1 John 5:7-8

 

1 John 5:7-8
(KJV) For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one. {8} And there are three that bear witness in earth, the Spirit, and the water, and the blood: and these three agree in one.
(1611 KJV) For there are three that beare record in heauen, the Father, the Word, and the holy Ghost: and these three are one. {8} And there are three that beare witnesse in earth, the Spirit, and the Water, and the Blood, and these three agree in one.

(1568 Bishops Bible) For there are three which beare recorde in heauen, the father, the worde, and the holy ghost, and these three are one. {8} And there are three which beare recorde in earth, the spirite, and water, and blood, and these three agree in one.

(1587 Geneva Bible) For there are three, which beare recorde in heauen, the Father, the Worde, and the holy Ghost: and these three are one. {8} And there are three, which beare record in the earth, the spirit, and the water and the blood: and these three agree in one.

 

Counterfeit Versions

(CSB) For there are three that testify: 8 the Spirit, the water, and the blood ​— ​and these three are in agreement.

(NIV) 7 For there are three that testify: 8 the Spirit, the water and the blood; and the three are in agreement.
(NASV) 7 For there are three that testify: 8 the Spirit and the water and the blood; and the three are in agreement.
(ESV) 7 For there are three that testify: 8 the Spirit and the water and the blood; and these three agree.
(CEV) 7 In fact, there are three who tell about it. 8 They are the Spirit, the water, and the blood, and they all agree.
(1901 ASV) 7 And it is the Spirit that beareth witness, because the Spirit is the truth. {8} For there are three who bear witness, the Spirit, and the water, and the blood: and the three agree in one.
(HCSB) 7 For there are three that testify: 8 the Spirit, the water, and the blood —and these three are in agreement
(RSV) [7] And the Spirit is the witness, because the Spirit is the truth. [8] There are three witnesses, the Spirit, the water, and the blood; and these three agree.
(NAB-Roman Catholic) 7 So there are three that testify, 8 the Spirit, the water, and the blood, and the three are of one accord.
(NWT) 7 For there are three witness bearers, 8 the spirit and the water and the blood, and the three are in agreement.

(NKJV) Footnote - NU-Text and M-Text omit the words from in heaven (verse 7) through on earth (verse 8). Only four or five very late manuscripts contain these words in Greek. (The NKJV is a notorious version with their doubt casting footnotes which have the same devastating effect as if they just mutilated the text itself. Do you see they claim only 4 or 5 late manuscripts have the verse in them? We saw a lot more evidence than 4 or 5 which means they are deceiving their readers which means the NKJV also qualifies as a false version.)

Textus Receptus - Traditional Text
1 John 5:7 oti treiV eisin oi marturounteV en tw ouranw o pathr o logoV kai to agion pneuma kai outoi oi treiV en eisin
1 John 5:8 kai treiV eisin oi marturounteV en th gh to pneuma kai to udwr kai to aima kai oi treiV eiV to en eisin

Hort Westcott - Critical Text
1 John 5:7 oti treiV eisin oi marturounteV
1 John 5:8 to pneuma kai to udwr kai to aima kai oi treiV eiV to en eisin

 

Corrupted Manuscripts
These verses are corrupted in the following manuscripts:
Omits “in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one. {8} And there are three that bear witness in earth

Byzantine Text (450-1450 A.D.)

Aleph 01 - Sinaiticus - Nineteenth Century Counterfeit
A 02 - Alexandrinus - Fifth century

B 03 - Vaticanus - Fourth century

K 018 - Ninth century

L 020 - Ninth century

P 025 - Ninth century

Psi 044 - Eight/Ninth/ century

33 (Minuscule) - Ninth Century

048 - Fifth century

 

Manuscripts which agree with the Textus Receptus for this verse

Stephanus (1550 A.D.)

Beza (1598 A.D.)

61 - Sixteenth century
88 - Twelfth century
221 - Tenth century
429 - Fourteenth century
629 - Fourteenth century
535 - Twelfth century
635 - Eleventh century
636 - Eleventh Century

918 - Sixteenth century
2318 - Eighteenth century

 

Published Critical Greek Texts with Corruptions

Omits “in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one. {8} And there are three that bear witness in earth

Greisbach, Johann - 1805

Lachmann, Karl - 1842

Tischendorf, Constantine - 1869

Tregelles, Samuel - 1857

Alford, Henry - 1849 revised in 1871

Wordsworth, Christopher - 1856 revised in 1870

Westcott and Hort - 1881

Weiss, Bernhard - 1894

Nestle - 1927 as revised in seventeenth edition in 1941

Nestle-Aland - 1979 - Twenty Sixth Edition

Nestle-Aland - 1993 - Twenty Seventh Edition

United Bible Societies - 1983 - Fourth Edition

Von Soden, Freiherr - 1902

Hodges and Farstad - Majority Text 1982 as corrected in 1985

 

History

Aleph - Sinaiticus - Nineteenth Century Counterfeit
B - Vaticanus - Fourth Century
A - Alexandrinus - Fifth Century

These three manuscripts are the primary manuscripts where 1 John 5:7-8 have been corrupted. There are many other later manuscripts which are ancillary to these three because they were copied from them. Like begets like and when you copy from a corrupted manuscripts the lineage of corruption will continue. 1 John 5:7-8 has been attacked by the pro modern version crowd as being a scribal addition later on in years. However, 1 John 5:7-8 is found in the Old Latin Vulgate and Greek Vulgate (90-150 A.D.), plus the Syriac Peshiito (150 A.D.) It is also found in many first century church lectionaries. Lectionaries were used in churches for readings and liturgy for church services especially for special days of the year. They are akin to the responsive readings which we find in today’s hymn books. Tatian’s Diatesseron which was a harmony of the four gospels written about 150 A.D. When Taitian was writing the book of John, he had referenced 1 John 5:7 which proves that 1 John 5:7 antedates Vaticanus, by 200 years, where the verse is omitted.

Dr. John Overall, who was one of the King James translators was a scholar in the teachings of the early Church Fathers. His contribution concerning 1 John 5:7 was vital since manuscript evidence was lacking because of the Alexandrian school where it was mutilated. He knew that the early church fathers had referenced those verses quite frequently. The modern version proponents only look to Vaticanus and Sinaiticus as their authorities and reject the massive amount of other evidences such as the church lectionaries. If 1 John 5:7-8 did not exist in the originals, then how could they have been quoted by the church fathers if it was non-existent? A simple question of logic.

Erasmus was a Greek scholar who was used of the Lord mightily as a precursor to the Reformation. He printed a Greek New Testament in 1516 and the Reformation took place in 1517. There is no such thing as a coincidence in the Kingdom of God, only a God-incident. Now Erasmus in reference to 1 John 5:7 originally did not want to include that portion unless a Greek manuscript could be found as evidence of its authenticity. He claimed that Greek manuscripts and even some Latin manuscripts did not have this verse in it. In due time Erasmus was presented with Codex Montfortianus (Manuscript #61) which is in Dublin, Ireland, Codex Britannicus which both had contained 1 John 5:7 and with this proof, he confidently placed these verses in his third edition of the Greek in 1522 and his last one in 1535. Erasmus died in 1536 but God had set the stage for the translation of the final true Bible in the English language which would be used of Christians until the Lord returned on the last day.

Some of the other evidences where 1 John 5:7-8 can be found are as follows:

John Calvin in his Institutes of the Christian Religion (mid 16th Century) in Book 3, Chapter 1, section 1 mentions 1 John 5:7-8 without any doubt.

Some Syriac Peshitto manuscripts, The Syriac Edition at Hamburg, Bishop Uscan’s Armenian Bible, the Armenian Edition of John Zohrob, the first printed Georgian Bible.

Early Latin witnesses include:
1) Tertullian who died in 220 A.D.
2) Cyprian of Carthage who died in 258 A.D.
3) Priscillan who died in 358 A.D.
4) The Speculum - Fifth century
5) A creed called Esposito Fidei - Fifth or sixth century
6) Old Latin - Fifth or sixth century
7) A Confession of Faith of Eugenius, Bishop of Carthage (484 A.D.)
8) Cassiodoris of Italy (480-570 A.D.)

The 12 Old Latin MSS came from a study by Jesse Boyd in 1999.  He said:

 

“In addition to the aforementioned favorable evidence, the Comma can be traced back through the Waldensian Church to the translation of the Old Italic in the 2nd century.  Moreover, in the 7th century, at least 12 Old Latin mss contain the passage; at least 21 in the 8th century, and at least 189 in the 9th century.  Over 6,000 Old Latin manuscripts remained unexamined to this day.”

The evidence is overwhelming for the authenticity of 1 John 5:7-8. Keep in mind that it was Origen who was the father of the false manuscripts who removed this verse as he did verses like Acts 8:37 and Luke 24:40. The Alexandrian school was no friend of the true manuscripts which were taken from Antioch and mutilated according to Gnostic beliefs.

Affected Teachings
The mutilation of 1 John 5:7-8 in the second century was an attack upon the Trinity. The rejection of the Trinity is alive and well today in the Jehovah’s Witnesses camp and is alive and well in the modern versions which agree totally with their New World Translation. Trinitarian theology is totally disbelieved by the Gnostics and many cult groups including the Jews. For any Theologian, Pastor, or Christian to endorse a version which attacks the Trinity, means they too disbelieve the Trinity or else they would not be defending the Gnostic view.

These verses are the most hotly contested by the modern version proponents simply because they disregard all the evidence that is available. This section of Scripture has been named the “Johannine Comma.” 1 John 5:7-8 is as much a part of the original autographs as Jesus Himself was. Therefore, we can claim these verses as authentic without hesitation.

I would suggest that you print this information out and keep it as part of your library since 1 John 5:7-8 is a major bone of contention that the pro-modern version people tend to throw at us. If you have this information at hand, you will disarm them and cause them to go on the defensive and since most Christians are ignorant and refuse to do any research to combat their ignorance, you will have succeeded in proving your case and maybe winning over another Christian to the truth.