ICHABOD, THE GLORY HAS DEPARTED - explores the Age of Apostasy, predicted in 2 Thessalonians 2:3, to attack Objective Faithless Justification, Church Growth Clowns, and their ringmasters. The antidote to these poisons is trusting the efficacious Word in the Means of Grace. John 16:8. Isaiah 55:8ff. Romans 10. Most readers are WELS, LCMS, ELS, or ELCA. This blog also covers the Roman Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodoxy, and the Left-wing, National Council of Churches denominations.
NKJV changes Christ's last will and testament in Holy communion into a Calvinistic covenant.
NKJV teaches false doctrine, corrupts the true Word of God and is fraudulent in many places especially the words of institution. KJV says testament. Luther's Bible says testament. The Greek Textus Receptus says testament. Even the corrupt and fraudulent Nestle Aland says testament.
“For an angel went down at a certain time into the pool and stirred up the water; then whoever stepped in first, after the stirring of the water, was made well from whatever disease he had” (John 5:4).
A friend sent me Dr. Michael Heiser’s LogosTalk article “Who Took John 5:4 Out of My Bible?” You can read it here. According to Heiser, no one took it out. It was never in the Bible in the first place.
Here is the evidence Heiser cites that John 5:4 should not be in our Bibles:
It “is not found in any of the earliest and most accurate manuscripts of the Gospel of John.”
“In roughly two dozen manuscripts scribes put asterisk marks at the verse to warn the next scribe who would copy the manuscript that the verse was likely not original.”
“Four of the last five Greek words of what would be John 5:4 aren’t found anywhere else in John’s writings.”
As someone who believes the Majority Text is the correct text, I’d like to briefly explain why I think that the evidence strongly favors inclusion, not exclusion.
Let me begin by saying that Heiser is expressing the view of most New Testament scholars today. In fact, Metzger’s Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament says that the omission of John 5:4 is certain. That is, the committee gave omission an “A” rating, which “signifies that the text is certain” (p. 14*). For that reason, I am responding. I have nothing against Dr. Heiser. Indeed, I do not know him. And I’m glad he wrote this article since it gives us all a chance to consider the issue, which I believe is important.
First, the argument that “the earliest and most accurate manuscripts” surely contain the correct readings is weak. Over 3,000 times the three so-called earliest and best manuscripts, aleph, A, and B, disagree with each other.
That is actually the case in John 5:4. Manuscript A includes this verse. Aleph and B do not include.
Second, only eight manuscripts omit (aleph, B, C corrected, D, W, 1025, 0141, 33). But there are hundreds of manuscripts which include John 5:4. The external evidence strongly supports inclusion.
Third, the argument on word usage is weak. The last five words in the Majority Text of John 5:4 are egineto hō dēpote kateicheto nosēmati. Of those words, only the last three are rare in John’s writings. Two of those words, dēpote and nosēmati, only occurs here (= hapax legomena) in the entire New Testament. However, there are about 700 hapax legomena in the New Testament. We cannot exclude verses because they contain one or more hapaxes.
The second to last word, kateicheto, only appears here in John. Ah, but it only appears once in Acts too. But no one suggests Acts 27:40 should be omitted.
Consider the opening line in Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens. The words [it was] thebest of times, the worst of times, the age of wisdom, and the age of foolishness are not found again in the book. But no one suggests they should be omitted.
Fourth, as Heiser points out, the notion of the stirring of the water is found in John 5:7, “I have no man to put me in the pool when the water is stirred up…” The fact it is found in verse 7 lends support for verse 4 being original. Indeed, if verse 4 is not original, then verse 7 doesn’t make much sense. From an internal evidence standpoint, inclusion is strongly suggested.
Finally, I much agree with Heiser’s third application, “we need to be sure the content of our preaching and teaching has a secure footing in the text. God moved people to spend their lives transmitting the biblical text; the least we can do is pay close attention.” That statement is not dependent on the Critical Text. Whatever words are original, those we should accept and teach.
John 5:4 is in my Bible. If it isn’t in yours, then you should do as Heiser says in his second application: “it pays to compare Bible versions.” Amen.
Bob Wilkin (ThM, PhD, Dallas Theological Seminary) is the Founder and Executive Director of Grace Evangelical Society and co-host of Grace in Focus Radio. He lives in Highland Village, TX with his wife, Sharon. His latest books are Faith Alone in One Hundred Verses and Turn and Live: The Power of Repentance.
For an angel went down at a certain season into the pool and troubled the water. Whosoever then first stepped in, after the troubling of the water, was made whole of whatsoever disease he had.
for an angel of the Lord went down into the pool at appointed seasons and stirred up the water; the first one to go in after the water was stirred was healed of his disease.]
For an angel of the Lord went down at appointed seasons into the pool and moved and stirred up the water; whoever then first, after the stirring up of the water, stepped in was cured of whatever disease with which he was afflicted.
For an angel went down at a certain season into the pool, and troubled the water: whosoever then first after the troubling of the water stepped in was made whole of whatsoever disease he had.
For an angel descended at a certain season in the pool and troubled the water. Whoever therefore first went in after the troubling of the water became well, whatever disease he laboured under.]
And an angel of the Lord descended at certain times into the pond; and the water was moved. And he that went down first into the pond after the motion of the water, was made whole, of whatsoever infirmity he lay under.
For an angel would go down at certain times into the pool and stir up the water. Whoever stepped in first after the stirring of the water was healed of whatever disease he had.
·Sometimes [At a certain time; From time to time] an angel of the Lord came down to the pool and stirred up the water. After the angel did this, the first person to go into the pool was healed from any sickness he had|.
For an Angel went down at a certain season into the pool, and troubled the water: whosoever then first, after the stirring of the water, stepped in, was made whole of whatsoever disease he had.
because an angel would go down into the pool from time to time and stir up the water. Then the first one who got in after the water was stirred up recovered from whatever ailment he had].
Sometimes an angel of the Lord came down to the pool and stirred up the water. After the angel did this, the first person to go into the pool was healed from any sickness he had].
At certain times an angel of the Lord would go down into the pool and stir up the water, and whoever stepped in first after the stirring of the water was healed of whatever disease he had.
Some time later came one of the Jewish feast-days and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. There is in Jerusalem near the sheep-gate a pool surrounded by five arches, which has the Hebrew name of Bethzatha (the Pool of Bethesda). Under these arches a great many sick people were in the habit of lying; some of them were blind, some lame, and some had withered limbs. (They used to wait there for the “moving of the water”, for at certain times an angel used to come down into the pool and disturb the water, and then the first person who stepped into the water after the disturbance would be healed of whatever he was suffering from.) One particular man had been there ill for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there on his back—knowing that he had been like that for a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to get well again?”
For an angel went down at a certain time into the pool and troubled the water; whosoever then first after the troubling of the water stepped in was made whole of whatever disease he had.
For an angel went down at a certain season into the pool, and troubled the water: whosoever then first after the troubling of the water stepped in was made whole of whatsoever disease he had.
For an angel went down at a certain season into the pool, and troubled the water: whosoever then first after the troubling of the water stepped in was made whole of whatsoever disease he had.
Soon another Feast came around and Jesus was back in Jerusalem. Near the Sheep Gate in Jerusalem there was a pool, in Hebrew called Bethesda, with five alcoves. Hundreds of sick people—blind, crippled, paralyzed—were in these alcoves. One man had been an invalid there for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him stretched out by the pool and knew how long he had been there, he said, “Do you want to get well?”
For an angel went down at a certain time into the pool and stirred up the water. After the stirring of the water, whoever stepped in first was healed of whatever disease he had.
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 disease with which he was afflicted.]
For occasionally an angel of the Lord would come down into the pool and stir up the water. The first one into the pool after each such disturbance would be cured of whatever disease he had.]
Sometimes an angel of the Lord came down to the pool and stirred up the water. After the angel did this, the first person to go into the pool was healed from any sickness he had].
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.
For an angel went down at a certain time into the pool and stirred up the water; then whoever stepped in first, after the stirring of the water, was made well of whatever disease he had.
(*An angel of the Lord came at certain times and made the water move. All of them were waiting for it to move. Whoever got in the water first after it was moving was healed of whatever sickness he had.)
For an angel went down at a certain time into the pool and stirred up the water. Whoever then first after the stirring of the water stepped in, was made whole of whatever disease he had.
[For a malach Hashem from time to time descended into the berekhah (pool) and agitated the mayim; therefore, he who entered first after the agitation of the mayim, became whole, whatever choli (disease, sickness) he was held by.]
For an angel went down at a certain season into the pool and stirred the water. Whoever then first stepped in, after the stirring of the water, was made whole of whatever disease he had.
From time to time, a heavenly messenger would come to stir the water in the pool. Whoever reached the water first and got in after it was agitated would be healed of his or her disease].
for an angel went down at certain times into the pool and stirred up the water. Whoever stepped in first after the stirring of the water was healed of whatever disease he had.
An angel came down into the water at a certain time and made it move. The first person who stepped into the water when it moved was healed of any sickness that he had.
For the angel of the Lord came down certain times into the [standing] water, and the water was moved; and he that first came down into the cistern, after the moving of the water, was made whole of whatever sickness he was held [was made whole of whatever sickness he was holden with].
for a messenger at a set time was going down in the pool, and was troubling the water, the first then having gone in after the troubling of the water, became whole of whatever sickness he was held.
"Timothy Dwight is one of the renowned names in early American History. Dwight was born in Northampton Massachusetts, on May 14, 1752. His grandfather was Jonathan Edwards on his mother’s side. At the age of 17, he graduated from Yale College. For a time he served as a chaplain with George Washington in the American Revolutionary War. After the war he served as a minister, representative of Connecticut State Legislature, faculty member and in 1795 the College’s President. While he was there, he raised the academic standards and brought a spiritual emphasis to the campus. Before that, the students at Yale had been influenced by Rousseau and the French Revolutionary ideals. It was thought that there were less than ten Christians on campus. His leadership brought a spiritual revival which spread to other parts of New England college campuses." https://www.hymnal.net/en/hymn/h/853
