[Will Kinney]

John 8:16 - “And if I judge, my judgment is true: for I am not alone, but I and THE FATHER that sent me.”

The purpose of this little study is not so much to point out a huge difference in the meaning of the text, but rather to expose the fickleness upon which the so called “science of textual criticism” is based. This is just one of a hundred typical examples found in the New Testament.

There is a very definite textual difference in the reading of this verse. The words “the Father” are found in the vast Majority of all Greek texts as well as in P39, 66 and 75, and in the Sinaiticus correction, Vaticanus, many Old Latin copies, as well as the ancient versions like the Syriac Peshitta, Harkelian, Palestinian, Coptic Boharic and Sahidic, Armenian, Ethiopian, Georgian, Latin Vulgate and Slavonic. So one would naturally think that there should be absolutely no doubt about the inclusion of the words “the Father” in this text.

However, Sinaiticus original (which was later corrected to include the words) as well as manuscript D (well known for its numerous oddities) omit the words “the Father” and so do a number of modern versions. The interesting thing is that the Nestle-Aland critical texts keep on changing every few years and so does the NASB, which is based upon them.

When Westcott and Hort came out with their new critical text, they originally put the Greek words for “the Father” [in brackets], indicating doubt about their inspiration. Then in many later editions of the Nestle-Aland critical texts, they completely omitted the words “the Father” from their text. BUT now, based upon the same evidence they have ALWAYS had, the critical text ‘scholar’s’ have put the words “the Father” back into the text, and this time not even in brackets. That makes for THREE changes in the critical text editions over the years concerning just one word in the Greek - Father - pater.

The words “but I and THE FATHER that sent me” are found in the following Bible translations: Wycliffe 1395, Coverdale 1535, Bishops’ Bible1568, the Geneva Bible 1599, the KJB, Douay, Darby, Youngs, the Revised Version of 1881 (though WH bracketed the words, the RV included them in their version), the ASV of 1901, the “Rock of Biblical Honesty” [What a joke!] of the NASB, the NKJV, NIV, NRSV 1989, and the ESV of 2004.

As for foreign language Bibles, the words “the Father” are found in Luther’s German, the French Louis Segond, Martin, and Ostervald, the Spanish Reina Valera, the Portuguese Almeida and the Italian Diodati, just to name a few.

However, the NASB omitted the words “the Father” from all 8 of their revisions dating from 1963 till 1977. For all those years the NASB read: “for I am not alone in it, but I and HE WHO sent Me.” In other words, the NASB “scholars”, in spite of all the overwhelming evidence to the contrary, omitted the word “Father” and followed the reading of manuscript D in this place. But wait! Now once again in 1995 the NASB has changed and it now includes the word. The 1995 edition of the NASB now reads: “but I and THE FATHER who sent Me.”

Other bible versions that omit the words “the Father” and read things like “the One who” or “he who sent me” are the Revised Standard Version (but the later NRSV, and ESV put the words “the Father” back in), the Revised English Bible of 1989, the New English Bible of 1970, the Catholic versions of New American bible 1970, the Jerusalem bible 1969 and the New Jerusalem bible 1985, the New Berkeley version, and the up and coming ISV - International Standard Version. These guys just can’t seem to get their act together, can they.

This one example serves to illustrate the fickle and ever-changing nature of what the Bible Agnostics like to call the “science” of textual criticism.

For many more examples of this type of thing, see the following link:

http://www.geocities.com/brandplucked/scienceJohn.html

“Kept by the power of God through faith” 1 Peter 1:5

Will Kinney