An Historical Account of Two Notable Corruptions of Scripture is a dissertation by the English mathematician and scholar Isaac Newton.
The account claimed to review the textual evidence available[2] from ancient sources on two disputed Bible passages: 1 John 5:7 and 1 Timothy 3:16.
Newton describes this letter as "an account of what the reading has been in all ages, and what steps it has been changed, as far as I can hitherto determine by records",[3] and "a criticism concerning a text of Scripture".
[5] Newton's work on this issue was part of a larger effort of scholars studying the Bible and finding that, for example, the Trinity is not found in the original manuscripts and is not explicitly expressed.
"[8] Today most versions of the Bible are from the Critical Text[clarification needed] and omit this verse, or retain it as only a marginal reading.
[12][13] There is evidence that the original Greek read 'ος' but was modified by the addition of a strikethrough to become 'θς' (see the excerpt from the Codex Sinaiticus, above[failed verification]).
Modern versions of the Bible from the Critical Text usually omit the addition to 1 John 5:7, but some place it in a footnote, with a comment indicating that "it is not found in the earliest manuscripts".
Newton's friend William Whiston (translator of the works of Josephus) lost his professorship at Cambridge for this reason in 1711.