3 John 1:4

Before ἀληθείᾳ insert τῇ with [940] [941][942]1 against [943][944][945]. For χαράν ([946][947][948][949][950], Thebaic) [951], Vulgate, and Memphitic have χάριν, which is very likely right.

[940] 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.
[941] 4th century. Brought to Rome about 1460. It is entered in the earliest catalogue of the Vatican Library, 1475. All three Epistles.
[942] 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.

[943] 4th century. Discovered by Tischendorf in 1859 at the monastery of S. Catherine on Mount Sinai, and now at Petersburg. All three Epistles.
[944] 9th century. All three Epistles.
[945] 9th century. All three Epistles.
[946] 4th century. Discovered by Tischendorf in 1859 at the monastery of S. Catherine on Mount Sinai, and now at Petersburg. All three Epistles.
[947] 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.
[948] 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.

[949] 9th century. All three Epistles.
[950] 9th century. All three Epistles.
[951] 4th century. Brought to Rome about 1460. It is entered in the earliest catalogue of the Vatican Library, 1475. All three Epistles.

4. μειζοτέραν τ. οὐκ ἔχω χαράν. The order is worth keeping, all the more so on account of the similar arrangement in John 15:13; μείζονα ταύτης�, ἵνα τις τ. ψυχὴν αὐτοῦ θῇ. Greater joy have I none than this. The Vulgate is barbarously exact: majorem horum non habeo gratiam. Comp. majora horum for μείζω τούτων (John 1:50). ‘Gratiam’ implies the reading χάριν ([1032] and Memphitic), which Westcott and Hort adopt. The double comparative μειζοτέραν is analogous to ‘lesser’ in English. In Ephesians 3:8 we have ἐλαχιστότερος. Such forms belong to the later stages of a language, when common forms have lost strength. Comp. καλλιώτερος, καλλιστότατος, minimissimus, pessimissimus. Winer, 81. The plural pronoun τούτων (corrected in some copies to ταύτης) may either mean ‘these joys,’ or ‘these things,’ viz. the frequent reports of the brethren: comp. μείζω τούτων ὄψει (John 1:50). Winer, 201.

[1032] 4th century. Brought to Rome about 1460. It is entered in the earliest catalogue of the Vatican Library, 1475. All three Epistles.

ἵνα�. There is no need either here or in John 15:13 to suppose an ellipse of ἤ after the comparative. In both cases the ἵνα clause is epexegetic of the preceding genitive pronoun; and ἵνα� = τοῦ� in apposition with τούτων. Winer, 745, 425.

τὰ ἐμὰ τέκνα. My own children. The emphatic ἐμά (contrast 1 John 2:1; 2 John 1:4) perhaps indicates those who not only were under his Apostolic care, but had been converted by him to the faith.

περιπατοῦντα. See on 2 John 1:4. For the participial construction comp. ὅσα ἠκούσαμεν γενόμενα εἰς τὴν Καφ. (Luke 4:23): ἀκούσας δὲ Ἰακὼβ ὄντα σιτία εἰς Αἴγυπτον (Acts 7:12): and especially ἀκούομεν γάρ τινας περιπατοῦντας ἐν ὑμῖν (2 Thessalonians 3:11). To hear of my own children walking in the truth.