It should be noted that this is merely a handful of major variants. Less serious variants are in the hundreds of thousands. However, many Christians make the mistake of saying that the textual variants are all insignificant and change nothing. This is not true.
MODERN textual scholars do not hesitate to omit from the Bible the spurious passage found at 1 John 5:7-8. It is omitted by the translations ERV, ASV, RSV, ESV, NASB, LEB, CSB, UASV, etc.) Commenting on these words, the greatest textual scholar of the 20th century Bruce M. Metzger said, “these words are spurious and have no right to stand in the New Testament is certain …” – Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament (1994), 647.
Matthew 14:16, 27
16 But Jesus said to them, … 27 But immediately Jesus spoke to them, …
Was Jesus mentioned here the Gospel of Matthew or not?
The reason that this text is considered difficult is that one is compelled to think contrary to the leading internal textual principle: Which reading is it that the other reading(s) most likely came from? It is easy to see how “moved with anger” would have been changed to “moved with pity.” In that case, the scribe would have been softening the reading. It is very difficult to understand why a scribe would be tempted to change “moved with pity” to “moved with anger.”
Be honest in all things
Follow the truth regardless
Obey God not man
If textual scholars and translators obey all three of those principles; then, if the text, translation, or interpretation supports our specific doctrinal view, fine, if it does not, fine. A so-called major doctrine does not hang in the balance based on one Bible verse.
P75 contains most of Luke and John, known as Bodmer 14, 15 (P75), dates from 175 C.E. to 225 C.E. It is textually very close to Codex Vaticanus. A handful from the 19th and early 20th centuries argued that Codex Vaticanus and Sinaiticus manuscripts removed the Byzantine text readings. However, if this were true and the corrupt Byzantine readings were early as some claim, we would have those readings in P75 to prove it, as well as the other 60+ papyrus manuscripts dating from 100-300 A.D.
