Some Textual Variants in 1 John

I'm citing some snippets from Philip W.Comfort's book on N.T.textual variants.

3:14 : WH NU : the one not loving
var/TR : the one not loving the brother
var 2 : the one not loving his brother

"The manuscript evidence decidedly favors the wording in WH NU. Both variants are scribal fillers,neither of which is necessary,because it is obvious from the context that John was speaking about brotherly love." (p.777,778)

3:19 : WH NU : we will know that we are of the truth
var/TR : we know that we are of the truth

Comfort says there is scribal assimilation going on here. BTW,the NIV goes along with the TR here.

"John deviated from the present tense in this instance because he wanted to include a notion of future accountability,as well as ongoing accountability." (p.778)

4:3b : WH NU : Jesus
var 1 : Jesus having come in the flesh
var 2 : Jesus [as] Lord having come in the flesh
var 3/TR : Jesus [as] Christ having come in the flesh

Comfort says these are the primary variants in this part of the verse. The WH NU reading "has early documentary support" and was expanded. Verse two already explained the extra words that the variants unnecessarily added. (p.779,780)

4:19 : WH NU : we love
var 1 : we love God
var 2/TR : we love him

Comfort says that both variant readings display scribal gap-filling." John purposely left out the object of 'we love' because the object is not of primary importance --the action is." (p.782)

 

The following are some places where WH and NU agree with TR when it comes to textual variants in 1 John.

1:4b : WH NU

3:23c : WH NU

5:20c : WH NU