THE MISSING VERSE SERIES— MARK 9:44

THE MISSING VERSE SERIES

MISSING VERSE #5 — MARK 9:44

Why Did Jesus Repeat Himself?

Have you ever had a teacher repeat something in class?

When I was in college, one of my professors taught us a simple way to prepare for

a test: take good notes, and whenever the professor repeated something, put a

check mark beside it. If the professor said it once, it might be important. If he

said it again, pay attention. If he kept repeating it, you could be pretty sure it was

going to matter on the test.

Repetition gets our attention because repetition tells us something is important.

Now consider what Jesus did in Mark 9.

Jesus was warning His disciples about the seriousness of sin and the reality of

Hell. He didn't say it once and move on. He repeated Himself three times.

Mark 9:44 says:

“Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.”

Mark 9:46 says:

“Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.”

Then Mark 9:48 says:

“Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.”

The King James Bible preserves all three.

Why? Because what Jesus was saying was important.

Yet many modern versions remove Mark 9:44 and 9:46 from the main text while

retaining verse 48. Some put the words in a footnote. Others place the verses in

brackets or omit them altogether. The explanation generally given is that a scribe

supposedly copied the words from verse 48 into verses 44 and 46.

But where is the evidence?

The fact that the words are repeated does not prove that they were added. An

omission is not proof of an addition. Jesus could have repeated the warning

deliberately because He wanted His hearers to understand the seriousness of

what He was saying.

And what was Jesus talking about?

Hell.

Jesus was warning people about the consequences of sin. He repeated the

warning three times. Yet modern versions remove two of those three warnings

from the main text.

That should make us stop and think.

This is not merely a question about whether two verses appear on a page. It is a

question about what happens when Christians are taught that words found in the

King James Bible may not actually belong in Scripture.

The Bigger Problem

Imagine hearing that message over and over again.

This verse may have been added.

Those words may not be original.

That passage belongs in a footnote.

Some manuscripts don't contain it.

The earliest manuscripts don't have it.

Eventually, the issue becomes bigger than one verse. You begin to wonder

whether you can know for certain what God actually said.

That is where the consequences begin.

God and His Word are the foundation upon which everything else stands. God's

Word tells us what is true, what is false, what is right, what is wrong, what is sin,

what God requires of us, and how we can be saved.

So what happens when people are moved away from confidence in God's Word?

There will be consequences.

We often look at the problems within the church and the problems within our

culture as separate issues. Confusion about doctrine. Weakened biblical

authority. Compromise concerning sin. Churches adapting themselves to the

culture. Christians becoming uncertain about what they should believe. A culture

increasingly rejecting biblical truth.

But what if we have been looking at the symptoms instead of the cause?

What happens when the foundation is weakened?

The modern versions have helped move Christians away from confidence that

they possess the preserved words of God. They have removed words and verses,

changed wording, placed passages in brackets, moved words into footnotes, and

taught readers that some of what they are reading may not belong in Scripture.

That does not stay on the printed page.

When confidence in God's Word is weakened, confidence in its authority is

weakened. When biblical authority is weakened, obedience becomes easier to

negotiate. Once obedience becomes negotiable, biblical standards become

negotiable. And once biblical standards become negotiable, compromise becomes

easier.

Then the church begins to change.

And when the church changes, the culture changes with it.

The culture is not supposed to teach the church what is right. God and His Word

are the foundation upon which everything else stands. God's Word is supposed to

teach the church what is right, and the church is supposed to take that truth into

the culture.

But a church that has been taught to question the authority and certainty of its

own Bible will have difficulty standing firmly against a culture that rejects biblical

truth.

This is why the modern-version issue matters far beyond missing verses.

Change the Word, and you change what people believe. Change what people

believe, and you change how they live. Change how people live, and eventually

you change the church and the culture.

That is the consequence.

So Why Did Jesus Repeat Himself?

Maybe the answer is simpler than modern textual criticism makes it. Jesus

repeated Himself because He wanted us to hear the warning. He warned about

Hell three times. The King James Bible preserves all three warnings. Modern

versions remove two. We are told that those two were probably added by scribes.

But again: Where is the evidence?

Don't confuse an explanation with proof. Don't assume that repetition is a

mistake. And don't allow anyone to convince you that questioning the words of

Scripture is the same thing as proving those words don't belong.

When a teacher repeats something, pay attention. When Jesus repeats

something, pay even closer attention.

Trust God. Trust the King James Bible.

Because Every Word Matters.