[“But this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.”] * *Luke 9:43
- * Many manuscripts do not contain this verse
- * Many manuscripts add “and fasting”
The Gospel of Luke is one that fits into the category of above. But not for the reasons stated in the footnote. This verse is not missing out of the mss we have of Luke because it has dropped out. I am convinced that Luke deliberately left it out. It was not included in the original copy of Luke that he wrote. So therefore it was not listed as missing in subsequent manuscripts with the appropriate footnotes. This verse doesn’t appear in Luke’s gospel because he didn’t write it into the original. The question at this point is: did he know about it the addition of “and fasting” or not? He clearly knew Mark 9:29 but chose not to use it. But if “and fasting” was not in Matthew’s original writings and doesn’t appear in Mark’s gospel in its original form then there is no way Luke would have recorded it in his ordered account. We know that Luke knows about Mark and shares material that Matthew also knows. We know too that he was writing a gospel which was an orderly account. Yet he did not include this verse in his gospel Maybe it was not known about in Luke’s time.
Notice the difference between Matthew and Mark. Oh I don’t mean the obvious which I have coloured for you. Namely the fact that Matthew adds “and fasting” whereas Mark doesn’t. That’s easy to see. Do you notice something else? Look carefully. Yes Matthew has a different form of verb than what Mark does. It is not word for word the same but the intent is the same. Also “except” and “anything” may be different but again the sense is the same. No, what I am referring to are the brackets [surrounding Matthew’s verse]. This practice of bracketing a word or a verse or section of a verse in a translation indicates that the element is not there in the original or in most manuscripts. There are many occurrences of this in the Bible. Perhaps one of the most significant is found in John 4:26 Jesus *said to her, “I who speak to you am [He].”
You need to pay attention to preface of your Bible to understand the system that each Bible uses to record for us what is happening to the text. Pay attention also to the footnotes on verses like these. Most of us keep right on going and don’t notice the numbers which indicate a footnote of a note at the bottom of the page related to this verse. The footnotes on this verses are those I listed for you above.
The weight of evidence from the manuscripts on this verse indicate that this verse is missing in many of them and that when the verse is present many manuscripts are missing the words “and fasting”. But how do we find out which manuscripts. For that you need more specialist resources to give you the detail needed. Most people have no interest in looking further after knowing that some manuscripts don’t contain the words. You will find all the information you need in the Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament by Bruce Metzger. But of course most of us are not equip to handle digging in resources that. I only give you that information to assure that Christian scholarship has all of the information needed to research issues like this recorded and accessible.
Bruce Metzger comment on this verse reads as follows:
17.21omit verse {A}
Since there is no satisfactory reason why the passage, if originally present in Matthew, should have been omitted in a wide variety of witnesses, and since copyists frequently inserted material derived from another Gospel, it appears that most manuscripts have been assimilated to the parallel in Mk .9.29
I have also clipped this from Clarke’s commentary for you.
Matthew 17:21
The whole verse is wanting (missing) in the famous Vatican MS., one of the most ancient and most authentic perhaps in the world; and in another one of Colbert’s, written in the 11th or 12th century. It is wanting also in the Coptic, Ethiopic, Syriac, Hieros., and in one copy of the Itala. But all the MSS. acknowledge it in the parallel place, Mar_9:29, only the Vatican MS. leaves out νηϚεια, fasting. I strongly suspect it to be an interpolation; but, if it be, it is very ancient, as Origen, Chrysostom, and others of the primitive fathers, acknowledged it.
Just like the footnote above indicates. Most manuscripts of the Greek New Testament don’t contain this verse. This is not a verse that is missing in some translations of our bible and present in others. This is a verse that is missing in the best of the most reliable early manuscripts of the New Testament. Yes of course is later manuscripts it appears in the Majority Text group of manuscripts but it is absent from the earliest most reliable manuscripts. It like a verse that has been assimilated to the verse in Mark. In other words an attempt to harmonise both gospel accounts together. I am so pleased it was not also harmonised in Luke and added there. Otherwise we would not be able to truly determine exactly what it was that Luke wrote. I am also pleased that Bible Scholars are careful to preserve all readings. There are resources available to us which allow to see exactly when a reading entered the translations or copies of the Bible and we can track the changes for any verse or reading. This is powerful thanks to those who pay close attention to every little detail of the text of the Bible.
I think a word of caution is required here. This is a very emotive topic because many of us react if we feel someone is messing with the text of the Word of God. Scholars are not seeking to have this verse thrown out. They keep putting in your Bible but with an indication that tells you it was not likely to have been an original reading. By using the [square brackets] or italics they signal to us there is a problem on this verse. Be aware that it is not likely to have been original. Also the addition of the words “and fasting” are not likely to have been words that Matthew wrote in his original copy, but they are there in our Bibles either in the main text unfootnoted or in the footnotes with a note to the effect that this element is not likely original. But you still have it recorded there and can come to your own conclusion about what to do with it. I don’t want to labour this point or it could get boring. So I am not about to list all the manuscripts and families of manuscripts that have it or don’t have it. We could do that. You have enough of an idea now on what this issue is all about. You have all the information, now you can come to your own conclusion.
I am not sure what to do at this point. Whether I spend the next Gem discussing the meaning and implication of the words “and fasting” will depend on your response back to me. Whether you tell me this is something you want to know more about, something which confuses you or not. If I hear nothing then I will move on. Enough for now. This Gem is already plenty long enough. Too long some would say.
Fasting is like shutting down all the applications we are not using [in order to focus on what is important – cleaning the system of junk files].
Jose Carol
Fasting confirms our utter dependence upon God by finding in Him a source of sustenance beyond food.
Dallas Willard
Fasting can be a painful admission that I am not free, that my life is enslaved or addicted to external things such as food, drink . . . sex . . . [or tv cell phones etc].
Albert Haase
Did you realize you could fast from cell phones or tv too?
Ian Vail
Thot: fasting from food while spending the time on FB or texting your friends; is that a real fast? (See Isa 58:1-10)
Ian Vail