2 Cents

Mention this in almost any evangelical church in America today and you will probably upset at least one person (although they might not mention it to you). More than likely you'll upset plenty. It's not because they are blind bigots or liberal theologians but because they have grown up to love this story and cherish it as part of what they always believed was the inspired, inerrant Word of God. It's hard to hear that one of the most touching stories of Jesus' love and grace to a sinner was not actually intended to be in the Bible.

Now let me mention, as an aside, that this does not mean the story isn't true or didn't happen! The story is very likely a factual account of an actual occurrence in Jesus' ministry. We can still learn a great lesson from it. We can still read it during our devotional time when we come to this point in the book of John.

But as seekers of the truth we must open our hearts to the hard and honest work of textual critics and NT scholars that seem to all but prove this text is not original. Why? Because as believers in the authority and transforming power of the Bible, the Word of God, we need to get it as accurate as possible. As Protestants we don't believe the Apocrypha should be included in the canon of Scripture we call The Bible. If that's the case we need to distinguish passages that have historically been included but now - with older and more accurate manuscripts being discovered - are being found to be unoriginal to the inspired text.

As Christians we can't be afraid of textual criticism because we can't be afraid of the truth. Don't worry and fret... conservative evangelicals will sort out the liberals and revisionists who try to take out parts of Scripture to suit their own theological agenda. But that's not what's happening with John 7:53-8:11. We can't be afraid of the truth... and even more, we should embrace it! God's originally inspired Word is different from any other writing or collection of writings in history - even other accounts of Jesus' ministry - because it was overseen by God Himself and inspired by the Holy Spirit Himself. Only those words have the power to pierce our hearts, divide soul and spirit, joints and marrow, and to judge the thoughts and attitudes of our heart (Hebrews 4:12). So let's get it right.

I've included a video below that presents some extremely interesting (at least to me) facts about textual criticism and the process of getting the NT as accurate as possible. Say what you will about John Piper, but this video just includes facts and he's studied this stuff more than most.