Music: DC Talk - Red Letters (lyrics)
John 3:16 is probably the most quoted verse in the bible. In my last post I referred to this verse in regard to the color of the text.
There are more than a few versions which paint 3:16 black but the most prominent version is the TNIV. (although the Bible Gateway doesn't have red letter markup, you can see where the quotes end by viewing 3:10-21). This 'update' of the New international version shows the quote to Nicodemus by Jesus ends at 3:15, with 3:16-20 to be a narrator's illustration of the conversation. The original NIV has a more traditional view--if the red letters of Christ can be called tradition. Just like chapters, verses, section headings, footnotes, cross references, et. al, painting the words of Christ red in the Bible was not part of the original work, but subsequent markings made later. In fact, it is probably the most recent markup in our Bible, coming into existence in it's current form around 1900(1).
