2 Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, in Aramaic[a] called Bethesda,[b] which has five roofed colonnades. 3 In these lay a multitude of invalids—blind, lame, and paralyzed.[c] 5 One man was there who had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. 6 When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had already been there a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to be healed?” 7 The sick man answered him, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, and while I am going another steps down before me.” 8 Jesus said to him, “Get up, take up your bed, and walk.” 9 And at once the man was healed, and he took up his bed and walked.
Now that day was the Sabbath. 10 So the Jews[d] said to the man who had been healed, “It is the Sabbath, and it is not lawful for you to take up your bed.” 11 But he answered them, “The man who healed me, that man said to me, ‘Take up your bed, and walk.’” 12 They asked him, “Who is the man who said to you, ‘Take up your bed and walk’?” 13 Now the man who had been healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had withdrawn, as there was a crowd in the place. 14 Afterward Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, “See, you are well! Sin no more, that nothing worse may happen to you.” 15 The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had healed him. 16 And this was why the Jews were persecuting Jesus, because he was doing these things on the Sabbath. 17 But Jesus answered them, “My Father is working until now, and I am working.”
— John 5:2-17, English Standard Version
I am not a Biblical scholar by any means, but this passage, to me, indicates quite strongly that the Gospel of John was written well before 70 AD. The reason is simple. The reference to the pool of Bethesda is in the present tense. But Jerusalem was sacked and largely destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD. That destruction was so comprehensive and effective that the Pool of Bethsaida (or Bethesda, take your pick) remained hidden and undiscovered until the 19th Century, at which point it became clear that John was, in fact, quite knowledgeable about the geography and layout of Jerusalem.
The fact that the reference is in the present tense, indicates that John had been to that pool, knew where it was, and wrote about it during his own lifetime. This means that the Gospel of John was likely written sometime in the early- to mid-60s AD.
There are plenty of people who will challenge your Christian faith based on ignorance about the dating of the New Testament. Yet, today, even the most liberal of New Testament scholars have been forced to concede, based on the existence of P.52, the Rylands Fragment, that the absolute latest date for the Gospel of John had to be 90 AD, and was almost surely much earlier, based on the authorship of the Johanine Epistles and Revelation.
My advice to any Christian wavering in his faith, is to challenge it, but to do so rigourously. That means that you must investigate the Scriptures forensically, like J. Warner Wallace did in Cold Case Christianity. It is NOT a bad thing to question the Scriptures – not at all. It is not ignorance, but KNOWLEDGE, that leads to faith – certainly this was true in my case, as it has been true for countless millions of others.
Weigh up the evidence. Read through the critical opinions of German Tubingen School scholars – and then observe how the latest archaeological discoveries have consigned 150 years of German scholarship to the flames. The Rylands Fragment did precisely that – a little fragment about the size of a credit card, containing just a few lines of the Gospel of John, knocked down and destroyed literally seven generations’ worth of German critical Hegelian scholarship.
THAT, my brother, is the power of Truth. A single grain of it is enough to flatten a mountain of lies.
And here’s some Scripturally correct sermonising to complete your Sunday:
1 Comment
On the German Critical School, mountains of arrogance piled atop hubris that was centuries in the making. If you look at it from a long-distance view, the same thoughtful challenges to the status quo that so fired Luther and the reformation were corrupted and distorted to condemn the gospel. It’s a fractal of the garden, where what was good (man’s ability to choose) was corrupted and distorted (Now become like gods) into a rejection of Yahweh as the God.
In the book of Kings, there is a moment where Ahab and Jezebel dominate Israel, and their daughter Ahithophel weds the King of Judah. When the King of Judah is killed in judgement by Jehu, this daughter of Jezebel takes control of the throne of David. She does what all realpolitik’s do, and purges the royal line of David. The enemy lost control of Israel by the work of Jehu but gained control of Judah through this queen mother, a strong trade for the enemy to purge the world of the seed of David. Eliminate David, no more Davidic covenant, and Yahweh’s word is broken.
For seven years she rules over Jerusalem. One day, out of the temple, comes a seven-year-old boy named Joash who is brought to the throne by the High Priest. Joash takes control and restores much of the temple. Out of the darkness, unforeseen light perfectly timed to carry forward the covenant.
The Dead Sea Scrolls are like that to this rejection of the scriptures. As you said, the archaeology of the 20th century dismantles entirely the terminal end of the German criticisms, which was the strongest and most potent condemnation of the Gospel in history. Out of the darkness, unforeseen light perfectly timed to carry forward the covenant.