John 20:31

John 20:31 pisteu,@s#hte {C}

Both pisteu,hte and pisteu,shte have notable early support. The aorist tense, strictly interpreted, suggests that the Fourth Gospel was addressed to non-Christians so that they might come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah; the present tense suggests that the aim of the writer was to strengthen the faith of those who already believe (“that you may continue to believe”). ²¹ In view of the difficulty of choosing between the readings by assessing the supposed purpose of the evangelist (assuming that he used the tenses of the subjunctive strictly), the Committee considered it preferable to represent both readings by enclosing s within square brackets.

²¹ In John 19:35 pisteu,hte is read by a* B Y Origen; apparently all other witnesses read pisteu,shte.