In this episode of the series “Can I trust the Bible” the focus is on the text of the Bible. The subtitle of this episode is “The right text”, so Wes and Andy seek to show how we know that the text that we have in our Bibles is accurate. There is a lot of good content in this episode which gives solid evidence as to how we know that the Bible we hold in our hands matches what was written by the original authors.
I do want to touch on one thing that was mentioned and that is the “missing verses” in some people’s Bibles. Like Wes, I believe that the fact that some Bibles include some verses and others do not does not discredit the Bible, in fact it gives credit to the fact that we have so much detail about these verses that we can have a debate about them. Like Wes I also agree that the “missing verses” do not affect the major doctrines of Christianity.
However, I would like to put forth some arguments regarding the specific verse Wes was discussing, John 5:4 to show that there is still a strong debate going on with regard to these verses. Wes mentioned that p66 (the fragment of the gospel of John called Papyrus 66) did not include John 5:4 in it’s text. This manuscript dates back to between 150-250A.D. and is the oldest fragment that we have of the gospel of John which includes this section of the text. So, when solely looking at the manuscripts that we have, this first copy doesn’t have John 5:4. But, one of the early christian writers of the same time, Tertullian, who lived from 160-221A.D. wrote the following:
“If it seems a novelty for an angel to be present in waters, an example of what was to come to pass has forerun. An angel, by his intervention, was want to stir the pool at Bethsaida. They who were complaining of ill-health used to watch for him; for whoever had been the first to descend into them, after his washing ceased to complain.” (On Baptism I: 1:5)
Then, a bit more than 100 years later the Christian writer Ambrose who lived from 339-397A.D wrote:
“You read, too, in the Gospel that THE ANGEL DESCENDED AT THE APPOINTED TIME INTO THE POOL AND TROUBLED THE WATER, AND HE WHO FIRST WENT DOWN INTO THE POOL WAS MADE WHOLE.” On The Holy Spirit, 1.7
Adding to this the fact that the majority of the manuscripts found include John 5:4 and without it there are a lot of unanswered questions with regard to the man’s comment in John 5:7 so that it seems incomplete with out the verse. There is actually a strong argument to the fact that this verse is actually an original verse which should remain and if you want to read more about this view you can start by reading the article “John 5:4 Why is it missing?”
All this goes to show that we do have a lot of manuscripts of our Bible, which shows it’s accuracy, as well as a lot of writings of early Christians commenting on the scriptures which allows us to have such dialogue. How wonderful it is to know that our Bible has been carefully and accurately preserved for us down through the almost 2,000 years since the original writers penned the words.
So, as you watch this episode, do your own research find out the reality on the ground and you will grow by it.
