John 3:13
KJV Reading Defended
And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven.
Why the KJV Reading Is Retained
“Which is in heaven” is the Greek majority reading and has significant ancient support from Greek manuscripts, versions, and early fathers including Hippolytus and Novatian. These witnesses demonstrate that the phrase circulated centuries before the Textus Receptus and belongs to an ancient interpretive and textual tradition.
Disputed unit
The final clause after ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου.
Evidence assessment
In the 236-document IGNTP/ITSEE John corpus, 151 named Greek entries carry ὁ ὢν ἐν τῷ οὐρανῷ and fourteen omit the final clause. All collatable rows in the official Vetus Latina John synopsis carry a final heavenly clause. Four further entries read “from heaven”, and GA 2575 omits the whole verse.
Primary support for the KJV reading
151 named entries in the selected IGNTP John corpus
King James Bible reading
And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven.
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
The official IGNTP/ITSEE ECM John Greek apparatus, whose corpus is 236 selected documents including 22 supplements, together with the official Vetus Latina John synopsis and the 2021 Sahidic critical edition.
Earliest KJV-supporting evidence
Earliest patristic and secure Greek evidence catalogued here
Early third century — Hippolytus knows the longer final clause; Novatian supplies additional mid-third-century Latin evidence.
Earliest surviving Greek support: Sixth century — Codex Petropolitanus Purpureus (N/022) is the earliest secure exact main-text witness in the displayed data. Codex Alexandrinus has the exact form in a later correcting hand whose date is not independently established.
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 clause “which is in heaven”
The KJV/TR clause is the overwhelming numerical Majority Text reading in the wider Greek tradition.
Estimated Greek support: More than 1,500 Greek manuscripts; 151 supporting entries in the selected 236-document corpus
The selected IGNTP corpus supplies the exact displayed count. The broader estimate reflects the established Majority reading in the wider John tradition.
Source scope and denominator
The official IGNTP/ITSEE ECM John Greek apparatus, whose corpus is 236 selected documents including 22 supplements, together with the official Vetus Latina John synopsis and the 2021 Sahidic critical edition.
Greek support in the cited corpus
151 named Greek entries in the 236-document IGNTP John corpus
Greek competing evidence in the cited corpus
14 named Greek states in the 236-document IGNTP John corpus
Principal competing witnesses named in the snapshot
Evidence represented on this page
Greek manuscripts
Represented
Ancient versions
Represented
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
The official IGNTP/ITSEE ECM John Greek apparatus, whose corpus is 236 selected documents including 22 supplements, together with the official Vetus Latina John synopsis and the 2021 Sahidic critical edition.
KJV/TR unit: ὁ ὢν ἐν τῷ οὐρανῷ
02 07 011 017r 022 028 037 038 041 044 045 050 063r 0211 1 13 18 22 35 69 118 124 138 157 168 173 209 213 226 265 295 333 346 357 377 382 430 544 565 579*r 579C 597 732 788 792r 799 807 826 828 841 884 892 983 992 1009r 1029 1071 1079 1093 1128 1192 1210 1219 1230 1242 1253 1278 1319 1320 1321 1344 1424 1463 1546 1561 1571 1582 1654 1689 1788 1797 2106 2192 2193 2223 2372 2411 2561 2585 2615 2680 2713 2718 2766 2768 2786 2790 2886
Grouped evidence: the selected lectionary states encoded in the IGNTP John XML
qui est in caelo / caelis
VL3 VL4 VL6 VL7 VL8 VL9A VL10 VL11 VL11A VL13 VL14 VL15 VL22 VL27 VL29 VL30 VL32 VL33 VL35 VL47 VL48
Grouped evidence: all 23 collatable Vetus Latina John synopsis rows carry a final heavenly clause
ὁ ὢν ἐκ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ
0141 397 821 L335-Sp2
ὁ ὢν ἐκ τῷ οὐρανῷ
L335-S1W1D5
qui erat in caelis
VL2
P66 P75 01 03 019 029 032S 083 086 33 109 1010 1241 1293
Sahidic fa6
Grouped evidence: all 17 extant Sahidic John XML witnesses, and the printed Sahidic critical text
All extant Sahidic witnesses end the verse at “Son of Man”.
proto-Bohairic
Lacunose throughout John 3:1–32.
2575
P2 P5 P6 P22 P28 P36 P39 P44 P45 P52 P55 P59 P60 P63 P76 P80 P84 P90 P93 P95 P106 P107 P108 P109 P119 P120 P121 P122 P128 04 05 05S 024 026 032 033 054 060 065 068 070 078 087 091 0109 0127 0145 0162 0210 0216 0217 0218 0233 0234 0238 0256 0260 0264 0268 0290 0299 0301 0302 0309 118S 213S 249 317 333S 543 565S 865 869 892S 994 994S 1010S 1014 1128S 1571S 1582S
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.
Against Noetus 4
quotes and interprets the Son of Man as simultaneously being in heaven
Locator: Hippolytus, Against Noetus 4
Open sourceOn the Trinity 13
quotes “the Son of man who is in heaven” in an argument about Christ
Locator: Novatian, On the Trinity 13
Open sourceRoster distinctions
Evidence notes
Evidence assessment
In the 236-document IGNTP/ITSEE John corpus, 151 named Greek entries carry ὁ ὢν ἐν τῷ οὐρανῷ and fourteen omit the final clause. All collatable rows in the official Vetus Latina John synopsis carry a final heavenly clause. Four further entries read “from heaven”, and GA 2575 omits the whole verse.
Primary support for the KJV reading
151 named entries in the selected IGNTP John corpus
Evidence represented on this page
References
Willker, Wieland. A Textual Commentary on the Greek Gospels. Vol. 4, John. 12th ed. Bremen, 2015.
Hippolytus of Rome. Against Noetus, §4. In Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 5.
Novatian. On the Trinity, §13. In Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 5.
IGNTP/ITSEE ECM John Greek positive apparatus. John 3:13, word address 35.
ITSEE Vetus Latina John synopsis. John 3:13.
Förster, Sänger-Böhm and Schulz, Kritische Edition der sahidischen Version des Johannesevangeliums (2021). John 3:13.
INTF Kurzgefasste Liste / NTVMR manuscript metadata. Physical dates for the named Greek manuscripts.
IGNTP/ITSEE ECM John introduction and corpus scope. Selected corpus of 236 Greek manuscripts including 22 supplements.
IGNTP/ITSEE ECM John encoding instructions. Meaning of the state suffixes r * C S used in the John 3:13 roster.
ITSEE Vetus Latina John manuscript register. Identity and physical date of the VL sigla named at John 3:13.
Official Sahidic John XML dataset (University of Birmingham eData 1042). The 17 extant Sahidic John 3:13 witnesses.
Schulz, proto-Bohairic appendix to the 2021 Sahidic critical edition. Proto-Bohairic lacuna at John 3:1–32.