In The Holy Bible there are passages that read [The Earliest Manuscripts Do Not Include] to tell the reader that the earliest editions of the Gospels and etc do not contain them. Some examples are John 7:53 to 8:11 and Mark 16:8-20:
“[The earliest manuscripts do not include 7:53—8:11.]
[They went each to his own house,
but Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. Early in the morning he came again to the temple. All the people came to him, and he sat down and taught them. The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery, and placing her in the midst they said to him, “Teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of adultery. Now in the Law, Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?” This they said to test him, that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. And as they continued to ask him, he stood up and said to them, “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.” And once more he bent down and wrote on the ground. But when they heard it, they went away one by one, beginning with the older ones, and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him. Jesus stood up and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more.”]” (John 7:53-John 8:1-11)
“[Some of the earliest manuscripts do not include 16:9—20.]
[[Now when he rose early on the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, from whom he had cast out seven demons. She went and told those who had been with him, as they mourned and wept. But when they heard that he was alive and had been seen by her, they would not believe it.
After these things he appeared in another form to two of them, as they were walking into the country. And they went back and told the rest, but they did not believe them.
Afterward he appeared to the eleven themselves as they were reclining at table, and he rebuked them for their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they had not believed those who saw him after he had risen. And he said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up serpents with their hands; and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover.”
So then the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God. And they went out and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the message by accompanying signs.]]” (Mark 16:8-20)
These passages are very famous, and are we to doubt them? The answer is no. What happened is just like there are first editions of books and then in a second edition they add some more the author forgot to mention in first edition, the same is regarding these passages, the disciples recalled some more teachings because there was so many as to fill the libraries of the world, “Now there are also many other things that Jesus did. Were every one of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written.” (John 21:25).
That said do not trust the esoteric christian writings, gnostic texts, shepherd of hermes, and gnostic gospels, they are evil vile heresies that teach false gospels (Galatians 1:8-9) like women cannot go to heaven (gnostic gospel of thomas) and teach false Arian, Gnostic, & Nestorian christs (2 Corinthians 11:4, Matthew 24:24).
If you see [Not in Earliest Manuscripts] it simply means the author of the gospel, epistle, and letters either remembered some more teaching and so add it to later manuscripts or they speaking with another disciple or eyewitness heard the story and added it in, since there are so many like John 21:25 mentioned. Therefore these verses can be trusted since they do not contradict the rest of the passages of Scripture, and were added because they are genuine eyewitness accounts. You can trust John 7:53-John 8:11 and Mark 16:8-20, and other passages that are not in the earliest manuscripts in The New Testament in our Bibles. Amen.
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