How can you detect a scribal error like the one in Romans 8:1?
A scribal error can be detected by analyzing a passage in the light of all Scripture, noticing wording that does not fit the context, and checking earliest manuscripts and Bible scholars. In Romans 8:1, the phrase about walking not after the flesh belongs in verse 4, not verse 1.
Les teaches that the words “Who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit” do not belong in Romans 8:1 but belong in Romans 8:4. He explains that if those words stay in verse 1, they would imply that a person gets into Christ Jesus by not walking in the flesh and by walking in the Spirit, which contradicts salvation being faith plus nothing, with no human energy or merit. The earliest manuscripts do not have the phrase in verse 1, and great Bible scholars agree it is an error. The way to detect such an error is to analyze the Scriptures in the light of what all of Scripture teaches; then the wording is seen as not fitting verse 1 but as perfect in verse 4. How it crept in, he says, nobody really knows.