If you believe John wrote his Gospel in AD 95, could you explain John 5:2?

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   searchinsanyposted 10 years ago

   If you believe John wrote his Gospel in AD 95, could you explain John 5:2?
   
   Joh 5:2 KJV Now there is at Jerusalem by the sheep market a pool, which is called in the Hebrew tongue Bethesda, having five porches.
   
   Most scholars claim John wrote his Gospel in AD 95. However, John clearly wrote ‘Now there is at Jerusalem’. The destruction of the porches at the pool of Bethesda took place in AD 70; surely, if John wrote in AD 95 he would have used ‘past tense’.

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   Bishop J L Hayesposted 10 years ago

   In that I presented just this argument in my recent hub on the Introduction to John, I too, would be interested in the answer one would give that sees the Fourth Gospel as having a late date.
   
   Peace to your house.

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   PerrySparkposted 10 years ago

   Complete evaluation must be exercised to determine the true avenue to appropriate examination of scripture.  It must be accomplished through knowledge of general vernacular for the period to determine the meaning.  Proper evaluation of these Gospel writings requires one to seek knowledge of the writing styles of those ages. The answer you seek is found within the style of writing for the period when John wrote his Gospel.
   
   During that period, the writing style includes specific honored notation to identify what had happened during the prior period being described.  Since the pool, called in the Hebrew tongue Bethesda existed at the time being described, the use of "Now" actually describes "Now - at that time".
   
   Additionally, the idea that one can correctly interpret a single statement without regard to the entire Gospel of John, is being skeptical.  When reading the Gospel passages, one must entertain the meaning through evaluation of the entire section through the general vernacular of the period rather than a specific word, statement, or sentence read in today's language. 
   
   While many have questioned the verbiage in the various English Bible Translations, none have distinctly described the general language of the period when the original passages were written.  So, in order to find the answer to your question, you need to examine other writings for the same period.  This would include evaluation of the New Testament when other writings occurred.  In evaluating many of these writings, one discovers that the vernacular is much different from today's language.
   
   I do hope this helps with your future reading.

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      searchinsanyposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      I agree ‘now’ in ‘now-at that time’, but don’t think it’s relevant here.
      
      In AD 95, if John had written ‘Now (at that time) there is at Jerusalem; surely, he would have used ‘was’ instead of ‘is’. 
      
      Normally, 'now' means 'at this present time'.

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      PerrySparkposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      And, I suppose that John could never use bad grammar when describing the past.........
      Of course, no one would incorrectly present is as was or now as then.
      Additionally, the interpreters who converted the writings would also be so perfect.

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   kenyaentrepreneurposted 10 years ago

   I think it's simply a translation error. Read it in other languages and you'll see that he uses that past tense.

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      searchinsanyposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      No doubt, translating from Greek into English has had its difficulties, but I expect the same problem applies to other languages as well.
      
      Out of 16 Bible translations and revisions, only two replace ‘is’ with ‘was’, for no apparent reason.

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