they please for many centuries. History itself clearly testifies that they will do whatever is necessary in order to maintain their hold on the masses. But what does the Bible tell us about God's Word, and God's character? Consider the following group of verses:

"God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?"


"LAMED. For ever, O LORD, thy word is settled in heaven."


"I know that, whatsoever God doeth, it shall be for ever: nothing can be put to it, nor any thing taken from it: and God doeth it, that men should fear before him. That which hath been is now; and that which is to be hath already been; and God requireth that which is past."


"Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me, Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure:"


"God forbid: yea, let God be true, but every man a liar; as it is written, That thou mightest be justified in thy sayings, and mightest overcome when thou art judged."


"In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began;"


"Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning."


"We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts:"


Can there really be any doubt regarding who we should trust? Can there really be any doubt regarding which is the more sure and enduring foundation of our faith? I most certainly think not!

In this series, we've talked a lot about the baptism by fire. That is to say, being filled with the Holy Spirit. We've seen that the primary reason and purpose for which Jesus gave this most precious gift to His Disciples on the Day of Pentecost, was so that they would be empowered to preach the Good News of Salvation with boldness, in every nation.

So what about you, my friend? If you are also a Christian, have you ever been filled with the Holy Spirit? Do you even know how to receive it? If not, it isn't nearly as difficult as you may be inclined to think. In fact, it is really quite simple. As I explain in the article, "Was Jesus Filled With the Holy Spirit From Birth?", all that one needs to do in order to receive God's precious Gift of the Holy Spirit is to simply ask for it. This Biblical truth is made perfectly clear by the following group of verses:

"If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?"


"And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive."


"Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:"


Jesus just said "ask". He didn't say that you have to go to your favorite church and get dunked in water. He didn't say that you have to speak in tongues in order to prove that you are saved, or to prove you have received the Holy Spirit. He just said "ask". He didn't say that you have to roll on the the floor, stomp your feet, shout "Hallelujah!" ten times at the top of your voice or do anything else to convince others that you are saved or filled with the Holy Spirit. All Jesus said to do was "ask". Three times in fact.

The minute that we choose to accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, and ask for the Gift of Eternal Life, the Bible says that we are born of the Spirit, by faith, right at that moment. We may not receive the full promise until the day of our resurrection. But nevertheless, we have the promise, and God's Spirit dwells within us, even without a physical water baptism, from that very minute, and not at some future date. Being saved, and receiving the Gift of the Holy Spirit is a simple act of faith. As Jesus said, believe that you receive and you will have it. If you need physical proof before you will believe, then you really don't have faith. After all, as the Apostle Paul wrote in his Epistle to the Hebrews:

"But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him."


Now, if, as some people erroneously believe, water baptism is absolutely essential in order to be saved, or to receive God's Holy Spirit, then I suppose that I must not be truly saved or filled with God's Spirit, because I have never been water baptized in the typical fashion. Yes, I recall that I was baptized in a Catholic Church many years ago as a young boy, but I have never been immersed bodily in water, as some baptismal regenerationists claim is necessary. So should I just assume that I somehow missed the train, and that all of these years that I have served the Lord have been in vain? I don't think so. As far as I know, if there is one true act which demonstrates whether or not we are really saved and filled with the Holy Spirit, I believe that it would have to be the following:

"That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation."


"Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them."


"The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life; and he that winneth souls is wise."


"Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you."


That is what witnessing is all about, my friends. And that is what Spirit-filled Christians do. By God's Grace, that's also what I have personally done for some fifty-five years now, as I continue to do to this very day via the BBB Bible online ministry.

So what about water baptism? Personally, I see nothing wrong with being baptized in water. It might even encourage certain people's faith. For some Christians, undergoing a baptism in water is their way of demonstrating their faith. That is fine too. However, when a church or denomination adamantly teaches that a person cannot be saved, and much less be filled with God's Spirit without undergoing a water baptism, then that is where I must strongly disagree.

Why do I feel this way? Because it is corrupting our faith, and changing it from one that is based solely and purely on Grace and Faith, to one that is based on personal works. As we discussed earlier in this series, it is in fact adding to the finished work of Christ on the Cross. You simply cannot have it both ways. We are saved by God's Grace through Faith exactly like the Old Testament Saints who were never water baptized either. They looked forward in faith to the time of Christ, just as we now look backward in faith to the time of Christ. Only faith saves us; not water baptism.

To adamantly insist on the necessity of water baptism, is to behave just like the Scribes and Pharisees of old who clung to the traditions and rigidity of the Mosaic Law, instead of to the Grace that we can find through faith in Jesus Christ alone. Which do you do, my friend? Have you been liberated from the harsh bondage of the law? Or are you still a water baptizing legalist? Jesus came to set you free, my friend.

In light of all of the evidence which I have presented in this series, we are faced with a rather important question. Regardless of which version we use, is the Bible truly the inspired, inerrant Word of God? As a dedicated user of the Authorized King James Version of the Bible for fifty-five years now, I am forced to confess that while I do continue to believe that the KJV Bible is truly inspired, I cannot in all honesty say that it's inerrant. Furthermore I dare to say that this same judgment can be equally applied to all of the other versions of the Bible which are available at this current time.

While my position will no doubt offend the KJV extremists, the history behind Matthew 28:19 and 1 John 5:7-8 alone is clear proof of this. The original First Century autographs -- meaning manuscripts in the author's own handwriting -- as authored by the Lord's Apostles were indeed inspired. Perhaps they were inerrant as well. However, we also need to recognize that since that time, humanity has had almost two thousand years to alter and manipulate what was passed down to us. So to continue to suggest that they are without error is to purposely and wishfully ignore the historical facts, in my view.

Whether they were well-meaning alterations which were made in order to enhance the understanding of the readers; or errors which resulted from confusing marginal notes with the actual Biblical text; or intentional falsifications which were made in order to promote the doctrinal or political ideologies of the parties involved in the manipulation; nevertheless, the changes were made to the original autographs of the Apostles. As such, we must all recognize this. Of course, I am not the first person to make such an admission. There have in fact been a number of prominent theologians and textual critics down through the years who have made the same observations. For example, Professor Frederick Cornwallis Conybeare said the following:

----- Begin Quote -----

"In the case just examined, (Matthew 28:19), it is to be noticed that not a single manuscript or ancient version has preserved to us the true reading. But that is not surprising for as Dr. C. R. Gregory, one of the greatest of our textual critics, reminds us, 'the Greek MSS of the text of the New Testament were often altered by scribes, who put into them the readings which were familiar to them,' and which they held to be the right readings."

"These facts speak for themselves. Our Greek texts, not only of the Gospels, but of the Epistles as well, have been revised and interpolate by orthodox copyists. We can trace their perversions of the text in a few cases, with the aid of patristic citations and ancient versions. But there must remain many passages which have not been so corrected, but where we cannot today expose the fraud."

"The exclusive survival of (3) in all MSS., both Greek and Latin, need not cause surprise. In the only codices which would be even likely to preserve an older reading, namely the Sinaitic Syriac and the oldest Latin MS., the pages are gone which contained the end of Matthew."

----- End Quote -----

Professor Conybeare was referring to Caspar René Gregory. He was a late 19th Century/early 20th Century German-American theologian who studied at the German University of Leipzig under German Bible scholar and textual critic, Constantin von Tischendorf. You may recall that I mentioned Tischendorf earlier in this same series. Conybeare was quoting from one of Gregory's 1907 works entitled "Canon And Text Of The New Testament".

Speaking of the excessive corruption which is to be found in the Codex Vaticanus, we also find the following quote in a 1924 edition of the Fraternal Visitor, which was a monthly magazine devoted to the defense of the faith of Jesus Christ as preached by the Apostles. This particular quotation is actually translated from German, being as it was apparently copied from the Fraternal Visitor, and printed in the German magazine "Christadelphian Monatshefte":

----- Begin Quote -----

"Codex B. (Vaticanus) would be the best of all existing MSS if it were completely preserved, less damaged, (less) corrected, more easily legible, and not altered by a later hand in more than two thousand places. Eusebius, therefore, is not without grounds for accusing the adherents of Athanasius and of the newly-arisen doctrine of the Trinity of falsifying the Bible more than once."

----- End Quote -----

In his second letter to the Bishop of London in 1917, noted British theologian, historian, and mathematician, William Whiston -- whose primary fame rests upon his translations of works by Flavius Josephus, such as "Antiquities of the Jews" -- had this to say regarding the corruption which is found in the Biblical texts:

----- Begin Quote -----

"We certainly know of a greater number of interpolations and corruptions brought into the Scriptures . . . by Athanasius, and relating to the Doctrine of the Trinity, than in any other case whatsoever. While we have not, that I know of, any such interpolations and corruption, made in any one of them by either the Eusebians or Arians."

----- End Quote -----

A final example of how textual corruption was introduced into the Bible -- in this case, the Doxology that we read at the end of the Lord's Prayer in Matthew chapter six -- is related in the work of late 19th Century British theologian, scholar and textual critic, Dr. Charles Edward Hammond. In the fourth edition of his book entitled "Outlines Of Textual Criticism Applied To The New Testament", published in 1890, Dr. Hammond writes as follows:

----- Begin Quote -----

"There are two or three insertions in the New Testament which have been supposed to have their origin in the ecclesiastical usage. The words in question, being familiarly known in a particular connection, were perhaps noted in the margin of some copy, and thence became incorporated by the next transcriber; or a transcriber's own familiarity with the words might have led to his inserting them. This is the source to which Dr. Tregelles assigns the insertion of the Doxology at the close of the Lord's Prayer in S. Matt. vi, which is wanting in most of the best authorities. Perhaps also Acts viii.37, containing the baptismal Profession of Faith, which is entirely wanting in the best authorities, found its way into the Latin text in this manner"

----- End Quote -----

Please note that the above quotations are only a few examples which demonstrate how our Bible has been corrupted over the course of the past two thousand years. Some of these edits to the Word of God are minor, and perhaps not even intentional. However, as we have now seen, others are considerably more serious, intentional, and in fact affect the doctrines of our faith. If you conduct your own research, you will find other examples which demonstrate how various heretical teachings have been insidiously introduced into our faith by the Roman Catholic Church, beginning no later than the Fourth Century, through purposely altering the Scriptures.

Some of you reading this, and learning this information for the very first time may be alarmed. You may even be wondering to yourself, "Well, if what you are saying is true, then what am I supposed to believe? Why should I even read the Bible?" As I explain in a few other articles, my response to you is this: I remain convinced that the Bible is the inspired Word of God. Inerrant? No, but nevertheless inspired. I also hold to the belief that God is more powerful than man, and that He is more than capable of preserving the most important aspects and elements of His Word, regardless of what man has tried to do to it over the past two millennia.

In other words, despite continuous tampering by different parties, whether accidental or intentional, I am still of the opinion that what God wants us to know is still intact. Of course, the primary message has always been Salvation by the Grace of God through faith in Jesus Christ. This is the saving Gospel, and no man has been able to extinguish the light of its fire, and never will.

So please don't let the truths I have shared with you in this series dissuade you from reading God's Holy Word. It is one of the most rewarding experiences that you will ever have in your life. It will feed you spiritually. It will inspire your heart. It will motivate you to do good. And it will fill your life with meaning and purpose. Most importantly, believing its primary message will save you, and give you a wonderful new life in the world to come. Isn't that one reason alone sufficient to motivate you to become a dedicated student of God's Word? I truly hope so.

With these thoughts, I will bring this article to a close. It is my hope that you've found it informative and enlightening, and I pray that it has been a blessing in your life as well. If you have an account with Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr or with any other social network, I would really appreciate if you'd take the time to click or tap on the corresponding link that is found on this page. Thanks so much, and may God bless you abundantly!

For additional information and further study, you may want to refer to the list of reading resources below which were either mentioned in this article, or which contain topics which are related to this article. All of these articles are likewise located on the BBB Bible web server. To read these articles, simply click or tap on any link you see below.

A Treasure in Earthen Vessels: God's Promise of the Spirit
Cardinal Ratzinger's Rebellion
Controversy: Matthew 28:19 and the Trinitarian Phrase
Dead to the Law: God's Laws Written on Our Hearts
Free From the Fear of Death: Law and Works vs Grace
Gargoyles: Satan Loves Church Buildings!
Have You Read the New Scriptures Yet?
History Of The Authorized King James Bible
Is Jesus the Only Begotten Son of God?
Lies and Deceptions of the Roman Catholic Church
Mary Worship, Christianity and Roman Catholicism
Our Pagan World: The Easter Myth Exposed
Pontifex Maximus: Pagan High Priest to Roman Catholic Pope
Rise of the False Church
Sol Invictus and the Birth of Christ
The Book Of Enoch: Truth Or Heresy?
To Pray or Not to Pray, That is the Question

What It Means to Repent
Where Are The First Century Churches?
Who is Babylon the Great?

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