Angel or Not, You Can Trust Your Bible
You can listen to the sermon from John 5:1-16 at our church website.
In these lay a great multitude of impotent fold, of blind, halt, withered, waiting for the moving of the water. For an angel went down at a certain season in 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. (KJV, emphasis added)
What Missing Verses?
Although the King James Version includes verses 3 and 4 completely some versions do not. In some Bible translations you'll find the verses in [brackets] or a footnote1 added and in others just a footnote and the portion of the verses in bold above are not included in the main text. For some people this difference has caused some confusion, why would it be in some and not in others? The answer to that question is found in the reality that Bible translation is really hard work. The simple answers of "it's in the KJV so it must be authentic" or "it's not in the oldest manuscripts so it shouldn't be there" don't help the conversation because neither of those answers properly give us confidence in the trustworthiness of the Bible. That's why Bible scholars are so rigorous in their study of the manuscripts and how we got the manuscripts. The hard work of these amazing people through the centuries is part of God's great work of preservation. Manuscript evidence is a big topic and one for us to discuss another time. For our purpose here we'll simply note that the vast weight of the textual evidence lies in favour of this portion being added to the text later.
Did An Angel Stir the Water of Not?
I am no language scholar. If you've heard me speak or read anything I've written you'll agree and probably point out accurately that I barely even have a grasp of the English language. Since I am not a proficient linguist when I come to issues like this I seek to learn from those who have skills in this area. In all my study I've come to agree with those who believe this portion was added later. We could go over the textual evidence but for most people that's tedious and boring so I want to show you three Bible reasons why I think these verses don't belong.
As the verses are quoted above it gives the impression that the visitation of the angel is fact and not a superstition or legend created around the pool. I have no doubt that if God wanted to He could send an angel to give healing but my question is did He? So here are my reasons from the Bible to show that this is not how God was working at the Pool of Bethesda but rather expresses what the people thought was going on there.
1. It's uncharacteristic of God's work in the Bible
I'm not denying that God does miracles, even in usual ways (like floating axe handles 2 Kings 6:1-7) or that God does use angels to do His work. Where else do we see God grant a place 'mystic' power? Where else do we see God perform a miracle that isn't attributed to Him? This circumstance seems ideally suited to foster superstition. If this was how God intended to work there why did Jesus overturn the process and not just help in down into the water that God has blessed?
2. It's uncharacteristic of God's Nature
A clear part of God's character is His compassion and care for the weak and the poor. Consider how God cares for Hagar and Ishmael who were terribly mistreated by Abraham and Sarah (Gen. 21:17). Since God is compassionate and caring for the weak and helpless (Isa. 25:4) He tells us over and over again through the Bible to care for the weak and oppressed (Psa. 82:3-4; Prov. 31:8-9; Jas. 1:27). If God's nature is to defend the defenseless and raise up the afflicted then why is He putting the helpless in competition with each other at this pool?
3. It's uncharacteristic of God's purpose for miracles
God's purpose for miracles has never been just to relieve suffering. Clearly, God cares about suffering and that's part of what is ultimately destroyed through the death and resurrection of Christ. Miracles always have a grander purpose than taking away pain, they are designed to teach us something about God. To direct our attention directly to God. While Jesus was on earth they were intended to prove He is God (Jn. 20:30-31). It is clear that whatever people believed was happening at this pool it wasn't directing them to God.
In the end it doesn't really make a difference to the point of the passage if these verses are included or not and that is an encouraging thing. Why? After all these thousands of years and the thousands of copies of the Scriptures made over those years these are the only discrepancies we have. The Bible you are reading today (with or without these verses) is a trustworthy, reliable and true account of God's Word. There are a staggering 24,000 (approx) manuscripts of the Bible in existence and they are 99.5% in agreement. That small amount of disagreement across all manuscripts is about things as minor as an angel splashing in a pool.
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