John's Rewritten Gospel: What Did Scribes Change?
Summary
Bart Ehrman discusses textual variants in the Gospel of John, analyzing how scribes altered manuscripts to reflect theological views on Jesus’s divinity and humanity. He examines specific changes in John 1:18, 19:5, and 16:2, and explains why the Pericope Adulterae was likely a later addition. Ehrman also critiques conservative claims about New Testament textual certainty, arguing that such statistics are misleading and unsupported by early manuscript evidence.
Topics discussed
Sponsor message and podcast introduction
Bart Ehrman's background in textual criticism
The oldest manuscript of John: P52 fragment
Reconstructing John via translations and church fathers
The theological debate over John 1:18 (Son vs God)
Textual variants in John 19:5 and John 7:46
Scribal changes reflecting Christological tensions
The addition of 'the only' in John 14:9
The Pericope Adulterae: Woman caught in adultery
Bart's Soapbox: Critique of textual certainty claims
Conclusion and final remarks
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