Syriac Peshitta grammar - And there are three that bear witness - points to Greek exemplars that had dropped the heavenly witnesses

Steven Avery

Administrator
A Letter to the Reverend Thomas Beynon, Archdeacon of Cardigan In Reply to a Vindication of the Literary Character of Professor Porson by Crito Cantabrigiensis; And in Further Proof of the Authenticity of 1 John, V. 7 (1829)
Thomas Burgess
https://books.google.com/books?id=w-EtAAAAYAAJ&pg=PR56

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.... The Syriac Version, therefore, which omits the seventh verse, may have been translated from copies, which had lost the verse either by the homoeoteleuton, or the Disciptina Arcani.


p. 60
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Steven Avery

Administrator
Also in

KJVToday
https://www.kjvtoday.net/home/the-father-the-word-and-the-holy-ghost-in-1-john-57

Like the Vulgate, the Syriac Peshitta has a trace of the Comma
In a similar vein to those Vulgate manuscripts without the Comma, early manuscripts of the Syriac Peshitta do not have the Comma but nonetheless retain a trace of the Comma in verse 8 (or verse 7 depending on the versification), which begins with "ܘܐܝܬܝܗܘ" (Thomas Burgess, In Further Proof of the Authenticity of 1 John, v. 7 (London: Brodie and Dowding, 1829), p. 56):

ܘܐܝܬܝܗܘܢ ܬܠܬܐ ܤܗܕܝܢ ܪܘܚܐ ܘܡܝܐ ܘܕܡܐ ܘܬܠܬܝܗܘܢ ܒܚܕ ܐܢܘܢ

"And there are three that testify, the Spirit, and the water, and the blood; and these three are in one." (J. W. Etheridge)

"And there are three to bear witness, the Spirit and the water and the blood; and these three are one." (George M. Lamsa)

"And there are three witnesses, the Spirit, and the water, and the blood: and these three are in union." (James Murdock)

The phrase "And there are..." at 1 John 5 appears only in Bibles with the Comma. This is because the clause immediately following verse 6 is introduced with "For there are..." (whether with or without the Comma). The phrase "And there are...." follows the Comma only if the Comma exists. In Bibles without the Comma the only phrase should be "For there are....":

"οτι τρεις εισιν οι μαρτυρουντες, το πνευμα και το υδωρ και το αιμα, και οι τρεις εις το εν εισιν." (Nestle-Aland 27)

"For there are three that testify: the Spirit and the water and the blood; and these three agree." (ESV)

There is no reason why the Syriac should translate the Greek causal conjunction "οτι" as the copulative Waw (ܘ) conjunction. The Syriac translates "οτι" as "because" in just the previous verse and also at 1 John 5:4. The phrase "οτι τρεις εισιν οι μαρτυρουντες" obviously introduces a "cause" or "reason" for the antecedent phrase. The Syriac appears to be translated from a Greek manuscript which contained "και τρεις εισιν", which is a vestige of the Comma. Although this manuscript apparently did not contain the Comma and the mention of "in earth", it nonetheless contained a trace of the Comma. The oldest Syriac manuscript which contains 1 John is from the 5th century (British Library, Add. 14470).

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CORRECTIONS

KJVToday
(Thomas Burgess, In Further Proof of the Authenticity f 1 John, v. 7 (London: Brodie and Dowding, 1829), p. 56):

Name should be corrected, likely taken from this page which has the book download.:
https://confessionalbibliology.com/book/in-further-proof-of-the-authenticity-of-1-jn-5v7/

Page is LVI, not 56.

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Steven Avery

Administrator
Puxanto on CARM

I thank you! '' Twonotablecorruptions '' it is always a pleasure to do as truthful a research as possible on manuscript issues; and another thing look at how much the terms ܘܐܝܬܝܗܘ and its various conjugations are used and compare them with the respective passages in Greek: here look at the last 9 terms
http://dukhrana.com/lexicon/lexeme.php?adr=1:102&font=Estrangelo+Edessa&size=125%

While here look at the apparatus in Greek:
https://www.academic-bible.com/en/o...xt/lesen/ch/7df43145b46035230f269b74119db5d2/

compare when ''at the beginning of a proposition with verb to be is translated Οτι+ειμι with ܘ (waw) + verb to be'': (I count only one other case maybe I get to 3-4 cases(doubts) in the whole new testament peshitta you how many cases do you find?) always for the sake of truth! certainly this does not necessarily prove the Comma in Greek but it makes me have doubts! I have done my research and I can tell you that I have more doubts than certainties on this matter!
 

Steven Avery

Administrator
WIP for CARM BIblical Languages

English
1 John 5:7
For there are three that bear record
[in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one.]
5:8
[And there are three that beare witnesse in earth],
the spirit, and the water, and the blood, and these three agree in one.

Short Text
For there are three that beare record the spirit and the water and the blood and these three agree in one.

And there are three ... only exists in the Greek if both verses exist.
7 - ὅτι τρεῖς εἰσιν
8 - καὶ τρεῖς εἰσιν

So for the Syriac to have “And there are three”, the Greek text originally had 7 & 8, and 7 dropped out. “In earth” also dropped out.
 
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