We have taught that the letter of the Scriptures has flaws, that it is most certainly not the "perfect Word of God." Many have been incensed at us for such a declaration. One of those passages not of God is found in John 5 concerning the Pool of Bethesda. Here's an interesting article I found that supports our stand in this matter:
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Spurious Passages in Scripture - John 5
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Victor Hafichuk
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Brad Mathews
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Re: Spurious Passages in Scripture - John 5
Thanks for sharing, Victor !
I found this article quite interesting, informative and it provides a detailed explanation of the Bethsaida Pools origin, probably of pagan roots, people looking for healing from a Greco-Roman god. Below I copied and pasted a portion I particularly found interesting from 2nd Century Church "father" Justin Martyr.
" While some modern Bibles still include the above text in brackets (3b-4), it is not contained in the earliest and most reliable manuscripts available to us today and therefore should not be treated as authentic. It seems that the Christian copyist, unfamiliar with cult of Asclepius and the Pool of Bethesda’s affiliation with it, added the explanation about the Angel of the Lord stirring up the waters, in an attempt to clarify things for his readers. In reality, he ended up sending all the following generations of readers in the wrong interpretive direction, missing the whole point of the story.
Contrary to popular opinion, ancient scribes were not always accurate in preserving every jot and tittle of the text they were copying. They did not embellish things, but certainly were not afraid to “clarify issues” when they thought something was missing. Hence, the new character in this story, the angel of Israel’s God, was added by a well-meaning, but misguided copyist. The copyist, unlike the author of John’s Gospel, was not aware of the Greek religious identity of Bethesda. It sounded to him, from the text he had before him and without any evidence of the contemporary culture, like the “house of mercy” of the God of Israel. He was simply mistaken. "
I found this article quite interesting, informative and it provides a detailed explanation of the Bethsaida Pools origin, probably of pagan roots, people looking for healing from a Greco-Roman god. Below I copied and pasted a portion I particularly found interesting from 2nd Century Church "father" Justin Martyr.
" While some modern Bibles still include the above text in brackets (3b-4), it is not contained in the earliest and most reliable manuscripts available to us today and therefore should not be treated as authentic. It seems that the Christian copyist, unfamiliar with cult of Asclepius and the Pool of Bethesda’s affiliation with it, added the explanation about the Angel of the Lord stirring up the waters, in an attempt to clarify things for his readers. In reality, he ended up sending all the following generations of readers in the wrong interpretive direction, missing the whole point of the story.
Contrary to popular opinion, ancient scribes were not always accurate in preserving every jot and tittle of the text they were copying. They did not embellish things, but certainly were not afraid to “clarify issues” when they thought something was missing. Hence, the new character in this story, the angel of Israel’s God, was added by a well-meaning, but misguided copyist. The copyist, unlike the author of John’s Gospel, was not aware of the Greek religious identity of Bethesda. It sounded to him, from the text he had before him and without any evidence of the contemporary culture, like the “house of mercy” of the God of Israel. He was simply mistaken. "
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Sean R Fife
Re: Spurious Passages in Scripture - John 5
I appreciated a lot of what the author had to say too, Brad.