Textual variants in the First Epistle of John are the subject of the study called textual criticism of the New Testament. Textual variants in manuscripts arise when a copyist makes deliberate or inadvertent alterations to a text that is being reproduced. An abbreviated list of textual variants in this particular book is given in this article below.

Most of the variations are not significant and some common alterations include the deletion, rearrangement, repetition, or replacement of one or more words when the copyist's eye returns to a similar word in the wrong location of the original text. If their eye skips to an earlier word, they may create a repetition (error of dittography). If their eye skips to a later word, they may create an omission. They may resort to performing a rearranging of words to retain the overall meaning without compromising the context. In other instances, the copyist may add text from memory from a similar or parallel text in another location. Otherwise, they may also replace some text of the original with an alternative reading. Spellings occasionally change. Synonyms may be substituted. A pronoun may be changed into a proper noun (such as "he said" becoming "Jesus said"). John Mill's 1707 Greek New Testament was estimated to contain some 30,000 variants in its accompanying textual apparatusAdam Fox, John Mill and Richard Bentley: A Study of the Textual Criticism of the New Testament 1675–1729 (Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1954), pp. 105–115; John Mill, Novum Testamentum Graecum, cum lectionibus variantibus MSS (Oxford 1707) which was based on "nearly 100 [Greek] manuscripts."Metzger and Ehrman (2005), p.154 Peter J. Gurry puts the number of non-spelling variants among New Testament manuscripts around 500,000, though he acknowledges his estimate is higher than all previous ones.Peter J. Gurry, "The Number of Variants in the Greek New Testament: A Proposed Estimate" New Testament Studies 62.1 (2016), p. 113

Legend

Textual variants

Textual variants in 1 John 1. STEP Bible. Tyndale House. Cambridge, UK. Retrieved May 14, 2020. ἡμῶν] (our) – ‭א, B, L, Ψ, 049, 69, 88, 181, 322, 326, 436, 1067, 1175, 1241, 1409, pm, Lect, itar, itp, itt(pt),, itz, vgww, vgst, copsa, geo, Ps-Oecumeniuscomm, Theophylactcomm, TRStephens 1550, WH ὑμῶν] (your) – (see ) A, C, K, P, 056, 0142, 5, 6, 33, 81, 104, 323, 330, 442, 451, 468, 614, 629, 630, 945, 1241, 1292, 1505, 1611, 1735, 1739, 1844, 1852, 1877, 1881, 2138, 2298, 2344, 2412, 2464, 2495, Byz, l422, l598, l938, l1021, itar, itc, itdem, itdiv, itt(pt), vgcl, syrh, syrpal, copbo, arm, eth, slav, Augustine, Ps-Oecumeniustext, Bede, Theophylacttext, TRScrivener 1894 Dio ἡμῶν ἐν ὑμῖν] syrp

αγγελια – A, B, Byz επαγγελια – C, P, 33, 69, 81, 323, 614, 630, 945, 1241, 1505, 1739, 2495 αγαπη της επαγγελιας – Ψ

1 John 2:1

1 John 3:1

Textual variants in 1 John 4. STEP Bible. Tyndale House. Cambridge, UK. Retrieved May 14, 2020. τὸν Ἰησοῦν] (Jesus) – A, B, 322, 323, 945, 1241, 1739, (1881 omit τὸν), 2298, itc, itdiv, itp, itq, itz, vg, copbo, Irenaeuslat, Irenaeusaccording to 1739mg, Clementaccording to 1739mg, Tertullian1/2, Origengr, Origenlat(2/3), Lucifer Priscillian1/3, Tyconius1/3, Didymuslat, Cyril4/5, Fulgentius1/2, mssaccording to Socrates, WH Ἰησοῦν Χριστόν] (Jesus Christ) – 629*, 1735, itar, itdem, vgmss, Tertullian1/2, Cyril1/5 τὸν Ἰησοῦν ἐν σαρκὶ ἐληλυθότα] (Jesus is come in the flesh) – Ψ, (33, 2344 ἐληλυθέναι), 81, 436, 630, 1067, 1409, 1505, 1611, 1852, 2138, (2464 omit τὸν), 2495, vgms, syrp, syrh, arm, geo, Tyconius1/3, Augustine2/16, (Theodoret) Ἰησοῦν κύριον ἐν σαρκὶ ἐληλυθότα] (Jesus Lord is come in the flesh) – ‭א τὸν Χριστόν (Christ) – copsa copbo(mss) Ἰησοῦν Χριστόν ἐν σαρκὶ ἐληλυθότα] (Jesus Christ is come in the flesh) – (see ) K, 056, 0142, 181, 330, (614, 2412 τὸν Χριστόν Ἰησοῦν) 629, 1243, 1292, 1844, (1846 τὸν Χριστόν), 2127, 2492, Byz, Lect, (ℓ883 omit ἐν σαρκὶ), itl, eth, slav, (Polycarp), Origenlat(1/3), (Cyprian), Priscillian2/3, Tyconius1/3, (Tyconius1/3), Ambrose2/3, (Ambrose1/3), Marcus Eremitavid, Augustine9/16, (Augustine5/16), Fulgentius1/2, Ps-Oecumenius, Theophylact τὸν Ἰησοῦν Χριστόν ἐν σαρκὶ ἐληλυθότα] (Jesus Christ is come in the flesh) – L, 049, 88, 104, 326, 451, 1175, Byz, ℓ590, ℓAD, TR, Dio

Textual variants in 1 John 5. STEP Bible. Tyndale House. Cambridge, UK. Retrieved May 14, 2020. δι' ὕδατος καὶ αἵματος (through water and blood) – B, K, Ψ, 049, 056, 0142, 181, 330, 451, 629, 1739*, 1881, 2127, Byz, Lect, it, vg, syr δι' ὕδατος καὶ πνεύματος (through water and spirit) – 43, 241, 463, 945, 1241, 1831, 1877*, 1891 δι' ὕδατος καὶ πνεύματος καὶ αἵματος (through water and spirit and blood) – P, 81, 88, 442, 630, 915, 2492, arm, eth δι' ὕδατος καὶ αἵματος καὶ πνεύματος (through water and blood and spirit) – א, A, 104, 424, 614, 1739, 2412, 2495, ℓ, syr, cop, cop, Origen δι' ὕδατος καὶ αἵματος καὶ πνεύματος ἁγίου (through water and blood and the Holy Spirit) – 61, 326, 1837

See also Alexandrian text-type Biblical inerrancy Byzantine text-type Caesarean text-type Categories of New Testament manuscripts Comparison of codices Sinaiticus and Vaticanus List of New Testament verses not included in modern English translations Textual variants in the New Testament Western text-type

References

Further reading

Novum Testamentum Graece et Latine, ed. E. Nestle, K. Aland, Stuttgart 1981. Bruce M. Metzger & Bart D. Ehrman, "The Text of the New Testament: Its Transmission, Corruption, and Restoration", OUP New York, Oxford, 4 edition, 2005 Bart D. Ehrman, "The Orthodox Corruption of Scripture. The Effect of Early Christological Controversies on the Text of the New Testament", Oxford University Press, New York - Oxford, 1996, pp. 223–227. Bruce M. Metzger, "A Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament: A Companion Volume to the United Bible Societies' Greek New Testament", 1994, United Bible Societies, London & New York.

External links The Comparative Critical Greek New Testament Variantes textuais Varianten Textus receptus versus Nestle-Aland