Something’s been sitting in a lot of our Bibles like it belongs, and people have been reading it like it came straight from the mouth of Yeshua, but it didn’t. And when I say it didn’t, I don’t mean it’s just out of place. I mean it wasn’t there. At all. In the original scrolls. It got added in later, way later, and we need to ask ourselves: Does God take that lightly? Do we? Or are we so used to tradition and emotion that we let human fingerprints smudge the edges of what’s supposed to be holy?
First of all, I’m talking about John 8:1–11. The so-called “woman caught in adultery” story. You know it: the one where the Pharisees drag a woman into the Temple, supposedly caught in the act of adultery (zanah, זָנָה, “fornication” or unlawful sexual relations), and challenge Yeshua. And He kneels down and writes in the dirt, and tells them, “Let him who is without sin cast the first stone.” It’s quoted in movies. People use it to silence correction. It’s emotionally powerful. But here’s the real question: Did God say it? Or did a scribe insert it?
Because let’s just be honest: it’s not there in the earliest and most reliable manuscripts. I’m talking about the oldest Greek scrolls, like Papyrus 66 (circa 200 AD), Papyrus 75, Codex Sinaiticus, Codex Vaticanus. That whole section, from John 7:53–8:11, is absent. But in later manuscripts? It shows up in different places. Some scribes shoved it in after Luke 21:38. Some wedge it into John but clearly bracket it, as if even the scribes knew it didn’t belong. That alone should tell you something.
What kind of sacred Scripture moves around like that? What kind of holy text plays musical chairs across different books? God’s Word doesn’t need to be found a home. It already has one. His Word is pure, unchanging, eternal. Psalm 119:89 says, “Forever, O LORD, Your word is settled in heaven.” No one gets to edit it.
People argue, “But it sounds just like Jesus.” That’s not how Scripture works. We don’t include verses because they sound nice. Emotion is not evidence. The devil quoted Scripture in the wilderness (Matthew 4:1–11) too. That didn’t make him holy. The moment feelings decide canon, the Word stops being guarded and starts being molded.
God condemns additions fiercely. Deuteronomy 4:2: “Do not add to what I command you, and do not subtract from it, but keep the commands of the LORD your God that I give you.” Revelation warns that anyone who adds will face judgment (Revelation 22:18–19). Why? Because speaking as if God said something He didn’t is spiritual fraud.
The Greek style confirms it. The vocabulary in John 8:1–11 doesn’t match John’s writing. John is sharp, theological, precise. This reads like a moral story passed around orally. Early church fathers like Origen and Tertullian never mention it. Chrysostom skips it entirely. They didn’t have it.
So yes, the story may sound gracious. That doesn’t make it Scripture. God already revealed grace perfectly at the cross (John 19:30). He doesn’t need anonymous scribes to soften His Word. You don’t improve perfection. You don’t adjust holiness. You don’t tweak the living Word (dabar, דָּבָר, “Word, utterance, communication”) of God.
When you see brackets or footnotes saying “earliest manuscripts do not contain this passage,” that’s not trivia. That’s a warning. Don’t build doctrine there. Don’t quote it as Him.
If you quote something as Scripture that God didn’t breathe (theopneustos, θεόπνευστος, “God-breathed”), you’re putting words in His mouth. That’s serious.
And John 8 isn’t the only one.
1 John 5:7, the Comma Johanneum: “For there are three that bear witness in heaven: the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit; and these three are one.” Sounds airtight. Except it doesn’t exist in any Greek manuscript before the 14th century. Not one. It shows up in late Latin texts and was inserted to defend doctrine. This is not a denial of Father, Son, and Spirit. Scripture reveals that truth elsewhere. The issue is honesty. God didn’t say that line. We don’t prop up truth with forgery.
Mark 16:9–20. The long ending. Absent from the oldest manuscripts. Some copies include different endings. God doesn’t give multiple endings. That’s human hands trying to tidy what felt unfinished. Fear at the tomb was not a mistake. It was the ending God chose.
Matthew 6:13, the doxology at the end of the Lord’s Prayer: “For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.” Beautiful. Familiar. Added. The earliest manuscripts end with “deliver us from evil.” He didn’t need a flourish. We don’t edit the King.
John 5:4, the angel stirring the waters of Bethesda (angelos, ἄγγελος, “messenger, angel”): “For an angel went down at a certain season into the pool…” Also absent. Likely a marginal explanation folded into the text. And it paints God like a lottery host. First one wins. That’s not the Gospel. Yeshua bypassed the pool entirely. He was the healing.
Luke 22:43–44, the angel strengthening Yeshua and His sweat like blood. Missing in key early manuscripts. Some include it, some flag it with asterisks as disputed. The suffering of Messiah doesn’t need embellishment. Holiness doesn’t need theater.
Here’s the pattern. Additions dilute truth. Just like Eden (Genesis 3:3). One extra word twisted everything.
We’re not nitpicking. We’re guarding the ark. God’s Word is fire and a hammer (Jeremiah 23:29). It doesn’t need polishing. It needs protecting.
So read the footnotes. Pay attention to the brackets. Ask, “Did God really say this?” And if He didn’t, let it go. Even if it’s familiar. Even if it’s emotional.
There are verses God never spoke. Lines that feel holy. Stories that stir hearts. But if He didn’t say them, they don’t belong on the lips of the Bride.
We don’t play with Scripture. We don’t quote what feels right. We don’t let tradition sit beside truth.
Scribes added things. The church accepted them. Because they sounded beautiful. But emotion does not equal obedience.
Not here. Not anymore.
Only what You have spoken, LORD. Nothing more. Nothing less.
Because He is coming for a pure Bride. And that means pure worship, pure doctrine, pure Scripture.
Nothing added. Nothing missing. Only Him.
In Yeshua’s holy name, Amen.
And THAT is…
