Compare Luke 6:20-23 with Matthew 5:3-12.
Luke |
Matthew |
6:20b: Happy are the poor, for theirs is the kingdom of God. |
5:3: Happy are the poor-spirited, for theirs is the kingdom of the skies. |
6:21a: Happy are the hungry, for they will be satisfied. |
5:6: Happy are the hungry and thirsty for righteousness, for they will be satisfied. |
"Matthew" also DELETED Luke 3:10-15, which also places a high value on charity. How do we know this? It turns out some scribes of the original Hebrew didn't agree with this removal, and so re-added it from the original source he was editing. Therefore it appears in the "Shem Tob" version, in a clearly older form and the source behind Luke 3:10-15.
Then Matthew 5:13-15 were relocated to that location and edited to support the explanation given in 5:16, which is BLATANTLY opposing Jesus's insistence on "hiding" your good deeds from others out of humility. The sayings in 5:13-15 do appear in other sources, but are in a slightly different form and have completely different meanings.
Immediately after that we have one of the most confusing things ever: Matthew 5:17-20. This is the whole "Do not think I came to abolish the law" and "not one stroke or dot will pass from the law" bit. This is very problematic, especially where it is, because immediately afterwards Jesus starts blasting the law as corrupt. The formula he repeats many times is: The law says to do this, but I'm telling you that's incorrect, do this other thing instead. In the few surviving Hebrew copies this part is written in a horrendous style and was clearly translated from the canonical version; a stark contrast to the authentic portions which are clean and loaded with Hebrew wordplay that can only come from an original composition. The fact that it had to be copied from another language means it was missing in older copies.
And contrary to popular belief, Luke 16:17 is not a parallel to Matthew 5:18. What's in our Bibles now is a confirmed forgery by one of the early "church fathers", motivated by their slapfight with Marcion. The original Luke 16:17 had "my words" instead of "the law". The former actually makes sense, unlike the forgery which contradicts itself:
Original:
The law and the prophets were until John. Since then the kingdom of God is proclaimed as good news, and everyone forces their way into it. And it is easier for the sky and the earth to pass away than for one stroke of my words to fall.
Forgery:
The law and the prophets were until John. Since then the kingdom of God is proclaimed as good news, and everyone forces their way into it. And it is easier for the sky and the earth to pass away than for one stroke of the law to fall.
If this has ever baffled you, now you know why. Also check out Luke 21:33, which says the same thing.
Looks like someone or two had an agenda against Christian morality and wanted to change it like whoever wrote 1 Timothy. They hate charity, hate gentiles, hate the idea of the tables being turned, don't want to humble their self-righteousness, and can't let go of the law. This is why you can't trust every single letter of your Bible, because fraud and forgery existed back then just as they do now.
I put "on the mount" in quotes. That's because the mountain is also an addition. Luke 6:17 knew nothing about a mountain and guessed that it all took place on a plain. The mountain in Matthew 4:8 is also missing in Luke 4:5. I guess one of the editors loved mountains. A rather harmless change, but proof that alterations exist.
there doesn't seem to be anything here