1 John 5:7

by Thomas Golda

"For there are THREE that BEAR RECORD in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these THREE are ONE." I John 5:7(KJV)

The 1611 KJV preserves this verse, as other Bible's do not

THREE bear record or witness in heaven....the "oneness" doctrine" is false where they say Jesus IS the Father, and vise versa.

The Trinity is 100% true. 3 "persons" bear record in heaven and these three are one....one God.

While this verse is not found in the majority of Greek manuscripts, it is found in a minority (10 total, out of about 500 that contain I John 5)

The Greek texts include 629 (fourteenth century), 61 (sixteenth century), 918 (sixteenth century), 2473 (seventeenth century), and 2318 (eighteenth century). It is also in the margins of 221 (tenth century), 635 (eleventh century), 88 (twelfth century), 429 (fourteenth century), and 636 (fifteenth century)

I John 5:7 can be traced back to the Waldensian Church to the translation of the Old Italic in the 2nd century

In the 7th century at least 12 Old Latin MSS contained the passage
In the 8th century at least 21 Old Latin MSS contained the passage
In the 9th century at least 189 Old Latin MSS contained the passage


Over 6,000 Latin manuscripts remained unexamined to this day

I John 5:7 was referred to going back to 200AD

200 AD - Tertullian quoted the verse in his Apology, Against Praxeas

250 AD - Cyprian of Carthage, wrote, "And again, of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost IT IS WRITTEN: "And the THREE are ONE" in his On The Lapsed, On the Novatians.

Note that Cyprian is quoting and says "it is written, And the three are One." He lived from 180 to 250 A.D. and the scriptures he had at that time contained the verse in question. This is at least 100 years before anything we have today in the Greek copies. If it wasn't part of Holy Scripture, then where did he get it?

350 AD Priscillian referred to it [Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum, Academia Litterarum Vindobonensis, vol. xviii, p. 6.]

"and there are three which give testimony on earth, the water, the flesh the blood, and these three are in one, and there are three which give testimony in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Spirit, and these three are one in Christ Jesus." - PRISCILLIAN (380AD)

350 AD Idacius Clarus referred to it [Patrilogiae Cursus Completus, Series Latina by Migne, vol. 62, col. 359.]

350 AD Athanasius referred to it in his De Incarnatione

380 AD Priscillian in Liber Apologeticus quotes "and there are three which give testimony in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Spirit, and these three are one in Christ Jesus."

398 AD Aurelius Augustine used it to defend Trinitarianism in De Trinitate against the heresy of Sabellianism

415 AD Council of Carthage. The contested verse (1 John 5:7) is quoted at the Council of Carthage (415 A. D.) by Eugenius, who drew up the confession of faith for the "orthodox." It reads with the King James. How did 350 prelates in 415 A.D. take a verse to be orthodox that wasn't in the Bible? It had to exist there from the beginning. It was quoted as "Pater, VERBUM, et Spiritus Sanctus".

".....and in order that we may teach until now, more clearly than light, that the Holy Spirit is now one divinity with the Father and the Son. It is PROVED by the EVANGELIST JOHN, for HE SAYS, 'there are THREE which BEAR TESTIMONY in heaven, the FATHER, the WORD, and the HOLY SPIRIT, and THESE THREE ARE ONE" - Eugenius said at the Council of Carthage

450AD - "And there are three who give testimony in heaven, the Father, The Word, and the Spirit, and these three are one." - I John 5:7 - Anchor Bible; Epistle of John - Contra Varimadum 1.5 (CC90,20-21)- 450AD

450-530 AD. Several orthodox African writers quoted the verse when defending the doctrine of the Trinity against the gainsaying of the Vandals. These writers are:

A) Vigilius Tapensis in "Three Witnesses in Heaven"

there are three which bear testimony in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit, and these three are one." - Victor Vitensis - 485AD

B) Victor Vitensis in his Historia persecutionis [Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum, Academia Litterarum Vindobonensis, vol. vii, p. 60.]

C) Fulgentius in "The Three Heavenly Witnesses" [Patrilogiae Cursus Completus, Series Latina by Migne, vol. 65, col. 500.]

"There are three who bear testimony in heaven, the Father, the Son and the Spirit. And the three are one being." - FULGENTIUS(527AD)

500 AD Cassiodorus cited it [Patrilogiae Cursus Completus, Series Latina by Migne, vol. 70, col. 1373.]

527 AD Fulgentius in Contra Arianos stated: "Tres sunt qui testimonium perhibent in caelo. Pater, Verbum et Spiritus, et tres unum sunt."

550 AD The "Speculum" has it [The Speculum is a treatise that contains some good Old Latin scriptures.]

636 AD Isidor of Seville quotes the verse as it stands in the KJB.

750 AD Wianburgensis referred to it

800 AD Jerome's Vulgate has it [It was not in Jerome's original Vulgate, but was brought in about 800 AD from good Old Latin manuscripts.]

157-1400 AD. Waldensian (that is, Vaudois) Bibles have the verse.

Among the list of faithful that contend for the verse:

Cyprian - 250 AD, Priscillian -385 AD, Jerome 420 AD, Fulgentius, Cassiodorus, Isidore of Seville, Jaqub of Edessa, Thomas Aquinas, John Wycliffe, Desiderus Erasmus, Lopez de Zuniga, John Calvin, Theodore Beza, Cipriano de Valera, John Owen, Francis Turretin, John Gill, Matthew Henry, Andrew Fuller, Thomas F. Middleton, Luis Gaussen, Frederick Nolan, Robert L. Dabney, Herman C. Hoskier, George Ricker Berry, Edward F. Hills, David Otis Fuller, Thomas Holland, Michael Maynard and Donald A. Waite

So, the evidence shows that I John 5:7 is the Word of God


Additional Information Supporting 1 John 5:7

by Thomas Golda

 

"For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one." I John 5:7

 

I John 5:7, or the The Johannine Comma, is probably the most debated verse in the Bible.  And it is symbolic of the battle that exists between the KJV, which is the most accurate version of the Word of God, and modern corrupt versions which omit I John 5:7.

 

While I have done studies on I John 5:7 before, this is additional information to support I John 5:7, as well as the KJV, which we will see later in this study actually have a more ancient witness than the corrupt Codex Sinaiticus and its sister Codex Vaticanus.

 

The traditional argument is that there are only 9 Greek manuscripts that bear reference to I John 5:7.  They are:

 

61, 88 221, 429, 629, 635, 636, 918, and 2381

 

The reality is that there are far more Greek manuscripts that bear witness to I John 5:7 than we are told.

 

George Travis documented 31 Greek manuscripts that bore witness to I John 5:7 - (Letters to Edward George Gibbon, Esq. Forgotten Books, p. 285)

 

One must never think there are only 9 Greek manuscripts that contain the passage.

 

So, the Greek does testify to the witness of I John 5:7

 

In addition to the Greek, the Old Latin testifies to I John 5:7

 

When the Scriptures were written in Greek, they were very soon thereafter translated into Latin. The reason was that Latin, like Greek, was a universal language.

 

Most scholars agree that the Old Latin New Testament was translated from the Greek around the second half of the second century.  Some even before that.  The time range is from 137AD to 150AD.  So, soon after the Bible was completed, the Greek scriptures were translated into Latin.  Copies of the Old Latin we have today are from the 6th century to the 13th century, and they are copies that go as far back as the 2nd century.

 

Of the 6 main Old Latin copies that contain I John 5:7, they are:

 

1. Monacensis 64

2. Speculum

3. Colbertinus

4. Demidoviannus

5. Divionesis

6. Perpinanensis

 

In addition to the Old Latin, the Latin Vulgate has I John 5:7.  Out of every 50 manuscripts, 49 contain I John 5:7.  While "Jerome's Vulgate" did not contain I John 5:7, Jerome himself admitted it should be there.  How can he admit it was there if it never existed to begin with?  Many accused Jerome of corrupting the Bible.  There are over 8,000 Latin Vulgate manuscripts and over 98% of them contain I John 5:7.

 

In the English speaking world, I John 5:7 was never brought into question until 1881.  For over 500 years I John 5:7 was universally accepted.  It was not until the late 1800s that I John 5:7 became questioned "at the same time modern apostate translations started to appear."

 

Another important fact is this....The Greek Orthodox Church TO THIS DAY uses ONLY the KJV Bible when using an English version of the New Testament.  They will not endorse any of the other modern English translations.  This should shock people who support modern translations, as most of the English speaking world rejects the KJV and I John 5:7.  But modern day apostates reject the Greek Bible of the Greek Church.  As for the Greek Church, they still use the Byzantine manuscripts, EVEN AS ALL THE CHURCHES HAD UNTIL 1881.

 

The Byzantine manuscripts had always been the manuscripts of the church.  That is why all the early church fathers quote I John 5:7:

 

200 – Tertullian 
250 – Cyprian 
318 – Athanasius 
350 – Idacius Clarus 
380 – Priscillian 
385 – Gregory of Nazanzius 
390 – Jerome 
450 – Contra Varimadum 
450 – Latin mss. m 
485 – Council of Carthage 
485 – Victor of Vitensis 
500 – Latin mss. r 
527 – Fulgentius 
570 – Cassiodorus 
636 – Isidore of Seville 
650 – Codex Pal Legionensus 
700 – Jaqub of Edessa 
735 – mss. used by Venerable Bede 
850 –  Codex Ulmensis

 

In addition, these Bibles contain I John 5:7:

 

The Syrian Bibles, the Slavic Bibles, the Russian Bible, the Celtic Bible, the French or Gallic Bible, the German Bible prior to Luther, the Telp Bible of the 14 century of Bohemia, the Swiss Bible, the Italian Bible, in addition to many of the ancient English Bibles....the Wycliffe Bible, the Tyndale Bible, Matthew's Bible, the Geneva Bible, the Bishop's Bible, and the 1611 Authorized Bible.

 

Most ancient Witness:

 

Finally, as a final witness to the truth of the KJV and I John 5:7

 

Dr. McIntosh and Dr.Twyman in 1887 (just 6 years after the Revised version came out) discovered an Old Latin manuscript, dating back to the time of Constantine the Great. This is the only complete Old Latin manuscript and oldest. The dating of this manuscript would be around 325-330AD. This specific manuscript is marked by the Emperor's name (Constantine the Great) This is stored in the library of Constantinople. These 2 men were able to view these manuscripts (by paying money) and after viewing it came to this conclusion....."This Old Latin manuscript is essentially the same as our Authorized Version." This is written in their testimony "The Archon Volume, page 60-61.  Dr.Frederick Nolan a few decades earlier came to the same conclusion.

 

Not only was I John 5:7 in this Old Latin manuscript from 325 AD, the entire manuscript was a near replicate of today's Authorized 1611 KJV....and this Old Latin manuscript is just as old or older than the corrupt Codex Sinaiticus and its sister Codex Vaticanus.  So, the KJV and the "later Byzantine Greek" that it is based on, was a reflection of the earlier Greek, that was witnessed to by the ancient Latin manuscripts that translated from that earlier Greek.

 

I John 5:7 was in the Latin Scriptures in the Greek Church that predates the oldest manuscripts we have in our possession.  The OId Latin Manuscripts was "of Greek origin" and thus the same as the Byzantine Text.

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