During last week’s message, we looked at John 5:1-14 and saw how a mixture of truth and falsehood had influenced the people who lived in Jerusalem. The mythology of the Greek and Roman gods taught them that God must be capricious. The teaching of the Pharisees caused them to think that God was malevolent. Then the belief that an angel stirred the water and only healed the first one into the water made them think that God wasn’t really concerned with helping all of them. Thankfully, all of these ideas were incorrect. Jesus showed that God was not capricious, malevolent, or unconcerned. Instead, He showed Himself to be orderly, loving, and concerned. And He eventually showed these things by healing the man who had been sick for 38 years.
But something you may also have caught was the implication that the angel stirring the pool was probably an urban legend which resulted from these bad influences. This may have surprised you because I have always been one to teach what the Bible says. And you will recall that I have often taught about the miracles God did at various times in the Bible. I have taught about the miraculous crossing of the Red Sea, the miraculous deliverance of King Hezekiah from the Assyrians, and the miraculous resurrection of Jesus after He died. I believe that all of these miracles took place. So, why would I imply that what John 5:4 says about an angel stirring the water and healing people was an urban legend?
In today’s message, I would like to address that question. During this message, I will talk with you about the dependability of the Bible, the translation of the Bible, and some of the difficult passages in the Bible. After laying that groundwork, we will look at the passage in question and see what we can discover.
- The Dependability of the Bible
What does the Bible say about itself? (2 Tim. 3:16; 2 Pet. 1:20-21)
Unlike other books found in the library, the Bible is inspired by God. In 2 Timothy 3:16, Paul stated that all Scripture (meaning the whole Bible) is inspired by God. Inspired usually means that someone had a great idea at one point. But in this passage, Paul meant that the books we have in the Bible came from God. The word inspired means breathed out. As a result of God giving them to us, they are helpful for teaching and correcting us. In 2 Peter 1:20-21, we learn something else about the Bible. Peter tells us that the Scriptures did not originate with the person who wrote them. Instead, they wrote as God’s Spirit moved them to do so. As a result, what they wrote was not their own idea but specifically what God wanted to be written.
Why do we trust the Bible? (Psa. 19:7-11)
I would imagine that other religious books also claim to be from God. However, all religious books are not the same as the Bible because they are not inspired by God. How then do we believe that the 66 books in the Bible are inspired from God? Our belief that the 66 books of the Bible are inspired by God is based on what we have learned from the Bible. Consider Psalm 19:7-11. In this passage, the psalmist shows how the Bible converts the soul, makes us wise, brings joy, enlightens the eyes, and provide great reward. There is something that happens when someone reads the Bible. Because it is from God, the Bible produces faith and changes people like no other book on earth.
Why are certain books left out of the Bible? (1 John 4:1-3)
Were you aware that some religious groups add other books to their Bibles? Anglicans and Roman Catholics have a total of 73 books in their Bibles. The extra books are called the Apocrypha and include titles such as “1 Esdras, 2 Esdras, Tobit, Judith, Wisdom of Solomon, Ecclesiasticus, Baruch, the Letter of Jeremiah, Prayer of Manasseh, 1 Maccabees, and 2 Maccabees, as well as additions to the books of Esther and Daniel. Not all of these books are included in Catholic Bibles.”1 My research shows that these books contain historical and theological errors which conflict with what the Bible actually says. “Examples are petitioning saints in heaven for their prayers and almsgiving to merit grace or atone for sins.”2 There are also strange additions to the Book of Daniel which read more like detective stories than Scripture. Because of these and other problems, early believers realized that these books were not inspired by God. They saw God’s truth in only the 66 books found in our Bibles today.
In 1 John 4:1-3, John warned Christians to test the spirits whether they are from God. The same thing can be said about these other books which some have added to the Bible. I am convinced that only the 66 books of the Bible are inspired by God and therefore are profitable for teaching, rebuking, and correcting us. I have heard God speak to me through these Bible books and have seen how God changes a person’s life when he believes and obeys what God has revealed in the Bible. I also believe that what we have in the Bible can be depended upon to convey exactly what God wanted us to know. As Peter said, “His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue” (2 Pet. 1:3). In other words, you can depend on what God has revealed in the Bible to provide everything you need as a believer. And as you do, it will change your life. - The Translation of the Bible
How was the Bible written?
As mentioned earlier in 2 Peter 1:20-21, the Bible was not written by men who came up with their own ideas. Instead, each man who wrote a book of the Bible wrote what God’s Spirit led him to write. This is why each of the books of the Bible agrees with the other books. God was behind each writer, making their completed manuscript exactly what He wanted it to be, even though each writer had his own style of writing.
What happened to the original manuscripts?
The Bible was written over a period of about 1,500 years. And there were approximately 40 different men who were used by God to write it. During Old Testament times, the books of the Bible were written down and copied as needed. Jewish scribes were trained to carefully copy the manuscripts so that no words were left out. During the early church time period, the gospels and epistles were copied and shared among the churches. Over time, the original manuscripts wore out and were lost. However, there are thousands of copies of the original Hebrew and Greek manuscripts that still exist today.
Were any mistakes made in the copies?
As you can imagine, the people who were copying the Bible manuscripts must have been trying their best to make accurate copies. However, there are some slight variations in the manuscripts which we have today. Sometimes, it is word order or a slightly different spelling. For instance, one manuscript might say “Jesus Christ” while another says “Christ Jesus.” Thankfully, Bible scholars have been able to study the existing manuscripts, compare them, and discover what the original manuscripts said. This takes a lot of work but it is very helpful to us. Bible scholars have determined that the manuscripts are about 99% the same with only slight variations.
Who translated the Bible into English?
As Christianity spread throughout the world, there was a need to translate the Bible into a language that each person could understand. The Hebrew Bible was translated into Greek. The Greek Bible was translated into Latin. And eventually, the Bible was translated into English by John Wycliffe between 1380 and 1382.3 Other translations were made by William Tyndale, Miles Coverdale, John Rogers, and other Reformers. These men carefully compared the manuscripts that were available to them and translated them into the English language so that the common person could read and understand what God had said. Since then, we have had other good translations such as the King James Version (1611), the New American Standard Bible (1970), the New King James Version (1982), and the English Standard Version (2001). These translations were made by people who wanted to faithfully translate the Bible from the original languages so that English-speaking people would be able to understand what the Bible says.
Can we trust the Bible today?
So far, I have mentioned several things about the translation of the Bible. One is that our English Bibles are a product of translation from the original languages. Careful Bible translators have compared the various Hebrew and Greek manuscripts available to them and then made translations into the language we speak today. We are indebted to their work. However, if you have read multiple translations, you may have come across slight difference between them. You may have also seen footnotes that offer a slightly different way of understanding a verse. While this might be a bit confusing at first, try to remember that these differences are due to how the translators decided to put the original words into English and also the slight differences between the manuscripts we have today.
We have good translations of the Bible that can be trusted today because people took the time to translate the Bible into our language. As you read your Bible, be thankful that you can read God’s truths for yourself. And then be sure to do that. Read the Bible. It will change your life. - The Difficult Passages in the Bible
In recent messages, I have been doing my own translation work and have chosen to wrestle with any differences in the manuscripts without mentioning it from the pulpit. On many occasions, the differences are very small and do not take away from what is being said in the passage. However, there are times when it takes some time to investigate and to come to a conclusion about what is the best way to handle difficult passages. Allow me to give you several examples.
What is the correct ending of Mark’s gospel? (Mark 16:9-20)
When I was preaching through the Gospel of Mark, I came across one of these difficult differences in the last chapter. Mark concludes his account of the resurrection by talking about the various people who Jesus appeared to after his death. However, there is a footnote at verse nine which states that “Vv. 9–20 are bracketed in NU [Nestle-Aland and United Bible Societies] as not in the original text. They are lacking in Codex Sinaiticus and Codex Vaticanus, although nearly all other mss. of Mark contain them.”4 In other words, verses 9-20 are not found in several respected Greek manuscripts. This has caused some translators to wonder if these words are part of what God inspired for us to read.
When I preached through that passage, I chose not to mention these things to you because I was not convinced that these verses should be removed. It seemed rather odd to me that Mark would end his book with the women running away after the angel announced Jesus’ resurrection. It makes more sense that verses 9-20 are what he originally wrote especially since the majority of manuscripts include these verses. However, you can imagine how translators would have to wrestle with this since the words are missing in some of the Greek manuscripts.
Did an angel stir the water? (John 5:3b-4)
Last week, as I studied this passage about Jesus healing the man at the Pool of Bethesda, I came across a footnote that stated that “NU [Nestle-Aland and United Bible Societies] omits the rest of v. 3 and all of v. 4.” Really? Why is that? Apparently, the end of verse 3 and all of verse 4 are not found in some Greek manuscripts. One commentator noted that no manuscripts before AD 400 include these verses. “Scholars who make a career of comparing manuscripts (‘textual critics’ and ‘paleographers’) have discovered that in roughly two dozen manuscripts scribes put asterisk marks at the verse to warn the next scribe who would copy the manuscript that the verse was likely not original. To top it all off, four of the last five Greek words of what would be John 5:4 aren’t found anywhere else in John’s writings.”5 These facts have caused some to view the angel stirring the water as an addition or just an explanation added later to explain why the sick man felt like he needed to get into the water.
In this case, it is not a lack of faith in what God could do. If God wanted to send an angel to heal a few people in the water, He could. There is no question about that. God can do miracles and has done so many times. But for those, like me, who want to accurately translate what God originally inspired John to write, this is a difficult passage. Did John originally state that an angel stirred the water, or did someone add these words later? In one sense, it doesn’t matter because Jesus healed the man without getting him into the water. But on the other hand, the differences in the Greek manuscripts caused me to wonder. And that is why I referred to the angel stirring the water as an urban legend in last week’s message. If these words were added by a scribe later to help people understand why the man wanted to get into the water, it helps us to understand what the man was thinking. But if these words were originally written by John, they make sense as well.
Conclusion
Thinking through these things is difficult for anyone who works at translating the Bible from the original languages into English. As we have seen, translating the Bible involves more than just going from one language to another. It also involves careful consideration of the manuscripts preserved for us today. In conclusion, I would ask you to consider doing two things. First, thank God for those who have faithfully translated the Bible for us to read. One of my college classmates is currently translating the Bible into a language that doesn’t have a Bible translation. What a blessing it will be for those people to finally be able to read the Bible for themselves. We have had this opportunity all of our lives. Second, pray for this pastor. As we have seen, translating the Bible can be difficult especially when there are difficult decisions to make. Pray that I will have God’s wisdom and discernment as I seek to present God’s truth without error.
Bibliography
Hesier, Michael S., “Who Took John 5:4 out of My Bible?”, as viewed at https://www.logos.com/grow/took-john-54-bible on 6/12/2026.
“The Apocrypha Contradicts Scripture” as viewed at http://www.justforcatholics.org/a109.htm on 6/13/2026.
“What are the Apocrypha / Deuterocanonical books?” as viewed at https://printer.gotquestions.net/GeneratePF?articleId=1514 on 6/13/2026.
“What is the history of the Bible in English?” as viewed at https://printer.gotquestions.net/GeneratePF?articleId=53121 on 6/13/2026.
Footnotes