The Pericope Adulterae
I know what you’re thinking: “What on Earth is the ‘pericope adulterae’?” I’ll tell you what it is; it is a very difficult subject to discuss with Christians for the first time. “Why?” you may ask. Well, if I told you that there is a very well known passage of scripture in your Bible that New Testament scholars believe was most likely not originally written by the authors, how would you feel? When I first heard of this, I was a little shaken, albeit unnecessarily. No one in my home church told us about these issues, whether at the pulpit, Sunday school, or youth group. I heard it for the first time in my early twenties, thankfully from a Christian apologist. I believe that textual issues such as this should not be swept under the rug, but taught carefully and truthfully in a Christian setting. If this isn’t being taught in the church, where do you think people will hear it for the first time? Most likely it will come from a college professor bent on destroying the faith of his or her students. Or perhaps from an atheist co-worker, friend, or even family member with that same goal. This information is nothing Christians need to be uneasy about, but hostile persons may try to present this information as if it is. Therefore, I find it necessary to help people understand difficult issues as this one before that can happen. All that being said, grab your coffee and biscotti and let’s dig in.
You can pretty much disregard the Latin title “Pericope Adulterae,” as almost everyone and their mother know it as the “woman caught in adultery.” Yes, we are dealing with the excerpt from scripture (pericope) found at the end of John chapter 7 and the beginning of John chapter 8. The fact is, this beloved story is believed by the vast majority of scholars (both Christian and non-Christian) to not be original to John’s gospel. The earliest manuscript of John’s gospel that contains the PA (pericope adulterae) is Codex Bezae, which is dated to the early fifth century; over 300 years after John is believed to have written his gospel, and about 350 years after Luke wrote his gospel. Why do I bring up Luke? Because there are good reasons to believe that he played a role in the transmission of the PA.
While the PA doesn’t seem to come from John, textual critics have noted that it contains vocabulary and grammar that is remarkably similar to Luke’s style of writing. However, while Luke may have written it down in a separate document, or perhaps passed it on orally, it is highly unlikely, due to the lack of manuscript evidence, that he included the story in his gospel.
Having said all of that, it is important to note that while the story of the woman caught in adultery is probably not original to the gospels of John or Luke, scholars do believe that the story is in fact historical, due largely to its early preservation in Papias and the Didascalia, and Didymus and the Gospel of the Hebrews.
You may now be thinking, “Are there any other passages like this I should know about?” and the answer is, two others, actually. Don’t freak out! I’ll tell you why you shouldn’t after briefly mentioning the other two passages of scripture that were also, most likely, not written in the autographs (the original documents written by the authors) of the New Testament. The first one I will mention is what is commonly known as the “longer ending of Mark.”
Manuscript evidence strongly suggests that the gospel of Mark ended with verse 8. However, your Bible at home may contain twelve extra verses after verse 8! (Now you have another reason to blow the dust off that Bible on your bookshelf!) I may cover this passage in greater detail in another article one day, but for the sake of keeping this one at an appropriate length, I will move on to the last major passage that was most likely a later addition. We find our last stow-away in 1 John chapter 5.
1 John 5:7 “For there are three that testify,” (NET)
1 John 5:7 Long Version: “For there are Three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these Three are one.” (KJV)
1 John 5:7 has been used by some as a proof-text for the doctrine of the Trinity. However, those who have studied this passage in depth do not use this verse in their Biblical case for the Trinity, because the longer version is not found in the earliest and best manuscripts. In fact, it doesn’t show up in any manuscripts until the 10th century! Not only that, but in the earliest copy containing the extra words, they are only included as a marginal note. As a matter of fact, only 9 later manuscripts contain the longer verse, and four of those nine have it as a marginal note. We need not worry over this verse, as the doctrine of the Trinity was well established and defended long before this addition was made. And that brings me to the reason these passages should not concern you.
These three passages of scripture are the largest variants among the more than 20,000 manuscripts, and while there are many other variants, it is astounding that not a single doctrine is threatened by the hundreds of thousands of variants we find among the copies we have spanning over 1500 years! If you ask me, it seems like Someone divinely preserved His Word just as He said He would.
“Heaven and Earth will pass away, but My words will never pass away.” -Matthew 24:35 NET
Recommended Resources:
Article: The Lukan Special Material and the Tradition History of the Pericope Adulterae by Kyle R. Hughes
Youtube Video: How the Bible Was Changed by Mike Winger