Bible Discussion Thread

Hi ,can any one help please ? The Bible i use most does not have the words of Christ in red , im reading the gospel of John ,ch3 v13 , i decide to look up the word "heaven " in my strongs concordance which puts the words of Christ in bold face type , according to my concordance ,the words "even the Son of man which is in heaven " are not spoken by Christ but must have been part of Johns narrative , so ive looked in a Bible that puts the word of Christ in red and those words from John ch3 v13 are in red . So can anyone tell me for sure ,if the final clause of John ch3 v13 are the words of Jesus or John ,thankyou .

Hi Sacha.

The previous 2 verses 11 and 12 Is the Lord and he precedes on to verse 21.

John 3:11-14. Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen; and ye receive not our witness.

If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things?

And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven.

And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up:

I hope that helps,

God bless.

Sacha,

Most scholars don't believe Jesus said the words in John 3:13, it was John. The red lettering past vs 12 is in error.

And no one has gone up to heaven, but he who came down from heaven, the Son of Man, who is in heaven. Bible

"And no one." Jesus did not speak the words recorded in John 3:13 (or any of the words from verse 13 to the end of chapter 3). Jesus did not say he was in heaven while he was standing in Jerusalem speaking to Nicodemus. Jesus stops speaking at the end of verse 12, and that is where the red letters in red-letter Bibles should also stop. Verse 13 is part of the narrative of the Gospel of John, not Jesus speaking. Most of the Gospel of John is the narrative of John. John opens up with narrative, and the majority of chapter 1, and most of the rest of John, is narrative. John chapter 3 opens with narrative ("There was a man of the Pharisees...."), and that narrative continues in verse 13.

Although most people do not realize it, scholars debate what part of John chapter 3 was spoken by Jesus, and at what point the words of Jesus stop and the narration of the Gospel of John restarts

Thanks Lester ,i appreciate your answer and will keep all that in mind ,i prefer Bibles without red lettering and references / notations etc , they distract me ,if they are not there i can just read the words and i can try to connect passages myself which is good exercise for my brain and memory ,things that you have had to figure out by your own effort stay in your brain longer ,i think so but others can and will disagree .

Dear Lester,

Unfortunately, what you said is untrue. John 3:10-21 is all one big quote from Jesus. How do we know it's a quote from Jesus? Because it says in verse 10: Link

"Jesus answered and said unto him..." then Jesus gives a several verse statement which is common. Then ends with an obvious transition statement: "After these things..."

All Bible translations show it was Jesus talking and scholars agree. I think you just randomly said 'most scholars' without really knowing what most scholars believe, didn't you? That is some serious mental gymastics to claim that Jesus didn't say this quote that literally says "Jesus answered and said unto him..." with continued flow in the quote until verse 21.

Do you pray to God for wisdom and understanding of His word before spreading such a belief around? Are you 100% sure what you're spreading around is true? What if it isn't, and what if the Bible is correct and you are not? What is your goal in doing this?

God bless.