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The Johannine Comma (Latin: Comma Johanneum) is an interpolated phrase (comma) in verses 5:7–8 of the First Epistle of John.[2]
The text (with the comma in italics and enclosed by square brackets) in the King James Bible reads:
7For there are three that beare record 8, the Spirit, and the Water, and the Blood, and these three agree in one.
— King James Version (1611)
In the Greek Textus Receptus (TR), the verse reads thus:[3]
ὅτι τρεῖς εἰσιν οἱ μαρτυροῦντες εν τῷ οὐρανῷ, ὁ πατήρ, ὁ λόγος, καὶ τὸ Ἅγιον Πνεῦμα· καὶ οὗτοι οἱ τρεῖς ἕν εἰσι.
It became a touchpoint for the Christian theological debate over the doctrine of the Trinity from the early church councils to the Catholic and Protestant disputes in the early modern period.[4]
It may first be noted that the words "in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one" (KJV) found in older translations at 1 John 5:7 are thought by some to be spurious additions to the original text. A footnote in The Jerusalem Bible, a Catholic translation, says that these words are "not in any of the early Greek MSS , or any of the early translations, or in the best MSS of the Vulg itself." A Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament, by Bruce Metzger (1975, pp. 716-718), traces in detail the history of the passage. It states that the passage is first found in a treatise entitled Liber Apologeticus, of the fourth century, and that it appears in Old Latin and Vulgate manuscripts of the Scriptures, beginning in the sixth century. Modern translations as a whole, both Catholic and Protestant, do not include them in the main body of the text, because of their ostensibly spurious nature.—RS, NE, NAB. [5][6]
The comma is mainly only attested in the Latin manuscripts of the New Testament, being absent from almost all Greek manuscripts of the New Testament, the earliest Greek manuscript being 14th century.[7] It is also totally absent in the Ethiopic, Aramaic, Syriac, Slavic, Georgian, Arabic and from the early pre-12th century Armenian[8] witnesses to the Greek New Testament. It appears in some English translations of the Bible among other European languages via its inclusion in the first printed New Testament, Novum Instrumentum omne by Erasmus, where it first appeared in the 1522 third edition. In spite of its late date, members of the King James Only movement and those who advocate for the superiority for the Textus Receptus have argued for its authenticity.
The Comma Johanneum is among the most noteworthy variants found within the Textus Receptus in addition to the confession of the Ethiopian eunuch , the long ending of Mark, the Pericope Adulterae, the reading "God" in 1 Timothy 3:16 and the "book of life" in Revelation 22:19.[9]
Text
The "Johannine Comma" is a short clause found in 1 John 5:7–8.
Erasmus omitted the text of the Johannine Comma from his first and second editions of the Greek-Latin New Testament (the Novum Instrumentum omne) because it was not in his Greek manuscripts. He added the text to his Novum Testamentum omne in 1522 after being accused of reviving Arianism and after he was informed of a Greek manuscript that contained the verse,[11] although he expressed doubt as to its authenticity in his Annotations.[12][13]
Many subsequent early printed editions of the Bible include it, such as the Coverdale Bible (1535), the Geneva Bible (1560), the Douay-Rheims Bible (1610), and the King James Bible (1611). Later editions based on the Textus Receptus, such as Robert Young's Literal Translation (1862) and the New King James Version (1979), include the verse. In the 1500s it was not always included in Latin New Testament editions, though it was in the Sixto-Clementine Vulgate (1592). However, Martin Luther did not include it in his Luther Bible.[14]
The text (with the Comma in square brackets and italicised) in the King James Bible reads:
7For there are three that beare record 8, the Spirit, and the Water, and the Blood, and these three agree in one.
— King James Version (1611)
The text (with the Comma in square brackets and italicised) in the Latin of the Sixto-Clementine Vulgate reads:
7Quoniam tres sunt, qui testimonium dant 8: spiritus, et aqua, et sanguis: et hi tres unum sunt.
— Sixto-Clementine Vulgate (1592)
The text (with the Comma in square brackets and italicised) in the Greek of the Novum Testamentum omne reads:
7ὅτι τρεῖς εἰσιν οἱ μαρτυροῦντες 8 τὸ πνεῦμα καὶ τὸ ὕδωρ καὶ τὸ αἷμα καὶ οἱ τρεῖς εἰς τὸ ἕν εἰσιν.
— Novum Testamentum omne (1522; absent in earlier editions)
There are several variant versions of the Latin and Greek texts.[2]
English translations based on a modern critical text have omitted the comma from the main text since the English Revised Version (1881), including the New American Standard Bible (NASB), English Standard Version (ESV), and New Revised Standard Version (NRSV).
Origin
Several early sources which one might expect to include the Comma Johanneum in fact omit it. For example, Clement of Alexandria's (c. 200) quotation of 1 John 5:8 does not include the Comma.[15]
Among the earliest possible references to the Comma appears by the 3rd-century Church father Cyprian (died 258), who in Unity of the Church 1.6[16] quoted John 10:30: "Again it is written of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, 'And these three are one.'"[17] However, some believe that he was giving an interpretation of the three elements mentioned in the uncontested part of the verse.[18]
The first undisputed work to quote the Comma Johanneum as an actual part of the Epistle's text appears to be the 4th century Latin homily Liber Apologeticus, probably written by Priscillian of Ávila (died 385), or his close follower Bishop Instantius.[18]
Manuscripts
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The comma is not in two of the oldest extant Vulgate manuscripts, Codex Fuldensis and the Codex Amiatinus, although it is referenced in the Prologue to the Canonical Epistles of Fuldensis and appears in Old Latin manuscripts of similar antiquity.
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The earliest extant Latin manuscripts supporting the comma are dated from the 5th to 7th century. The Freisinger fragment,[20] León palimpsest,[21] besides the younger Codex Speculum, New Testament quotations extant in an 8th- or 9th-century manuscript.[22]
The comma does not appear in the older Greek manuscripts. Nestle-Aland is aware of eight Greek manuscripts that contain the comma.[23] The date of the addition is late, probably dating to the time of Erasmus.[24] In one manuscript, back-translated into Greek from the Vulgate, the phrase "and these three are one" is not present.
The Codex Vaticanus in some places contains umlauts to indicate knowledge of variants. Although there has been some debate on the age of these umlauts and if they were added at a later date, according to a paper made by Philip B. Payne, the ink seems to match that of the original scribe.[25] The Codex Vaticanus contains these dots around 1 John 5:7, however according to McDonald, G. R, it is far more likely that the scribe had encountered other variants in the verse than the Johannine comma, which is not attested in the Greek until the 14th century. [7]
Both Novum Testamentum Graece (NA27) and the United Bible Societies (UBS4) provide three variants. The numbers here follow UBS4, which rates its preference for the first variant as { A }, meaning "virtually certain" to reflect the original text. The second variant is a longer Greek version found in the original text of five manuscripts and the margins of five others. All of the other 500 plus Greek manuscripts that contain 1 John support the first variant. The third variant is found only in Latin manuscripts and patristic works. The Latin variant is considered a trinitarian gloss,[26] explaining or paralleled by the second Greek variant.
- The comma in Greek. All non-lectionary evidence cited: Minuscules 61 (Codex Montfortianus, c. 1520), 629 (Codex Ottobonianus, 14th/15th century), 918 (Codex Escurialensis, Σ. I. 5, 16th century), 2318 (18th century) and 2473 (17th century). It is also found in the Complutensian Polyglot (1520), which was cited by Erasmus for his inclusion of the comma alongside the "British Codex" (Identified with Montfortianus).[27][28] Its first full appearance in Greek is from the Greek version of the Acts of the Lateran Council in 1215.[29] Although it later appears in the writings of Emmanuel Calecas (died 1410), Joseph Bryennius (1350 – 1431/38) and in the Orthodox Confession of Moglas (1643).[30][31] [7] There are no full Patristic Greek references to the comma, however, there may be possible references in Greek to the comma in the 4th or 5th century Synopsis of Holy Scripture and in the Disputation with Arius from Pseudo-Athanasius.[32]
- The comma at the margins of Greek at the margins of minuscules 88 (Codex Regis, 11th century with margins added at the 16th century), 177 (BSB Cod. graec. 211), 221 (10th century with margins added at the 15th/16th century), 429 (Codex Guelferbytanus, 14th century with margins added at the 16th century), 636 (16th century).
- The comma in Latin. testimonium dicunt in terra, spiritus aqua et sanguis, et hi tres unum sunt in Christo Iesu. 8 et tres sunt, qui testimonium dicunt in caelo, pater verbum et spiritus. All evidence from Fathers cited: Clementine edition of Vulgate translation; Pseudo-Augustine's Speculum Peccatoris (V), also (these three with some variation) Cyprian (3rd century), Ps-Cyprian, & Priscillian (died 385) Liber Apologeticus. And Contra-Varimadum (439-484), Eugenius of Carthage (5th century), Vigilius,[32] Pseudo-Jerome (5th century) Prologue to the Catholic Epistles, Fulgentius of Ruspe (died 527) Responsio contra Arianos, Cassiodorus (6th century) Complexiones in Ioannis Epist. ad Parthos, Donation of Constantine (8th century),[7] Thomas Aquinas (died 1274) Summa Theologica.[33]
- The comma in other languages: The Johannine comma is found in a few late Slavonic manuscripts, and also in the margin of the Moscow edition of 1663, published under Alexis of Russia.[34] Due to Latin influence, the Johannine Comma also found its way into the Armenian language after the 12th century under King Haithom.[8] It was quoted in the 13th century in the Armenian synod of Sis and found in Uscan's Armenian translation of the Bible of the 17th century.[35]
The appearance of the Comma in the manuscript evidence is represented in the following tables:
| Latin manuscripts | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Date | Name | Place | Other information |
| 5th century | Codex Speculum (m) | Saint Cross monastery (Sessorianus), Rome | scripture quotations |
| 546 AD | Codex Fuldensis (F) | Fulda, Germany | The oldest Vulgate manuscript does not have the verse, it does have the Vulgate Prologue which discusses the verse |
| 5th-7th century | Frisingensia Fragmenta (r) or (q) | Bavarian State Library, Munich | Spanish - earthly before heavenly, formerly Fragmenta Monacensia |
| 7th century | León palimpsest (l) Beuron 67 | León Cathedral | Spanish - "and there are three which bear testimony in heaven, the Father, and the Word, and the Holy Spirit, and these three are one in Christ Jesus" - earthly before heavenly |
| 8th century | Codex Wizanburgensis | Herzog August Bibliothek Wolfenbüttel[36] | the dating is controversial.[37] |
| 9th century | Codex Cavensis C | La Cava de' Tirreni, Biblioteca della Badia, ms memb. 1 | Spanish - earthly before heavenly |
| 9th century | Codex Ulmensis U or σU | British Museum, London 11852 | Spanish |
| 927 AD | Codex Complutensis I (C) | Biblical University Centre 31; Madrid | Spanish - purchased by Cardinal Ximenes, used for Complutensian Polyglot, earthly before heavenly, one in Christ Jesus. |
| 8th–9th century | Codex Theodulphianus | National Library, Paris (BnF) - Latin 9380 | Franco-Spanish |
| 8th–9th century | Codex Sangallensis 907 | Abbey of St. Gallen | Franco-Spanish |
| 9th century | Codex Lemovicensis-32 (L) | National Library of France Lain 328, Paris | |
| 9th century | Codex Vercellensis | Rome, Biblioteca Vallicelliana ms B vi | representing the recension of Alcuin, completed in 801 |
| 9th century | Codex Sangallensis 63 | Abbey library of Saint Gall | Latin, added later into the margin.[38] |
| 960 AD | Codex Gothicus Legionensis | Biblioteca Capitular y Archivo de la Real Colegiata de San Isidoro, ms 2 | |
| 10th century | Codex Toletanus | Madrid, Biblioteca Nacional ms Vitr. 13-1 | Spanish - earthly before heavenly |
| Greek manuscripts | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date | Manuscript no. | Name | Place | Other information |
| 14th [39] –15th century | 629 | Codex Ottobonianus 298 | Vatican | Original.Diglot, Latin and Greek texts. |
| c. 1520[39] | 61 | Codex Montfortianus | Dublin | Original. Articles are missing before nouns. |
| 14th century | 209 | Venice, Biblioteca Marciana | The manuscript is written in Greek, however the comma was added into the margin in Latin during the 15th century.[7] | |
| 16th century[39] | 918 | Codex Escurialensis Σ.I.5 | Escorial(Spain) | Original. |
| 16th century | Ravianus (Berolinensis) | Berlin | Original, facsimile of printed Complutensian Polyglot Bible, removed from NT ms. list in 1908 | |
| c. 12th century[39] | 88 | Codex Regis | Victor Emmanuel III National Library, Napoli | Margin: 16th century[39] |
| c. 14th century[39] | 429 | Codex Guelferbytanus | Herzog August Bibliothek, Wolfenbuttel, Germany | Margin: 16th century[citation needed] |