1 John 2:4

4. Before ἔγνωκα insert ὅτι with [452][453][454] against [455][456][457]. [458] omits ἐν τούτῳ before ἡ� and inserts τοῦ θεοῦ after it.

[452] 4th century. Discovered by Tischendorf in 1859 at the monastery of S. Catherine on Mount Sinai, and now at Petersburg. All three Epistles.
[453] 5th century. Brought by Cyril Lucar, Patriarch of Constantinople, from Alexandria, and afterwards presented by him to Charles I. in 1628. In the British Museum. All three Epistles.
[454] 4th century. Brought to Rome about 1460. It is entered in the earliest catalogue of the Vatican Library, 1475. All three Epistles.
[455] 5th century. A palimpsest: the original writing has been partially rubbed out and the works of Ephraem the Syrian have been written over it. In the National Library at Paris. Part of the First and Third Epistles; 1 John 1:1 to 1 John 4:2; 3 John 1:3-14. Of the whole N.T. the only Books entirely missing are 2 John and 2 Thessalonians.

[456] 9th century. All three Epistles.
[457] 9th century. All three Epistles.
[458] 4th century. Discovered by Tischendorf in 1859 at the monastery of S. Catherine on Mount Sinai, and now at Petersburg. All three Epistles.

4. The previous statement is again enforced by denying the opposite of it (1 John 1:5-6; 1 John 1:8). The construction ὁ λέγων, ὁ�, &c. now takes the place of ἐὰν εἴπωμεν, ἐὰν περιπατῶμεν, &c., but without change of meaning: after 1 John 2:11 both constructions cease and a new division begins. Comp. 1 John 1:6 which is exactly parallel to this.

ἐὰν εἴπωμεν ὅτι

ὁ λέγων ὅτι

κοινωνίαν ἔχομεν μετʼ αὐτοῦ,

Ἔγνωκα αὐτόν,

καὶ ἐν τῷ σκότει περιπατῶμεν,

καὶ τὰς ἐντ. αὐτοῦ μὴ τηρῶν,

ψευδόμεθα κ. οὐ π. τὴν�.

ψεύσ. ἐστ., κ. ἐν τ. ἡ�. οὐκ ἔστ.

By writing μὴ τηρῶν rather than οὐ τ. S. John states the case as generally and gently as possible, without asserting that any such person exists: comp. 1 John 3:10; 1 John 3:14; 1 John 4:8; 1 John 4:20; 1 John 5:10; 1 John 5:12; Matthew 12:30, &c. Winer, 606.