1st John Bible Nerd-Study - Week 31

Week 31 —1st John Bible Nerd-Study

*Missed last week? Click here for 1st John Bible Nerd-Study - Week 30

KJV vs NKJV + 3:13-17 memory + Robert Candlish

1 John (KJV vs NKJV)

As a kid, I remember most adults using KJV but they would permit the kids and new people to use NKJV. There were other options but this one was encouraged and hadn't messed up too many things from the authorized. I was glad to read it since KJV had me lost. So what did the 130 scholars change after 7 years of work? By 1982 they had updated some vocabulary and grammar of the old text. But they couldn't help adding in some footnotes as well. You'll see them refer to the NU-text and the M-text. These are Greek texts that have something different than what KJV used. Here's a quote from the preface:

NU-Text

These variations from the traditional text generally represent the Alexandrian or Egyptian type of text [the oldest, but sometimes questioned text]. They are found in the Critical Text published in the Twenty-sixth edition of the Nestle-Aland Greek New Testament and in the United Bible Society's third edition (U), hence the acronym "NU-text."

M-Text

This symbol indicates points of variation in the Majority Text from the traditional text [a consensus of most Greek manuscripts]. It should be noted that M stands for whatever reading is printed in the published Greek New Testament According to the Majority Text, whether supported by overwhelming, strong, or only a divided majority textual tradition.

Robert Candlish did the 1 John commentary which was put in a series called: Classic Commentary Library - Zondervan. Stephen Kaung has a number of commentaries in his library. But this set is his favorite. They grabbed from some of the best classics, recognizing that each book may need a different person. Some specialized in their study, and they felt that Candlish was the best on 1st John. Since he shared with me that set is his favorite I've always paid great attention to it and noticed who the various authors are. You can download the PDF here.

As usual, this commentary is probably going to be too long for us to read it all. Find your focus section and see what it has to say about that. It is wordy, not built for quick answers. It's good fellowship.

Update: I've really been enjoying everything I read out of this commentary. Something I wouldn't have caught naturally though is that his outline is embedded in the Table of Contents and so much revelation on 1 John, in general, is based on the outline (as we all have discovered). I read the Prefaces and saw that he emphasized this. Then after reading through each of the lines for the TOC I was edified and encouraged in a few different ways: 1st - it's just good which you'll see; 2nd - notice the overall outline. I've been outlining this way but a lot of commentators leave out the Righteous section (see his general outline below). 3rd - within each section there is a purposeful flow discovered while also recognizing that almost everything overflows and overlaps in 1 John. This is an example for us all with outlining 1 John. 

To just see the Preface and Contents click here.   

Let's continue on memorizing 1 John 3:13-17.