Abstract
For 1 John 2:2 the eighth corrected printing of Nestle-Aland (1994) lists three variants of μονῶν in place of μόνον. Since then more manuscripts have been added to the list. The 2003 Novum Testamentum Graecum Editio Critica Maior (ECM and NA) provides nineteen variants, plus lacunae, for μονῶν. Moreover, the presence of δέ and ϰαί occurs in some manuscripts but not in others. The difference between these variants has the potential to affect their theological interpretation: it questions the authorship or editorship of the text; it alters the syntax and/or grammar of (v. 2c) οὐ περὶ τῶν ἡμετέρων δὲ μόνον (v. 2d) ἀλλὰ ϰαὶ περὶ ὃλου τοῦ ϰόσμου. The variants suggest a plurality of grammatical and theological interpretations of 1 John 2:2. Applying the criteria in the Coherence-Based Genealogical Method (CBGM) in the ECM, this paper evaluates the different readings of v. 2c in the textual tradition to see whether μόνον or μονῶν (with or without δέ–ϰαί) is likely to be the initial text.
