Question about the Bible... Have I been missing something, or is this guy just plain nuts?

Question

I was talking to a guy about the Bible today, and we discussed John 2:5

"His mother said to the servers, "Do whatever he tells you."

It's from the Wedding at Cana, and it's Mary telling the servers to do whatever Jesus tells them.

But this guy disagreed with me, and said, get this: "Mary isn't talking about Jesus when she says "he" because the "he" isn't capitalized (He). He said that always in the Bible the pronouns are capitalized if they are referring to God.

I said I had never heard of such a thing, and had never seen a Bible translation like that in my entire life. I know people do that in their writings as a personal devotion, but never once have I ever seen it done in a Bible.

So what's the verdict? Is he nuts or am I wrong?

Answer 1

He's nuts. Nowhere in the bible except at the beginning of a sentence is He capitalized. We capitalize it as reference to God/Jesus and out of respect.

Answer 2

The Bible I have at hand here (NIV) does not capitalize "he" when referring to Jesus. Your friend may have a version that has decided to add capitalization to all references but I don't recall seeing written that way even in the King James version. And yes... Mary is talking about Jesus. We just finished the study of John at our church and I remember the week we read this passage. I think your friend has the wrong idea. Refer him to a good Bible commentary like Mac Arthur.

Answer 3

You are right. The pronouns referring to God are not capitalized. And besides that, who else would Mary be referring to in the story? A disciple? That makes no sense at all. All you have to do is pull out a Bible and you will see that those pronouns are not capitalized.

Answer 4

Nowhere in my bible does it capitalize "he" when referring to God or Jesus. That's something we've taken to doing out of reverence. When Mary said that, she knew that Jesus was very special, although she probably didn't realize just how much. She didn't know what he would do, but that he belonged to God and whatever Jesus said should be done would work. She knew that she should have faith in him and his abilities.

Just out of curiosity, who does your friend believe Mary is referring to? She tells them to "do whatever he tells you", they go talk to Jesus and he tells them what to do. Are there any other candidates that fit the picture of telling the servers to do something? Nothing else even makes any sense! Good for you for questioning what you hear. That's exactly what the bible teaches us we should do, especially when it concerns God's word, which is the bible.

Answer 5

Mary, the mother was talking to a servant or the servants to do whatever Jesus will tell them. There was no need to capitalized the "he" there. Mary was aware only that Jesus was her son who can do miracles but not necessarily believing Jesus is God; just a Messiah or Prophet.
Even the Bible did not consider Jesus as God. Only the Christians specially the Catholics decided that about a thousand years ago only.

Answer 6

No, not all parts of the Bible use the Capital H for he when referring to God, ( in Psalms for example) however in the Gospels this is true when referring to Jesus. Mary was referring to Jesus when she made that statement. I don't know what version your friend has read but as far as I know they all have " He" capitalized in the Gospels.

Answer 7

Did he give you an alternative reference to "he". Jesus is the only possible antecedent to "he" whether it is capitalized or not. It is the context that determines the interpretation and application, not how the receiving translation used their grammar. "He" or "he" is referring to Jesus because the context makes that plain. The discussion is revolving around Mary, Jesus, and the people at the wedding.

Answer 8

Mary was referring to Jesus of course.

But it doesn't matter if it is capitalized or not in any Bible.
That is strictly a decision made by the Translators and the Publishing Company. It all depends on their particular theological beliefs.

Because, in all of the extant Manuscripts, ALL of the letters are capitalized. The Manuscripts are written in continuous stream of capital letters.

No Paragraphs, No Verse numbers, No punctuation.

Hope that helps.

.....theBerean

Answer 9

That may be true for the Old Testament. If the writer is referring to Jesus and then says he, it isn't capitalized. However, you and your nutty friend need to remember that what we are reading is translation from the original Greek or Hebrew. The original manuscripts didn't have periods, commas, paragraphs. The rules of grammar are very different for Greek and Hebrew, so capitalization or not is not indicative of any great theological point.

Answer 10

Many Bibles capitalize pronouns that refer to God or Jesus: "none shall come to the Father but through Me" and so on.

If the particular Bible you are using does not capitalize the 'he' in that verse, but capitalizes pronouns referring to God elsewhere, then he's right, and the 'he' in that verse must be someone else (at least according to that translation).