A Textual Analysis On John 5:3b-4 -- By: Joel Madasu

Journal: Journal of Dispensational Theology
Volume: JODT 20:61 (Winter 2016)
Article: A Textual Analysis On John 5:3b-4
Author: Joel Madasu


A Textual Analysis On John 5:3b-4

Joel Madasu*

* Joel Madasu, M.A.B.S., Ph.D., founder and director, Baptist Heritage Ministries, India

Jesus went to a feast of the Jews in Jerusalem. While the Lord was there, He saw a man laying by the pool of Bethesda. Knowing that the man was laying there for a long time, He asked the man if he would like to be healed. The sick man immediately responded and said, “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.”1 However, prior to Jesus asking him, verse 3 indicates that there were a multitude of people lying, who were blind, lame, and paralyzed. Some scholars believe that the reason why they were lying there is given in verses 3b-4, which states: “waiting for the moving of the water. 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.” The verses seem noteworthy, giving a notion that the copyists of the manuscripts might have added them. Therefore, the question is: Are these verses in the original manuscripts? How can one come to a conclusion on the authenticity of these verses? The purpose of this article is to examine the textual evidence pertaining to the verses and provide a solution regarding the authenticity of John 5:3b-4.

Textual Criticism Defined As Concerns Its Relevance

Apart from the biblical scholars, many might not know what textual criticism is and what is its importance. David Alan Black described textual criticism from the New Testament perspective, as “the study of the original text of the New Testament. It is dedicated to the principle that an understanding of this subject is possible for all students of the Bible. Its aim is to take inquirers behind the dust of scholarship to the living faith that pulsates in the New Testament documents.”2 Paul D. Wegner states,

“Textual criticism is the science and art that seeks to determine the most reliable wording of a text.”3 He further states that the textual criticism is a “science because specific rules govern the evaluation of various types of copyist errors and readings, but it is also an art because these rules cannot rigidly be applied in every situation.”4

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