(1) How the Subject was Raised
The 'internal evidence' sadly, is going to speak for itself, when placed in the light. We will content ourselves here with making a few simple observations:
Early in the history of the collating and printing of the NT text, (circa 1500-1800) it was noticed that these verses (7:53-8:11) in John were missing, or diacritically marked with suspicion in many manuscripts. This is in fact what raised a question and spurred an inquiry into their authenticity. Had this not been the case, critics would have had no reason to distrust the verses or the integrity of John in any way. This cannot be emphasized enough. No one was looking, nor had they any reason to look for evidence of 'editing' or even the use of previous 'sources' in John.
John is so unique in fact, that even though it covers the same period and 'apparently' the same person Jesus, very little can be shown to be directly related or borrowed from any other gospel (which is NOT the case with the other three gospels!) and the Pericope de Adultera is no exception. It cannot have been borrowed from another gospel and inserted into John in any process like that which obviously affected the Synoptics.
Nor does the addition of the passage change the nature of John or its general slant. The incident provides no new information about Jesus or doctrine, or special esoteric or gnostic knowledge. It is just more of the same material already found in John. This takes away any motive or purpose to its addition other than the simple desire to preserve a record of an incident in Jesus' life. This is inconsistent both with known editorial practices and even John's own intent and purpose. The case for addtion is implausible in the light of the textual history of the rest of the NT.
With or without the passage, John remains unique and unrelated to the Synoptics.
Critics turned to look for evidence against the authenticity of John 8:1-11 itself because of the strange behaviour of various scribes and copyists two to six centuries after its known existance as a part of John. And this itself is a logical non-sequiter: The observable behaviour is too distant in time from the early textual history and murky origins to have any direct bearing on the question. This is why the only real evidence of interest is the internal evidence.
The 'internal evidence' sadly, is going to speak for itself, when placed in the light. We will content ourselves here with making a few simple observations:
Early in the history of the collating and printing of the NT text, (circa 1500-1800) it was noticed that these verses (7:53-8:11) in John were missing, or diacritically marked with suspicion in many manuscripts. This is in fact what raised a question and spurred an inquiry into their authenticity. Had this not been the case, critics would have had no reason to distrust the verses or the integrity of John in any way. This cannot be emphasized enough. No one was looking, nor had they any reason to look for evidence of 'editing' or even the use of previous 'sources' in John.
John is so unique in fact, that even though it covers the same period and 'apparently' the same person Jesus, very little can be shown to be directly related or borrowed from any other gospel (which is NOT the case with the other three gospels!) and the Pericope de Adultera is no exception. It cannot have been borrowed from another gospel and inserted into John in any process like that which obviously affected the Synoptics.
Nor does the addition of the passage change the nature of John or its general slant. The incident provides no new information about Jesus or doctrine, or special esoteric or gnostic knowledge. It is just more of the same material already found in John. This takes away any motive or purpose to its addition other than the simple desire to preserve a record of an incident in Jesus' life. This is inconsistent both with known editorial practices and even John's own intent and purpose. The case for addtion is implausible in the light of the textual history of the rest of the NT.
With or without the passage, John remains unique and unrelated to the Synoptics.
Critics turned to look for evidence against the authenticity of John 8:1-11 itself because of the strange behaviour of various scribes and copyists two to six centuries after its known existance as a part of John. And this itself is a logical non-sequiter: The observable behaviour is too distant in time from the early textual history and murky origins to have any direct bearing on the question. This is why the only real evidence of interest is the internal evidence.
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