John 9:35

Dost thou believe There is a stress on -thou." -Dost thou, though others deny and blaspheme, believe?"

On the Son of God Again there is much doubt about the reading. The balance of MSS. authority (including both the Sinaitic and the Vatican MSS.) is in favour of -the Son of man," which moreover is the expression that our Lord commonly uses respecting Himself in all four Gospels (see on John 1:51). But the reading -The Son of God" is very strongly supported, and is at least as old as the second century; for Tertullian, who in his work Against Praxeasquotes largely from this Gospel, in chap. 22 quotes this question thus, Tu credis in Filium Dei?In John 10:36 and John 11:4 there is no doubt about the reading, and there Christ calls himself -the Son of God." Moreover, this appellation seems to suit the context better, for the man had been contending that Jesus came -from God" (John 9:33), and the term -Son of man" would scarcely have been intelligible to him. Lastly, a copyist, knowing that the -Son of man" was Christ's usual mode of designating Himself, would be very likely to alter -the Son of God" into -the Son of man." Neither title, however, is very frequent in St John's Gospel. For all these reasons, therefore, it is allowable to retain the common reading. But in any case we once more have evidence of the antiquity of this Gospel. If both these readings were established by the end of the second century, the original text must have been in existence long before. Corruptions take time to spring up and spread. See on John 1:13; John 1:18.