The Distracted Christian

There will come a time, if you study and believe in the Bible, where you will be asked to defend your belief. Why do I mention this? Recently I heard a woman on a podcast who brought up the “mysterious inconsistency” of Matthew 17: 21.

For those who know about this the obvious question comes up why is this verse in some Bibles and not in others? This woman came on here complaining about this, but the moment she opened her mouth she ruined any credibility she might have had. Here’s a quote, “The verse actually says, in so many words, that in order to heal yourself, this is what Jesus says, fasting and prayer, that’s what the Bible verse says.” Why do I say this is wrong? Context plays a very big part here.

First she says, “the verse actually says,”. This is an absolute statement, which means what she’s saying can’t be challenged, but let’s look at her next phrase, “in so many words,”. This means forget the first statement, I’m going to say what I want whether it’s based on reality or not. In other words her interpretation is taken so far out of context the context doesn’t even exist.

Christ’s word came after he healed a boy of demon possession. The disciples couldn’t figure out why they couldn’t heal the boy themselves. If you want to see the whole context, go to Matthew 17: 14-20, because I would rather have you see it for yourself. Thanks to Bible Hub I was able to compare all the translations, and at no point does this section mention healing “yourself”. It only talks about healing others for the glory of God. That’s enough about the woman’s statement, now what about verse 21?

The reason it was taken out of most translations is very simple, and took 1 minute to find the answer. Another 15 minutes of digging verified the truth. This verse never appeared in the oldest and most reliable Greek manuscripts. In order for this to happen someone down the road had to add it, and my guess is to keep up with the same story in Mark 9. You will find the same verse in Mark 9: 29. This verse says, “He replied, This kind can come out only by prayer.” This came after the disciples asked him why they couldn’t drive the demon out.

If you want to present the best defense for what you believe I would first suggest doing that little bit of research for the answers, and make sure you don’t make up the context just to fit your statement, because no matter what you say you’ll be shut down and lose any chance of credibility.