Quote:
I don't know Chip, and until he tells me it is a lie I will believe it is you lying about him. I have more than one source that says the exact same thing about Erasmus.


Hey Tim.

I am very happy to say that the "Erasmus promise" story is absolutely a myth.

The story goes that Erasmus promised to include the Comma in his third edition if a single manuscript containing the Comma could be produced. A Franciscan friar named Froy (or Roy) forged a Greek text containing the verse. The forged manuscript was given to Erasmus who reluctantly included the Comma in the 1522 edition.

This story was propagated by Bruce Metger to try to make it look like a Greek manuscript was "created" so that Erasmus would include 1 John 5:7 in his text.

Erasmus expert H.J. de Jong completed refuted Metzger, saying his story "has no foundation in Erasmus work. Consequently it is highly improbable that he included the difficult passage because he considered himself bound by any such promise."

Metzger owned up to his error and stated -
What is said on p. 101 above about Erasmus promise to include the Comma Johanneum if one Greek manuscript were found that contained it, and his subsequent suspicion that MS 61 was written expressly to force him to do so, needs to be corrected in the light of the research of H. J. DeJonge, a specialist in Erasmian studies who finds no explicit evidence that supports this frequently made assertion
(Metzger, The Text of The New Testament, 3rd edition, p. 291, footnote 2).

Unfortunately, this urban legend is still floating around and is a very popular device to try and discredit 1 John 5:7.

Hope this helps, brother!