Daily Scripture Reading John 5:5-27
Christians believe that several thousand years ago, the Holy Spirit inspired a handful of men to write some documents that were inerrant messages from God to mankind. They were collected into a book that we call the Bible. Christians naturally want 100% certainty about what belongs in the Bible and what does not.
However, God used human processes to distribute and preserve His messages; therefore, since humans are imperfect, the messages of God have not been perfectly preserved and communicated. Today’s passage is an example of a portion of scripture where there are questions about what was originally written. Fortunately, less than 1% of the text of the Bible is questionable.
This passage helps us practice differentiating between what is certain and what is doubted, so that we can focus on what we know, not what we don't know.
After spending a couple days in Samaria, Jesus went into Galilee. He healed the son of a royal official. Then He traveled to Jerusalem for a feast of the Jews.
John 5:2 ¶ Now there is in Jerusalem by the sheep gate a pool, which is called in Hebrew Bethesda, having five porticoes.
John 5:3 In these lay a multitude of those who were sick, blind, lame, and withered, [waiting for the moving of the waters;
Notice the opening bracket before the word “waiting”.
John 5:4 for an angel of the Lord went down at certain seasons into the pool and stirred up the water; whoever then first, after the stirring up of the water, stepped in was made well from whatever sickness with which he was afflicted.]
Notice the closing bracket at the end of the verse. The brackets indicate there is some question as to whether or not the words in between the brackets were actually part of the original text of this book.
When John wrote his gospel, printing presses did not exist. Therefore, in order to replicate his book and distribute it to the churches, they had to make copies of it by hand. Those copies wore out as they were used, so they made copies of the copies.
The printing press was invented over 1,000 years after John wrote his gospel, so the process of hand-making copies of the copies of the copies continued for over 1,000 years. At some point the original copy of every book of the Bible was destroyed. All we have today are many copies of each book.
Humans made the copies and humans are not perfect; therefore, it was inevitable that some mistakes would be made along the way. It is also possible that a scribe intentionally added or deleted something. Today, the way we determine what was originally written is to compare all the copies we have and see where the copies agree and disagree with each other.
There are very few verses where there is debate over what was written in the original text. Verse 4 is one of them.
John 5:5 And a man was there who had been sick for thirty-eight years.
John 5:6 When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had already been sick a long time, He said to him, “Do you wish to get well?”
John 5:7 The sick man answered Him, “Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, but while I am coming, another steps down before me.”
It is universally accepted that verse 7 was part of the original text. If verse 4 was not part of the original text, then we would not understand why the sick man wanted someone to put him into the pool when the water stirred up. That is an argument in favor of verse 4 having been part of the original text.
On the other hand, if verse 4 was part of the original text, then why would any scribe have left verse 4 out. It is too big an omission to think it was accidental; plus, there are many manuscripts which leave it out.
Ultimately, we do not know if verse 4 was part of the original text or not.
Many Christians are bothered by this. We would love it if we had the original manuscripts or if all the copies were in 100% agreement with each other.
However, that is not how God chose to preserve His words. He used humans to copy and distribute His word. Humans make mistakes. If the original manuscripts still existed, humans probably would have started worshipping those manuscripts at some point.
Instead of getting hung up on the verses where there are questions about what was originally written, we need to focus on that fact that there is no doubt about 99% of the text of the Bible. Let’s not worry about what we don’t know. Let’s make sure we study, learn, and apply the portions of scripture where we know for sure what was originally written.
John 5:8 Jesus said to him, “Get up, pick up your mat and walk.”
John 5:9 And immediately the man became well, and picked up his mat and began to walk. ¶ Now it was the Sabbath on that day.
The point of this passage is not about whether or not the waters could heal people. The point is Jesus healed a man.
John 5:10 So the Jews were saying to the man who had been healed, “It is the Sabbath, and it is not lawful for you to carry your mat.”
John 5:11 But he answered them, “He who made me well was the one who said to me, ‘Pick up your mat and walk.’”
John 5:12 They asked him, “Who is the man who said to you, ‘Pick up your mat and walk’?”
John 5:13 But the man who was healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had slipped away while there was a crowd in that place.
John 5:14 Afterward Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, “Behold, you have become well; do not sin anymore, so that nothing worse happens to you.”
John 5:15 The man went away, and disclosed to the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well.
John 5:16 And for this reason the Jews were persecuting Jesus, because He was doing these things on the Sabbath.
John 5:17 But He answered them, “My Father is working until now, and I Myself am working.”
John 5:18 ¶ For this reason therefore the Jews were seeking all the more to kill Him, because He not only was breaking the Sabbath, but also was calling God His own Father, making Himself equal with God.
Don’t miss the significance of this. When Jesus referred to His Father, the Jews understood He was referring to God. They grasped that Jesus was claiming to be equal to God.
Notice the word “kill”. The Jews were not mildly opposed to Jesus. They were strongly opposed and wanted to kill Him. This antagonism would continue until they actually did kill Him.
John 5:19 ¶ Therefore Jesus answered and was saying to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing from Himself, unless it is something He sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, these things the Son also does in the same manner.
John 5:20 For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things that He Himself is doing; and the Father will show Him greater works than these, so that you will marvel.
John 5:21 For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son also gives life to whom He wishes.
John 5:22 For not even the Father judges anyone, but He has given all judgment to the Son,
John 5:23 so that all will honor the Son even as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him.
John 5:24 ¶ “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life.
Note the phrase “believes Him”. As we have seen in previous chapters and will see throughout the rest of the book, people have to believe in order to have eternal life. Salvation does not come merely by asking for it. People must have certain beliefs in order to be saved.
John 5:25 ¶ Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live.
John 5:26 For just as the Father has life in Himself, even so He gave to the Son also to have life in Himself;
John 5:27 and He gave Him authority to execute judgment, because He is the Son of Man.
Tomorrow we will finish reading this teaching of Jesus.
Out of the 26 verses we read today, there is great confidence that 24 of them were part of the gospel originally written by John. What are some truths in those 24 verses that are more important than whether or not verse 4 was part of the original text?
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“Scripture quotations taken from the (LSB®) Legacy Standard Bible®, Copyright © 2021 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Managed in partnership with Three Sixteen Publishing Inc. LSBible.org and 316publishing.com.”