Bible Query – Early Manuscripts of 1 John

October. 29, 2022 version

Q: In 1 Jn, what are early New Testament manuscripts we have preserved today?

A: Here are many of them.

p9 (=Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 402) 1 John 4:11-12,14-17 third century. The Complete Text of the Earliest New Testament Manuscripts p.70 has a picture of this manuscript, and it says the handwriting was not by a trained scribe, it was written carelessly, and some of the spellings are unintelligible.

3rd century - 1968 - The Text of the New Testament

3rd century - 1998 - Aland et al. 4th Revised Edition

p74 (=Bodmer 17) Acts 1:2-5,7-11,13-15,18-19,22-25; 2:2-4; 2:6-3:26; 4:2-6,8-27; 4:29-27:25; 27:27-28:31; James 1:1-6,8-19,21-23,25,27; 2:1-3,5-15; 18-22, 25-26; 3:1,5-6,10-12,14,17-18; 4:8,11-14; 5:1-3,7-9,12-14,19-20; 1 Peter 1:1-2,7-8,13,19-20,25; 2:6-7,11-12,18,24; 3:4-5; 2 Peter 2:21; 3:4,11,16; 1 John 1:1,6; 2:1-2,7,13-14,18-19,25-26; 3:1-2,8,14,19-20; 4:1,6-7,12,16-17;5:3-4,9-10,17; 2 John 1,6-7,13; 3 John 6,12; Jude 3,7,12,18,24 (7th century)

7th century - 1968 - The Text of the New Testament has James 2:4 and 1 Peter 1:12

7th century - 1975 - Aland et al. 3rd Edition

6th century - 1998 - Aland et al. 4th Revised Edition

Vaticanus [B] (325-350 A.D.), Sinaiticus [Si] (340-350 A.D.), and Alexandrinus [A] (c.450 A.D) have all of 1 John.

Bohairic Coptic 3rd/4th century

Sahidic Coptic 3rd/4rth century

Peshitta Syriac [Syr P] 411-435 A.D. Over 350 manuscripts.

Philoxenian Syriac 507/508 A.D. Bishop Philoxenus of Mabug

Harclean Syriac [Syr H] 616.A.D Thomas of Harkel

Ephraemi Rescriptus 5th century

Armenian [Arm] from 5th century

Georgian [Geo] from 5th century

Ethiopic [Eth] from c.500 A.D.

Q: In 1 Jn, what are the manuscript variations with the Textus Receptus, the basis for the KJV?

A: Jay P. Green, Sr. in the Interlinear Bible records variations in approximately 62 words between the Textus Receptus and the majority text. These are in 21 places. 25 of the words are in one place. Green does not record any additional alternates.

Q: In 1 Jn, what are some of the manuscript variations?

A: The book of 1 John has a total of 2,140 Greek words in 104 verses (not counting the Johanine comma) according to Aland et al. 5th revised edition. It has 2,141 Greek words in Aland et al. 4th revised edition, and 3rd edition, including 6 words in brackets. The text of the 3rd edition is on-line at http://www.greekbible.com. 1 John has an estimated word-for-word accuracy of 98.4%, with 34 words in question. (Since the 25 words of 1 John 5:7-8 is almost certainly an addition, that is not counted.) The other variations are in 25 verses (30 places). Of these, 29 are single word and 1 is 5 word..

   Below are the variations with the primary choice and the top alternate choice. Aland et al. 5th revised edition, 4th revised edition, and 3rd edition, from which this primarily is based, also give a judgment of the degree of certainty per variation. The list below does not include many places where the evidence for a particular reading is so strong that the alternatives are very unlikely. See the next question for which manuscripts support which variants.

1 Jn 1:4a “our” vs. “your” (1 letter difference)

1 Jn 1:4b “our” vs. “your” (1 letter difference)

1 Jn 1:7a “In the light” vs. “But in the light”

1 Jn 1:7b “blood of Jesus” (Sinaiticus, Vaticanus, Ephraemi Rescriptus, Coptic, Latin, Syriac) vs. “blood of Jesus Christ” (Byzantine)

1 Jn 2:4 “the truth” vs. “the truth” (Metzger)

1 Jn 2:6 “so to walk “ vs. “to walk”

1 Jn 2:7a “friends” (most manuscripts) vs “brothers” (K, L, Byzantine) (1 word not counted in the totals)

1 Jn 2:7b “heard” vs. “heard from the beginning” (K, L) (2 words not counted in the totals)

1 Jn 2:14a “I wrote” (most manuscripts) vs. “I wrote” (some Byzantine, so not counted in the totals)

1 Jn 2:14b “I worked” vs. “I wrote”

1 Jn 2:17 “lust of it” vs. “lust” (not counted in the totals)

1 Jn 2:18 “that the Antichrist” vs. “that Antichrist”

1 Jn 2:20 “all” (singular vs. plural)

1 Jn 2:23 “neither the Father, whoever confess the Son also has the Father” vs. “neither the Father” (K, L, most miniscules, Tetus Receptus) (8 words not counted in the totals)

1 Jn 2:25 “us” (most manuscripts) vs. “you (plural) (only Vaticanus, Italic h, so 1 word not counted in the totals)

1 Jn 2:27 “[the] his anointing” vs. “[the] of him anointing” (only Alexandrinus, K, L, Bohairic Coptic) (1 letter difference) (1 word not counted in the totals)

1 Jn 2:28 “if he should appear” vs. “when he should appear) (only most of the Byzantine tradition so not counted in the totals)

1 Jn 2:25 “us” (Sinaiticus, Alexandrinus, Ephraemi Rescriptus, Byzantine Lectionary, Sahidic Coptic, Bohairic Coptic, Armenian) vs. “you” (plural) (Vaticanus)

1 Jn 3:1 “And that is what we are” vs. (absent) (New Age Bible Versions Refuted p.19 says the Greek evidence for “And such as we are” is overwhelming, and the KJV was incorrect to omit it. A Textual Commentary of the New Testament 2nd edition p.642 points out that this is in both Alexandrian and Western types of text. (2 words but not counted in the totals) (homoiteleuton)

1 Jn 3:1 “and we are” vs. (absent) (in the Byzantine Lectionary)

1 Jn 3:5 “our sin” vs. “sin”

1 Jn 3:7 “little children/babies” (paidia) vs “little children” (teknia) vs. “my children”

1 Jn 3:13 “Do not marvel” vs. “And do not marvel” (Metzger)

1 Jn 3:14 “because we love” vs. “because we love the brothers”

1 Jn 3:19a “we shall know” vs. “we know” (Byzantine Lectionary)

1 Jn 3:19b “and in this”. vs. “and this"

1 Jn 3:21a “our heart” vs. “heart"

1 Jn 3:21b “accuses” vs. “accuses us”

1 Jn 3:23 “the name of his Son Jesus Christ” vs. “in his name, Jesus Christ” (only Alexandrinus and some Vulgate) (2 words not counted in the totals)

1 Jn 4:1-2 “many false prophets have gone forth into the world. By this know the Spirit of God: every spirit which confesses that Jesus Christ has come in flesh is from God. And every spirit which does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in flesh is not from God; and this is the antichrist” vs. “many false prophets are gone out into the world. Hereby know ye the Spirit of God : Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God; and every spirit which separates Jesus Christ is not of God, but is of antichrist.” Vulgate, Irenaeus Against Heresies (182-188 A.D.) book 3 ch.16.8 p.443, Origen, also after Nicea Socrates 7.32 p.381. Tertullian Against Marcion 5.16 mentions both readings.) (See The Ante-Nicene Fathers vol.1 p.443)

1 Jn 4:3a “which not confesses” (Almost all early manuscripts) vs. “which loosens / denies”

1 Jn 4:3b “the Jesus” (almost all manuscripts and some Christian writers) vs. “Jesus Christ” vs. “the Jesus Christ is come in the flesh” (Philoxenian Syriac, Harclean Syriac, Armenian, Georgian) vs. “Jesus Christ in the flesh (Sinaiticus) vs. “Jesus Christ come in the flesh” (Byzantine, Ethiopic) (See New Age Bible Versions Refuted p.21 for more info.) (5 words) (probably a homoiteleuton)

1 Jn 4:10 “we have loved” vs. “we loved”

1 Jn 4:15 “Jesus” vs. “Jesus Christ” (only in Vaticanus so not counted in the totals)

1 Jn 4:19 “we love” vs. “we love God” vs. “we love Him”

1 Jn 4:20 “on” vs. “how”

1 Jn 5:1 “loves and” vs. “loves”

1 Jn 5:2 “we do” vs. “we keep”

1 Jn 5:5 “Jesus is the Son of God” vs. “Jesus Christ is the Son of God” (only in Armenian, 33, 378) so not counted in the totals)

1 Jn 5:6a “water and blood” vs. “water and spirit”

1 Jn 5:7-8 “bear witness” vs. “bear witness in heaven: the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit; and these three are one. And there are three that bear witness on earth:” (NKJV) (25 words in Greek) The General Introduction to the Bible p.484 says, “In fact, the acceptance of the longer rendering as a genuine part of the text of 1 John violates almost every major canon of textual criticism.” (Since I believe there is less than 1% chance these words were in the original, this variation is not counted in the totals.) See the discussion on 1 Jn 5:7-8 for which manuscripts support which variants.

1 Jn 5:9 “his son” (p46, original Sinaiticus, Alexandrinus, Vaticanus, Sahidic Coptic, Bhoairic Coptic, others) vs. “his son who [god] sent as a savior upon earth. And the son bore witness on earth by fulfilling the Sceriptures; and we bear witness because we have seen him, and we proclaim to you that you may believe for this reason.” (only Bezae Cantabrigiensis and Byzantine among early manuscripts so not counted in the originals)

1 Jn 5:10a “himself” vs. “of him”

1 Jn 5:10b “God” vs. “Son” (No important manuscript has “Son” except Alexandrinus (c.450 A.D.)

1 Jn 5:13 “eternal life.” (Sinaiticus, Sahidic Coptic, Ethiopic, Armenian, Syriac) vs. “eternal life, and that you may (believe /continue to believe) in the name of the Son of God.” (NKJV has the second) (approximately 9 words not counted in the totals)

1 Jn 5:18a “having been born of God” vs. various clarifications by later manuscripts and writers (no counted in the totals)

1 Jn 5:18b “keeps himself” vs. “keeps him”

1 Jn 5:20a “the Son of God has come” vs. “the Son of God has come and was clothed with flesh for our sake, and suffered, and arose from the dead; he has received us and given…” (only in a few Latin manuscripts and no Greek, so 16 Latin words not counted in the totals)

1 Jn 5:20b “the True [One/God is implied]” vs. “the True God”

1 Jn 5:21 (absent) (Sinaiticus, Vaticanus, Alexandrinus) vs. Add “amen” at the end (Byzantine Lectionary and late manuscripts) (1 word not counted in the totals)

Some manuscripts add the postscript, “Of John Letter general First”

Bibliography for this question: The Greek New Testament Third Edition by Kurt Aland et al., The Greek New Testament Fourth Edition by Kurt Aland et al., Interlinear Greek-English New Testament by George Ricker Berry, the Interlinear Bible by Jay P. Green, The Expositor’s Bible Commentary volume 8, A Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament 2nd edition by Bruce M. Metzger, The Orthodox corruption of Scripture by Bart Ehrman, The Orthodox Corruption of Scripture by Bart Ehrman, The Complete Text of the Earliest New Testament Manuscripts edited by Philip W. Comfort and David P. Barrett, The Expositor’s Greek Testament edited by W. Robertson Nicoll, and footnotes in the NASB, NIV, NKJV, and NRSV Bible translations. Manuscripts of the Greek Bible : An Introduction to Paleography by Bruce M. Metzger also has interesting information on the characteristics and quality of the copying of each manuscript.

Q: In 1 Jn, how do the early manuscripts compare with each other?

A: The table below shows each of the places in question, and the number says which variant is in each manuscript.

Corrections to manuscripts by later scribes are not included. A question mark means it is probably but not certain the manuscript had these words. Parentheses means fragmentary or hard to read. Where there is more than one number, such as “1 /2?”, this means that one or more manuscripts in the family give the first choice, and one or more manuscripts are not clear, but appear to give the second choice. A parenthesis, such as (6), means that through translation or loss of letters are not sure, but it appears to support reading 6. There are so many manuscripts and writers that they cannot all be listed here; this shows the most significant early ones.

The witnesses are ordered chronologically, as much as possible.

Columns: blue=Bible manuscript, white = early Christian writer, green=heretical writer, orange=schismatic writer, pink=strange writer

Cyril of Jerusalem (384 A.D.)

Place of variant	words	Jus-tin	Iren	Clem A	Tert	Origen	Rebap-ismt	Cyp	Aster	Metho-dius	B	Si	Hil-ary	Luci-fer	Atha	Pris	Tyc	Ambstr	Did	Zeno	Pela-gius	Amb	Jer	Aug	Cyr A	Hesych	A	C	048	Vulgate	Ital	Ital b	Ital d	Ital ff	Quod	Varim	Eth	Arm	Geo	Syr Pal	Syr Ph	Syr  P	Syr H	Sah	Boh	Fay	Byz	Place of variant
1 Jn 1:4a	1	-	-	-		-	-	-	-	-	1	1	-	-	-		-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	2	-	2	1/ 2	-	-	-	-	-	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	1/ 2	2	-	2	1 Jn 1:4a
1 Jn 1:4b	1	-	-	-		-					1	1		-							-					-	2	2	-	1/ 2	1	-	-	-	-	-	2	2	1	2	2	3	2	1	2	-	1/2	1 Jn 1:4b
1 Jon 1:7a	1										2	2													1		2	2												2	2	2	2		1mss		2	1 Jn 1:7a
1 Jn 1:7b	1										2	1*															2	2		1/2												2	2*	2	(2)			1 Jn 1:7b
1 Jn 2:4	1	-	-	1		-					1			-							-						1	1				-	-	-	-	-	3	-	2	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	1 Jn 2:4
1 Jn 2:6	1	-	-	2		(1)/2 lat	-	2	-	-	2A	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	2	-	1/ 2A	2A	-	-	2A	1	-	2A	-	-	-	-	-	-	(1)	(1)	1	-	-	2A	1	2A	1	-	1	1 Jn 2:6
1 Jn 2:14	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	1	-	1?	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	2	-	2	-	-	1	1	-	1/ 2	2	-	-	-	-	-	1	1	-	-	-	1	1	1	1	-	2	1 Jn 2:14
1 Jn 2:17	1	-	-	-	-	2A	-	1	-	-	1	1	-	1	-		-	-	1	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	2A	1	-	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	1	1	1/ 2A	1	-	1	1 Jn 2:17
1 Jn 2:18	1	-	2 lat	-	-	-	-	3	-	-	1	1	-	3	-	-	3	-	-	-	-	-	3	3	-	-	4	1	-	2	2	-	-	-	3	-	3	2	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	2	1 Jn 2:18
1 Jn 2:20	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1 lat	2	2	-	2	2	-	-	-	-	-	2	1	2	-	-	2	2	1	2	-	2	1 Jn 2:20
1 Jn 2:25	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	2	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	1	-	-	1	1	-	1/ 2?	1	1	-	-	-	-	1	1	1	-	-	1	1	1	1	-	1	1 Jn 2:25
1 Jn 3:1a	2			-																																												1 Jn 3:1a
1 Jn 3:1b	1	1?	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	1	1	-	1/ 2	1	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	1	-	-	(1)	1	1	1	-	2	1 Jn 3:1b
1 Jn 3:5	1	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	-	-	1	2	-	-	2	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	1	2	-	1/2/ 3?	1	-	-	-	-	-	1	1	2	-	-	2	1	1?/ 2?	1	2	2	1 Jn 3:5
1 Jn 3:7	1										2	2															1	1vid															2				2	1 Jn 3:7
1 Jn 3:13	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	2	1	-	2	-	-	-	-	2	-	-	-	2	2	-	-	2	1?	-	2	1/ 2	-	-	-	-	-	1	1	2	-	-	1	2	2	2	2	2	1 Jn 3:13
1 Jn 3:14	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	1	-	1	-	-	3	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	1	2	-	2?/3?	1/ 3	-	-	-	-	-	3	1	1	-	-	3	3	1/ 3	1	1	2	1 Jn 3:14
1 Jn 3:19a	1	-	-	2	-	-	-	-	-	-	2	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	2	1	-	2	1/ 2	-	-	-	-	-	1	1	2	-	-	1	(3)	1	1?/2	2	1	1 Jn 3:19a
1 Jn 3:19b	1	-	-	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	2	-	-	1	1	-	1?/2	2/ 3	-	-	-	-	-	1	1	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	2	1 Jn 3:19b
1 Jn 3:21a	1	-	-	1 lat	-	1/ 2	-	1	-	(1)	2	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	1	1/ 2	-	1	2	1	-	1/ 2	1	-	-	-	-	-	1	1	1	-	-	1	1	1	1	1	1	1 Jn 3:21a
1 Jn 3:21b	1	-	-	2 lat	-	1	-	2	-	2	1	2	-	-	-	-	-	-	1/ 2	-	-	-	2	1/ 2	-	2 lat	1	3	-	1/ 2	2	-	-	-	-	-	3	3	3	-	-	2	2	3	3	2	3	1 Jn 3:21b
1 Jn 4:3a	1	-	2 lat	2	2	1/ 5	-	1/(5)	-	-	1	1	-	2	-	1/ 2/5	1/ / 3/5	-	-	-	-	5	-	3/5	1/ 2	-	1	-	-	2	1	-	-	-	-	-	1	1	1	-	-	1	1	1	1	-	1	1 Jn 4:3a
1 Jn 4:3b	5	-	1 lat	1 lat	1/ 2	1/ 5	-	(5)	-	-	1	4	-	1	-	1/ 5	1/ 3/ 5	-	-	-	-	5	-	3/ 5	2	-	1	-	-	1/ 2?	1/ 2	-	-	-	-	-	5	3	3	-	-	3	3	-	1	-	5	1 Jn 4:3b
1 Jn 4:10	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	2	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	3	-	2 ?	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	3	3	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	3	1 Jn 4:10
1 Jn 4:19	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	2	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1/  2/ 3	-	-	1	-	-	1/ 2	2/4	-	-	-	-	-	(4)	2	1	-	-	2	2	4	2/4?	-	3	1 Jn 4:19
1 Jn 4:20	1	-	-	-	-	1	-	1	-	-	1	1	-	1	-	-	-	-	-	1	2	2	-	2	2	-	2	-	2	2	2	2	-	-	-	-	2	2	1	-	-	2	-	1	2	-	2	1 Jn 4:20
1 Jn 5:1	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	3	2	1/ 2	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	2	-	-	1	-	-	2	2	-	-	-	-	-	1	1	3	-	-	1	1	3	1/3	-	1	1 Jn 5:1
1 Jn 5:2	1		-	-	-	-	-	-			1	2	-	1		-		-	-	-	-	-		1	-		3?	-		1	1					-	1	1	1		-	1	1	1	1		2	1 Jn 5:2
1 Jn 5:6	1		-	1 lat	1	-	1	-			1	3	-	-		-		-	-	-	-	2		-	1/ 2/ 3		3	-		1/ 3/4	1						3	4	1		-	1	3	3	3		1	1 Jn 5:6
1 Jn 5:7-8	25										1	1															1	-		1/ 2/3	1/ 3						1	1/ 2?	1		-	1	1	1	1		1	1 Jn 5:7-8
1 Jn 5:10a	1		-	-	-	-	-	-			3	1	-	-		-		-	-	-	-	-		1	1/ 2		3	-		1	1	-	-	-	-	-	1	1	(1)	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	2	1 Jn 5:10a
1 Jn 5:10b	1		-	-	-	-	-	-			1	1	-	-		-		-	-	-	-	0		1	1		2	-		2	1/ 2	-	-	-	-	1	(2)	3	2	-	-	1	1	3	1/3?	-	1	1 Jn 5:10b
1 Jn 5:13	9											1																									1	1						1				1 Jn 5:13
1 Jn 5:17	1		-	2	3A	1	-	-			1	1	-	-		-		-	-	-	-	-		-	-		1	-		1/3	3	-	-	-	-	-	-	3	1	-	-	-	2	3	3?	-	1	1 Jn 5:17
1 Jn 5:18a	1										1	1															1	-		3	3						1	1	1		-	-	-	-	3		1	1 Jn 5:18a
1 Jn 5:18b	1										1	3															1	-		2	2						3	3	3		-	-	-	-	-		3	1 Jn 5:18b
1 Jn 5:20a	16																																															1 Jn 5:20a
1 Jn 5:20b	1										1	2															3	-		3	1/3						3	1	3		-	1	1	2	1/2/3?		1	1 Jn 5:20b
1 Jn 5:21	1 amen										1	1															1	-		1/ 2	1						1	1	1		-	1	1	1	1		2	1 Jn 5:21
Place of variant	words	Jus-tin	Iren	Clem Alex	Tert	Origen	Rebap-tism	Cyp	Aster	Metho-dius	B	Si	Hil-ary	Luci-fer	Atha	Pris-cil.	Tyc	Ambstr	Did	Zeno	Pela-gius	Amb	Jer	Aug	Cyr A	Hesyc	A	C	048	Vulgate	Ital	Ital b	Ital d	Ital ff	Quod	Varim	Eth	Arm	Geo	Syr Pal	Syr Ph	Syr  P	Syr H	Sah	Boh	Fay	Byz	Place of variant

by Steven M. Morrison, PhD.