Johannine Comma and Armenian Bibles

From Textus Receptus

Michael Maynard

1303 [The king of Armenia, Haitho or Haithom, (1224-70)]

As I John v. 7 is quoted by a synod held as Sis in Armenia thirty-seven years after the death of Haithom, it was deemed pretty certain that is had been brought into the text by that king...¹³⁸

^{138 Horne/Tregelles, Introduction to the Critical Study ...11th ed., p. 312}

Timothy Dunkin

Further, there is evidence from the Armenian version that this verse may have either been found in the Syriac used to translate it in the early 5th century by Sahak Partev, the Catholicos of Armenia, or in the Greek which was used to revise and confirm the Armenian translation by the council of Ephesus in 431. The Comma was quoted in a synod of Sis, held in Armenia in 1303, which seems to be a positive indication of that verse’s existence in the Armenian version at that date.

Some assert that the Armenian version was revised by the Armenian king Haitho II (1224-1270) according to the Vulgate, but this claim primarily rests upon the fact of the Synod of Sis’ quotation, and thus is a claim based upon circular reasoning and is therefore to be dismissed. While there was interaction between the Crusaders and the Armenians in Cilician Armenia, there is no actual evidence that the Armenian version was revised to conform to the Latin Vulgate. Indeed, if any revision of the Armenian text took place during this period, it was by one Nerses of Lambron, who is believed by some to have revised the Armenian New Testament according to the Greek (not the Latin Vulgate) used by the Eastern Orthodox during the 12th century. However, it is not at all certain that Nerses actually carried out any such revision. Even if he did, and this revision resulted in the inclusion of the Comma at that time (again, another hypothetical assertion that is not substantiated by evidence), this would still place the Comma in the Greek witness long before modernistic textual critics say it “should” be.⁵⁴

At any rate, the first printed Armenian Bible, impressed at the behest of Bishop Uscan in 1666, contained the verse, and the newest version of the UBS text admits that it is found in some Armenian manuscripts. The first printed Georgian Bible, at Moscow in 1743, also contained the verse, and this edition was based upon “Georgian mss. which reflect an older type,”⁵⁵ suggesting the verse appeared in the older Armenian sources as well. ¹

^{(54) - It is interesting to note that at least one Armenianist observed that the text of the Armenian version in the general epistles has textual affinities with the Greek Codex Vaticanus (see Lyonnet in M.-J. Lagrange, Critique Textuelle: La Critique Rationelle, p. 578, as cited by B. Metzger, The Early Versions of the New Testament: Their Origin, Transmission, and Limitations, p. 168). This presents an interesting question – what if this is evidence that could suggest that even the Alexandrian text-type bore witness to the Comma, witness that was eliminated in the main, but preserved here?}

^{(55) - A. Vööbus, Early Versions of the New Testament, p. 206}

1666 Oskan Bible

1666 bible

1853 Armenian (Western)

⁷ Արդարեւ երե՛ք են՝ որ կը վկայեն երկինքի մէջ.- Հայրը, Խօսքը եւ Սուրբ Հոգին, ու այս երեքը մէկ են: ⁸ Նաեւ երե՛ք են՝ որ կը վկայեն երկրի վրայ՝՝.- Հոգին, ջուրը եւ արիւնը, ու այս երեքը միաձայն են: [1]

1858 Armenian

1858 Armenian 1 John 5 section

1858 Armenian 1 John 5:7

1858 Armenian 1 John 5:8

1859 Armenian

1859 Armenian 1 John 5 section

1859 Armenian 1 John 5:7

1859 Armenian 1 John 5:8

[2]

1896 Ararat Version (Eastern Armenian Bible)

^[7] Որովհետեւ երեք են որ [երկնքումը վկայում են, Հայրը եւ * Բանը եւ Սուրբ Հոգին. Եւ * այս երեքը մի են։ ^[8] Եւ երեք են որ երկրումը] վկայում են. Հոգին, եւ ջուրը, եւ արիւնը. Եւ այս երեքը միաբան են։ (Eastern Armenian Bible)¹

Etchmiadzin

Not to be confused with the Echmiadzin Gospels formerly Etchmiadzin Ms. 229

^[7] Եւ Հոգին է, որ վկայում է, որովհետեւ հէնց Հոգին է ճշմարտութիւնը։ ^[8] Սրանք երեքը միասին են վկայում՝ Հոգին, ջուրը եւ արիւնը. եւ երեքը վկայութեան մէջ մէ՛կ են։

Etchmiadzin - New Revised Version

^[7] Եվ Հոգին է, որ վկայում է, որովհետև հենց Հոգին է ճշմարտությունը։ ^[8] Հետևաբար, սրանք երեքն են վկայում՝ Հոգին, ջուրը և արյունը. և երեքը վկայության մեջ մե՛կ են։

Ararat - New Revised Version

^[7] Այդ երեքն են, որ վկայում են՝ ^[8] Հոգին, ջուրը և արյունը. և այս երեքը մեկ են։

External links

Johannine Comma

1 John 5:7

1 John 5:8

Pure Bible Forum

KJV Today

1 John 5:7 and Modern Criticism by Taylor Desoto

Codex Montfortianus, Erasmus, and 1 John 5:7

Erasmian Myths: The Comma Wager

Erasmian Myths: Codex Vaticanus

1 Jn.5:7,8 Establishing the Authenticity

Defense D. A. Waite

And These Three Are One

Manuscript Differences

“And These Three Are One” Part 1

Riddle Review of McDonald book

Hixson, the CJ, and Roman Catholic Provenance

Riddle on Hixson Part 1

Riddle on Hixson Part 2

Riddle on Hixson Part 3

Riddle - Internal Argument

Riddle - Papyrus

KJV Asia Scams

KJV Asia

KJV Asia Manuscripts

Setting the Record Straight

Dedending 1 John 5:7 by David Cloud

KJV "Errors"

(1 John 5:7-8) Is It Inspired Scripture?

First John 5:6-8 by Floyd Jones

Scion of Zion Article

Trinitarian Bible Society on Johannine Comma

1 John 5:7-8 by Jeffrey Khoo

1 John 5:7 by Thomas Golda

David Cloud Articles

Email Debate Gregory S. Neal and Thomas Holland

“And These Three Are One” Part 2

Internal Articles

Ignatius of Antioch

Origen‎‎

Augustine of Hippo

Clement of Alexandria

Codex Ottobonianus mss 629

Joseph Bryennios

Complutensian Polyglot

Erasmus

Eugenios Voulgaris

Christian Frederick Matthaei

Franz Anton Knittel

Frederick Nolan

Ezra Abbott

Walton's Polyglot

Links to Books

Frederick Nolan - An Inquiry

SS(ancti) apostolorum septem epistolae catholicae 1782 [3]

Joseph Bryennios Comma Quotation

New criticisms Knittle

13 Sermons - Doctrine of the Trinity Edmund Calamy

Raising the Ghost of Arius by Grantley McDonald

Letters To Edward Gibbon George Travis 1785

A Vindication...of Porson Thomas Turton 1827

Memoir of the Controversy. William Orme

A Vindication of 1st John v. 7 Thomas Burgess Web

Ben David

William Craig Brownlee 1825 Part 1

William Craig Brownlee 1825 Part 2

Theopneustia - François Samuel R. Louis Gaussen, 1841

New plea for the authenticity - Charles Forster 1867 [4][5]

Deux dissertations (French) English Martin

The doctrine of the Greek article - Thomas Middleton

Richard Porson I John v 7, 1790

The King James Version 2023 Edition New Testament is now complete and in print format here.

Internal Links

Old Testament - New Testament KJV 1900

New Testament KJV 2016

Scrivener's 1894 Textus Receptus

2016 Urdu New Testament (TR Based)

Russian Synodal Version (TR Based)

Reina Valera Gómez Spanish (TR Based)

Marginal Notes in the 1611 Authorized Version

Ephesians 3:9

Why We Should Not Passover Easter 1, 2, & 3

Will Kinney

List of TR/KJV based foreign bibles

List of New Testament minuscules

List of New Testament lectionaries

List of New Testament Papyri

1 · 2 · 3 · 4 · 5 · 6 · 7 · 8 · 9 · 10 · 11 · 12 · 13 · 14 · 15 · 16 · 17 · 18 · 19 · 20 · 21 · 22 · 23 · 24 · 25 · 26 · 27 · 28 · 29 · 30 · 31 · 32 · 33 · 34 · 35 · 36 · 37 · 38 · 39 · 40 · 41 · 42 · 43 · 44 · 45 · 46 · 47 · 48 · 49 · 50 · 51 · 52 · 53 · 54 · 55 · 56 · 57 · 58 · 59 · 60 · 61 · 62 · 63 · 64 · 65 · 66 · 67 · 68 · 69 · 70 · 71 · 72 · 73 · 74 · 75 · 76 · 77 · 78 · 79 · 80 · 81 · 82 · 83 · 84 · 85 · 86 · 87 · 88 · 89 · 90 · 91 · 92 · 93 · 94 · 95 · 96 · 97 · 98 · 99 · 100 · 101 · 102 · 103 · 104 · 105 · 106 · 107 · 108 · 109 · 110 · 111 · 112 · 113 · 114 · 115 · 116 · 117 · 118 · 119 · 120 · 121 · 122 · 123 · 124 · 125 · 126 · 127 · 128 · 129 · 130 · 131 · 132 · 133 · 134 · 135 · 136 · 137 · 138 · 139 · 140 ·