6. Changes to Matthew and the Lord’s Prayer first appear in Byzantine texts – which is much later than commonly believed.
The prayer known as the Lord’s Prayer appears twice in the gospels, in differing versions, in both Luke and Matthew. Commonly among Protestant congregations, the prayer includes the doxology; “For thine is the Kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.” It appears thus in the KJV, Matthew 6:13. It does not appear in the similar in sentiment, but different in presentation version of the prayer which appears in the Gospel of Luke. It does not appear in the oldest known manuscripts of the gospel of Matthew, and appears to have been inserted into the gospel by an unknown writer, since subsequent verses are numbered out of order.
The doxology first appeared in the Byzantine texts of the gospel of Matthew. It appeared in the Didache, which was the first written catechism of the teachings of the twelve apostles and which appeared in the first century. Authorship of the Didache is unknown, other literary references to it appear during the third century, and though some Church Fathers argued for its inclusion in the New Testament it was not deemed to be sufficiently documented. When the doxology was inserted into the Gospel of Matthew is, likewise, uncertain. The modification of the Gospel of Matthew is acknowledged in new translations of the Bible, and many do not include it in their versions.