Today lets talk about what are authentic words of Jesus. Not everything attributed to Jesus in the Bible are his authentic words. How do we know this? Because there are some passages that were added later by scribes. Some were not happy with the ending of Mark, so they added the section of verses that talk about handling serpents and drinking deadly poison. This section is not in our original/oldest scriptures so they are not the words of Jesus. See my blog post from Sept 9, 2022.
Likewise, in John 8, the woman caught in adultery is not an authentic Jesus story. Yes it makes all of the Jesus movies, but it also was a later addition. It is not a true Jesus story. If you don’t want to believe me, look in an NIV version bible and you can see the section is blocked off and noted with the phrase… “our oldest and most reliable manuscripts do not contain…” See my blog post from Sept 8, 2022.
So there are some words of Jesus in the Bible that are not words of Jesus at all. Now my conservative friends may want to kill me for saying this, but many scholars suggest that this phrase, "the way, the truth and the life" attributed to Jesus is not authentic either.
Scholars note that this phrase is only found in the gospel of John. John is the latest or newest gospel, Matthew, mark and Luke were earlier. None of the early three contain the “way, truth and life” statement. Scholars would tell you that John was written to convert people, while the earlier three gospels were “just the facts only.” They would point to the last phrase in the gospel of John, John 20:30-31
30 Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. 31 But these are written that you may believe[b] that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.
Scholars would tell you that the author/authors of John wrote with an intent to teach and evangelize, that you might believe, and potentially took liberties to do so. The idea is that there is theology presented in John, that you do not find in Matthew, Mark and Luke.
So, is the way, the truth and the life an authentic Jesus statement, or was is added by later Christians to teach a particular understanding of the Christian faith?
Now if you want to kill me, please keep reading the upcoming posts. See you tomorrow.
It's a beautiful day in God's world, be sure to see the good.
If you have questions, feel free to email me at jsbrink57@gmail.com
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