Changes

== Validity of Chapter 21 ==

== Validity of Chapter 21 ==

This is a response to the note at the beginning of chapter 21. This idea is so completely without merit that I cannot understand why we would even give it the recognition of mentioning that it exists. We need to dispense once and for all with giving any kind of authority or credibility to views derived from perceived "style" changes within the Bible. Those "observations" never pan out. First, John actually varies his style in several places within this gospel, so singling out the last chapter just shows a lack of knowledge about the book and about Greek. Second, John references himself in the third person throughout the entire book. Further, one use of the third person in chapter 21 is a direct reference back to the use of the third person in chapter 13 (where John leans up against Jesus' chest). Phrased EXACTLY the same in both places. Further, his use of the third person also matches when John is giving a direct, eye-witness account of seeing blood and water come out of Jesus' side in chapter 19. He maintains the THIRD PERSON, despite wanting the reader to know that this is an eye-witness report. What would be a STRANGE, abnormal switch in style would be if he suddenly referenced himself in the FIRST PERSON in chapter 21. Further, the vocabulary within the last chapter is uniformly consistent with the vocabulary within the rest of the book. Almost every chapter of John contains a few words not used by John anywhere else, and then several words that are favorites of John. The last chapter is exactly the same. A few words not found anywhere else in John's writings (ἀριστάω - breakfast, δίκτυον - net, αἰγιαλός - beach) that unavoidably MUST be used to describe the  setting, and several words that John uses a lot (φανερόω, ἐγείρω).  

This is a response to the note at the beginning of chapter 21. This idea is so completely without merit that I cannot understand why we would even give it the recognition of mentioning that it exists. We need to dispense once and for all with giving any kind of authority or credibility to views derived from perceived "style" changes within the Bible. Those "observations" never pan out. First, John actually varies his style in several places within this gospel, so singling out the last chapter just shows a lack of knowledge about the book and about Greek. Second, John references himself in the third person throughout the entire book. One use of the third person in chapter 21 is a direct reference back to the use of the third person in chapter 13 (where John leans up against Jesus' chest). Phrased EXACTLY the same in both places. Further, his use of the third person when he identifies himself as an eye-witness matches when John is giving a direct, eye-witness account of seeing blood and water come out of Jesus' side in chapter 19. He maintains the THIRD PERSON, despite wanting the reader to know that this is an eye-witness report. What would be a STRANGE, abnormal switch in style would be if he suddenly referenced himself in the FIRST PERSON in chapter 21. Further, the vocabulary within the last chapter is uniformly consistent with the vocabulary within the rest of the book. Almost every chapter of John contains a few words not used by John anywhere else, and then several words that are favorites of John. The last chapter is exactly the same. A few words not found anywhere else in John's writings (ἀριστάω - breakfast, δίκτυον - net, αἰγιαλός - beach) that unavoidably MUST be used to describe the  setting, and several words that John uses a lot (φανερόω, ἐγείρω).  

Finally, as mentioned in the note, every copy of John ever found which contains the end of the book includes the last chapter, including the oldest copy of John in existence, P66 (the very last page of P66 is missing, but the second to last page still exists, and it contains 21 all the way up to verse 9). P66 dates from somewhere in the middle of the second century, making it within one generation of the original. This is the OLDEST nearly complete copy of ANY book in the NT, with only about 40 - 60 years between the original and this copy, and although the speed with which it was copied created huge numbers of copy errors, giving it less weight on the details, the sheer age of the document means it carries a huge amount of weight as to the general layout and content of the original. With only 40-60 years between it and the original, it also stands alone as the shortest distance between an original and a nearly complete existing copy of ANY ancient document, secular or biblical, in existence today (in fact, nearly all of the top ten are biblical manuscripts, with p75 coming in second, p46 possibly third - depending on which scholar you believe, etc - you have to go down the list to several hundred years between an original and an existing copy before you encounter the first ancient secular manuscript on the list). In short, P66 settles the issue. If it doesn't prove that chapter 21 is original, then no textual evidence on any topic, dealing with any manuscript, in any field, secular or biblical, means ANYTHING, as no other manuscript that I am aware of even comes close to this one.--[[User:MBack|MBack]] 15:10, 17 March 2010 (EDT)

Finally, as mentioned in the note, every copy of John ever found which contains the end of the book includes the last chapter, including the oldest copy of John in existence, P66 (the very last page of P66 is missing, but the second to last page still exists, and it contains 21 all the way up to verse 9). P66 dates from somewhere in the middle of the second century, making it within one generation of the original. This is the OLDEST nearly complete copy of ANY book in the NT, with only about 40 - 60 years between the original and this copy, and although the speed with which it was copied created huge numbers of copy errors, giving it less weight on the details, the sheer age of the document means it carries a huge amount of weight as to the general layout and content of the original. With only 40-60 years between it and the original, it also stands alone as the shortest distance between an original and a nearly complete existing copy of ANY ancient document, secular or biblical, in existence today (in fact, nearly all of the top ten are biblical manuscripts, with p75 coming in second, p46 possibly third - depending on which scholar you believe, etc - you have to go down the list to several hundred years between an original and an existing copy before you encounter the first ancient secular manuscript on the list). In short, P66 settles the issue. If it doesn't prove that chapter 21 is original, then no textual evidence on any topic, dealing with any manuscript, in any field, secular or biblical, means ANYTHING, as no other manuscript that I am aware of even comes close to this one.--[[User:MBack|MBack]] 15:10, 17 March 2010 (EDT)