5
Our faith overcomes the world
1 Πᾶς ὁ πιστεύων ὅτι Ἰησοῦς ἐστιν ὁ Χριστὸς ἐκ τοῦ Θεοῦ γεγέννηται· καὶ πᾶς ὁ ἀγαπῶν τὸν γεννήσαντα ἀγαπᾷ καὶ* τὸν γεγεννημένον ἐξ αὐτοῦ. 2 Ἐν τούτῳ γινώσκομεν ὅτι ἀγαπῶμεν τὰ τέκνα τοῦ Θεοῦ, ὅταν τὸν Θεὸν ἀγαπῶμεν καὶ τὰς ἐντολὰς αὐτοῦ τηρῶμεν.† 3 Αὕτη γάρ ἐστιν ἡ ἀγάπη τοῦ Θεοῦ, ἵνα τὰς ἐντολὰς αὐτοῦ τηρῶμεν· καὶ αἱ ἐντολαὶ αὐτοῦ βαρεῖαι οὐκ εἰσίν, 4 ὅτι πᾶν τὸ γεγεννημένον ἐκ τοῦ Θεοῦ νικᾷ τὸν κόσμον· καὶ αὕτη ἐστὶν ἡ νίκη ἡ νικήσασα τὸν κόσμον· ἡ πίστις ἡμῶν.‡ 5 Τίς ἐστιν§ ὁ νικῶν τὸν κόσμον εἰ μὴ ὁ πιστεύων ὅτι Ἰησοῦς ἐστιν ὁ Υἱὸς τοῦ Θεοῦ;
Receive the witness of God
6 Οὗτός ἐστιν ὁ ἐλθὼν δι᾿ ὕδατος καὶ αἵματος,* Ἰησοῦς† Χριστός—οὐκ ἐν τῷ ὕδατι μόνον, ἀλλ᾿ ἐν τῷ ὕδατι καὶ‡ τῷ αἵματι. Καὶ τὸ Πνεῦμά ἐστιν τὸ μαρτυροῦν, ὅτι τὸ Πνεῦμά ἐστιν ἡ ἀλήθεια· 7 ὅτι τρεῖς εἰσιν οἱ μαρτυροῦντες§— 8 τὸ Πνεῦμά καὶ τὸ ὕδωρ καὶ τὸ αἷμα—καὶ οἱ τρεῖς εἰς τὸ ἕν εἰσιν. 9 Εἰ τὴν μαρτυρίαν τῶν ἀνθρώπων λαμβάνομεν, ἡ μαρτυρία τοῦ Θεοῦ μείζων ἐστίν· ὅτι αὕτη ἐστὶν ἡ μαρτυρία τοῦ Θεοῦ ἣν* μεμαρτύρηκεν περὶ τοῦ Υἱοῦ αὐτοῦ. 10 Ὁ πιστεύων εἰς τὸν Υἱὸν τοῦ Θεοῦ ἔχει τὴν μαρτυρίαν ἐν ἑαυτῷ·† ὁ μὴ πιστεύων τῷ Θεῷ‡ ψεύστην πεποίηκεν αὐτόν, ὅτι οὐ πεπίστευκεν εἰς τὴν μαρτυρίαν ἣν μεμαρτύρηκεν ὁ Θεὸς περὶ τοῦ Υἱοῦ αὐτοῦ. 11 Καὶ αὕτη ἐστὶν ἡ μαρτυρία· ὅτι ζωὴν αἰώνιον ἔδωκεν ὁ Θεὸς ἡμῖν,§ καὶ αὕτη ἡ ζωὴ ἐν τῷ Υἱῷ αὐτοῦ ἐστιν. 12 Ὁ ἔχων τὸν Υἱὸν ἔχει τὴν ζωήν· ὁ μὴ ἔχων τὸν Υἱὸν τοῦ Θεοῦ τὴν ζωὴν οὐκ ἔχει.
13 Ταῦτα ἔγραψα ὑμῖν τοῖς πιστεύουσιν εἰς τὸ ὄνομα τοῦ Υἱοῦ τοῦ Θεοῦ ἵνα εἰδῆτε ὅτι ζωὴν αἰώνιον ἔχετε,* καὶ ἵνα πιστεύητε εἰς τὸ ὄνομα τοῦ Υἱοῦ τοῦ Θεοῦ.†
Our confidence
14 Καὶ αὕτη ἐστὶν ἡ παρρησία ἣν ἔχομεν πρὸς αὐτόν· ὅτι ἐάν τι αἰτώμεθα κατὰ τὸ θέλημα αὐτοῦ, ἀκούει ἡμῶν. 15 Καὶ ἐὰν οἴδαμεν ὅτι ἀκούει ἡμῶν, ὃ ἐὰν‡ αἰτώμεθα, οἴδαμεν ὅτι ἔχομεν τὰ αἰτήματα ἃ ᾐτήκαμεν παρ᾿§ αὐτοῦ.
Sins not leading to death
16 Ἐάν τις ἴδῃ τὸν ἀδελφὸν αὐτοῦ ἁμαρτάνοντα ἁμαρτίαν μὴ πρὸς θάνατον, αἰτήσει, καὶ δώσει αὐτῷ ζωὴν τοῖς ἁμαρτάνουσιν μὴ πρὸς θάνατον. Ἔστιν ἁμαρτία πρὸς θάνατον· οὐ περὶ ἐκείνης λέγω ἵνα ἐρωτήσῃ.* 17 Πᾶσα ἀδικία ἁμαρτία ἐστίν, καὶ ἔστιν ἁμαρτία οὐ πρὸς θάνατον.
18 Οἴδαμεν ὅτι πᾶς ὁ γεγεννημένος ἐκ τοῦ Θεοῦ οὐχ ἁμαρτάνει· ἀλλ᾿ ὁ γεννηθεὶς ἐκ τοῦ Θεοῦ τηρεῖ ἑαυτόν,† καὶ ὁ πονηρὸς οὐχ ἅπτεται αὐτοῦ.
19 Οἴδαμεν ὅτι ἐκ τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐσμεν, καὶ ὁ κόσμος ὅλος ἐν τῷ πονηρῷ κεῖται.
Conclusion
20 Οἴδαμεν δὲ‡ ὅτι ὁ Υἱὸς τοῦ Θεοῦ ἥκει καὶ δέδωκεν§ ἡμῖν διάνοιαν, ἵνα γινώσκωμεν* τὸν Ἀληθινόν·† καί ἐσμεν ἐν τῷ Ἀληθινῷ, ἐν τῷ Υἱῷ αὐτοῦ Ἰησοῦ Χριστῷ. Οὗτός ἐστιν ὁ ἀληθινὸς Θεός, καὶ ἡ ζωὴ ἡ ‡ αἰώνιος. 21 Τεκνία, φυλάξατε ἑαυτοὺς§ ἀπὸ τῶν εἰδώλων. Ἀμήν.*,†
* 5:1 και f35 (ℵ)A,048 [98%] RP,HF,OC,TR,CP[NU]ECM ¦ — B [2%] † 5:2 τηρωμεν f35 ℵA [88%] RP,HF,OC,TR,CP ¦ ποιωμεν B [11%] NU ¦ τηρουμεν 048 [1%] ‡ 5:4 ημων f35 ℵ,A,B (56.4%) RP,OC,TR,NU ¦ υμων 048 (43.2%) HF,CP ¦ — (0.4%) (John is making a general statement, that is properly inclusive—first person.) § 5:5 εστιν f35 A,048 [88%] RP,HF,OC,TR,CP ¦ δε 1 ℵ [12%] [NU]ECM ¦ 1 δε B * 5:6 αιματος f35 B (77.2%) RP,HF,OC,TR,CP,NU ¦ 1 και πνευματος ℵA (14.2%) ¦ πνευματος και 1 (4.8%) ¦ πνευματος (3.2%) ¦ two other variants (0.6%) † 5:6 ιησους f35 ℵA,B [97%] RP,HF,OC,CP,NU ¦ 1 ο [3%] TR ‡ 5:6 και f35 ℵ [70%] RP,HF,OC,TR,CP ¦ 1 εν (A)B [30%] NU § 5:7 μαρτυρουντες f35 ℵ,A,B (99%) RP,HF,CP,NU ¦ 1 εν τω ουρανω ο πατηρ ο λογος και το αγιον πνευμα και ουτοι οι τρεις εν εισεν και τρεις εισιν οι 1 εν τη γη (1%) OC,TR—the (1%) breaks down like this: (61) [16th], (629) [14th], (918) [16th], 2318 [18th], 2473 [17th], wherein the cursives in ( ) all differ from each other; the two that agree verbatim with TR were probably copied from it. The only one that is clearly early enough to have served as TRs exemplar, 629, is far too different—it lacks the seven last words in TR, omits another five, changes five and adds two—19 out of 40 words is too much. (OC is in very small print.) * 5:9 ην f35 [91%] RP,HF,OC,TR,CP ¦ οτι ℵA,B [9%] NU † 5:10 εαυτω f35 ℵ [48%] TR,CP,NU ¦ αυτω A,B [52%] RP,HF,OC ‡ 5:10 θεω rell ¦ υιω A [11%] § 5:11 ο θεος ημιν f35 B [24%] CP ¦ ~ 312 ℵA [76%] RP,HF,OC,TR,NU * 5:13 τοις πιστευουσιν εις το ονομα του υιου (−του υιου 2.5%) του θεου ινα ειδητε (ιδητε 7%) οτι ζωην αιωνιον εχετε (εχητε 7%) (εχετε αιωνιον 2.5% TR) f35 (89.9%) RP,HF,OC(TR)CP ¦ ινα ειδητε οτι ζωην εχετε αιωνιον (αιωνιον εχετε ℵ) οι πιστευοντες (τοις πιστευουσιν ℵB 1% NU) εις το ονομα του υιου του θεου ℵA,B (3.8%) (NU) ¦ τοις πιστευουσιν εις το ονομα του υιου του θεου (4.7%) ¦ ινα ειδητε οτι ζωην εχετε αιωνιον (1.6%) † 5:13 και ινα πιστευητε (πιστευσητε 10.2%, πιστευετε 2.4%) εις το ονομα του υιου του θεου f35 (90.3%) RP,HF,OC,TR,CP ¦ — ℵA,B (4.4%) NU ¦ part of a larger lacuna (5.2%) (The longer form does seem to be awkward—more than sufficient stimulus for Alexandrian editors to delete.) ‡ 5:15 εαν f35 ℵ [86%] RP,HF,CP,NU ¦ αν A,B [13%] OC,TR ¦ — [1%] § 5:15 παρ f35 A [95%] RP,HF,OC,TR,CP ¦ απ ℵB [4%] NU ¦ — [1%] * 5:16 ερωτηση rell ¦ ερωτησει [13%] ¦ ερωτησητε [1%] † 5:18 εαυτον f35 ℵ [92%] RP,HF,OC,TR,CP,ECM ¦ αυτον A,B [8%] NU ‡ 5:20 οιδαμεν δε rell ¦ ~ και 1 A [15%] ¦ 1 [11%] § 5:20 δεδωκεν rell ¦ εδωκεν A [15%] * 5:20 γινωσκωμεν f35 [66%] RP,HF,OC,TR,CP,NU ¦ γινωσκομεν ℵA,B [34%] † 5:20 αληθινον rell ¦ 1 θεον A [24%] ‡ 5:20 η ζωη η f35 [60%] HF ¦ 2 ℵA,B [26%] RP,OC,CP,NU ¦ 12 [6%] TR ¦ 23 [4%] ¦ — [4%] (The omission of the second article could be an easy case of homoioteleuton. Why the ‘Alexandrians’ omitted the first article is hard to say, but that doesn’t make them right.) § 5:21 εαυτους f35 A,048 [75%] HF,OC,TR,CP ¦ εαυτα ℵB [25%] RP,NU * 5:21 αμην f35 (82%) RP,HF,OC,TR,CP ¦ — ℵA,B (18%) NU † 5:21 The citation of f35 is based on forty-three MSS—18, 35, 141, 149, 201, 204, 328, 386, 394, 432, 604, 664, 757, 824, 928, 986, 1072, 1075, 1100, 1248, 1249, 1503, 1548, 1637, 1725, 1732, 1754, 1761, 1768, 1855, 1864, 1865, 1876, 1892, 1897, 2221, 2352, 2431, 2466, 2554, 2587, 2626 and 2723—all of which I collated myself. 204, 824, 1100 and 2554 are very pure representatives of f35 in 1 John, with not a single variant, and so for the exemplars of 35, 1503, 1637, 1725, 1732, 1864, 1865, 1897 and 2723. For 204, 824, 1100 and 2554 to have no variants after all the centuries of transmission is surely an eloquent demonstration of the faithfulness and accuracy of that transmission. Since these MSS come from all over the Mediterranean world (Sinai, Jerusalem, Patmos, Constantinople, Bucharest, Aegean, Trikala, Athens, Meteora, Sparta, Ochrida, Mt. Athos [nine different monasteries], Grottaferrata, Vatican, etc.) they are certainly representative of the family, giving us the precise family profile—it is reflected in the Text without exception.ECM collated 132 continuous text manuscripts (MSS) for 1 John, including some fragments, which number represents about 20% of the extant (known) MSS. By a careful comparison of TuT and ECM I believe we can arrive at some reasonably close extrapolations. Thus I venture to predict, if complete collations ever become available, that for any non-Byzantine variants listed with 5 to 1% support (in my apparatus) the margin of error should not exceed ±1%; for non-Byzantine variants listed with 10 to 6% support the margin of error will hardly exceed ±2%; where there is some division among the Byzantine witnesses the margin of error will rarely exceed ±10%. However, I guarantee the witness of Family 35. Please see the last footnote for Matthew for further information.