Johannine Comma and Codex Ottobonianus

From Textus Receptus

Codex Ottobonianus (Minuscule 629) of the 14th century has 1 John 5:7 in both Latin and Greek

Comma Johanneum appears in the 14th century manuscript Codex Ottobonianus (Minuscule 629) from Horne's facsimile edition which is housed at the Vatican Library

Codex Ottobonianus gr. 298 (Minuscule 629, aka Codex 162), a 14th century (1362–1363) Latin/Greek diglot of the Acts and Epistles with the Latin Vulgate in the first column and an adapted Greek text in the second, with Greek corrections in the intervening margin.

Oldest Greek Manuscript of the Comma

It is the oldest extant copy of the Comma in the Greek Scriptures; which Comma had, a century or so earlier, been included in the Greek translation of the Acts of the Lateran Council (see below).

Latin:

7 Quia tres sunt qui testimonium dant [in celo, pat., verbum, & spiritus sanctus, et hy tres unum sunt. 8 Et tres sunt qui testimonium dant in ter], spiritus, aqua et sanguis.

For three are that testimony give [in heaven: Father, Word, and Spirit Holy; and these three one are. And three are that testimony give in earth]: spirit, water, and blood.

Greek:

⁷ ότι τρεις εισίν οι μαρτυρούντες [ἀπὸ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ, πατὴρ, λόγος, καὶ πνεῦμα ἅγιον. καὶ οἱ τρεῖς εἰς τὸ ἕν εἰσι. ⁸ καὶ τρεῖς εἰσὶν οἱ μαρτυροῦντες ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς] το πνεύμα, το ύδωρ, και το αίμα (omits, or rather transposes by substitution, καὶ οἱ τρεῖς εἰς τὸ ἕν εἰσι)

For three are the witness-bearing [from the heaven: father, word, and spirit holy, and the three into the one are. And three are the witness-bearing upon the earth] the spirit, the water, and the blood

Comma Johanneum

Quia tres sunt

qui testimonium dant in

celo, pater, verbum, et spiritus sanctus,

et hi tres unum sunt. Et

tres sunt qui testimonium

dant in terra, spiritus, aqua et

sanguis. Si testimonium

Ὃτι τρεῖς εἰσιν

οἱ μαρτυροῦντες ἀπὸ τοῦ

οὐρανοῦ, Πατὴρ, Λόγος καὶ Πνεῦμα ἅγιον

καὶ οἱ τρεῖς εἰς τὸ ἕν εἰσι καὶ

τρεῖς εἰσὶν οἱ μαρτυροῦντες

ἀπὸ τῆς γῆς τὸ Πνεῦμα τὸ ὕδωρ

καὶ τὸ αἷμα, εἰ τὴν μαρτυρίαν.

Ottobonianus	Beza 1598
Πατὴρ	πατήρ
Λόγος	ὁ (λόγος)
καὶ
Πνεῦμα	ἅγιον
ἅγιον	Πνεῦμα·
καὶ
οἱ	οἱ
	γὰρ
τρεῖς	τρεῖς
εἰς
τὸ
ἕν	ἕν
εἰσιν	εἰσι·

Elijah Hixson

See also Johannine Comma and Elijah Hixson In the Evangelical Textual Criticism blog, January 07, 2020, The Greek Manuscripts of the Comma Johanneum (1 John 5:7–8) Hixson wrote:

1. GA 629 (1362–1363)

629 is dated 1362–1363 and is the earliest known Greek manuscript of the CJ. There are earlier manuscripts, than 629 but in those, the CJ is still later, so, say in the year 1400, those manuscripts themselves existed but they did not have the CJ yet, where as in the year 1400, 629 did.

While I haven’t yet figured out where 629 came from, there is a note on f. 2 that identifies it as being the property of “Joannis Angeli Ducis ab Altaemps”. This would be Giovanni Angelo D’Altemps, who, if that Italian Wikipedia article is correct, seems to have inherited at least part of his library from his grandfather, Cardinal Mark Sittich von Hohenems Altemps, who himself was the nephew of Pope Pius IV. Today, 629 is in the Vatican Library as Ottob. gr. 298. That is all to say that as much as I can tell about the original provenance of this manuscript (and the manuscript does pre-date its known owner by more than 200 years), by the time of later editions of the TR, it can be tied to a Roman Catholic family.

GA 629, f. 105v, images at https://digi.vatlib.it/view/MSS_Ott.gr.298

629 is a Latin-Greek diglot, which should raise suspicions about its witness to the CJ. After all, the contention is that the CJ was translated into Greek from Latin and that’s how it ended up in a few Greek manuscripts, and that looks exactly like what happened here. Notice above that there are no definite articles in the three heavenly witnesses, but Latin does not have definite articles like Greek, so the lack of articles here in Greek suggests that it is a translation from Latin. Also note that this manuscript is not a witness to the form of the CJ as it appears in the TR. In fact, in these 23–25 words, I count 8 differences between the CJ here and the CJ as it appears in the Trinitarian Bible Society’s textus receptus (at least according to the TBT TR on Bibleworks). They are απο του ουρανου, απο της γης, the article(3x), the order of Πνεῦμα Ἅγιον, οὗτοι in the TBT and εἰς τὸ in 629:

TBT:

ἐν τῷ οὐρανῷ ὁ πατήρ ὁ λόγος καὶ τὸ Ἅγιον Πνεῦμα καὶ οὗτοι οἱ τρεῖς ἕν εἰσι καὶ τρεῖς εἰσὶν οἱ μαρτυροῦντες ἐν τῇ γῇ

629: απο του ουρανου πατήρ λόγος καὶ Πνεῦμα Ἅγιον καὶ οἱ τρεῖς εἰς τὸ ἕν εἰσιν καὶ τρεῖς εἰσὶν οἱ μαρτυροῦντες απο της γης

In short, 629 appears to be a thoroughly Roman Catholic manuscript that has an unusual form of the CJ as a translation from Latin into Greek, probably (and this is purely my guess at this point) to harmonise the differences between the Latin and Greek columns. An interesting study would be for someone to compare these two columns in more detail to see if they appear to be harmonised.

"629 appears to be a thoroughly Roman Catholic manuscript" - It is strange that Hixson seems to think that manuscripts are either Protestant or Roman Catholic, especially coming from someone whose institution would favor the recent Jesuit Carlo Martini editions of the critical text over the Textus Receptus. The UBS is entirely ecumenical.

External Links

The Greek Manuscripts of the Comma Johanneum (1 John 5:7–8)

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

Links to Books

Frederick Nolan - An Inquiry

SS(ancti) apostolorum septem epistolae catholicae 1782 [1]

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 [2][3]

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

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Marginal Notes in the 1611 Authorized Version

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

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