77 - 1Jn 5:13
Ταῦτα ἔγραψα ὑμῖν τοῖς πιστεύουσιν εἰς τὸ ὄνομα τοῦ υἱοῦ τοῦ Θεοῦ, ἵνα εἰδῆτε ὅτι ζωὴν αἰώνιον ἔχετε, καὶ ἵνα πιστεύητε εἰς τὸ ὄνομα τοῦ ὑιοῦ τοῦ Θεοῦ.
First, we have to decide the reading of this verse. There are three various forms which it assumes. The Textus Receptus reads: ταῦτα ἔγραψα ὑμῖν τοῖς πιστεύουσιν εἰς τὸ ὄνομα τοῦ υἱοῦ τοῦ Θεοῦ, ἵνα εἰδῆτε ὅτι ζωὴν ἔχετε αἰώνιον, καὶ ἵνα πιστεύητε εἰς τὸ ὄνομα τοῦ ὑιοῦ τοῦ Θεοῦ [“These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may believe in the name of the Son of God”]. The manuscript form most generally accepted is that of Codex A: ταῦτα ἔγραψα ὑμῖν ἵνα εἰδῆτε ὅτι ζωὴν ἔχετε αἰώνιον οἱ πιστεύοντες τὸ ὄνομα τοῦ υἱοῦ τοῦ θεοῦ [“These things I have written to you that you may know that you have eternal life, those believing in the name of the Son of God”]. Finally, Codex B reads: ταῦτα ἔγραψα ὑμῖν ἵνα εἰδῆτε ὅτι ζωὴν ἔχετε αἰώνιον, τοῖς πιστεύουσιν εἰς τὸ ὄνομα τοῦ υἱοῦ τοῦ θεοῦ [“These things I have written to you that you may know that you have eternal life, ho those who believe in the name of the Son of God”]. The decision between these readings, especially between the latter two, is, as to external arguments, difficult. The most important question is here, of course, as to which of the readings would most easily suggest the reason for the origination of the others. Now, that is the third. If, namely, the τοῖςπιστεύουσιν [“to those who believe”], according to Codex B, stood after the telic clause with ἵνα [“so that”], we can easily understand how it was that it came to be changed into the nominative,—that is, to refer to the εἰδῆτε [“you may know”] (as in Codex A); and we can also see how those transcribers who rightly viewed the grammatical connection placed it before the intermediate telic clause, immediately after the ἔγραψαὑμῖν [“I write to you”] (as the Textus Receptus). The second clause with ἵνα [“so that”], found in the Textus Receptus, appears to have sprung from a gloss which the parallel definition of purpose in the Gospel (Joh 20:21) contained. If we suppose the Textus Receptus genuine, we cannot account for the origination of the two other readings; nor will the second of the two readings help us to explain how the first and third arose. Then, if the third reading is the right one, the closing words, τοῖςπιστεύουσινκ.τ.λ. [“to those who believe, etc.”], may be compared with Joh 1:12, ἔδωκεν αὐτοῖς ἐξουσίαν τέκνα Θεοῦ γενέσθαι, τοῖς πιστεύουσινκ.τ.λ. [“gave to them the right to become children of God, to those who believe, etc.”]. Thus the aim of the Epistle is the firm assurance of the readers that they have eternal life; and both the writing and the establishment of this assurance are designed only for those who believe in the revelation (ὄνομα [“name”]) of the Son of God.