Short answer
Neither one shows that the Bible was kept word for word. The New Testament of the 1611 King James Version was translated from a Greek text printed from late medieval copies. Modern Bibles follow older copies, above all Codex Sinaiticus and Codex Vaticanus. The King James and modern Bibles do not say the same thing, and whole verses are in one and missing from the other. If the King James is right, modern Bibles leave out God's (﷾) words. If modern Bibles are right, the King James prints words the oldest copies lack, and has done so for four hundred years. One example is 1 John 5:7, the only verse that says the Father, the Word and the Holy Ghost "are one". Jesus said man lives by every word of God (﷾). Neither side can show where every word is. Islam's answer is the Qur'an, which says God (﷾) Himself guards it.
Full explanation
The case for the King James
Defenders of the King James Version start from Jesus' words that man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of God (﷾). They also point to the psalm that says God (﷾) will keep and preserve His words for ever. So, they say, God's (﷾) words must exist somewhere, whole. They hold that the King James and the received Greek text behind it are that preserved word.
“But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.”
“The words of the Lord are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times. Thou shalt keep them, O Lord, thou shalt preserve them from this generation for ever.”
Their charge against the modern text
They point out that modern Bibles rest on a few very old manuscripts. Chief among them is Codex Sinaiticus, a Greek Bible of the fourth century. It was found at a monastery on Mount Sinai in the nineteenth century. It is one of the most corrected manuscripts in existence: about 27,000 corrections by many correctors, from the fourth century to the twelfth. They add that as a young man Hort called the received text "vile". Hort was a nineteenth-century British scholar who, with Westcott, made a new Greek text. Thirty years later, the 1881 revision largely followed that text.
Explains that the printed Greek New Testaments of Erasmus (1516) and Stephanus (1551), the basis of the received text, rested on the manuscripts that happened to be at hand from the medieval Greek church, and carried many accumulated errors; that much older manuscripts came to scholars' attention later, among them Codex Vaticanus, long kept in the Vatican Library, and Codex Sinaiticus; and that Tischendorf found 43 leaves of Sinaiticus at St Catherine's on Mount Sinai in 1844, was shown the rest in 1859, and that the codex went to St Petersburg and was sold by the Russian government to the British Museum in 1933 for 100,000 pounds. Grant adds that early manuscripts may contain many errors and late ones may keep good readings, that no manuscript deserves total allegiance, and that recovering what the New Testament writers wrote is all but impossible.
A leading textual scholar who worked on the Codex Sinaiticus Project describes the manuscript as one of the most corrected in existence: about 27,000 corrections, made by many correctors, from the first scribes in the fourth century to later hands as late as the twelfth.
Writing at the age of twenty-three, Hort called the received Greek text behind the King James Version "vile", because it leaned entirely on late manuscripts. Thirty years later he and B. F. Westcott published the Greek text that the 1881 Revised Version largely followed and on which modern critical editions were built.
The case for the modern versions
Scholars answer that the Greek text behind the King James was printed by Erasmus, a Dutch scholar of the 1500s, and his successors. They used whatever late medieval copies were at hand, and the text carries many errors. The oldest copies lack words the King James has. The clearest case is 1 John 5:7. The words about the Father, the Word and the Holy Ghost are found in no early Greek copy. Erasmus put them into his printed text only in 1522, after being attacked for leaving them out. Two longer passages that the King James prints as scripture are missing from Codex Sinaiticus and Codex Vaticanus. One is the last twelve verses of Mark, with what Christians tell of the risen Jesus' appearances and his ascension. The other is the woman taken in adultery in John 7:53-8:11.
Explains that the printed Greek New Testaments of Erasmus (1516) and Stephanus (1551), the basis of the received text, rested on the manuscripts that happened to be at hand from the medieval Greek church, and carried many accumulated errors; that much older manuscripts came to scholars' attention later, among them Codex Vaticanus, long kept in the Vatican Library, and Codex Sinaiticus; and that Tischendorf found 43 leaves of Sinaiticus at St Catherine's on Mount Sinai in 1844, was shown the rest in 1859, and that the codex went to St Petersburg and was sold by the Russian government to the British Museum in 1933 for 100,000 pounds. Grant adds that early manuscripts may contain many errors and late ones may keep good readings, that no manuscript deserves total allegiance, and that recovering what the New Testament writers wrote is all but impossible.
“For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one.”
On 1 John 5:7-8, reports that the words about the Father, the Word and the Holy Spirit are absent from every known Greek manuscript except eight late ones, four of which have them written in the margin as a later addition; that no Greek church father quotes them; and that every ancient translation except the Latin lacks them.
Recounts that Erasmus left the words about the three heavenly witnesses out of the first (1516) and second (1519) editions of his Greek New Testament, because he found them in no Greek manuscript. He was attacked for the omission, and put them into his third edition (1522) after a Greek manuscript containing them was produced. That manuscript had been copied about 1520, with the words taken from the Latin, and Erasmus himself suspected that its text had been altered to agree with the Latin; Metzger and Ehrman suggest the copy was made to order.
On Mark 16:9-20, reports that the last twelve verses are absent from the two oldest Greek Bibles that survive in large part, Codex Sinaiticus and Codex Vaticanus, and from other early witnesses; that Eusebius and Jerome state the verses were missing from almost all the Greek copies known to them; that some manuscripts carry a different, shorter ending instead; and concludes that the Gospel as we have it from the earliest evidence ends at 16:8.
On the story of the woman taken in adultery (John 7:53-8:11), reports that it is absent from the early papyri (P66 and P75), from Codex Sinaiticus and Codex Vaticanus and other early witnesses, and that the manuscripts which do carry it place it in different spots: after John 7:52, after John 7:36, at the end of John, or after Luke 21:38. Concludes that it was no part of the original Gospel of John.
The NIV prints Mark 16:9-20 set apart, with a note that the earliest manuscripts and some other ancient witnesses do not have these verses (1984: "the most reliable early manuscripts and other ancient witnesses"). The NIV Study Bible adds that serious doubts exist whether the verses belong to Mark, because they are missing from important early manuscripts and differ in vocabulary, style and theology, and that the Gospel probably ended at 16:8 or its first ending was lost.
Whole verses in one Bible and not the other
The King James prints Acts 8:37. In it Philip sets a condition, "If thou believest with all thine heart", and the eunuch confesses that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. The World English Bible is a modern public-domain translation on this site. It has no verse 37 at all. Its 1 John 5:7 has no words about the Father, the Word and the Holy Ghost. The NIV (New International Version, a modern Bible) moves more than a dozen whole verses to its footnotes. It also sets the last twelve verses of Mark apart with a note.
“And Philip said, If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.”
The World English Bible, the modern public-domain translation on this site, goes straight from Acts 8:36 to 8:38. It has no verse 37. The verse is missing from the oldest Greek copies and from most Greek manuscripts.
“For there are three who testify:”
The NIV leaves out of its text, and prints only in footnotes, whole verses that the King James Version has as scripture, among them Matthew 17:21, 18:11 and 23:14, Mark 7:16, 9:44, 9:46, 11:26 and 15:28, Luke 17:36 and 23:17, John 5:4, Acts 8:37, 15:34, 24:7 and 28:29, and Romans 16:24. It prints 1 John 5:7 without the words about the Father, the Word and the Holy Ghost.
The NIV prints Mark 16:9-20 set apart, with a note that the earliest manuscripts and some other ancient witnesses do not have these verses (1984: "the most reliable early manuscripts and other ancient witnesses"). The NIV Study Bible adds that serious doubts exist whether the verses belong to Mark, because they are missing from important early manuscripts and differ in vocabulary, style and theology, and that the Gospel probably ended at 16:8 or its first ending was lost.
How the 1881 revision changed the text
In 1870 the Church of England set up a committee to revise the King James Version. Its New Testament company, chaired by Bishop Charles Ellicott, first met in June 1870. It worked for ten and a half years without publicity. Its first rule was to change the old wording as little as possible. Another rule told it to follow the Greek text the manuscripts most strongly supported. It adopted a Greek text close to the one Westcott and Hort published the same year. The changes that followed were many. The standard count is more than 30,000 changes to the New Testament's wording. Defenders of the King James counted about 36,000. More than 5,000 of those changes came from following a different Greek text, not from updating the English. From 1898 Eberhard Nestle's Greek New Testament carried this kind of text forward. In its later editions it is the Greek text behind modern Bibles.
The revisers record that their work began on 22 June 1870 and took ten and a half years. Their first rule was to make as few alterations as possible in the King James wording. But another rule told them to adopt the Greek text for which the evidence was decidedly preponderating, and they followed the manuscripts without deference to any printed text of modern times. Their Greek text was printed separately by the University Presses.
A history published in the year of the revision. It lists Charles John Ellicott, Bishop of Gloucester and Bristol, as chairman of the New Testament company, and says the revision was carried on without publicity: its results were not made known until the new version was issued.
States that in the New Testament alone the 1881 Revised Version made more than 30,000 changes to the King James wording, over 5,000 of them because the revisers followed a different Greek text.
A pamphlet written three years after the Revised New Testament appeared, weighing it against the King James (Authorized) Version. It says the revision made thirty-six thousand alterations in the Authorized translation, and asks whether they changed its doctrine.
Writing at the age of twenty-three, Hort called the received Greek text behind the King James Version "vile", because it leaned entirely on late manuscripts. Thirty years later he and B. F. Westcott published the Greek text that the 1881 Revised Version largely followed and on which modern critical editions were built.
Eberhard Nestle's Greek New Testament, first printed in 1898, built its text from the critical editions of the nineteenth century, Westcott and Hort's among them. In its later Nestle-Aland editions it became the standard Greek text of scholars and the basis of modern translations.
- 1522
A verse enters the Greek text
Erasmus, who printed the Greek New Testament, puts the words of 1 John 5:7 about the Father, the Word and the Holy Ghost into his printed text. He had left them out because he found them in no Greek manuscript, and he was attacked for it.
- 1611
The King James Version
Its New Testament is translated from a Greek text printed from late medieval copies.
- 1800s
Codex Sinaiticus is found
One of the oldest copies of the Bible is found at a monastery on Mount Sinai. King James defenders point to its about 27,000 corrections.
- 1870
A committee to revise the King James
The Church of England sets up a committee to revise the King James Version. It works for ten and a half years, without publicity.
- 1881
The Revised Version
It follows a Greek text close to the one the scholars Westcott and Hort published that year. It makes more than 30,000 changes to the New Testament's wording, over 5,000 of them from following a different Greek text.
- 1898
Nestle's Greek New Testament
Eberhard Nestle carries this kind of text forward. In its later editions it is the Greek text behind modern Bibles.
Fifty verses compared
King James defenders set fifty verses side by side in four Bibles. These are the King James, the 1881 Revised Version, the 1901 American Standard Version and the NIV. In the three later Bibles the demons do not call Jesus by name in Matthew 8:29. "Because I go to the Father" is missing from John 16:16. "After the order of Melchisedec" is missing from Hebrews 7:21. In Revelation 14:5 the saved are no longer "before the throne of God". In Revelation 20:12 the dead stand "before the throne", not "before God". The World English Bible shows three of these differences. The later Bibles also lack "Thou shalt not bear false witness" in Paul's list of commandments in Romans 13:9. They lack the Pharisees' "let us not fight against God" in Acts 23:9. In Luke 9:55-56 they lack the words of Jesus' rebuke, "Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of". They also lack his saying that the Son of man came to save lives, not to destroy them. In 1 Corinthians 7:39 the wife is no longer bound "by the law". A reader told to live by every word cannot live by words one Bible has and the other lacks.
“And, behold, they cried out, saying, What have we to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God? art thou come hither to torment us before the time?”
“A little while, and ye shall not see me: and again, a little while, and ye shall see me, because I go to the Father.”
“A little while, and you will not see me. Again a little while, and you will see me.””
“(For those priests were made without an oath; but this with an oath by him that said unto him, The Lord sware and will not repent, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec:)”
“And in their mouth was found no guile: for they are without fault before the throne of God.”
“In their mouth was found no lie, for they are blameless.”
“And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.”
“I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and they opened books. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged out of the things which were written in the books, according to their works.”
Both revisions follow the older Greek copies. They drop "Jesus" from the demons' cry in Matthew 8:29; call Joseph Jesus' "father" in Luke 2:33; drop the words of Jesus' rebuke ("Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of") and his saying that the Son of man came to save lives in Luke 9:55-56; drop "because I go to the Father" in John 16:16; drop "him shall ye hear" from the prophet like Moses in Acts 7:37; drop "let us not fight against God" in Acts 23:9; drop "Thou shalt not bear false witness" in Romans 13:9; drop "by the law" in 1 Corinthians 7:39; drop "after the order of Melchisedec" in Hebrews 7:21; drop "before the throne of God" in Revelation 14:5; and have the dead stand "before the throne", not "before God", in Revelation 20:12.
“For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.”
“For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not murder,” “You shall not steal,” “You shall not covet,” and whatever other commandments there are, are all summed up in this saying, namely, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.””
“And there arose a great cry: and the scribes that were of the Pharisees’ part arose, and strove, saying, We find no evil in this man: but if a spirit or an angel hath spoken to him, let us not fight against God.”
“But he turned, and rebuked them, and said, Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of. For the Son of man is not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them. And they went to another village.”
“The wife is bound by the law as long as her husband liveth; but if her husband be dead, she is at liberty to be married to whom she will; only in the Lord.”
At Luke 2:33 the NIV reads "the child's father and mother" where the King James reads "Joseph and his mother"; the NASB has "His father and mother", and the Jehovah's Witnesses' New World Translation "its father and mother". At Hosea 11:12 the NIV (1984) and NASB call Judah unruly against God, where the King James says Judah "yet ruleth with God, and is faithful". At Acts 23:9 and Romans 13:9 all three leave out "let us not fight against God" and "Thou shalt not bear false witness". The NIV also follows the Revised Version at the other verses compared here.
Luke 2:33: who is called Jesus' father?
The King James reads "Joseph and his mother". The older manuscripts call Joseph Jesus' "father". So do the Revised Version and the NIV. The scholar Bart Ehrman argues that later copyists changed "father" to "Joseph" so that the verse would not seem to deny the virgin birth. The older wording denies nothing. Even in the King James, Mary calls Joseph "thy father" in Luke 2:48, as the man who raised him. The Qur'an affirms that Jesus had no human father. The point is that, on Ehrman's reading, copyists changed a verse to guard a doctrine, and the Bibles read today still differ on it.
“And Joseph and his mother marvelled at those things which were spoken of him.”
“And when they saw him, they were amazed: and his mother said unto him, Son, why hast thou thus dealt with us? behold, thy father and I have sought thee sorrowing.”
Both revisions follow the older Greek copies. They drop "Jesus" from the demons' cry in Matthew 8:29; call Joseph Jesus' "father" in Luke 2:33; drop the words of Jesus' rebuke ("Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of") and his saying that the Son of man came to save lives in Luke 9:55-56; drop "because I go to the Father" in John 16:16; drop "him shall ye hear" from the prophet like Moses in Acts 7:37; drop "let us not fight against God" in Acts 23:9; drop "Thou shalt not bear false witness" in Romans 13:9; drop "by the law" in 1 Corinthians 7:39; drop "after the order of Melchisedec" in Hebrews 7:21; drop "before the throne of God" in Revelation 14:5; and have the dead stand "before the throne", not "before God", in Revelation 20:12.
At Luke 2:33 the NIV reads "the child's father and mother" where the King James reads "Joseph and his mother"; the NASB has "His father and mother", and the Jehovah's Witnesses' New World Translation "its father and mother". At Hosea 11:12 the NIV (1984) and NASB call Judah unruly against God, where the King James says Judah "yet ruleth with God, and is faithful". At Acts 23:9 and Romans 13:9 all three leave out "let us not fight against God" and "Thou shalt not bear false witness". The NIV also follows the Revised Version at the other verses compared here.
Shows that the older manuscripts of Luke 2:33 call Joseph Jesus' "father", and that later scribes changed the words to "Joseph and his mother", with similar changes at Luke 2:43 and 2:48, so that the text would not seem to deny the virgin birth.
“She said: "O my Lord! How shall I have a son when no man hath touched me?" He said: "Even so: Allah createth what He willeth: When He hath decreed a plan, He but saith to it, 'Be,' and it is!”
Acts 7:37: the prophet like Moses and "him shall ye hear"
In Acts, Stephen quotes Moses' promise that God (﷾) will raise up a prophet like him. The King James keeps the command "him shall ye hear", as Deuteronomy 18:15 has it. The Revised Version, the American Standard Version, the NIV and the World English Bible do not have it in Acts. The command still stands in Deuteronomy 18:15 in every Bible. What differs is whether Stephen repeats it. Muslims read this promise of a prophet like Moses as a promise of the Prophet Muhammad (ﷺ). The command to hear him is the heart of it.
“This is that Moses, which said unto the children of Israel, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear.”
“This is that Moses, who said to the children of Israel, ‘The Lord our God will raise up a prophet for you from among your brothers, like me.’”
“The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken;”
Both revisions follow the older Greek copies. They drop "Jesus" from the demons' cry in Matthew 8:29; call Joseph Jesus' "father" in Luke 2:33; drop the words of Jesus' rebuke ("Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of") and his saying that the Son of man came to save lives in Luke 9:55-56; drop "because I go to the Father" in John 16:16; drop "him shall ye hear" from the prophet like Moses in Acts 7:37; drop "let us not fight against God" in Acts 23:9; drop "Thou shalt not bear false witness" in Romans 13:9; drop "by the law" in 1 Corinthians 7:39; drop "after the order of Melchisedec" in Hebrews 7:21; drop "before the throne of God" in Revelation 14:5; and have the dead stand "before the throne", not "before God", in Revelation 20:12.
"Yea, hath God said?"
The first tampering with God's (﷾) word that the Bible records is the serpent's. He began by questioning what God (﷾) had said, then he denied it outright. Some King James defenders say the same hand is at work in the words the modern Bibles leave out. The thought must be followed all the way back, to the King James itself. It prints words that the oldest Greek copies lack, 1 John 5:7 among them.
“Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?”
“And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:”
“For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one.”
On 1 John 5:7-8, reports that the words about the Father, the Word and the Holy Spirit are absent from every known Greek manuscript except eight late ones, four of which have them written in the margin as a later addition; that no Greek church father quotes them; and that every ancient translation except the Latin lacks them.
Either answer loses the Bible
Suppose the King James is God's (﷾) preserved word. Then the modern Bibles read by most Christians leave out God's (﷾) words. Suppose the modern Bibles are right. Then the King James prints words the oldest copies lack, 1 John 5:7 among them, and churches have read them as God's (﷾) word for centuries. Either way, millions of Christians have read as God's (﷾) word a Bible that differs from the other camp's Bible in whole verses. The New Testament scholar Robert M. Grant wrote that no manuscript deserves total allegiance. He also wrote that recovering exactly what the New Testament writers wrote is all but impossible.
“But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.”
Explains that the printed Greek New Testaments of Erasmus (1516) and Stephanus (1551), the basis of the received text, rested on the manuscripts that happened to be at hand from the medieval Greek church, and carried many accumulated errors; that much older manuscripts came to scholars' attention later, among them Codex Vaticanus, long kept in the Vatican Library, and Codex Sinaiticus; and that Tischendorf found 43 leaves of Sinaiticus at St Catherine's on Mount Sinai in 1844, was shown the rest in 1859, and that the codex went to St Petersburg and was sold by the Russian government to the British Museum in 1933 for 100,000 pounds. Grant adds that early manuscripts may contain many errors and late ones may keep good readings, that no manuscript deserves total allegiance, and that recovering what the New Testament writers wrote is all but impossible.
The Book whose verses are not in dispute
The Qur'an says God (﷾) sent it down and will guard it Himself. It was written down in the lifetime of the Prophet (ﷺ) by scribes such as Zayd ibn Thabit. It was gathered into one volume soon after his death. Muslims have no quarrel over which verses belong in it, or over which copy holds God's (﷾) words.
“We have, without doubt, sent down the Message; and We will assuredly guard it (from corruption).”
Zayd ibn Thabit reports that after many who knew the Qur'an by heart were killed at Yamama, Abu Bakr asked him to gather the Qur'an into one volume, reminding him that he used to write down the revelation for the Messenger of Allah. Zayd collected it from written pieces and from the memories of men, and the finished copy passed from Abu Bakr to Umar and then to Hafsa.
Verse by verse
Psalms 12:6-7 — Ketuvim, Tehillim, chapter 12, verses 6-7
“The words of the Lord are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times. Thou shalt keep them, O Lord, thou shalt preserve them from this generation for ever.”
Cited for
King James defenders read Psalm 12:7 as God's promise to preserve His words for ever, and so to preserve a perfect Bible.
The response
In the Hebrew, "words" is feminine but the "them" God (﷾) will keep is masculine. So it points back to the poor and needy of verse 5. The Jewish Publication Society's translation of the same verse goes on "Thou wilt preserve us". The psalm also opens its promise with the poor and needy whom God (﷾) will set in safety.
Where it lands — The psalm is no clear promise of a preserved Bible.
Matthew 4:4 — Gospel of Matthew, chapter 4, verse 4
“But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.”
Cited for
Modern Christians answer that every version carries the same doctrines and the same message, so it does not matter which one is read.
The response
Jesus spoke of every word, not of the general sense. And the versions do not carry the same words, even on doctrine. One has a verse saying the Father, the Word and the Holy Ghost are one, and the other does not. One has Acts 8:37 and the other has no such verse.
Where it lands — The versions differ in whole verses. They include the only verse that says the Father, the Word and the Holy Ghost are one. So "they all say the same thing" is not true.
Perspectives
King James Only
God promised to preserve His words, and He did so in the received Greek text and the King James Version. Modern versions come from corrupted manuscripts.
Jesus said man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.
Rebuttal
Jesus did say this. But the saying does not tell us which printed Bible holds every word. The King James and the modern Bibles differ by whole verses, so they cannot both be every word of God (﷾).
Psalm 12:7 in the King James Version promises that God will preserve His words for ever.
Rebuttal
The King James does say God (﷾) will preserve them for ever. But in the Hebrew, "words" is feminine and the "them" God (﷾) will keep is masculine. So it points back to the poor and needy of verse 5. The Jewish Publication Society's translation of the same verse goes on "Thou wilt preserve us".
Codex Sinaiticus is a pillar of the modern text. It carries about 27,000 corrections by many correctors, from the fourth century to the twelfth.
Rebuttal
Sinaiticus was corrected many times, and it still shows what one of the two oldest Greek Bibles said. The Greek text behind the King James came from late medieval copies that carry many errors. Counting the older book's corrections does not make the later text safer.
The 1881 revisers were told to make as few changes as possible. Yet they worked for ten and a half years without publicity and followed a different Greek text. They changed the New Testament's wording in more than 30,000 places. Defenders of the King James counted about 36,000.
Rebuttal
That shows how far the two Greek texts differ. More than 5,000 of those changes came from following a different Greek text, under a rule to follow the text the manuscripts supported most strongly. So the dispute is real, and neither side can show where every word is.
Modern textual scholarship
The oldest manuscripts are closer to what was written. The King James rests on a late text that has words the oldest copies lack.
The received text was printed in the sixteenth century from the late manuscripts at hand. It carried many errors that had built up over time.
1 John 5:7 in the King James is found in no early Greek manuscript.
The Islamic perspective
The quarrel itself is the answer. A book whose own defenders cannot agree which words are God's (﷾) has not been preserved as God's (﷾) word. The Qur'an has no such quarrel.
The King James and modern Bibles differ by whole verses. So they cannot both be every word of God (﷾).
Whichever side is right, millions of Christians have read a Bible as God's (﷾) word. It differs from the other camp's Bible in whole verses.
The New Testament scholar Robert M. Grant says no single manuscript deserves total allegiance and that the writers' exact words are all but impossible to recover.
The later Bibles lack words that the King James prints as God's (﷾) word. They are in Romans 13:9, Acts 7:37, Acts 23:9, Luke 9:55-56, John 16:16, Hebrews 7:21 and Revelation 14:5.
At Luke 2:33 the older manuscripts call Joseph Jesus' "father" and later ones read "Joseph". The scholar Bart Ehrman argues that copyists made this change to guard against a misreading of the virgin birth.
The charge that altering God's (﷾) word is the serpent's work falls on the King James too. It prints words, 1 John 5:7 among them, that the oldest Greek copies lack.
The Qur'an teaches that God (﷾) Himself guards it from corruption.