Authenticity of John vii. 53-viii. 11.
This is the second of the three passages in our Gospel, whose authenticity has been seriously questioned. See [Introd. VI]. We shall sum up the evidence by which the critical question must be decided, and then say what we think as to the genuineness of the passage.
Evidence against Authenticity.
1. Manuscripts.—The passage is wanting in the four oldest Greek MSS. that we possess, viz., in B, א, A, C; the two former of which are thought by critics to belong to the fourth, and the two latter, to the fifth century; also in four other uncial MSS., in more than sixty cursives, and in thirty-three Evangelistaries.[63] In about fifty other MSS., though read, it is marked as doubtful.
2. Versions.—It is wanting in the best MSS. of the “Vetus Itala;” in the “Simple” and “Figured” Syriac; in most MSS. of the Coptic; in all of Gothic, and in some of the Armenian.
3. Fathers.—The passage is [pg 148] not commented upon by any of the Greek fathers that wrote upon this Gospel.
4. Internal evidence is said to prove the passage spurious, because of the use of many words and phrases not elsewhere used by St. John.[64]