Acts 8:37 – Is it inspired Scripture or not?

Mirror of post by Will Kinney at http://brandplucked.webs.com/acts8372829.htm

Acts 8:37 King James Bible –

“And Philip said, If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.”

ESV, NIV, [NASB], Catholic St. Joseph NAB, New Jerusalem bible 1985, Jehovah Witness New World Translation –

Acts 8:37

In order to see the importance of this verse we need to look at the surrounding context to see that the Ethiopian eunuch asks a direct question and the vital answer to his question is missing in such versions as the NASB (1963 to 1972 editions omit – 1977, 1995 editions [in brackets]), the NIV, RSV, ESV, NET, Jehovah Witness version, and most Catholic bibles.

Acts 8:36-38 “And as they went on their way, they came unto a certain water: and the eunuch said, See, here is water; what doth hinder me to be baptized? (Notice the direct question: “What doth hinder me to be baptized?”) The next entire verse is omitted by many modern versions.

Acts 8:37 “AND PHILLIP SAID, IF THOU BELIEVEST WITH ALL THINE HEART, THOU MAYEST. AND HE ANSWERED AND SAID, I BELIEVE THAT JESUS CHRIST IS THE SON OF GOD.”

Acts 8:38 “And he commanded the chariot to stand still: and they went down both into the water, both Phillip and the eunuch; and he baptized him.”

Verse 37 is considered by many modern versionists to be a “minority reading” since it is not found in a majority of remaining Greek manuscripts, nor in Sinaiticus, Vaticanus, A or C. Manuscript D is missing the whole section from Acts 8:29b through 10:14, so it is of no help one way or the other.

It should be pointed out, however, that for every one “minority reading” in the KJB there is easily a 20 to 1 ratio of minority readings to be found in versions like the NASB, NIV, ESV. There is in fact a great deal of historical and manuscript evidence for the inclusion of this entire verse, and I have no doubt that it is an important part of God’s inspired word.

The evidence in favor of including this verse is quite massive. It is found in the Greek texts of Erasmus, Stephanus 1550, Beza 1598, Elzevir 1633 and Scrivener 1894. It is in manuscripts E, 4, 36, 88, 97, 103, 104, 242, 257, 307, 322, 323, 385, 429, 453, 464, 467, 629, 630, 913, 945, 1522, 1739, 1765, 1877, 1891, and others.

Acts 8:37 is in the Byzantine Greek text used by the Orthodox Greek Churches all over the world today. Here is the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese
http://onlinechapel.goarch.org/biblegreek/?id=4&book=Acts&chapter=8
ἰδοὺ ὕδωρ· τί κωλύει με βαπτισθῆναι;εἶπε δὲ ὁ Φίλιππος· εἰ πιστεύεις ἐξ ὅλης τῆς καρδίας, ἔξεστιν. ἀποκριθεὶς δὲ εἶπε· πιστεύω τὸν υἱὸν τοῦ Θεοῦ εἶναι τὸν ᾿Ιησοῦν Χριστόν.
It is also in the Modern Greek Bible and in the Modern Hebrew Bible.
The whole verse is also found in Old Latin manuscripts from the textline that predates any Greek manuscripts, including the Old Latin texts of ar, c, dem, e, gig, h, l, m, ph, r, t, w. Even the notes in critical text editions tell us that this verse existed in the Old Latin copies, the Coptic Middle Egyptian version, the Ethiopic, Georgian, and Slavonic, Lamsa’s 1933 translation of the Syriac Peshitta and Armenian early Bible versions. It is also found in the Vulgate Clementine.

Many church fathers who lived before anything we have in the way of Greek copies directly quote this verse, including Irenaeus 178 A.D., Tertullian 220, Cyprian died in 258, as well as Ambrosiaster 384, Ambrose 397, Augustine 430, and Venerable Bede of England in 735.

For example, Cyprian (200-258 A.D.) supports the inclusion of verse 36-37 Textus Receptus when he says, “In the Acts of the Apostles Treatise 12:3: Lo, here is water; what is there which hinders me from being baptized? Then said Phillip, If thou believest with all thine heart thou mayest.” (The Treatises of Cyprian )

Irenaeus (115-202 AD), Against Heresies 3.12: “Philip declared that this was Jesus, and that the Scripture was fulfilled in Him; as did also the believing eunuch himself: and, immediately requesting to be baptized, he said, I believe Jesus Christ to be the Son of God.”

Cyprian (200-258 AD), “For although in the Acts of the Apostles the eunuch is described as at once baptized by Philip, because “he believed with his whole heart,” this is not a fair parallel. For he was a Jew, and as he came from the temple of the Lord he was reading the prophet Isaiah,” (Cyprian)-Cyprian THE LIFE AND PASSION OF CYPRIAN, BISHOP AND MARTYR 200 – 258 paragraph 3

Augustine (354-430 AD), Sermons on Selected Lessons of the New Testament – Sermon 49: “The eunuch believed on Christ, and said when they came unto a certain water, See water, who doth hinder me to be baptized? Philip said to him, Dost thou believe on Jesus Christ? He answered, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. Immediately he went down with him into the water.”

Many well known theologians and other Bible commentators in times past have confessed their belief that Acts 8:37 is inspired Scripture and belongs in the Bible. Among these are John Calvin, Dean Burgon, Matthew Henry, John Gill, Theodore Beza, John Owen, John Dick, Charles Hodge, Charles Haddon Spurgeon, Charles G. Finney, John Charles Ryle, Abraham Kuyper and Jonathan Edwards. It is also quoted in the Westminster Confession, Chapter XXVIII, Of Baptism, Section IV.

Acts 8:37

The entire verse stands in a multitude of Bible versions both old and new, English and foreign. It is found in Wycliffe 1395, Tyndale 1525, Coverdale 1545, the Great Bible 1540 – “Philip sayde vnto him: If þu beleue with all thyne hert, thou mayest. And he answered, and sayde: I beleue that Iesus Christ is the sonne of God.”, Matthew’s Bible 1549, the Bishop’s Bible 1568, the Douay-Rheims of 1582, the Geneva Bible 1587, The Beza N.T. 1599, the Bill Bible 1671, Mace N.T. 1729, Wesley’s translation 1755, Whiston’s Primitive N.T. 1745, Worsely Version 1770, Haweis N.T. 1795 the Thomson Bible 1808, The Revised Translation 1815, the Thomson N.T. 1816, The Wakefield N.T. 1820, Webster’s translation 1833, the Longman Version 1841, the Hammond N.T. 1845, the Hussey N.T. 1845, the Morgan N.T. 1848, the Hewett N.T. 1850, Murdock’s Translation 1851 of the Syriac, The Commonly Received Version 1851, the Kenrick N.T. 1862, The Revised New Testament 1862, The American Bible Union N.T. 1865, the Smith Bible 1876, The Revised English Bible 1877, the Dillard N.T. 1885, Young’s 1898, the Clarke N.T. 1913, the Montgomery N.T. 1924, the Amplified Bible 1987, the NKJV 1982, The Recovery N.T. 1985, the KJV 21st Century Version 1994, The Interlinear Greek N.T.. 1997 (Larry Pierce), the Third Millennium Bible 1998, the Lawrie Translation 1998.

Acts 8:37 is also in The Koster Scriptures 1998, The Worldwide English New Testament 1998, The Last Days N.T. 1999, The Sacred Scriptures Family of Yah 2001, the Tomson N.T. 2002, The Apostolic Polyglot Bible 2003, Green’s Literal 2005, The Resurrection Life N.T. 2005, the the Catholic Public Domain Version 2009, the Aramaic Bible in Plain English of 2010, the Orthodox Jewish Bible 2011, The Conservative Bible 2010, The New European Version 2010, the Online Interlinear 2010 (André de Mol), the 2012 Natural Israelite Bible – “Then Philip said, “If you believe with all your heart, you may.” And he answered and said, “I believe that Yah’shua the Messiah is the Son of Yahweh.”, The Hebraic Transliteration Scripture 2010 – “And Philippos said: If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest. And he answered and said: believe that Yeshua (ישוע) Moshiach is BEN Elohim (אלהים)”, The Work of God’s Children Illustrated Bible 2011, The Aramaic New Testament 2011, Interlinear Hebrew-Greek Scriptures 2012 (Mebust) – “And Philip said, If you believe with all your heart, you may. And he answered and said, I believe that Yahushua the Mashiyach is the Son of the Elohim.”, The Voice 2012, the Knox Bible 2012, The Hebraic Roots Bible 2012, The Biblos Interlinear Bible 2013, The Modern Literal New Testament 2014 and the Modern English Version 2014.

The whole verse is included in the following modern foreign language versions: The Latin Clementine Vulgate – “Dixit autem Philippus: Si credis ex toto corde, licet. Et respondens ait: Credo Filium Dei esse Jesum Christum.”, the Afrikaans Bible 1953, the Arabic Life Application Bible 1998, Albanian, Bulgarian 1940, Chinese Traditional and Union versions, Dutch Staterling, Luther’s German Bible 1545, and other German Bibles like the Schlachter Bible of 2007 – “Da sprach Philippus: Wenn du von ganzem Herzen glaubst, so ist es erlaubt! Er antwortete und sprach: Ich glaube, dass Jesus Christus der Sohn Gottes ist!”, the Danish, Dutch Staten Vertaling, Finnish 1776, the French La Bible de Geneva 1669, the French Martin 1744, the Louis Segond 1910 and 2007, the French Ostervald 1996, the French La Bible du Semeur 1999 – “Si tu crois de tout ton cœur, tu peux être baptisé. —Oui, répondit le dignitaire, je crois que Jésus-Christ est le Fils de Dieu.”, the Hatian Creole Bible, Hungarian Karoli and the Hungarian New Translation of 1990, the talian Diodati 1649, the Riveduta of 2006 and the 1991 New Diodati – “Filippo disse: «Se tu credi con tutto il cuore, è possibile». L’eunuco rispose: «Io credo che Gesù Cristo è il Figlio di Dio».”, Japanese JKUG, Korean (in brackets), Latvian, Maori Bible

Modern Hebrew Version N. T. – “יאמר פילפוס אם מאמין אתה בכל לבבך מתר לך ויען ויאמר אני מאמין כי ישוע המשיח בן האלהים הוא׃8:37,

the Modern Greek Version used in the Greek speaking churches all over the world – “Και ο Φιλιππος ειπεν· Εαν πιστευης εξ ολης της καρδιας, δυνασαι. Και αποκριθεις ειπε· Πιστευω οτι ο Ιησους Χριστος ειναι ο Υιος του Θεου.”

It is also the reading found in the Nederlands Handelingen 1988, the Norwegian Norsk 1930 and the 1978 En Levende Bok, the Portuguese Almeida of 1681 and the modern Almeida, and the A Biblia Sagrada em Portugués – “E disse Filipe: É lícito, se crês de todo o coraçäo. E, respondendo ele, disse: Creio que Jesus Cristo é o Filho de Deus.”, the Portuguese O Libro of 2000, Rumanian, Romanian Cornilescu and the Romanian Nouă Traducere În Limba Română of 2007, Russian Synodal 1876 and Zhuromsky N.T., the Polish Nowe Przymierze of 2011, the Spanish Reina Valera 1909, 1960, 1995, Spanish Biblia de las Américas 1997 (Lockman Foundation), Contemporánea of 2011 and the 2010 Reina Valera Gomez bible,- “Felipe le dijo: «Si crees de todo corazón, puedes ser bautizado.» Y el eunuco respondió: «Creo que Jesucristo es el Hijo de Dios.»”, the Russian Synodal Bible and the Russian Easy to Read Version of 2007 – “the Tagalog Ang Salita ng Diyos 1998, Turkish N.T. 1994, Ukranian Bible and Easy to Read Ukranian Bible of 2007, the Somail Bible of 2008, the Vietnamese Bản Dịch Bible of 2011, the Chinese Union Traditional and the Chinese Contemporary Bible of 2011 put out by the International Bible Society.

Yet here in the USA, the NIV, ESV, RSV, ISV, NET and Holman Christian Standard versions unite in omitting this entire verse, which results in the Ethiopian eunuch asking a question to which Phillip gives no answer.

The ever changing NASBs are interesting in that the NASB of 1963 completely omits the verse from the text as does the 1972 and 1973 editions, but the 1977 NASB as well as the 1995 edition now put the verse back in the text [but in brackets] indicating doubt as to its authenticity. Nice to have a “bible” with [brackets] around the verses like the NASB so often does, isn’t it?

It should also be asked – Why then did the NASB put the verse back in the text after having omitted it for so long? Which Bible is really the inspired word of God? I and many others know, but do you?

The Catholic Connection

The Catholic versions are in their usual disagreement one with another. The older Douay-Rheims of 1582 and the Douay of 1950 both contain the entire verse, but the more modern UBS based versions like the 1968 Jerusalem bible, the St. Joseph New American Bible and the 1985 New Jerusalem (all based on the United Bible Society ever changing critical text) omit the verse, but the 2009 Catholic Public Domain Version puts it back in!

The inconsistency of the NIV is seen in that the NIV 2000 Portuguese version called Nova Versão Internacional contains the whole verse of Acts 8:37- “Disse Filipe: “Você pode, se crê de todo o coração”. O eunuco respondeu: “Creio que Jesus Cristo é o Filho de Deus”

Dr. Thomas Holland, in his book Crowned with Glory, deals with the evidence for the inclusion of Acts 8:37. Further along in his article – which can be seen in its entirety at this site:

http://av1611.com/kjbp/faq/holland_ac8_37.html –

he asks: “If the text were genuine, why would any scribe wish to delete it? In his commentary on the book of Acts, Dr. J. A. Alexander provides a possible answer. By the end of the third century it had become common practice to delay the baptism of Christian converts to assure that they had truly understood their commitment to Christ and were not holding to one of the various heretical beliefs prevalent at that time. It is possible that a scribe, believing that baptism should not immediately follow conversion, omitted this passage from the text, which would explain its absence in many of the Greek manuscripts that followed. Certainly this conjecture is as possible as the various explanations offered by those who reject the reading.”

Folks, if you want the true “book of the LORD” (Isaiah 34:16) then get yourself the King James Holy Bible.

Friends don’t let friends use Modern Vatican Versions.