Difficulties in the Bible, Part 1: Three Passages That Aren't in the Earliest Manuscripts

Some passages in your Bible carry a footnote: the earliest manuscripts do not include these verses. Andrew opens a new three-part sub-series on Difficulties in the Bible by walking through the three most famous examples — what they say, how they got there, and why none of it should shake your confidence in Scripture.The three passagesJohn 7:53–8:11 — The woman caught in adultery. "Let him who is without sin cast the first stone." Absent from the earliest Alexandrian manuscripts, yet almost certainly a true account the early church knew so well that a copyist preserved it.John 5:2–9 — The healing at the Pool of Bethesda. Verse 4, describing an angel stirring the water, comes from the later Byzantine text behind the King James. Andrew explains the Sheep Gate and the sacrificial trade behind it, and what likely disturbed the water in reality.Mark 16:9–20 — The long ending of Mark. The earliest manuscripts end at 16:8, with an empty tomb and frightened women. Twelve verses were added later. Why Mark ends so abruptly, who John Mark was, and how to read the "signs" of verses 17–18 with care.Also in this episode: how Matthew and Luke drew on Mark; why Mark may have been written to be memorized; the young man who fled naked from Gethsemane; and Peter's mercy toward the man who once walked away.Part of the Hot Topics series on The Bible in 3D. Next up: the Old Testament and the "Jeremiah problem," followed by the Apocrypha.— The Bible in 3D is a Christ-centered Bible teaching podcast from Cogworks Media, hosted by Andrew.🔗 More shows and ways to give: cogworksmedia.org Cogworks Media is a 501(c)(3) public charity — gifts are tax-deductible.