water, and the blood. For although they do that by the Divine institution and command, yet they themselves continue men : John v. 34, iii. 31. — r\ /Auprvpta. rou 0soD, the witness of God ) the Father : whose Son is Jesus. See the end of this ver. But, to- gether with the testimony of the Father, that of the Son and of the Spirit is pointed out as divine and heavenly, because it is opposed to the testimony of men , in the plural. The testimony of the Father is, as it were, the basis of the testimony of the Word and the Holy Spirit, just as the testimony of the Spirit is, as it were, the basis of the testimony of the water and the blood. — fi ei^uv eariv, is greater) [ and therefore much more worthy of acceptation. — V. g.] John v. 36.
The sum of the things which we have spoken is this : The Greek copies which contain the Epistles, including those of St John, are neither of such number, nor of such antiquity, that they ought to prevent the reception of the verse respecting the Three which bear witness in heaven, since it stands altogether upon a peculiar footing. This verse rests upon the authority of the Latin translator, and that almost alone ; but he is an authority of the greatest antiquity and genuineness : and he is followed from the first by many fathers, through a continued series of ages, in Africa, Spain, Gaul, and Italy, accompanied with an appeal to the reading of the Allans, which concurs with it. In fine, the context itself confirms this verse as the centre and sum of the whole Epistle. — avry hrh} this is) Is altogether engaged in [altogether turns upon] this.
10. ’Ev laurp,1 in himself) in the inner man.
12. 'O he who has , in faith. — r'ov T ibv, the Son) The verse
has two clauses : in the former, the Son only is mentioned, without the addition, of God ; for the faithful know the Son : in the other this addition is made, that unbelievers may know at length what a serious thing it is not to have Him. — gp/g/, has) In the former part of the sentence, the word has is to be pronounced with em- phasis ; in the second, the emphatic word is life.
13. TaCra, these things) which are contained in this Epistle. The verb, I write , used in the exordium, ch. i. 4, now in the conclusion becomes the preterite, I have written. — ro?g2 ‘nsreUvffiv tig to ovofia
1 The reading ev ccvra is preferred by the decision of Ed. 1 and 2. The sense remains the same. — E. B.
B (judging from silence of collators) and Rec. Text support ev exvru : so Lachm. A and (according to Lachm.) C support etvrZ : so Tisch. — E.
2 This order of the words rests on the decision of the larger Ed. : the dif-