John 7:8, not vs. not yet

The problem

In John 7:8, the Authorized King James Bible has a major difference from most modern translations.  Among modern translations, the NKJV and WEB (and perhaps others) agree with the sense of the KJV, and most if not all pre-1611 English translations also agree. The difference is not translational, but is an underlying textual difference. Here is the verse.

• AKJV: Go ye up unto this feast: I go not up yet unto this feast; for my time is not yet full come.
• TR1894: ὑμεῖς ἀνάβητε εἰς τὴν ἑορτήν ταύτην ἐγὼ οὔπω ἀναβαίνω εἰς τὴν ἑορτὴν ταύτην ὅτι ὁ καιρὸς ὁ ἐμὸς οὔπω πεπλήρωται

• NASB: Go up to the feast yourselves; I am not going up to this feast, because My time has not yet fully arrived.
• NA-UBS: ὑμεῖς ἀνάβητε εἰς τὴν ἑορτήν ἐγὼ οὐκ ἀναβαίνω εἰς τὴν ἑορτὴν ταύτην, ὅτι ὁ ἐμὸς καιρὸς οὔπω πεπλήρωται

Comparisons from other translations:

Go not yet

• Geneva: Go ye up unto this feast: I will not go up yet unto this feast: for my time is not yet fulfilled.
• NKJV: You go up to this feast. I am not yet going up to this feast, for My time has not yet fully come.
• WEB: You go up to the feast. I am not yet going up to this feast, because my time is not yet fulfilled.
• YLT: Ye – go ye up to this feast; I do not yet go up to this feast, because my time hath not yet been fulfilled;

Go not

• ESV: You go up to the feast. I am not going up to this feast, for my time has not yet fully come.
• LEB: You go up to the feast. I am not going up to this feast, because my time is not yet completed.
• NET: You go up to the feast yourselves. I am not going up to this feast because my time has not yet fully arrived.
• NIV: You go to the festival. I am not going up to this festival, because my time has not yet fully come.

As a matter of interest, the NET has this note:

John 7:8 tc Most MSS (P^66,75 B L T W Θ Ψ 070 0105 0250 ƒ^1,13 M sa), including most of the better witnesses, have “not yet” (οὔπω, oupō) here. Those with the reading οὐκ are not as impressive (א D K 1241 al lat), but οὐκ is the more difficult reading here, especially because it stands in tension with v. 10. On the one hand, it is possible that οὐκ arose because of homoioarcton: A copyist who saw oupw wrote ouk. However, it is more likely that οὔπω was introduced early on to harmonize with what is said two verses later. As for Jesus’ refusal to go up to the feast in v. 8, the statement does not preclude action of a different kind at a later point. Jesus may simply have been refusing to accompany his brothers with the rest of the group of pilgrims, preferring to travel separately and “in secret” (v. 10) with his disciples.

I offer this for the information it contains. I do not agree with the conclusion in the NET, and its peculiar attempt to reconcile the contradiction. NET here seems to accept the idea of “orthodox corruption” of Scripture (i.e., that orthodox Christian scribes altered the biblical texts to conform them to their own beliefs). However, it is significant that, even though they chose to disregard them, the NET translator admit most of the better witnesses have οὔπω, “not yet.”

As another matter of information, the Majority Text:

• RPMT: Υμεῖς ἀνάβητε εἰς τὴν ἑορτὴν ταύτην: ἐγὼ οὔπω ἀναβαίνω εἰς τὴν ἑορτὴν ταύτην, ὅτι ὁ καιρὸς ὁ ἐμὸς οὔπω πεπλήρωται.
• EMTV: You go up to this feast. I am not yet going up to this feast, because My time has not yet been fulfilled.

In the case of this verse, it is not only in the so-called better witnesses, it is in the majority of all extant witnesses.

The conclusion of the matter

AKJV v. 10: But when his brethren were gone up, then went he also up unto the feast, not openly, but as it were in secret.

NASB v. 10: But when His brothers had gone up to the feast, then He Himself also went up, not publicly, but as though in secret.

When we read the context – John 7:2-13 – we find not a minor difference in how translations word a sentence, but a glaring contradiction in the critical Greek text and translations therefrom. We find in verse 8 in the NASB, for example, that Jesus tells his brothers to go up to the feast, that he is not (οὐκ) going to the feast, and why. In verse 10, only two verses later, Jesus goes up to the feast – which he had told them he would not do. This reading makes Jesus’s statement contradictory. He said one thing and did another. This statement is false, inaccurate, and contradictory. This is not the way of Jesus the Son of God that the Bible presents.

However, in the KJV and TR there is no problem. Just like in the NASB, in verse 10 the King James Bible tells us Jesus went up to the feast. Significantly, this presents no contradiction with what Jesus said previously, because he had said, “I go not up yet” (οὔπω). He was not going when they went, not right now or at this time, not yet. “Not yet” does not mean “not at all.” Jesus said he would not go yet, and he did not go yet. His statement is true, accurate, and consistent. This is the way of Jesus the Son of God that the Bible portrays.

This text, textual variant, and translation presents an interesting account of the different approaches of critical text advocates and traditional text advocates. Using a contrived rule about the harder reading, the critical text advocates reject the majority and “best” readings to prefer the hardest/most unlikely reading. One that is theologically incorrect. Traditional text advocates accept the Greek reading that has traditionally been accepted (which in this case happens to be the majority and better readings) – and more importantly, the one that is biblically and theologically consistent with the person of Jesus Christ. He was not fickle and uncertain. He was not a deceiver or liar. He was all-knowing and knew what he would do – go, but not yet.