John 18 (WEB)
This video concerns the subject of New Testament criticism as it relates to one of the oldest portions of the New Testament and the enormous manuscript support for the New Testament. The video is used by permission of Dr. Joseph Holden from his video on Important New Testament Discoveries.
Papyrus 52 is a very important find in biblical textual criticism, and for us who are concerned with the question of the authenticity of the Gospels.
Before P52 was found — and I should say again papyrus, which was a reed in the Nile area in Egypt that became a major industry in the ancient world, because they would cut these up and form them into what was, in their day, their paper, although it's so much different from ours.
But they would write on these, but they're perishable.
They don't last a long time unless they're in very arid conditions.
But they did find this P52, and the significance of it is you have John 18, portions of it, found on this piece of papyrus.
Now, prior to this time, scholars of the critical school were saying John was not written by, obviously, the Apostle John or the beloved John of John 21.
But it was written in the later second century, almost toward the beginning of the third.
And then they found this document that dates around AD 125, somewhere around there.
There's a little variance, but essentially AD 125.
Now, if it's AD 125, then John's gospel had to be written way before the end of the second century.
John's gospel is written before the end of the first century, which is what we've been arguing for a long time.
I would say John's Gospel somewhere between about 85 and 90, someplace in there.
So a very important find for biblical criticism.
And we find a lot of these things.
It's not just P52.
There's a lot of evidence out there, thousands and thousands of manuscripts, not to mention 10,000 translations that reflect the text in the ancient world.
Just a magnitude above what is found in any other kind of literature of the ancient world, and classical scholars give credence to their sources oftentimes that from their original source may be a thousand years removed, and yet here we're talking of something that's less than a generation removed.
One of the most important books of the ancient world that one finds is the works of Homer, the Iliad and the Odyssey.
I think they have about 900 of those manuscripts, but still we're talking about a thousand years from the time they were written to the first copies.
And that's not great, and yet classical scholars consider those sources to be credible.
You have works of Plato and Aristotle, some of these only number in just a few, two, three sometimes.
Thucydides, the works of Aristophanes, people that are of the ancient world that we could mention both in Greek and Latin.
You have many, many manuscripts, but they are just infinitesimal in comparison to what you find with the New Testament.
We have a little over 5,700 manuscripts of the New Testament.
5,700.
That's just Greek.
That doesn't count the ones that were maybe 10,000 different translations of the New Testament.
And that does not count the fact that you could basically reconstruct the entire New Testament just from the writings of the ancient fathers of the church in the second and third centuries.
The problem is not that we don't have enough sources for the New Testament.
The problem is we have so many, we don't know what to do with them all.
1When Jesus had spoken these words, he went out with his disciples over the brook Kidron, where there was a garden, into which he and his disciples entered. 2Now Judas, who betrayed him, also knew the place, for Jesus often met there with his disciples. 3Judas then, having taken a detachment of soldiers and officers from the chief priests and the Pharisees, came there with lanterns, torches, and weapons. 4Jesus therefore, knowing all the things that were happening to him, went out and said to them, “Who are you looking for?”
5They answered him, “Jesus of Nazareth.”
Jesus said to them, “I am he.”
Judas also, who betrayed him, was standing with them. 6When therefore he said to them, “I am he,” they went backward and fell to the ground.
7Again therefore he asked them, “Who are you looking for?”
They said, “Jesus of Nazareth.”
8Jesus answered, “I told you that I am he. If therefore you seek me, let these go their way,” 9that the word might be fulfilled which he spoke, “Of those whom you have given me, I have lost none.”
10Simon Peter therefore, having a sword, drew it, struck the high priest’s servant, and cut off his right ear. The servant’s name was Malchus. 11Jesus therefore said to Peter, “Put the sword into its sheath. The cup which the Father has given me, shall I not surely drink it?”
12So the detachment, the commanding officer, and the officers of the Jews seized Jesus and bound him, 13and led him to Annas first, for he was father-in-law to Caiaphas, who was high priest that year. 14Now it was Caiaphas who advised the Jews that it was expedient that one man should perish for the people.
15Simon Peter followed Jesus, as did another disciple. Now that disciple was known to the high priest, and entered in with Jesus into the court of the high priest; 16but Peter was standing at the door outside. So the other disciple, who was known to the high priest, went out and spoke to her who kept the door, and brought in Peter. 17Then the maid who kept the door said to Peter, “Are you also one of this man’s disciples?”
He said, “I am not.”
18Now the servants and the officers were standing there, having made a fire of coals, for it was cold. They were warming themselves. Peter was with them, standing and warming himself.
19The high priest therefore asked Jesus about his disciples and about his teaching.
20Jesus answered him, “I spoke openly to the world. I always taught in synagogues and in the temple, where the Jews always meet. I said nothing in secret. 21Why do you ask me? Ask those who have heard me what I said to them. Behold, they know the things which I said.”
22When he had said this, one of the officers standing by slapped Jesus with his hand, saying, “Do you answer the high priest like that?”
23Jesus answered him, “If I have spoken evil, testify of the evil; but if well, why do you beat me?”
24Annas sent him bound to Caiaphas, the high priest.
25Now Simon Peter was standing and warming himself. They said therefore to him, “You aren’t also one of his disciples, are you?”
He denied it and said, “I am not.”
26One of the servants of the high priest, being a relative of him whose ear Peter had cut off, said, “Didn’t I see you in the garden with him?”
27Peter therefore denied it again, and immediately the rooster crowed.
28They led Jesus therefore from Caiaphas into the Praetorium. It was early, and they themselves didn’t enter into the Praetorium, that they might not be defiled, but might eat the Passover. 29Pilate therefore went out to them and said, “What accusation do you bring against this man?”
30They answered him, “If this man weren’t an evildoer, we wouldn’t have delivered him up to you.”
31Pilate therefore said to them, “Take him yourselves, and judge him according to your law.”
Therefore the Jews said to him, “It is illegal for us to put anyone to death,” 32that the word of Jesus might be fulfilled, which he spoke, signifying by what kind of death he should die.
33Pilate therefore entered again into the Praetorium, called Jesus, and said to him, “Are you the King of the Jews?”
34Jesus answered him, “Do you say this by yourself, or did others tell you about me?”
35Pilate answered, “I’m not a Jew, am I? Your own nation and the chief priests delivered you to me. What have you done?”
36Jesus answered, “My Kingdom is not of this world. If my Kingdom were of this world, then my servants would fight, that I wouldn’t be delivered to the Jews. But now my Kingdom is not from here.”
37Pilate therefore said to him, “Are you a king then?”
Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. For this reason I have been born, and for this reason I have come into the world, that I should testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.”
38Pilate said to him, “What is truth?”
When he had said this, he went out again to the Jews, and said to them, “I find no basis for a charge against him. 39But you have a custom that I should release someone to you at the Passover. Therefore, do you want me to release to you the King of the Jews?”
40Then they all shouted again, saying, “Not this man, but Barabbas!” Now Barabbas was a robber.