Without A Cause?

[Brother Ben]

Without A Cause?

“But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire.”

Some often wonder why the phrase, “. . . without a cause. . . “ has been included in the text of the King James Version (KJV) and is not included in the Luther, or “new” versions. It has been said by some, “It is because the King (James) had ought against “his brother,” and was angry with him, and did not want to be “in danger of the judgment.” Is this so? Why is that phrase in the KJV and not in the other versions?
To understand this we need to look into the “manuscripts” used to make the different translations. The base manuscript for the KJV, the Tyndale, the Geneva, and the Luther is the Textus Receptus (TR) as translated by Erasmus. The other body of manuscripts often used in older translations came out of the Catholic Church, namely the Latin Vulgate. Wycliffe's English Bible was translated from the Old Italia which was a Latin vernacular or "vulgar" translation and some have erroneously said Wycliffe used the Latin Vulgate.
When it came to , Luther and Tyndale, unfortunately, favored the Latin Vulgate. In Philip Schaff's History of the Christian Church, there is a chapter devoted to the Luther Bible, he writes: “Besides the whole Bible, there were numerous German editions of the Gospels and Epistles (Plenaria), and the Psalter, all made from the Vulgate. Luther could not be ignorant of this mediaeval version. He made judicious use of it. . . “ So we see that, though he also made great use of the TR, he also used the Vulgate, so common among the Roman Catholic Scholars, which Luther was prior to his conversion.
The KJV and the Geneva, on the other hand, relied on the TR. Words “added” in the KJV are put in italics so we'll know they added them for understanding because English and Greek sentences are structured differently.
The word translated as “without a cause” - εικη - has massive, early and almost universal support among the ancient witnesses and throughout history. It is the reading of the vast Majority of all remaining Greek manuscripts, the Old Latin (Biblia Latina, not Vulgate,) copies of a, aur, b, c, d, f, ff1, g1, h, k, l, q, the ancient Lectionaries, the Syraic Peshitta, Harkelian, Palestinian, Curetonian, Coptic Sahidic and Boharic, Gothic, Armenian, Georgian and Slavonic early versions. It is the reading found in the early Diatessaron, and it so quoted by such early church witnesses in their writings as Irenaeus, Origen, Cyprian, Eusebius, Chrysostom, Cyril, Theodoret and Hilary. Though the words of men are not as authoritative as scripture their use of “without a cause” in their writings verifies it's use in ancient manuscripts. "And again: It has been said, Thou shalt not kill. But I say unto you, Every one who is angry with his brother WITHOUT A CAUSE, shall be in danger of the judgment." Irenaeus (115 - 202 AD), Against Heresies, 4.13 & 4.16
However in many modern versions which are based on the ever changing United Bible Society's, Nestle-Aland Critical texts, the word translated as “without a cause” is omitted. These would include the Revised Version 1881, the ASV of 1901, the RSV, NRSV, ESV 2001, the NIV, the Holman Standard, and ALL Catholic bible versions like the Douay-Rheims 1582, Douay 1950, St. Joeseph NAB 1970 and the New Jerusalem bible of 1985. The 1881 RV made use of manuscripts found since the time of Luther and the KJV translators. The most common is the Codex Vaticanus and Codex Sinaiticus. These both find their source in the Catholic church. The Vaticanus and Sinaiticus differed with each other over 3,000 times in the four Gospels alone. More accurate? Not likely.
Are there other versions that include it? Yes, the Bishops’ Bible 1568, Mace’s New Testament 1729, Youngs, Webster’s 1833 translation, the NKJV 1982, World English Bible, Hebrew Names Version, the Third Millenium Bible 1998, Green’s literal translation of 2000 and the ISV (Inernational Standard Version).
So is there a Biblical “cause” for anger? Jesus Himself got angry as is clearly seen in “And when HE HAD LOOKED round about ON THEM WITH ANGER, being grieved for the hardness of their hearts, he saith unto the man, Stretch forth thine hand. And he stretched it out: and his hand was restored whole as the other.” Jesus had a right to be angry; He had a cause. Anger is justifiable sometimes. The Holy Bible says: Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath: - (“Zürnet, und sündiget nicht; lasset die Sonne nicht über eurem Zorn untergehen.” German Luther)
So, is the KJV we use today the same as when it was translated and authorized for use in 1611? Yes, it is the same. Not a word of the text was changed. The American Bible Society wrote, "The English Bible, as left by the translators (of 1611), has come down to us unaltered in respect to its text..." They further stated, "With the exception of typographical errors and changes required by the progress of orthography in the English language, the text of our present Bible remains unchanged and without variation from the original copy as left by the translators."
What changes were made? Typographical errors (misspellings,) calligraphy, and orthography. Calligraphy changes affected the way letters were used. For example the word "gave" would have been written as "gaue" in 1611. The reason was the letter "v" was written as "u". This is not changing the text as the NIV does. Orthography changes affected spelling. Some words today are spelled differently than they were in 1611. For example, the word "took" was spelled "tooke". Again, this does not change the text as the NASV did 36,000 times.

"And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." —

"Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth." —

My friends, God said He would keep His words, without error, forever (; ,; ; ). If He did not do this, then the whole Bible is a lie. However, the Lord is always true to His word. Why not ask Christ which Bible honors Him the most and use the Bible with no corruption?

"Thy words were found, and I did eat them; and thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart: for I am called by thy name, 0 Lord God of hosts." —