Subject: "Divinely Inspired"? |
Bible Note: Hello rb8, Thanks for the clarification. Yes, most translations will have a footnote regarding John. 7:53- 8;11. The ESV says, “The earliest manuscripts do not include in John.” There are varying views on the inclusion of this passage. The late AT Robertson, a noted NT Greek scholar states: “This verse and through 8:12 (the passage concerning the woman taken in adultery) is certainly not a genuine part of John’s Gospel. The oldest and best MSS. (Aleph A B C L W) do not have it. It first appears in Codex Bezae. Some MSS. put it at the close of John’s Gospel and some place it in Luke. It is probably a true story for it is like Jesus, but it does not belong to John’s Gospel. The Canterbury Version on which we are commenting puts the passage in brackets. Westcott and Hort place it at the end of the Gospel.” [Word Pictures in the New Testament] Zane Hodges of Dallas Theological Seminary offers that, “Despite a strong scholarly consensus that would exclude it from the text of John’s Gospel, the story’s own inherent power and its unmistakable ring of truth remain unimpaired. Like the rest of Scripture, it yields substantial spiritual benefit to those who study it with a genuine respect for its integrity and divine authority.” He goes on to add that, “In that study it was concluded that the evidence which favors its omission from John’s Gospel is far from conclusive. The fact remains, however, that a very large majority of the surviving Greek manuscripts of John’s Gospel contain the story precisely where it has been traditionally found in the English Bible—namely, after John 7:52. The simplest and most satisfying explanation of this phenomenon is that the narrative has had a long transmissional history and that, indeed, it is likely to have always been found in a majority of the extant Greek texts of every period stretching back to the date of the autograph itself. In the exposition to follow, it will be pointed out from time to time that the story about the adulteress also bears significant marks of Johannine authorship. Accordingly it will be treated here as an integral and authentic portion of the Fourth Gospel.”[ Bibliotheca Sacra : A quarterly published by Dallas Theological Seminary. 1996, (47). Dallas TX: Dallas Theological Seminary.] I hope this helps, BradK |