Bible Query – Early Manuscripts of 3 John
July 31, 2024 version
Q: In 3 Jn, what are early New Testament manuscripts we have preserved today?
A: Here are many of them.
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 3 John.
Bezae Cantabrigiensis c.450-550 A.D. has preserved 3 John 11-15.
Bohairic Coptic 3rd/4th century
Sahidic Coptic 3rd/4rth century
Ephraemi Rescriptus 5th century
Armenian 5th century
Georgian 5th century
Ethiopic [Eth] from c.500 A.D.
Philoxenian Syriac 507/508 A.D. Bishop Philoxenus of Mabug
Harclean Syriac [Syr H] 616.A.D Thomas of Harkel
Q: In 3 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 2 words between the Textus Receptus and the majority text. These are in 2 places. He does not record any additional alternates.
Q: In 3 Jn, what are some of the manuscript variations?
A: The book of 3 John has a total of 218 Greek words in 14 verses according to Aland et al. 4th revised edition. It has 219 Greek words in both Aland et al. 3rd edition and Aland et al. 4th revised edition, with no words in brackets. The text of the 3rd edition is on-line at http://www.greekbible.com. 3 John has an estimated word-for-word accuracy of 98.2%, with 4 words in question. Of these 4 words, none of them change the meaning. These 4 words are in 3 verses (4 places).
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.
3 Jn 3 “for” vs. absent
3 Jn 4a “with joy” vs. “joy”
3 Jn 4b “walk in truth” vs. “walk in the truth”
3 Jn 9 I wrote [*] church. The Greek word (an) indicates contingency in certain constructions
3 Jn 15 (absent) vs. “amen” at the end in later manuscripts) (1 word not counted in the totals)
Some manuscripts add the postscript, “Of John letter General Third”
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 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.
A: The table below shows each of the places in question, and the number says which variant is in each manuscript.
This chart shows the variations of some of the manuscripts of 3 John, with the one Aland et al. views as correct labeled as “1”, the next choice “2”, and so on. 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
|
Place of variant |
words |
p74 |
B |
Si |
Jer |
048 |
A |
C |
Ital |
Vulgate |
Arm |
Eth |
Geo |
Syr Ph |
Syr H |
Sah |
Boh |
Byz |
|
3 Jn 3 |
1 |
- |
1 |
2 |
- |
- |
1 |
1 |
1/ 2 |
2 |
2 |
2 |
- |
1 |
1 |
2 |
1/3 |
1 |
|
3 Jn 4a |
1 |
- |
3 |
1 |
- |
- |
1 |
2 |
1/3 |
1/ 2? |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
4 |
1 |
|
3 Jn 4b |
1 |
|
2 |
1 |
- |
1vid |
2 |
2*vid/1c |
- |
|
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
1 |
|
3 Jn 9 |
1 |
- |
2 |
1 |
(1) |
- |
1 |
5 |
(1)/3 |
3 |
1 |
- |
5 |
(1) |
(1) |
2 |
1/2 |
5 |
|
Place of variant |
words |
p74 |
B |
Si |
Jer |
|
A |
C |
Ital |
Vulgate |
Arm |
Eth |
Geo |
Syr Ph |
Syr H |
Sah |
Boh |
Byz |
by Steven M. Morrison, PhD.