Is John 7:53-8:11 Supposed to Be in Your Bible?

If you’ve been reading ahead in the Gospel of John (or if you’ve read it before!), then you may have noticed something strange about John 7:53-8:11.

In many modern bibles, this section of Scripture is marked with an asterix, contained in brackets, curiously subtitled, and/or littered with footnotes. Why? In a nutshell, the oldest manuscripts of John’s gospel account simply don’t contain this passage, and the translators of our bibles want us to know it!

But what does it mean? Why should we care? And what does this say about the reliability of the Scriptures, what we know about Jesus, and how we should interact with this passage?

As The Village arrives at this passage in our sermon series through John, we wanted to share our approach to the passage and why we’re choosing to preach through it. This episode of the Formed & Sent Podcast is one way we’re inviting you to approach the bible with your eyes wide open - and to hopefully answer some questions before you have them on Sunday!

If this leaves you with more questions, however, don’t hesitate to reach out. We’d love to hear what you’re wondering. Chances are, someone else has the same comment, question, or concern as you!