Tuesday, May 23, 2017
Yet More Evidence Against the Johannine Comma
The weight against 1 John 5:7 is monumental, according to our present knowledge. Both Trinitarians and non-Trinitarians normally discount the famed Comma. In the work The Johannine Literature (by Barnabas Lindars, R. Alan Culpepper, Ruth B. Edwards, and John M. Court), we read that the Comma does not appear "in any Greek manuscript before 1400 CE" (page 16). The work says the reading is a "gloss" evidently motivated by Trinitarian debates.
Always found in suspicious circumstances in the Greek MSS.
ReplyDeleteIt's interesting to note that around the 13-14th century C.E. is when the Comma starts showing up generally in European languages, German and English (possibly Armenian as well, though some doubt on this). Perhaps the Reformation movement, and a greater awareness of religious corruption spread information (or a t least created an awareness) about the Comma.
Interesting that you bring up the Reformation, which began in 1517. It may have contributed to the Johannine Comma inclusion--maybe this movement did effect the introduction of spurious materials into the text. Latin, there was also the Council of Trent beginning in 1545. I've been reading a book on the history of philology too: the author might have something to say concerning the Comma.
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