Acts 8:37

[And Philip said, If thou believest with all thy heart, thou mayest. And he answered and said,. believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.]

Point to Note:

In the NASV this verse is in brackets, and the note in the side reference says, 'Many mss. (manuscripts) do not contain this verse.' Those being Aleph, A, B, C,. H, P46. Now many believe that this verse was not part of the original book of Luke. But in response: (a) From. readers standpoint, there definitely is. gap between Acts 8:36 and 38 without this verse. For without Acts 8:37, according to the text, Philip never answers the eunuch's question. (b) Early "Christian" writers quote Acts 8:37. 'It was found in. text which Irenaeus used (he lived from 170 to 210 A.D.). Cyprian (200-258 A.D.) also was familiar with the reading of verse 37.' (Reese p. 340)

Reese notes, 'Footnotes and/ or marginal notes very often indicate. variant reading in the major manuscripts which underlie our translations of the Scriptures. Very often, where the divergent readings are almost equally supported in the ancient manuscripts, the translators would vote on which reading to incorporate into the text. If the majority voting for one reading was just one or two over half of those voting, the minority opinion was included in the form of. footnote.' (p. 340)

In the view of the facts that an obvious gap exists without Acts 1:37, and the men who quoted it, lived just as early on or earlier than the manuscripts that omit it,. find it very difficult not to believe that the verse is genuine.

'IF THOU BELIEVEST WITH ALL THY HEART, THOU MAYEST'-Faith is. condition prior to baptism (Mark 16:16).

'I BELIEVE THAT JESUS CHRIST IS THE SON OF GOD'-(Romans 10:9; Matthew 10:32). Notice that the "confession" required as. condition for salvation, is not. confession of all the sins that one has committed.

'THE SON OF GOD'-One cannot be saved if faith stops short of believing "who" Jesus really is. The confessions that Jesus lived, was. religious teacher,. good man, etc...do not lead to salvation. The confession that is required is the conviction that Jesus is God. For this is what the Bible declares Him to be (John 1:1; Hebrews 1:8). (Romans 10:9 'Jesus as Lord').