{"id":19758,"date":"2015-04-18T23:40:05","date_gmt":"2015-04-19T05:40:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?p=19758"},"modified":"2015-04-18T23:40:05","modified_gmt":"2015-04-19T05:40:05","slug":"new-testament-141","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2015\/04\/new-testament-141.html","title":{"rendered":"New Testament 141"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Bloch, \"Christ Healing the Sick\"<\/a>
Carl Bloch\u2019s very large 1883 painting of Christ healing the sick, long beloved among Latter-day Saints, now belongs to Brigham Young University\u2019s Museum of Art, where it hangs in the main hall.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

John 5:2-47<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Just a quick comment on this wonderful story:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

We often quote John 5:39 as an imperative, exhorting us to study the scriptures: \u00a0\u201cSearch the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

That\u2019s a good use of the passage. \u00a0But it\u2019s probably built upon a misunderstanding.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

The verb likely isn\u2019t an imperative, and the passage is aimed at zealous Jews who already did<\/em> study the scriptures, but who, failing to recognize Jesus, were missing the point<\/em> of the scriptures. \u00a0Here\u2019s a more sound translation, with some context, from the New Revised Standard Version:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201c39\u00a0<\/span>\u201cYou search the scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that testify on my behalf.<\/span>40\u00a0<\/span>Yet you refuse to come to me to have life.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

The site of the pool of Bethesda (or, as some texts say, Bethzatha), in the Arab quarter of Jerusalem, is now far below the surface of the ground, which (as is common in very ancient cities) has risen over the centuries. \u00a0But it can be visited and seen today, nonetheless, and tour groups to Jerusalem (mine included) routinely go there:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Bethesda<\/a>
Click to enlarge.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

The location wasn\u2019t found until the nineteenth century. \u00a0Until then, some skeptics maintained that the account in the gospel of John was fictional, and that Bethesda was an imaginary place.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 \u00a0 John 5:2-47 \u00a0 Just a quick comment on this wonderful story: \u00a0 We often quote John 5:39 as an imperative, exhorting us to study the scriptures: \u00a0\u201cSearch the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.\u201d \u00a0 That\u2019s a good use of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1019,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19758","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nNew Testament 141<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"    John 5:2-47   Just a quick comment on this wonderful story:   We often quote John 5:39 as an imperative, exhorting us to study the\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link 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