Textual variants in the Third Epistle of John

Textual variants in the Third 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 apparatus[1] which was based on "nearly 100 [Greek] manuscripts."[2] 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.[3]

Legend

This is a guide to the sigla (symbols and abbreviations) most frequently used in citations of source material for a Greek New Testament (NT) manuscript. Editors of a scholarly critical text of the NT use each siglum to shrink the space needed for listing witnesses to a particular reading in the critical apparatus.[4][5] The intended reader, a Bible translator, scholar, orator, or student, needs to know these abbreviations, e.g. for deciding whether to use alternative readings of the critical text or to understand the origin and attestation of a particular passage.[6]

General sigla
# beginning with 0: uncial
# not beginning with 0: minuscule
* superscript: original reading
app superscript: the critical apparatus reading
c superscript: scribal correction
com superscript: Biblical commentary reading
1,2,3... superscripts: 1st, 2nd, 3rd... scribal corrections
v.l. superscript: varia lectio, i.e. alternative reading
mg superscript: reading in the margin
ms superscript: individual manuscript
mss superscript: multiple manuscripts
pt superscript: partial attestation
s superscript: reading in a supplement to the text
txt superscript: the reading of the text
vid superscript: apparent but uncertain reading
aeth or eth: Ethiopic versions
arab: Arabic versions
arm: Armenian versions
Byz: Byzantine text-type in the Catholic letters and superscript:
pt: a part of the Codices Byzantini
cop: Coptic versions
ac or akh: Akhmimic version
ac2: Subakhmimic or Lycopolitanic version
bo: Boharic version
cv: Dialect V
cw: Dialect W
fa or fay or mf: Fayyumic Version
mae: Middle Egyptian or Mesokemic version
pbo: Proto-Bohartic version
sa: Sahidic version
ƒ: individually-numbered Greek manuscript family - superscripts:
1: Family 1
13: Family 13
geo: Georgian versions
goth: Gothic versions
it: Italic/Vetus Latina, lowercase letters for individual Old Latin manuscripts
lat: most Italic and Vulgate
latt: all Italic and Vulgate
P or 𝔓: papyrus
𝑙 or ℓ: individually numbered lectionary
Lect: most or all numbered lectionaries
𝔐: Greek Majority text and superscripts:
A: Andreas of Caesarea commentary in Revelation
C: Complutensian tradition
K: the Koine tradition in Revelation
o: omits
parenthesized (): reading or witness with a slight difference
pm: permulti: i.e., many
rell: all other extant manuscripts
slav: Slavic versions in Old Church Slavonic
syr or sy: Syriac versions and superscripts:
c or cur: Curetonian Gospels
s: Sinaitic Palimpsest
h: Harclean Syriac
hmg: Harclean Syriac, margin
pal: Palestinian Syriac
p: the Peshitta
vg: Latin Vulgate and superscripts:
cl: Editio Clementina
s: Editio Sixtina
st: Vulgata Stuttgartiensis 2007
ww: Wordsworth/White Vulgate


Greek Uncials (siglum or leading 0)
א: Codex Sinaiticus (01)
A: Codex Alexandrinus (02)
B: Codex Vaticanus (03)
C: Codex Ephraemi Rescriptus (04)
Dea: Codex Bezae (05)
Dp: Codex Claromontanus (06)
E: Codex Basilensis A. N. III. 12 (07)
Ea: Codex Laudianus (08)
Fp: Codex Augiensis (010)
Ge: Codex Seidelianus I (011)
Gp: Codex Boernerianus (012)
He: Codex Seidelianus II (013)
Ha: Codex Mutinensis (014)
Hp: Codex Coislinianus (015)
I: Codex Freerianus (016)
Ke: Codex Cyprius (017)
Kap: Codex Mosquensis I (018)
Le: Codex Regius (New Testament) (019)
Lap: Codex Angelicus (020)
N: Codex Petropolitanus Purpureus (022)
O: Sinope Gospels (023)
Papr: Codex Porphyrianus (025)
Q: Codex Guelferbytanus B (026)
R: Codex Nitriensis (027)
S: Codex Vaticanus 354 (028)
T: Codex Borgianus (029)
V: Codex Mosquensis II (031)
W: Codex Washingtonianus (032)
Z: Codex Dublinensis (035)
Γ: Codex Tischendorfianus IV (036)
Δ: Codex Sangallensis 48 (037)
Θ: Codex Koridethi (038)
Ξ: Codex Zacynthius (040)
Π: Codex Petropolitanus (New Testament) (041)
Φ: Codex Beratinus (043)
Ψ: Codex Athous Lavrensis (044)
Ω: Codex Athous Dionysiou (045)
0189: Uncial 0189
Other Uncials


Vetus Latina (Old Latin) Uncials (lower-case letters)


Other important manuscripts and sources
Lectionaries
See List of New Testament lectionaries
ℓ 185: Lectionary 185
ℓ 249: Lectionary 249
Papyri
See List of New Testament papyri
𝔓45: Papyrus 45 (P. Chester Beatty I)
𝔓66: Papyrus 66
Greek Miniscules
See Lists of New Testament minuscules (no leading 0)
33: Minuscule 33
2344: Minuscule 2344
The Diatessaron gospel harmony
Latin Vulgate manuscripts (capital letters)
vgA: Codex Amiatinus
vgΣ: Codex Sangallensis 1395
vgF: Codex Fuldensis
gig: Codex Gigas (Old Latin in Acts and Revelation)
Church Fathers are cited when relevant
Ju: Justin Martyr
Or: Origen
Dion: Dionysius of Alexandria
Tert: Tertullian


Printed New Testaments - critical and eclectic texts
Latin and Greek Majority texts
E: Erasmus, Novum Instrumentum omne (1516)
ς: The Textus Receptus (so-called) of Robert Estienne (1550)[7]
Beza's Greek and Latin New Testament (1565 to 1611)
M: John Mill, Novum Testamentum Graecum, etc. (1707)
Bengel, Novum Testamentum Graecum (1734)
Wettstein, Novum Testamentum Graecum, etc. (1751)
Ma: Matthaei, Novum Testamentum Graecum, etc. (1803)
Griesbach, Novum Testamentum Graece, etc. (1809 to 1823)
L: Lloyd, Novum Testamentum Graecum (1828, 1836)
Ln: Lachmann, Novum Testamentum Graece et Latine (Greek and Latin, 1842, 1850)
Scr: Scrivener's Greek New Testaments (1877 to 1894)
𝔚: Wordsworth-White, Nouum Testamentum Domini nostri Jesu Christi latine (Latin, 1889)
vS: von Soden, Die Schriften des neuen Testaments, etc. (1902 to 1910)
Farstad and Hodges, The Greek New Testament According to the Majority Text with Apparatus (1982)
Modern Greek NTs with substantially Alexandrian texts
𝔗 or T8th: Tischendorf, Editio Octava Critica Maior (1864 to 1894)
WH: Westcott and Hort, The New Testament in the Original Greek (1881)
Weiss, Das Neue Testament (1894)
NA: Novum Testamentum Graece, Nestle–Aland, NA28 is latest (1898-)
UBS: United Bible Societies, Greek New Testament, UBS5 is latest (1966-)
ECM: Editio Critica Maior, updates to Tischendorf's 8th edition (1997-) (in progress)


Textual variants

Textual variants in the Third Epistle of John


24 Textual variants in 3 John

Insciptio

Ιωανου τριτη (Third of John) — אc Bc
omit — ‭א* B*
Ιωαννου τριτη επιστολη (Third Epistle of John) — 18
Ιωαννου επιστολη τριτη (Third Epistle of John) — rell

3 John 3

γαρ — A B C K P Ψ 048 049 056 0142 69 88 93 181 326 330 431 436 442 451 614 629 630 945 1243 1505 1739 1845 1846 1877 1881 2412 2492 𝔐 Lect itar syr copbomss Ps-Oecumenius Theophylact
ουν — 1241
omit — ‭א 6 33 81 104 623 2127 2344 2464 2495 lat cop arm eth Cassiodorus

3 John 3

μαρτυρουντων — 𝔐
μαρτυρουν — B

3 John 4

χαραν — 1844c
χαριν — 1844*
εχω χαραν — 614
ουκ εχω χαραν — ‭א A K L P Ψ 048 049 056 0142 33 81 88 104 181 326 330 436 451 629 630 945 1067 1175 1292 1409 1505 1611 1735 1846 1852 1877 2127 2138 2344 2412 2464 2495 𝔐 Lect itarmg,p vgmss syr copsa arm eth geo slav (Cassiodorus)
χαραν ουκ εχω — C (69) 322 323 1241vid 1739 1881 𝑙(422) 𝑙596
ουκ εχων χαριν — B*
χαριν ουκ εχω — 1243 2298
ουκ εχω χαριν — Bc 5 57 1891 2143 2298 2492 itar,c,dem,div,l vg copbo Hilary

3 John 4

τη — A B C* 33 81vid
omit — ‭א Cc P Ψ 1739 𝔐 copbo

3 John 5

τουτο — ‭א A B C Ψ 048 33vid 323 1241vid 1739 itl (vg) syrh cop
εις τους — P 𝔐
τους — 81

3 John 7

ονοματος αυτου — Ψ 614 630 1846 2495 vgmss syr
ονοματος — rell

3 John 7

εθνικων — ‭א A B (C) Ψ 33vid 630 1505 1739 1881 itl Jerome
εθνων — P 𝔐 vg

3 John 8

υπολαμβανειν — ‭א A B C* Ψ 33 81 323 1739
απολαμβανειν — Cc P 𝔐

3 John 8

τη αληθεια — 𝔐
της αληθειας — 614 623 630 1505 itl vg
τη εκκλησια — ‭א* A

3 John 9

εγραψα τι — ‭א* A 048vid 442 1241 1739 2298 𝑙596 it(l) copbomss arm (Jerome)
εγραψας τι — B copsa,bomss
εγραψα αν — ‭אc 33 81 181 436 614 630 945 1067 1243 1292 1409 1505 1735 1881 2138 2344 2412 2492 𝑙422 𝑙1439 lat (syr) Hilary
εγραψα αν τι — 322 323 424c 1611* 𝑙1178
εγραψα αυτη — 326c
εγραψα — C K L P Ψ 049 056 0142 69 88 93 104 326* 330 451 623 629 1175 1611c 1844 1845 1846 1852 1877 2127 2495 𝔐 Lect (eth) geo slav Ps-Oecumenius Theophylact

3 John 10

εκ — A B C 6 33 69 93 623 1845 1852 2344 𝔐
omit — ‭א 048 049 614 630 1243 1505 1739 2492

3 John 10

επιδεχομενους — C 323 1241 1243 1739 1881 2298 vgmss
βουλομενους — rell

3 John 11

κακοποιων — 𝔐
δε κακοποιων — L 1852 vgmss cop

3 John 12

αληθειας (truth) — p74(c) ‭א Ac B P Ψ 049 33 1739 𝔐 it vg syrh cop
εκκλησιαις (church) — 𝔓74vid A*vid
εκκλησιαις και της αληθειας (church and truth) – C syrph,hmg

3 John 12

οιδας — ‭א A B C Ψ 048 33 81 323 614 1241 1739 itd vg syrph cop
οιδατε — P 𝔐 vgms syrh
οιδαμεν — 2143 copboms

3 John 13

σοι γραψαι — 048vid
γραψαι σοι — ‭א A B C Ψ 81 323 630 945 1505 1739
γραφειν — P 307 642 1175 2492 (2495) 𝔐

3 John 13

σοι γραφειν — ‭א B C
γραφειν σοι — A Ψ 048 0251vid 33vid 81 323 630 1241 1505 1739
σοι γραψαι — P 𝔐

3 John 14

σε ιδειν — A B C 048vid 5 33 81 323 436 1241 1243 1735 1739
ιδειν σε — ‭א P Ψ 307 442 642 1175 1448 1611 1852 2492 𝔐

3 John 14

λαλησαι σοι — 442 1735
λαλησαι — 81 itd vgmss
λαλησωμεν — 307 1243 vgms
λαλησομεν — rell

3 John 15

αδελφοι παντες — 1735
αδελφοι — A 33 81 436 642 syrph,hmg
φιλοι — rell

3 John 15

ασπασαι — ‭א 048vid
ονομα — rell

3 John 15

αδελφους — 436 1448 1611 syrh copboms
φιλους σου — Ψ
φιλους — rell

3 John 15

ονομα αμην — L 307 321 378 467 614 1836 1837 1838 1852 vgmss
ονομα — rell

See also

References

  1. ^ Adam 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)
  2. ^ Metzger and Ehrman (2005), p.154
  3. ^ Peter J. Gurry, "The Number of Variants in the Greek New Testament: A Proposed Estimate" New Testament Studies 62.1 (2016), p. 113
  4. ^ Nestle, Eberhard; Nestle, Erwin; Aland, Barbara; Aland, Kurt; Karavidopoulos, J.; Martini, C. M.; Metzger, Bruce M. (2001). Nestle-Aland Novum Testamentum Graece (NA27) (27 ed.). Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft. ISBN 978-3-438-05100-4.
  5. ^ Aland, Kurt; Aland, Barbara; Karavidopoulos, Johannes; Martini, Carlo M.; Metzger, Bruce Manning, eds. (2012). Nestle-Aland Novum Testamentum Graece (NA28) (28 ed.). Stuttgart: German Bible Society. ISBN 978-3-438-05140-0.
  6. ^ Metzger, Bruce Manning; Ehrman, Bart D. (2005). The Text of the New Testament: Its Transmission, Corruption and Restoration (4th ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 54, 62–86, 102–103. ISBN 0-19-516667-1.
  7. ^ J.P. van de Giessen (2003). "Legenda tekstkritische notities". bijbelaantekeningen.nl (in Dutch). Retrieved 4 May 2022.

Further reading