Often KJVO advocates will confuse the Textus Receptus with the Majority Text. When called on it, they will inevitably say that there are no significant differences from the two. In fact, many times, their position depends on the two of them being equal, because one of the underpinnings of KJVO is that “God has preserved His Word in the majority of Greek manuscripts.”
In actuality, there are 1,838 differences between the Majority Text and the TR (Daniel Wallace, Some Second Thoughts on the Majority Text, http://www.bible.org/page.asp?page_id=673). Although most are considered to be minor, there are some huge differences such as the omission of entire verses or phrases. Here’s two examples (the parts missing from the Majority Text are in bold):
- I John 5:7-8 For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one. And there are three that bear witness in earth, the Spirit, and the water, and the blood: and these three agree in one.
- Matthew 10:8 Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons. Freely you have received, freely give.
David Cloud, lauded King James Only defender, lists some of the differences between the TR and the MT on this page, http://www.wayoflife.org/articles/majoritytext.htm.
Actually, most honest TR-only guys will agree with you. My father is one who even admits that if he got to heaven and found out 1 John 5:7-8 wasn’t in the Bible, he would not be surprised.
The TR represents some rather disparate texts within the Majority.
I am actually an odd bird when it comes to the Greek texts because I don’t buy the whole “textual families” argument. It is what I like to call a “dead German theory.” It is an idea some dead Germans came up with and everyone has just assumed is part of the facts without actually checking it.
Well, the “TR men” are a wholly different ball of wax. In this post I’m trying more to address the fallacy illustrated in quotes such as the following: