John 5:1-15 (Please open your Bibles to this passage.)
This passage is the account of Jesus’ healing of the lame man at the pool of Bethesda; an account which only appears in the Gospel of John.
Many Bible scholars (a person can be a Bible scholar without being a Bible believer …) believed that the pool of Bethesda never existed. Those who doubted the truth of the account believed that John invented the story to embellish the story of Jesus. Why?
To make Him look greater than just another prophet?
To make a prophet into the Son of God?
In other words, to create a God where one doesn’t really exist?
However, in the very late 1800’s an excavation was started in Jerusalem near the ancient sheep gate and guess what they found! The pool of Bethesda right where the Bible said it would be!
So, let’s go ahead and read John 5:1-15 and today I’ll be reading from the NIrV which is a variation of the NIV and is specifically for those who perhaps have limited reading skills.
--- Reading from NIrV Translation ------------------------------------------------------------
Some time later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish feasts.
In Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate is a pool. In the Aramaic language it is called Bethesda. It is surrounded by five rows of columns with a roof over them.
Here a great number of disabled people used to lie down. Among them were those who were blind, those who could not walk, and those who could hardly move.
One person was there who had not been able to walk for 38 years. Jesus saw him lying there. He knew that the man had been in that condition for a long time. So He asked him, “Do you want to get well?”
“Sir,” the disabled man replied, “I have no one to help me into the pool when an angel stirs up the water. I try to get in, but someone else always goes down ahead of me.”
Then Jesus said to him, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.” The man was healed right away. He picked up his mat and walked.
This happened on a Sabbath day. So the Jewish leaders said to the man who had been healed, “It is the Sabbath day. The law does not allow you to carry your mat.”
But he replied, “The One who made me well said to me, ‘Pick up your mat and walk.’ ”
They asked him, “Who is this fellow? Who told you to pick it up and walk?”
The one who was healed had no idea who it was. Jesus had slipped away into the crowd that was there.
Later Jesus found him at the temple. Jesus said to him, “See, you are well again. Stop sinning, or something worse may happen to you.”
The man went away. He told the Jewish leaders it was Jesus who had made him well.
--- End of Reading from NIrV Translation ------------------------------------------------------------
Now, I do not know what translation you were reading from but if you were reading from a relatively modern translation the second half of the third verse and all of the fourth verse are left out, bracketed or footnoted but are found in other Bibles.
Why is that?
Is it because the translators are trying to hide something that they don’t like?
Is it because it includes some Biblical doctrine that they do not support?
Let’s see if we can find out.
But, before we start looking into it, I want you to know that this is being talked about in a spirit of love for God’s Word and for His people, the church.
Almost everyone has a favorite translation of the Bible.
I really wanted to talk about the miraculous power that was demonstrated in Jesus’ healing of the lame man but the absence of this 1.5 verses in some of the modern translations seemed to be a perfect time to address an issue I’ve been putting off for months now and that is the horror of Bible wars. And I mean horror!
There is a book by C.S. Lewis called the Screw Tape Letters and in this book a senior demon named Screwtape is advising a novice demon named Wormwood through a series of letters. The purpose of these letters is to prevent a person from becoming a Christian. After the man becomes a Christian the letters become about keeping the man from becoming an effective Christian with the ultimate hope of enticing the man into rejecting Jesus as his Savior.
Try to imagine that the man assigned to Wormwood is reading his Bible and as a result he is growing in his understanding of the Lord and His word.
So, Screwtape advises Wormwood to have him start an argument with another Christian about which translation of the Bible is the one and only true translation of the Bible and that all of the other translations are a road to hell.
What would be the result of such a fight?
Would this cause both of them to hate the other person’s preferred translation of the Bible?
Would this cause either of them to doubt God’s Holy word?!
Would they start to wonder if any translation is reliable?
And, there is an additional benefit for the demon.
Suppose these two Christians have that argument in public and non-believers overhear them arguing about which Bible is true and which is false.
What sort of damage could that do to the unsaved person who is listening?
Is there REALLY more than one Bible?
How would I even know which one was the right one?
Maybe they’re all false!
Just imagine the damage to an unbeliever or a young believer who would overhear such an argument!
Just imagine the glee in the heart of an atheist overhearing such a conversation!
Just imagine the glee in the heart of the demon inciting this hatred of two Christians toward each other and toward God’s Holy Word.
So, what about that missing 1.5 verses in the NIV that are in other Bibles?
The answer is that the NIV translators did not believe these verses should have been in the Bible to begin with.
Now, that is a bold statement!
Why is would they believe such a thing?
How could they make such a determination?
The KJV was originally translated in A.D. 1611. None of the manuscripts they were working from were more than 700 years old. They did have many manuscripts to work from and by comparison they were able to come very close to the wording of the original texts.
However, since AD 1600 many Biblical manuscripts have been discovered that are more ancient and more accurate than the manuscripts the KJV was based on.
When Bible scholars researched through these manuscripts, they discovered some differences. It seems that over the course of 1500 years, some words, phrases, and even sentences were added to the Bible (either intentionally or accidentally). The 1.5 “missing” verses from John 5 are simply not found in the oldest and most reliable manuscripts. So, some of the newer translations remove these verses or place them in brackets or place them in footnotes or in the margin because they simply do not truly belong in the Bible.
It is important to remember, however, that the verses in question are of minor significance. None of them change in any way the crucial themes of the Bible.
None of the missing verses have any impact on the Bible’s doctrines – such as Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection, Christ as the only way of salvation, heaven and hell, sin and redemption, and the nature and character of God.
The crucial themes of the Bible are preserved intact through the work of the Holy Spirit, who safeguards the Word of God for all generations.
As I studied this text it seemed to me that the second half of verse 3 and the entirety of verse 4 were added to explain what was being discussed in verse 7 otherwise verse 7 would be very puzzling.
Look at John 5:7 NIV
“Sir,” the invalid replied, “I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me.”
What does it mean, “When the water is stirred or troubled or disturbed?”
Is it like someone goes down periodically with a giant spoon and stirs the water in this huge pool?
And why would he need to get into the pool ahead of someone else?
Is it like someone shouted, “The last one in is a rotten egg?”
Of course not but the belief that an angel would come and stir up the waters and the first one in would have been lost after centuries or would be meaningless in another culture.
So, someone decided to add it in for the purposes of explanation.
So, is it completely proper to leave it in the Scripture without a notation that it was added at a later time? No.
Is it completely proper to leave it out of the Scripture? Yes, but without some kind of notation verse 7 would certainly be confusing.
Is it improper to place it in the Scriptures as a bracketed text with a footnote that it was added at a later time for the purpose of explanation?
When John wrote the Gospel of John the belief about the pool of Bethesda being a place of healing would have been general knowledge. The belief that at certain times and angel of God would descend and stir the waters of the pool and if you were the first one in you would be cured would have been common knowledge!
Centuries later and in foreign countries this was NOT common knowledge.
Some scribe along the way must have thought this information needed to be added for future generations. When you are copying onto a scroll that is 10 feet long it is difficult to make a footnote so they must have just decided to add it in.
I use many of the different translations.
Let me show you some of the Bibles Pastor Karenlee and I use.
Of course the translations used by the Jehovah’s Witnesses and the Mormons have been intentionally mistranslated in order to support their false belief systems.
If you know someone who has particular difficulty reading there is a translation
I recently discovered called the NIRV which uses a simplified vocabulary and shorter sentences and is based on the NIV or the ERV which was originally translated for the deaf because sign language uses a limited vocabulary.
Now, believe me, I grew up hearing and reading the KJV and when it is read in context I can understand most of it.
So, believe me when I put this up on the projection don’t think for a moment that
I am mocking the KJV but the differences in the meaning of words over the centuries is huge.
Just try to imagine an unchurched person with a limited education trying to make sense of this:
John 5:5-8 KJV
“And a certain man was there, which had an infirmity thirty and eight years. When Jesus saw him LIE, and knew that he had been now a long time in that CASE, He saith unto him, ‘Wilt thou be made whole?’
“The IMPOTENT man answered Him, ‘Sir, I have no man, when the water is troubled, to put me into the pool: but while I am coming, another steppeth down before me.’ Jesus saith unto him, ‘Rise, take up thy BED, and walk.’”
Those who have been raised on the KJV fully understand what is being said but
I would ask you to please, please, please do NOT give a KJV Bible to a new Christian especially if they have limited reading ability and unless you are going to sit alongside them to explain the meaning.
There are literally hundreds of words that are no longer in use or that have changed in meaning so much as to be confusing.
2 Corinthians 6:11-13 KJV
“O ye Corinthians, our mouth is open unto you, our heart is enlarged.
Ye are not straitened in us, but ye are straitened in your own bowels. Now for a recompence in the same, (I speak as unto my children,) be ye also enlarged.”
2 Corinthians 6:11-13 NIV
“We have spoken freely to you, Corinthians, and opened wide our hearts to you. We are not withholding our affection from you, but you are withholding yours from us. As a fair exchange - I speak as to my children - open wide your hearts also.”
THE LORD LOVES HIS HOLY WORD EVEN MORE THAN YOU OR I DO AND HE WILL PROTECT IT!
Let me give you an example of the Lord’s protection of His Holy Word.
When the KJV was translated there was absolutely not one Greek manuscript containing the last six verses of the book of The Revelation of Jesus Christ.
The only text the translators had was the Latin Vulgate which had been translated into Latin, a dead language, from a Greek manuscript which had been lost over the centuries.
So, for the last six verses of Revelation the translators of the KJV translated used the Latin Vulgate which had been translated from Greek. They then translated the Latin back into Greek and then used the Greek to translate into English.
So, the last six verses of Revelation are a translation of a translation of a translation of a translation of a lost manuscript.
Now, just how well do you think that would match up to the translations of the Bible that are based on a single translation from the most reliable ancient texts?
I would think that there would be vast differences and there certainly would be except for this fact; the LORD loves His Holy Word even more than we do and He will protect it!
Let’s compare!
Revelation 22:16a KJV/NIV
“I Jesus have sent Mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches.”
“I, Jesus, have sent My angel to give you this testimony for the churches.”
Revelation 22:16b KJV/NIV
“I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star.”
“I am the Root and the Offspring of David, and the bright Morning Star.”
Revelation 22:17a KJV/NIV
“And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come.”
“The Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come!’ And let the one who hears say, ‘Come!’”
Revelation 22:17b KJV/NIV
“And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.”
“Let the one who is thirsty come; and let the one who wishes take the free gift of the water of life.”
Revelation 22:18a KJV/NIV
“For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book …”
“I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this scroll …”
Revelation 22:18b KJV/NIV
“If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book …”
“If anyone adds anything to them, God will add to that person the plagues described in this scroll.”
Revelation 22:19a KJV/NIV
“And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy …”
“And if anyone takes words away from this scroll of prophecy …”
Revelation 22:19b KJV/NIV
“God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.”
“God will take away from that person any share in the tree of life and in the Holy City, which are described in this scroll.”
Revelation 22:20 KJV/NIV
“He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus.”
“He who testifies to these things says, ‘Yes, I am coming soon.’ Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.”
Revelation 22:21 KJV/NIV
“The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.”
“The grace of the Lord Jesus be with God’s people. Amen.”
Can you see how the Lord jealously guards His Holy Word?
Praise be to God forever!
Here’s our challenge for the day … Let’s be people of the Book!
The Book that is higher than any other book for it is the very Word of God!
