Why is there a Question about the Original Wording?

In the nineteenth century the discovery of a number of early NT mss. caused many Bible scholars to change their approach to the Gr. text. Although these mss. differed significantly in many places from the M-text, many scholars concluded they were better copies of the originals because they were older.

This new approach led to printed Gr. texts based largely on a handful of early mss. These texts can appropriately be called a "minority text."

For the last 100 years, this minority text has almost exclusively dominated printed Gt. texts (Westcott-Hort (WH), Nestle's, and United Bible Societies' (UBS) Gr. texts) and NT translations (English Revised Version (Vers.) (ERV), American Standard Vers. (ASV), Revised Standard Vers. (RSV), New American Standard Vers. (NASB), Today's English Version (TEV), New International Vers. (NIV) and New Revised Standard Version (NRSV).

Matthew 6:13

This minority text dominance explains why so many words and phrases from the KJV are missing in these modern translations. One example is the concluding doxology of the Lord's Prayer in Matt. 6:13. It is ommited in many translations even though it is found in most mss.

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