1 John 4:3
KJV Reading Defended
And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.
Why the KJV Reading Is Retained
The KJV’s fuller confession is broadly Byzantine and reflects an exceptionally early Christian formula. Polycarp’s closely related wording shows that an explicit confession of Jesus Christ coming in the flesh was in circulation near the beginning of the second century.
Disputed unit
The name form at 1 John 4:3/14-16 and the following insertion at 4:3/17, with λύει treated as a separate alternative.
Evidence assessment
The Greek evidence contains a short form, several distinct fuller incarnation forms and the λύει alternative preserved in 1739mg. The fuller forms must remain separate because they do not all reproduce the same wording.
Primary support for the KJV reading
Multiple fuller Greek families, Latin λύει tradition and early related patristic evidence
King James Bible reading
And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.
Evidence sources
Sources used for the witnesses, readings, dates, and notes on this page. Complete citations appear in the References section at the end of the page.
Governing apparatus and count scope
Official CBGM unit boundaries with the verified selective Greek rosters recovered in the controlling audit.
Earliest KJV-supporting evidence
Early–mid second century — Polycarp, related fuller Johannine confession. Fuller Greek family: fourth century — Codex Sinaiticus. Exact KJV-family wording: ninth century onward — Codex K and the Byzantine tradition.
Earliest surviving Greek support: Fourth century for a related fuller form — Sinaiticus; ninth century for the exact KJV-family form — K.
Primary support for the KJV reading
The sections below preserve each supporting, competing, and related record under its proper evidence type.
Majority Text standing
The fuller confession that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh
The fuller KJV confession belongs to the dominant Byzantine and numerical majority family of Greek readings.
Estimated Greek support: Approximately 400 to 500 Greek manuscripts across the fuller Byzantine confession family
The exact Greek wording varies among fuller subforms, so this estimate describes the majority confessional family rather than claiming one letter-for-letter form in every manuscript.
Source scope and denominator
Official CBGM unit boundaries with the verified selective Greek rosters recovered in the controlling audit.
Greek support in the cited corpus
11 named exact fuller states plus Byz pt and a lectionary aggregate
Greek competing evidence in the cited corpus
9 named selective short-form witnesses
Principal competing witnesses named in the snapshot
Evidence represented on this page
Greek manuscripts
Represented
Ancient versions
No entry listed
Church fathers
Represented
Printed editions
No entry listed
Complete source-scoped roster
This roster preserves every named or grouped state recovered in the governing sources, including exact readings, competing readings, corrections, related forms, lacunae, versions, and aggregate traditions. When Maj or Byz appears on the KJV side, it marks the numerically dominant Greek transmission at that unit. The green Majority Text card above supplies the best available passage-specific estimate. The grouped siglum is then retained so it is not mistaken for one individual manuscript.
Apparatus and roster scope
Official CBGM unit boundaries with the verified selective Greek rosters recovered in the controlling audit.
KJV/TR unit: Ἰησοῦν Χριστὸν ἐν σαρκὶ ἐληλυθότα
K 056 0142 181 330 629C 1243 1292 1844 2127 2492
Grouped evidence: Byz pt · lectionary aggregate
L 049 451 1175 104 88 326 l590
Ψ 81 436 630 1067 1409 1505 1611 1852 2138 2495 (33) (2344) (2464)
Ἰησοῦν κύριον ἐν σαρκὶ ἐληλυθότα
01
A B 322 323 945 1241 1739 1881 2298
1739mg
p z ar div c dem
Grouped evidence: Vulgate/Latin solvit tradition
Grouped evidence: Sahidic · Bohairic
The discovery apparatus assigns Sahidic and Bohairic to non-λύει forms.
Precisely located citations and additional names reported by the controlling apparatus are kept separate. An apparatus-level attribution is not presented as an independently verified exact quotation.
Letter to the Philippians 7.1
“whoever does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is antichrist”
Locator: Polycarp, Philippians 7
Open sourceAgainst Heresies 3.16.8
the Latin-preserved work reads “every spirit which separates Jesus Christ”
Locator: Irenaeus, Against Heresies 3.16.8
Open sourceChurch History 7.32
says that “ancient copies” read “every spirit that separates Jesus”
Locator: Socrates, Church History 7.32
Open sourceRoster distinctions
Evidence notes
Evidence assessment
The Greek evidence contains a short form, several distinct fuller incarnation forms and the λύει alternative preserved in 1739mg. The fuller forms must remain separate because they do not all reproduce the same wording.
Primary support for the KJV reading
Multiple fuller Greek families, Latin λύει tradition and early related patristic evidence
Evidence represented on this page
References
Aland, Barbara, et al., eds. Novum Testamentum Graece. 28th rev. ed. Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, 2012.
Houghton, H. A. G. “The Text of the Gospel and Letters of John”. In The Oxford Handbook of Johannine Studies, edited by Judith M. Lieu and Martinus C. de Boer, 5–22. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2018.
Polycarp of Smyrna. Epistle to the Philippians, §7.1. In Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1.
Irenaeus. Against Heresies, Book 3, §16.8. In Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1.
Socrates Scholasticus. Ecclesiastical History, Book 7, §32. In Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series, vol. 2.
ECM Catholic Letters / official CBGM 2.0. 1 John 4:3/14-16 and 1 John 4:3/17.
INTF Kurzgefasste Liste / NTVMR manuscript metadata