I know the majority that read this is going to have a hard time with this, but you have a major stumbling block with 1 John 5:7-8.  It is because you have chosen to believe this lie as for perhaps all your Christian life. There are a number of Bible verses that if you pick them out by themselves, you can make them say just about one of many things.  That is very dishonest.  This writer is not here to pick on you, but to reveal the lie and show the truth.  Truth can hurt our feelings at times when we realize we have been wrong.  But let’s face it, error will flat out kill you in the end.  If you were doing something wrong and didn’t realize it, wouldn’t you want a friend to reveal it and to show you the right path or right way in doing something rather than to leave you alone on a destructive path?

 

Getting back to our three that bear record, all three bear record in verse 7 that “God” is a Father, not a Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

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1 John 5 is telling us that God is a Father alone.  And that God gave his Son.  Verse 7 is all about the Father.  And when we understand verse 8, it is all about the Son of God.  Read and study all of this until this sinks in.  A third of something or someone else does not fit the chapter or topic at all.  Look at the totality of everything.  Everything is about the Father and the Son.

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In verse 8, it says that,  “And there are three that bear witness in earth, the spirit, and the water, and the blood: and these three agree in one.”

 

It would have been better if this verse was written as “on earth.”  All through the life of Christ while he was on earth, we have the testimony that he gave.  If you read the Scripture as it is plainly laid out without having colored lenses to look thru, you will see the witness of Jesus in these verses that these three testimonies agree as one:​

Water = the baptism of Jesus.

(God annointed Jesus with His Spirit.  That was the Spirit of God that descended "like a dove" upon Christ. 

It wasn't a dove, but came down slow and fluttery like a dove descends down to the ground.)

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Blood = the crucifixion of Jesus.

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Spirit = the resurrection of Jesus.

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They agree as one, as they are in harmony with everything that God has laid out for us, which is “the plan of salvation,” through His Son, Jesus Christ.

 

It is important to understand Christ’s identity as the Son of God.  That is what John is telling us and reinforcing over and over.  But he is also telling us the identity of God.  Since Christ is the Son of God, this would identity God as our Father.  And that is who God is here in this context in all of these passages.   These three bear record that our God is a Father.  Again, these verses cannot be repeated enough until it sinks into us.

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1 John 5:11-13 - "And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. v12 He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. v13 These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God."

 

And who is 1 John 5 all about?

1 John 1:3 - "That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ."

 

John was a Jew and had first hand account of who Jesus was.  Jews ARE NOT trinitarians.  And John never taught trinitarianism! The verse above reinforces that there is a specific relationship and it involves a Father and a Son.  Is this role playing?  No, this is real and literal.  It says that our fellowship is with the Father and the Son.  No one else is mentioned here.  Just two, not three.

 

1 John 4:9 - "In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him."

 

This is how God manifested his love.  God is love.  He did this by giving up his only begotten Son to save mankind and to save the world.  That is how he has shown us his love. By receiving God’s love, it draws us to make a change to our character.  Love is what draws us to repentance.  By holding onto his love, we become changed into the image of him.  By receiving God’s love, it draws us to make a change to our character.  Love is what draws us to repentance. 

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1 John 4:14-15 - "And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world.  v15 Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God."

 

Confession of Jesus being the Son of God is important.  Also refer to the following Scripture texts as God the Father bore witness of his Son:  Matt. 3:17, 17:5 and Mark 1:11, 9:7.

 

Matthew 3:17 – “And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”

 

Matthew 17:5 – “While he yet spake, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them: and behold a voice out of the cloud, which said, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him.”

 

Mark 1:11 – “And there came a voice from heaven, [saying], Thou art my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”

 

Mark 9:7 – “And there was a cloud that overshadowed them: and a voice came out of the cloud, saying, This is my beloved Son: hear him.”

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1 John 5:1 – "Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God: and every one that loveth him that begat loveth him also that is begotten of him."

 

So Christ is born of him, begotten.  The Father is the begetter, Christ is begotten of Him. This theme is what we find summarized in John's gospel, in John 20:31.

 
John 20:31 – "But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name."

 

This is important to our salvation.  Our eternal life.   This is not a side issue.  The question comes down to, “Is God three co-eternal, co-equal beings?”

 

OR…………….Is God a loving Father who begat a Son, who had to sacrifice his Son in order to save us?  Yes!  Did God the Father give Christ equality?  Yes.  Or did this Son possess it of himself, totally on his own?  No.

 

John 5:26 - "For as the Father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself."

 

Is this an act performed by 3 co-eternal beings? No.  Is this a show, a theatrical performance?  No. Is God really a Father, or is he just pretending to be a Father?  Is this role playing like some Adventist affiliated publications have claimed in the past?  In recent times we have theologians publicly making statements that they don’t believe the Bible to be literal.  They don’t believe that the Father and Son is a literal relationship even thou it is stated hundreds of times in the Bible.  They say the Son of God is to be taken metaphorically or as a role that Jesus takes on.  The definition of Jesus Christ taking on a role and not the literal Son of the Father is actually anti-Christ according to the Bible. 

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1 John 2:22-24 — “Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son. v23 Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father: (but) he that acknowledgeth the Son hath the Father also. v24 Let that therefore abide in you, which ye have heard from the beginning. If that which ye have heard from the beginning shall remain in you, ye also shall continue in the Son, and in the Father.”

 

It is true that Christ existed in eternity.  But the bible says that he “came out from God”, “proceeded forth and came from God”, “came out from thee”, “whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting”, “set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was”, I was brought forth”.  (John 8:42, 16:27, 17:8, Micah 5:2, Prov. 8:23-24)

 

Did the Father really have a literal Son?  Yes.  Can you be drawn to him if you cannot see the manifestation of the Father’s love?  No.  If we don’t believe, we make him a liar if we don’t believe that he gave his literal Son.

 

John 17:3 — “And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.”

 

Jesus spoke these words to his Father.  And it was the Father that sent Jesus Christ to us.

 

To know the only true God is the only way that man can be elevated through the knowledge of God. The knowledge of God is the most important thing in making us like God in character. This is life eternal.  Yet so many people are told by their pastors or leaders that God is a mystery.  This leads only to confusion and delusion.

 

The most reputable authorities agree that part of 1 John 5:7-8 was most certainly added to the Bible during the period known as the “Dark Ages”. And we have plenty of comments about that in Study Bibles and historical statements.

 

Some people would object strongly to the very suggestion that errors may have crept into the text of the Bible in any way whatsoever.  

 

While we have seen that there is true support for the verses of 7 and 8 in 1 John 5 can be made when a real study of John’s writings are done. But now we will take a look at the flip side of this and address some troubling history pertaining to our key text topic. Let the following explain accordingly, as you will see there is authentic text that was inspired by the Spirit of God to John.  And then there was a spirit from another that inspired translators.  The text in (Brackets) is text that was not found in the original manuscripts, but later added.

 

v7 "For there are three that bear record (in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost, and these three are one. v8 And there are three that bear witness in earth), the Spirit, and the water, and the blood, and these three agree in one.”

 

So the original text would read in the King James: “For there are three that bear record, the Spirit, and the water, and the blood, and these three agree in one.”

 

So in all actuality, the verse is a witness and record of the Son of God. That is all it is! 

 

1 John 5:7

New International Version - For there are three that testify:

New Living Translation - So we have these three witnesses--

English Standard Version - For there are three that testify:

Berean Study Bible - For there are three that testify:

New American Standard Bible - For there are three that testify:

Holman Christian Standard Bible - For there are three that testify:

International Standard Version - For there are three witnesses —

 

Now for 1 John 5:8:

New International Version - the Spirit, the water and the blood; and the three are in agreement.

New Living Translation - the Spirit, the water, and the blood--and all three agree.

English Standard Version - the Spirit and the water and the blood; and these three agree.

Berean Study Bible - the Spirit, the water, and the blood--and these three are in agreement.

New American Standard Bible  - the Spirit and the water and the blood; and the three are in agreement.

Holman Christian Standard Bible - the Spirit, the water, and the blood--and these three are in agreement.

International Standard Version - the Spirit, the water, and the blood—and these three are one.

 

The Comma Johanneum, also known as the Comma Johannine, is a textual variant in regards to 1 John 5:7-8. The word comma simply means “short clause,” and Johanneum  means “pertaining to John.”  Again, without the “comma,” 1 John 5:7-8 reads, “For there are three that bear record, the spirit, the water and the blood; and these three agree in one.”

 

With the “comma,” 1 John 5:7-8 reads, “For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one. And there are three that bear witness in earth, the spirit, and the water, and the blood: and these three agree in one.”

 

As many do today teaching this Comma Johanneum, reading this by itself you could make up all kinds of variations of doctrine.  But as we have read previously, looking at the totality of the witness of Christ, and the record that His Father gave, this is not teaching anything to do with a God the Father, god the son, god the holy spirit as found in the trinity doctrine.

 

None of the oldest Greek manuscripts of 1 John contain the comma, and none of the very early church fathers include it when quoting or referencing 1 John 5:7-8. The presence of the Comma Johanneum in Greek manuscripts is actually quite rare until the 15th century A.D.  Imagine that, the 15th century.  That is well over a thousand years later after Christ was on earth and the writings of the New Testament were recorded by Paul, Luke, Matthew, Mark and John.  It is primarily found in Latin manuscripts. While some of the Latin manuscripts containing the Comma Johanneum appear to be ancient, the Comma Johanneum did not appear in the original Latin Vulgate written by Jerome.

 

In the 16th century, when Desiderius Erasmus was compiling what became known as the Textus Receptus, he did not include the Comma Johanneum in the 1st or 2nd editions.  Due to intense pressure from the Catholic Church and others who wanted it included because of its support for trinitarianism,  Erasmus included the Comma Johanneum in later editions of the Textus Receptus. His decision resulted in the Comma Johanneum being included in the King James Version of the Bible and later in the New King James Version.  None of the modern Greek texts (UBS 4, Nestle-Aland 27, Majority Text) contain the Comma Johanneum. Of all the modern English translations, only the New King James Version and Modern English Version include the Comma Johanneum.

 

While it would be convenient for there to be an explicit statement confirming some kind of a Trinity doctrine in the Bible, but the Comma Johanneum was not originally part of 1 John. Some scribe, either intentionally or accidentally added it to a Latin manuscript, and then that addition was copied thousands upon thousands of times. Latin manuscripts came way after the original Greek writings of the New Testament.  This eventually resulted in the Comma Johanneum appearing in the vast majority of Latin manuscripts. Whatever the scribe’s motives, whether intentionally or by accident, it is absolutely wrong to add to God’s Word. The Comma Johanneum is not a God-breathed statement nor a writing from the apostle John, and does not belong in the Bible. The doctrine of the Trinity is taught and implied from using human construction and man-made additions to many other biblical passages. If God thought an explicit mention of Him being a part of a trinity god was necessary, He Himself would have made sure it was very clear in His Word, and with the weight of evidence. 

 

“The textual evidence is against 1 John 5:7,” explains Dr. Neil Lightfoot, a New Testament professor. “Of all the Greek manuscripts, only two contain it. These two manuscripts are of very late dates, one from the fourteenth or fifteenth century and the other from the sixteenth century. Two other manuscripts have this verse written in the margin. All four manuscripts show that this verse was apparently translated from a late form of the Latin Vulgate,” — How We Got the Bible, 2003, pp. 100-101.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

 

SDA BIBLE COMMENTARY:

“Textual evidence attests (cf. p. 10) the omission of the passage “in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one.  And there are three that bear witness in earth.”

“The resultant reading of vs. 7, 8 is as follows:”

“For there are three that bear record, the Spirit, and the water, and the blood: and these three agree in one.”

“The passage as given in the KJV is in no Greek manuscript earlier than the 15th and 16th centuries. The disputed words found their way into the KJV by way of the Greek text of Erasmus (see Vol. V, p. 141). It is said that Erasmus offered to include the disputed words in his Greek Testament if he were shown even one Greek MS that contained them. A library in Dublin produced such a MS (known as 34), and Erasmus included the passage in his text. It is now believed that the later editions of the Vulgate acquired the passage by the mistake of a scribe who included an exegetical marginal comment in the Bible text that he was copying. The disputed words have been widely used in support of the doctrine of the Trinity, but, in view of such overwhelming evidence against their authenticity, their support is valueless and should not be used. In spite of their appearance in “the Vulgate A Catholic Commentary on Holy Scripture” freely admits regarding these words: “It is now generally held that this passage, called the Comma Johanneum, is a gloss that crept into the text of the Old Latin and Vulgate at an early date, but found its way into the Greek text only in the 15th and 16th centuries” (Thomas Nelson and Sons, 1951, p. 1186).”  — The Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, vol. 7, p. 675

 

Interesting tidbit in that the one library in Dublin, Ireland that produced this supposed manuscript came from ‘Trinity College.’

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In the following commentary, the words “it is wanting” means that they are looking. They searched, but it was not found.  It is simply missing.  Only in one manuscript could the words in question of this controversy be found, and that was in all places called, “Trinity College” in Dublin.  However, in 112 other manuscripts, it could not be found.

 

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible. Adam Clarke, LL.D., F.S.A., (1715-1832) explains in detail:  “It is wanting in every MS of this epistle written before the invention of printing, one excepted, the Codex Montfortii, in Trinity College, Dublin: the others which omit this verse amount to one hundred and twelve.

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It is wanting in both the Syriac, all the Arabic, Ethiopic, the Coptic, Sahidic, Armenian, Slavonian, etc., in a word, in all the ancient versions but the Vulgate; and even of this version many of the most ancient and correct MSS have it not. It is wanting also in all the ancient Greek fathers; and in most even of the Latin.

 

This is how the words are as they existed in all the Greek manuscripts with the exception of the Codex Montfortii, with the following: 1 John 5:6-9 – “This is he that came by water and blood, Jesus Christ; not by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit that beareth witness because the Spirit is truth. v7 For there are three that bear witness, v8 the Spirit, the water, and the blood; and these three agree in one. v9 If we receive the witness of man, the witness of God is greater, etc.”

 

Theology professors Anthony and Richard Hanson, in their book Reasonable  Belief: A Survey of the Christian Faith, explain the unwarranted addition to the text this way: “It was added by some enterprising person or persons in the ancient Church who felt that the New Testament was sadly deficient in direct witness to the kind of doctrine of the Trinity which he favoured and who determined to remedy that defect … It is a waste of time to attempt to read Trinitarian doctrine directly off the pages of the New Testament.” — (1980, p. 171).

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Peake’s  Commentary  on the  Bible  is very incisive  in its comments  as  well:  “The famous interpolation after ‘three witnesses’ is not printed in RSV and rightly [so] …. No respectable Greek [manuscript] contains it. Appearing first in a late 4th century Latin text, it entered the Vulgate [the 5th-century Latin version, which became the common medieval translation] and finally NT [New Testament] of Erasmus [who produced newly collated Greek texts and a new Latin version in the 16th century].” — (p. 1038).

 

The  Expositor’s Bible Commentary also dismisses the King James and New King James Versions’ additions in 1 John 5:7-8 as “obviously a late gloss with no merit.” — Glenn Barker, Vol. 12, 1981, p. 353.

 

The Big Book of Bible Difficulties tells us: “This verse has virtually no support among the early Greek manuscripts . . . Its appearance in late Greek manuscripts is based on the fact that Erasmus was placed under ecclesiastical pressure to include it in his Greek NT of 1522, having omitted it in his two earlier editions of 1516 and 1519 because he could not find any Greek manuscripts which contained it.” — Norman Geisler and Thomas Howe, 2008, pp. 540-541.

 

As you can see, 1 John 5 has NOTHING to do with God being a Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  The word “trinity” did not come into common use as a religious term until after the Council of Nicaea in 325 A.D., several centuries after the last books of the New Testament were complete.  It is simply NOT a Biblical concept.

 

Surely hellfire awaits those who take one verse, or even a few from the Bible and manipulate it for use of a false doctrine brought in by man’s fables, placed on the mind of the unsuspecting soul who just wants to worship God honestly in Spirit and in Truth. But the result is that they are led astray by Satan’s deceptions, falling for a strange god.

 

Here are just a few references to touch lightly on the history of the most pointed doctrine within all of Christendom, and that is on the Trinity.

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“To briefly summarize what was pertinent, we start with mention of the famous Greek philosopher Plato (ca. 429-347 B.C.). He believed in a divine triad of “God, the ideas, [and] the World-Spirit,” though he “nowhere explained or harmonized this triad.” — Charles Bigg, Christian Platonists of Alexandria, 1886, p. 249. 

 

As Bible scholars John McClintock and James Strong explain: “Towards the end of the 1st century, and during the 2d, many learned men came over both from Judaism and paganism to Christianity. These brought with them into the Christian schools of theology their Platonic ideas and phraseology.” — Cyclopaedia of Biblical, Theological, and Ecclesiastical Literature, 1891, Vol. 10, “Trinity,” p. 553.

 

“The Alexandria catechetical school, which revered Clement of Alexandria and Origen, the greatest theologian of the Greek Church, as its heads, applied the allegorical method to the explanation of Scripture.  Its thought was influenced by Plato: its strong point was [pagan] theological speculations.  Athanasius and the three Cappadocians [the men whose Trinitarian views were adopted by the Catholic Church at the Councils of Nicaea and Constantinople] had been included among its members.” — Hubert Jedin, Ecumenical Councils of the Catholic Church: an Historical Outline, 1960, p. 28.

 

"The word Trinity nowhere occurs in the Scriptures. The principal text supposed to teach it is 1 John 5:7, which is an interpolation. Clarke says, 'Out of one hundred and thirteen manuscripts, the text is wanting in one hundred and twelve. It occurs in no MS. before the tenth century. And the first place the text occurs in Greek, is in the Greek translation of the acts of the Council of Latern, held A.D. 1215.'- Com. on John 1, and remarks at close of chap." — John N. Loughborough, Review and Herald, Nov. 5, 1861.

 

“The doctrines of the Logos [i.e., the “Word,” a designation for Christ in John 1] and the Trinity received their shape from Greek Fathers, who . . . were much influenced, directly or indirectly, by the Platonic philosophy . . . That errors and corruptions crept into the Church from this source can not be denied.”  — The New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge, Samuel Macauley Jackson, editor, 1911, Vol. 9, p. 91.

 

The preface to historian Edward Gibbons’ History of Christianity sums up the Greek influence on the adoption of the Trinity doctrine by stating: “If Paganism was conquered by Christianity, it is equally true that Christianity was corrupted by Paganism. The pure Deism [basic religion, in this context] of the first Christians … was changed, by the Church of Rome, into the incomprehensible dogma of the trinity. Many of the pagan tenets, invented by the Egyptians and idealized by Plato, were retained as being worthy of belief.” — (1883, p. xvi). See “How Ancient Trinitarian Gods Influenced Adoption of the Trinity.“

 

Whether we hold to what has been printed in modern Bibles or hold onto that certain words were added, either way, we have shown that 1 John 5 has NOTHING to do with support for a supposed trinity doctrine. 

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