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Find the answers to all those questions you were too embarrassed to ask in Sunday School. Welcome to Weird Stuff in the Bible, where we explore scripture passages that are bizarre, perplexing or just plain weird. Hosted by Luke Taylor.
Why John 5:4 Got Taken Out of Your Bible
Or: The Angel Who Stirred Up the Water
John 5
Introduction
John 5 has one of the most bizarre verses in the Bible. I’m talking about verse 4 of that chapter. This verse is so bizarre, it doesn’t even appear in a lot of versions of the Bible. Go open up your Bible and check right now; it might just say verse 1, verse 2, verse 3, verse 5.
It’s like your Bible forgot how to count. But actually, some versions just take verse 4 right out and pretend it isn’t there.
What is so bizarre about John 5, verse 4? Well, this is the story about the man who had been lame since birth. He laid every day by the pool of Bethesda. Jesus comes along and heals this man in this story and says, “pick up your mat and walk.”
So it’s a very well-known story, but verse 4 stands out as particularly odd.
I’ll pick it up starting at John 5:3
3 In these lay a great multitude of sick people, blind, lame, paralyzed, waiting for the moving of the water. 4 For an angel went down at a certain time into the pool and stirred up the water; then whoever stepped in first, after the stirring of the water, was made well of whatever disease he had.
This strange reference to an angel who created healing waters on a regular basis is not really mentioned ever again after this, it raises some provoking questions, and then it never answers them. And as I said, many versions of the Bible don’t even include this verse because it’s just too out-of-left-field.
I find this to be weird, and I’d like to explore why it’s in the Bible. But also why it’s not in every Bible.
Turn to John 5, and let’s get weird.
[theme music]
The story
Welcome to Weird Stuff in the Bible, where we explore scripture passages that are bizarre, perplexing or just plain weird. This is Luke Taylor, and today we’re going to be talking about the angel who stirred up the water in John 5.
This episode goes out to Vern, who wrote to me a couple months ago and said, “I'd like to hear your thoughts on John 5:4. I was shocked to learn that it is completely absent in some translations such as the ESV, NIV, and NASB. Definitely a weird one.”
I agree, Vern, so let’s crack this egg open. We’ll read the story here in context to get the full gist of what’s going on. I’m going to read this in the NKJV this time, because it actually includes verse 4.
John 5:1-2
After this there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 2 Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, which is called in Hebrew, Bethesda, having five porches.
So that sets the scene for us. The pool of Bethesda. It had 5 porches, which were probably walkways over the water.
John 5:3
3 In these lay a great multitude of sick people, blind, lame, paralyzed, waiting for the moving of the water.
So to paint the scene, there were all these people who laid in front of the water on these porches or walkways and just watched the water all day long. Why would they do this? Well on occasion, something very strange would happen:
John 5:4
4 For an angel went down at a certain time into the pool and stirred up the water; then whoever stepped in first, after the stirring of the water, was made well of whatever disease he had.
Again, if you’re following along in the NIV or a newer translation, you won’t see this verse. It’s completely taken out of your Bible. Or it might have gotten relegated to a footnote at the bottom of your page. It’s like the Bible put this verse in the corner for being too weird.
Or did that just happen to me as a kid?
Honestly, it does sound like some kind of ancient legend or mythological story. Something magical or superstitious. Some have tried to explain this verse by saying that it was not literally true, that it was just a belief of the people at that time. But John 5:4 doesn’t present this as merely a belief that the people had about the water. John 5:4 states it as fact.
Then others say this verse shouldn’t appear in the Bible at all, and that’s why it won’t appear in many of your modern bible translations. But I think that’s a mistake, and I’ll explain why as we read a few more verses.
But as we imagine the scene, these are some truly desperate people. They all have something that’s causing them some kind of infirmity, and the doctors have failed them, medicine has failed them, and they have no hope now except to sit by the magic water and jump in when they see it stirred up and hope that the stories about this pool are true.
John 5:5-6
Now a certain man was there who had an infirmity thirty-eight years. 6 When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he already had been in that condition a long time, He said to him, “Do you want to be made well?”
An interesting question. This man had lived with his disability for so long that he had become used to it. It was the only way of life he knew. Many people deal with sicknesses and physical problems for so long that they just accept them and no longer want to be better. They take comfort in their pills, their therapy, their routine, and God may want to heal them from it but they don’t even desire to be better anymore. It’s a sad place to be. And Jesus makes sure to ask this man first: do you want to be made well?
John 5:7
7 The sick man answered Him, “Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; but while I am coming, another steps down before me.”
This man is all alone, nobody to help him. Every time the angel comes and stirs up the water, someone else gets in ahead of him. Nobody says, “Well you’ve been needing a healing for decades, and I’ve only recently gotten sick, you go first.” No, someone always pushes past him and takes the healing before he can get there. He’s so discouraged, but he has no other hope.
And by the way, this is why I think verse 4 belongs in the Bible. Because without it, verse 7 makes no sense. Verse 7 refers to the waters being stirred up, but you will not know what that means without reading verse 4 which says an angel stirs the waters up.
John 5:8-9
8 Jesus said to him, “Rise, take up your bed and walk.” 9 And immediately the man was made well, took up his bed, and walked.
OK, so now we know the story and context. We’re all caught up on what this is all about. Now let’s talk about what is going on with verse 4.
A Textual Error?
Let me start by just saying that virtually every commentary I have states one of two things about verse 4 and the angel who stirred up the waters. A few of them say that it’s a manuscript error or that it was not originally supposed to be there. I disagree with that view because of verse 7, like I said. The rest of my commentaries say that this was an urban legend. That the verse should be there, but it was something that didn’t actually happen literally, that it was just a superstitious belief about this pool.
One commentary pointed out that the Greek word here for pool is “kolumbethra,” and that it means “a deep pool from underneath that comes bubbling.” So it could mean a spring, and when you have spring water, occasionally a little bit of water erupts out of the underground and causes bubbling and the stirring of water. And so there’s the idea that when a little bit of extra water would erupt and cause this, that the people believed it was an angel churning up the water and that it would heal the people.
Now, I just have a little bit of a hard time believing that this is all that’s going on here. For one thing, the people of that time were a lot more educated on locating natural water sources than we are today. So I think they would be familiar with how a spring works and would already know that it’s common for springs to have water bubble up all at once occasionally.
Two, the idea that this water would heal you of any infirmity if you got in it seems like a testable hypothesis. It seems that if this was just a myth, that people would catch on to that fact pretty quick. It said that blind and lame people waited by the water constantly for an opportunity for a healing. The man in the story has been unable to walk for 38 years and is frustrated that nobody ever puts him in. If this was just an empty superstition, I think he would have figured that out by now.
He said in verse 7:
“Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; but while I am coming, another steps down before me.”
This has probably happened several times. He’s watched healings in this water before. If it wasn’t real, he probably would have noticed.
So I’ll just say upfront, all my commentaries- and I have several- say that this verse is either a mistake or a superstition. I have some logical issues with that, so it causes me to wonder: Is there any other possibility?
An Angel. Just like the Bible says.
I’m going to suggest an alternative: that this means exactly what the Bible says it means. That this was a location that God had established to heal people. Now, this seems very random and weird, but let me explain it in a way that perhaps makes it less weird.
God likes to heal people. Right? I know some Christians try to say that God doesn’t heal anymore, or that the gift of healing supernaturally is not for today. But those Christians are wrong. God’s plan in the perfect world of Genesis 1 and 2 was perfect people with perfect bodies. God’s plan in the last two chapters of Revelation is perfect people living eternally with perfect bodies.
And guess what: I don’t think God changed in the middle. I think that God desires for you and I to have healthy, functioning bodies today. This does not mean that anybody suffering a physical issue is living in sin or lacks faith or is out of God’s will. God has reasons for allowing suffering into our lives. But God also desires our healing and deliverance. And the mystery of the sovereignty of God vs the sinfulness of man and the brokenness in this world is not a mystery that I am always able too solve. But I believe that God desires healing for our bodies.
Now, in the New Testament, people receive healings. This is a sign of the divinity of Jesus. And then after Jesus departs the earth, the apostles are empowered to heal, and Jesus said in Mark 16 that anybody who follows Him can heal, and I Corinthians 12 says there’s a gift of healings, and James 5 says our churches should pray for the sick that they might be healed, and all of these things are signs of the power of the Holy Spirit. So healing is plainly there in the New Testament.
But what about all these people born before Jesus came on the scene? How was God able to heal them? We know about Naaman the Syrian and the widow’s son in II Kings, but there were millions of people who lived prior to Jesus and Acts 2- what hope did they have before Jesus showed up? Were they just totally out of luck? And didn’t God desire to help and heal those people, too?
Well, perhaps God made some opportunities for healing in Old Testament times. Things that we don’t even have written about in the Bible. Maybe God decided that there were some places throughout the earth where He would make an availability or a possibility for healing. Maybe even a pool in Jerusalem, and God would occasionally send an angel down to stir up the water and heal someone.
Why would God do this? Well, we see a pattern throughout the Old Testament of God doing strange things that He stopped doing when the Holy Spirit came down in Acts 2. For example, the Urim and the Thummim. These two stones that would glow when someone asked them questions. We’ll probably do an episode about this someday, but the use of the Urim and the Thummim to determine God’s will ceased in the Old Testament.
Or what about casting lots to determine God’s will? It’s undeniable that God used this practice of casting lots to reveal His will in the Old Testament, and that continued right up until the end of Acts 1. And then what happens in the very next chapter? The Holy Spirit comes down and from then on, the from then on, the Holy Spirit reveals God’s will to people.
So there are ways in the Old Testament in which God behaved that are different from how He behaves in the New Testament, especially after Acts 2, in which our relationship and dependence on the Holy Spirit is supposed to now be our source of the supernatural.
Now things like miracles and healings are spoken of as gifts of the Spirit in I Corinthians 12. Of the Spirit. But before the Spirit, what hope did people have?
I’m just throwing out the idea that perhaps God made some special, unique, holy sites where- if you needed a miracle- a miracle was more likely to happen.
One last evidence I can give you of this is in the name of this pool or spring: Bethesda. It gave special attention to the name of this pool, saying:
In verse 2
there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, which is called in Hebrew, Bethesda
Bethesda is a combination of two words: Beth, which means house, and hesda, which means grace or mercy. So this pool is the House of Grace and Mercy.
This pool had 5 colonnades or covered porches, and I couldn’t stop thinking about why the number 5 shows up in this story. It seems like an irrelevant detail. So I looked up the meaning of 5; 5 is the number of God’s grace for humanity. 5 books in the pentateuch. The word grace is in the pentateuch 5 times. 5s used in the construction of the temple. 5 types of sacrifices. David took 5 stones to defeat 5 giants. 5 loaves fed 5000 people. Christ was pierced 5 times in the crucifixion. So I believe the 5 is significant to the meaning of this pool. It’s was grace.
Which, to me, screams this idea that even before Jesus was on the scene, God looked down at the scores of people who were suffering physical infirmities, and His will was to heal them, but it wasn’t time for Jesus to come to this earth yet. So in God’s grace and mercy, God made temporary opportunities, places where He might send an angel to provide healing for people.
And guess what: by doing this, God had that man who had been lame for 38 years to be in just the right place at just the right time to meet Jesus and have his healing story included in the pages of Scripture itself.
Now that’s a good story. Even if it’s a bit strange.
Housekeeping/Mailbag
Next time on this podcast, we’ll look at another strange story. Bill in Colorado wants to know about the naked guy who shows up in the Gospel of Mark. That’s a odd little detail from the arrest of Jesus that kind of gets overlooked. Kind of like the verse we studied today: it’s a bit random of a detail to throw in. But it’s also weird, so let’s talk about that next week.
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We got this kind piece of feedback from Sue who says:
Thank you so much for your compliments there. I’m very much just trying to throw out a few possibilities here to explain John 5:4. I truly don’t want to push any view on someone if they’re not comfortable with it, and that’s what I’ve tried to do today.
Just like the Bible says
So just to recap, there are three ways you can take this passage about the pool of Bethesda. One view is that this verse was just added later by someone trying to explain a superstition of those days, and that it was never meant to be in the Bible in the first place.
A second view is that the verse IS supposed to be there, but that it was still just a superstition of those days. That an angel didn’t literally come down and stir the waters and heal people.
Virtually all of the commentaries I own take one of those two positions. Which makes me, by far, the weirdo. But I have problems with those views: the Bible isn’t presenting this information as if it was an urban legend. The Bible presents it as if it actually happened.
And I believe that the Bible is 100% true. Every book, every chapter, every verse, every word. 100% true. And a lot of Christians “say” that, but if you really believe it, it can take you to some pretty strange conclusions at times.
And I just have to leave the door open for the possibility here that the Bible means exactly what it says it means: that an angel periodically came down and stirred these waters to administer healing to people. And practices like this probably changed after Jesus and the Holy Spirit came down. But before Jesus arrived on the scene, if God was going to heal, God probably had to do it in other ways. God had to do a lot of things in other ways before the Holy Spirit began to indwell all believers as He does today.
And that’s where we are now. The power of the Holy Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead now lives within us. The New Testament makes it clear that we are to pray for the healing those who need it. Not to dunk them in a supernatural pool. But lay on them your supernatural hands.
And if that sounds weird, I hope you’ll be a little bit more weird today, too. Thanks for listening, God bless you for sticking around until the end, and we’ll see you next time on WSITB.