Thursday, June 05, 2025

The Johannine Comma in the Complutensian Polyglot

There are extremely few marginal notes regarding the reading of the text in the Complutensian Polyglot.  One of those very few notes is found at 1 John 5:7, as shown in the following screenshot:

The note reads:

Sanctus thomas in expositione secunde decretalis de suma trinitate et fide catholica tractans istum passum contra Abbatem Joachim ut tres sunt qui testimonium dant in celo. pater: verbum: et spiritus sanctus: dicit ad litteram verba sequentia. Et ad insinuandam unitatem trium personarum subditur et hii tres unum sunt. Quodquidem dicitur propter essentie unitatem. Sed hoc Joachim perverse trahere volens ad unitatem charitatis et consensus inducebat consequeintem auctoritatem. Nam subditur ibidem: et tres sunt qui testimonium dant in terra. s. spiritus: aqua: et sanguis. Et in quibusdam libris additur: et hii tres unum sunt. Sed hoc in veris exemplaribus non habetur: sed dicitur esse appositum ab hereticis arrianis ad pervertendum intellectum sanum auctoritatis premisse de unitate essentie trium personaruim. Hec beatus Thomas ubi supra.

My translation:

Saint Thomas, in the exposition of the second decretal On the Most High Trinity and the Catholic Faith, treating that passage against Abbot Joachim, “For there are three who give testimony in heaven: the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit”, says the following words literally:

“And to indicate the unity of the three persons it is added: ‘And these three are one.’ This indeed is said because of the unity of essence.”

But Joachim, wishing perversely to twist this to the unity of charity and agreement, brought in the following authority:

“For it is added in the same place: ‘And there are three who give testimony on earth: the Spirit, the water, and the blood.’ And in certain books it is added: ‘And these three are one.’”

But this is not found in the true copies, but is said to have been inserted by Arian heretics to corrupt the sound understanding of the preceding authority concerning the unity of essence of the three persons.

These things are from blessed Thomas, as cited above.

Please note that the text of 1 John 5:7-8 in "the TR" is this:

ὅτι τρεῖς εἰσιν οἱ μαρτυροῦντες ἐν τῷ οὐρανῷ ὁ πατὴρ ὁ λόγος, καὶ τὸ ἅγιον πνεῦμα καὶ οὗτοι οἱ τρεῖς ἕν εἰσιν καὶ τρεῖς εἰσιν οἱ μαρτυροῦντες ἐν τῇ γῇ τὸ πνεῦμα καὶ τὸ ὕδωρ, καὶ τὸ αἷμα καὶ οἱ τρεῖς εἰς τὸ ἕν εἰσιν

By contrast, the text of 1 John 5:7-8 in the Complutensian Polyglot is this:

ὅτι τρεῖς εἰσιν οἱ μαρτυροῦντες ἐν τῷ οὐρανῷ ὁ πατὴρ καὶ ὁ λόγος, καὶ τὸ ἅγιον πνεῦμα καὶ οἱ τρεῖς εἰς τὸ ἕν εἰσι καὶ τρεῖς εἰσιν οἱ μαρτυροῦντες ἐπὶ τῆς γης τὸ πνεῦμα καὶ τὸ ὕδωρ, καὶ τὸ αἷμα 

Notice the differences:
  1. The "TR" inserts οὗτοι (these)  
  2. The "TR" adds a movable nu to the end of εἰσι ("there are"); no apparent difference in meaning.
  3. The "TR" omits the καὶ (and) between Father and Word.
  4. The "TR" omits the εἰς τὸ ("to the") in the first statement of unity. 
  5. The "TR" includes the phrase "καὶ οἱ τρεῖς εἰς τὸ ἕν εἰσιν" after the three earthly witnesses, whereas the CP marginal note refers to this phrase as an Arian insertion, citing Thomas Aquinas.
  6. The "TR" substitutes "ἐν τῇ γῇ" (in the earth) in place of "ἐπὶ τῆς γης" (on the earth).
The reason for treating the CP as the primary text, and the "TR" as a departure from it, is that the reading in the CP was printed first. 

Appendix:

Here's a translation apparently by Ezra Abbot (in 1872) in a memoir by by Rev. William Orme (1787-1830)(pp. 80-81):

"Saint Thomas, in his exposition of the second Decretal concerning the Most High Trinity and the Catholic faith, treating of this passage, 'There are three that bear witness in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit,' in opposition to the Abbot Joachim, uses precisely the following language: —' And to teach the unity of the three persons it is subjoined, And these three are one; which is said on account of their unity of essence. But Joachim, wishing perversely to refer this to a unity of affection and agreement, alleged the text that follows it. For it is immediately subjoined, And there are three that bear witness on earth, namely, the Spirit, the water, and the blood. And in some books it is added, And these three are one. But this is not contained in the true copies, but is said to have been added by the Arian heretics to prevent the text that precedes from being correctly understood as relating to the unity of essence of the three persons.'- Thus the blessed Thomas, as above referred to."

Postscript:

For the record, I am not posting the Complutensian's note because of any agreement with it, but instead because (1) sometimes it is claimed that although Erasmus did not have a manuscript with Johannine Comma, the Complutensian editors must have had one, and (2) it seems impossible (or at least highly unlikely) that the Complutensian editors had a Greek text that includes the Johannine Comma.  They seem to have created it to match the Latin and in the process moved the genuine phrase "καὶ οἱ τρεῖς εἰς τὸ ἕν εἰσιν" from its proper place after the Spirit, Water, and Blood to before those three witnesses are mentioned.  In short, like the other Greek testimonies to the Comma, the Complutensian is a testimony to reverse engineering from the Latin.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Comment Guidelines:

1. Thanks for posting a comment. Without you, this blog would not be interactive.

2. Please be polite. That doesn't mean you have to use kid gloves, but please try not to flame others, even if they are heretics, infidels, or worse.

3. If you insult me, I'm more likely to delete your comment than if you butter me up. After all, I'm human. I prefer praise to insults. If you prefer insults, there's something wrong with you.

4. Please be concise. The comment box is not your blog. Your blog is your blog. If you have a really long comment, post it on your blog and post a short summary of it here.

5. Please don't just spam. It's one thing to be concise, it's another thing to simply use the comment box to advertise.

6. Please note, by commenting here, you are relinquishing your (C) in your comments to me.

7. Remember that you will give an account on judgment day for your words, including those typed in comment boxes. Try to write so you will not be ashamed if it is read back before the entire world.

8. Stay on topic. If your comment has nothing to do with the post, email it to me (my email can be obtained through my blogger profile), or simply don't post it.

9. Don't post as "Anonymous." If you are going to post anonymously, at least use some kind of recognizable "handle," so we can tell you apart from all the other anonymous folks. (This is moot at the moment, since recent abuse has forced me to turn off "anonymous" commenting.)

10. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you; and abstain from doing to others what you would not wish upon yourself.