- “For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the holy Ghost: and these three are one.” {John 5:7}
Many take this verse as “proof” of the Trinity doctrine, although even the Catholic Church had to confess, that this text was added later.
The Vulgate does not contain these words since 1979. The SDA church was also forced to declare it a falsification:
- “…Is worthless and should not be used …” {The Seventh Day Adventist Bible Commentary, Vol. 7, p. 675, 1962 edition emphasis supplied}
- “For there are three.́ Hebrew practice, based on Deut. 17:6; 19:5: etc. demanded consistent testimony from two or three Witnesses before action was taken in certain legal disputes. John is here citing three witnesses in support in the Divinity of his Master (1 John 5:5, 6, 8), thus assuring his readers of the reliability of his statement. 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 are as follows: “for 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 MS 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 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 – 1962 edition emphasis supplied}
Adventist Sabbath School lesson 2009 says the same:
- “In some versions of the Bible the words “in heaven: the Father, the Word, and the holy Spirit; and these three are one. And there are three that bear witness on earth” appear in 1. John 5:7,8. The only problem is they are a later addition, not found in the original manuscripts.” {Sabbath school lesson, August 26, 2009}}
Many theologians are desperately looking for the confirmation of this believed heresy, whit arguments, that this manipulated verse is “correct”, but we do „not“ have complete information. Luther’s original 1545 Bible did not contain these incorrect words. They were ADDED after Luther’s death in 1581, and then unfortunately also taken over into King James Bible 1611. These verses refer to the sacrifice of Jesus and not to the Trinity.
- “And there are three that bear witness in earth, the spirit, and the water, and the blood: and these three agree in one.“ {1 John 5:8 (5:7)}
John repeats the same thing that he described in the Gospel:
- “But one of the soldiers with a spear pierced His side, and forthwith came there out blood and water.“ {John 19:34}
The Catholic humanist and theologian Desiderius Erasmus von Rotterdam inserted this described ‘Comma Johanneum’ into the New Testament, which he dedicated to Pope Leo X, in 1516. Allegedly because “suddenly” the scripts of Greek “refugees” from Constantinople appeared. Scientific methods have shown that these manuscripts Minuskel 61-Codex Monforti date from the 16th century. That was the first “Greek” script with Comma Johanneum in 1 John 5:7,8. All other writings with such content appeared afterward “by chance”. However, this “version” has now been removed from almost all modern Bible editions after the pressure of the evidence became too strong. 1 John 5:7, is the biggest falsification ever. The New Testament Bible translators were so zealous to support their belief in the triune God formula that they added it. Here is the passage:
- “For there are three that bear witness in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the holy Spirit: and these three are one.“ {1 John 5:7} King James 2000 Bible
Let’s now bring forth evidence from the experts. Let’s see what their views are on 1 John 5:7… Is it a genuine verse or is it a falsification?
Brooke F. Westcott gave a long essay on 1 John 5:7 and then made the following Summary on it:
“THE WORDS ARE NOT FOUND:
- “In any independent Greek MS (more than 180 MSS and 50 Lectionaries are quoted). Both the late MS which contain it have unquestionably been modified by the Latin Vulgate”
- “In any independent Greek writer. The very few Greek writers who make use of the words derived their knowledge of them from the Latin (not in Ir Cl.Al Orig Did Athan Bas Greg. Naz Cyr.Al)“
- “Not in any ancient version except the Latin; and it was not found in the Old Latin in its early forms (Tert Cypr Aug), or (b) in the Vulgate as issued by Jerome (Codd. Am fuld or (c) as revised by Alcuin (Cod. Vallicell)”
- “In any Latin Father earlier than Victor Vitensis or Vigilius Tapsensis (not in Tert Cypr Hil Ambr Hier Aug Leo)“
Henry S. Francis:
“The dogma of the Trinity three persons in one God – was formulated by St. Augustine.”
Professor Keith Ward:
- “It took the church hundreds of years to develop what we now think of as the doctrine of the Trinity.”
Jonathan Hill:
- “It will be remembered that in the second century, Christian theologians such as Justin Martyr had used the old ‘logos’ idea – ultimately taken from pagan philosophy – to try to express this relationship. Christ was the ‘logos’, a sort of Qausi-God who functions as God‘s agent. This had formed the basis for the development of what would become the doctrine of the Trinity.”
Bruce Metzger says:
- “Among the criticism levelled at Erasmus, one of the most serious appeared to be the charge of Stunica, one of the editors of Ximenes Complutensian Polyglot, that his Text lacked part of the Final chapter of 1 John, namely the Trinitarian statement concerning the Father, the word and the holy Ghost: and these three are one. And there are three that bear witness in earth’ (1 John v.7-8 King James Version). Erasmus replied that he had NOT found any Greek manuscripts containing these words... Erasmus promised that he would insert the Comma Johanneum, as it is called, in future editions if a single Greek manuscript could be found that contained the passage…As it now appears, the Greek manuscripts had probably been written in Oxford about 1520 by a Franciscan friar named Froy (or Roy), who took the disputed words from the Latin Vulgate… Among the thousands of Greek manuscripts of the New Testament examined since time of Erasmus only three others are known to contain this spurious passage They are Greg. 88, a twelfth-century manuscript which has the comma written in the margin in a seventeenth-century hand; Tisch. W 110, which is a sixteenth-century manuscript copy of the Complutensian Polyglot Greek Text… The Comma probably originated as a piece of allegorical exegesis of the three witnesses and may have been written as a marginal gloss in a Latin Manuscript of 1 John, whence it was taken into the text of the Old Latin Bible during the fifth century. The passage does NOT appear in Manuscripts of the Latin Vulgate before about A.D. 800.”
Joseph Priestley:
- “It has been shown that there is nosuchdoctrine as that of the Trinity intheScriptures, but I will now add that, if it had been found there, it would have been impossible for a reasonable man to believe it, as it implies a contradiction which no miracles can prove.”
Pulpit Commentary:
- “Verse 7. – For those who bear witness are three, and thus constitute full legal testimony (Deuteronomy 17:6; Deuteronomy 19:15; Matthew 18:16; 2 Corinthians 13:1). It will be assumed here, without discussion, that the remainder of this verse and the first clause of verse 8 are spurious. Words which are not contained in a single Greek uncial manuscript, nor in a single Greek cursive earlier than the fourteenth century (the two which contain the passage being evidently translated from the Vulgate), nor are quoted by a single Greek Father during the whole of the Trinitarian controversy, nor are found in any authority until late in the fifth century, cannot be genuine.”
Ezra Abbott:
- “…I will here simply remind the reader that Erasmus introduced the passage into his third edition of the Greek Testament in 1522 and Luther died in 1546…. Luther after quoting the passage of three heavenly witnesses, remarks:- ‘These words are not found in the Greek Bibles; but it seems as if this verse had been inserted by the Orthodox against the Arians….. We may observe finally that other reformers and friends of Luther generally rejected the passage; so Zwingli, Bullinger, Ecolampadius, Bugenhagen (Rickli, ubi supra, pp. 35, 36). So, also, according to Kettner (Histpria dicti Johannei… 1 John v. 7 etc., 1713, cap. 13), Melanchthon, Crucigner), Justus Jonas, Forester, Aurogallus. (see Semler, Hist. U krit. Sammulugun uber 1 John v. 7, 1. 248.) Bugenhagen, as we have seen, was especially strenuous against it; see his Exposito Jona, 1550, cited by Rickli, p. 39. It was also omitted in the Celebrated Latin version of the Bible by Leo Judae, Pellicanus, Peter Cholin, Rudolph Gualther, and others printed at Zürich in 1543. Fol., and commonly called the Zurich Bible or version Tigurina. A Marginal note explains the reason for its rejection…. To trace the history of this gross corruption of the Text in modern Translations, Catechisms and confessions of Faith, especially in the Greek church since the sixteenth century, and in modern editions of some ancient versions, as Peshito Syriac, Armenian and Slavonic, might be interesting and instructive, psychologically as well as critically; but there is no room for it here.”
Edward Gibbon:
- “The Memorable text which asserts the unity of the THREE who bear witness in heaven is condemned by the universal silence of the Orthodox fathers, ancient versions and authentic manuscripts. It was first alleged by the Catholic bishops Whom Huneric summoned to the conference of Carthage. An allegorical interpretation in the form, perhaps, of a marginal note invaded the text of the Latin Bibles which were renewed and corrected in the dark period of ten centuries. After the invention of the printing, the editors of the Greek Testament yielded to their own prejudices, or those of the times; and the pious fraud, which was embraced with equal zeal at Rome and at Geneva, has been indefinitely multiplied in every country and every language of modern Europe.” It is quite clear from all the above scholarly statements that 1 John 5:7 is a falsification, and it originally was not part of the Bible but was added. Let us now quote references and see, where did the Trinity come from? Is the Trinity in the Bible? Did the Triune – God formula come from Jesus teachings or someone else i.e. the Church Fathers?
Theodore D. Beacon:
- “It is generally recognised that the doctrine of the Trinity is not directly taught in the Bible, but it is claimed that we do find there, set forth with great earnestness, the various elements, the disjecta membra, as they are called, from which the doctrine was built up.”
Conclusion:
All the evidence quoted by the experts proved that 1 John 5:7 is a fraud, it was added in the 1500th century by Erasmus. The words that are quoted by the KJV for 1 John 5:7 are not found in any Greek MSS. All in all the evidence we provided is in our favor that Matthew 28:19 and 1st John 5:7 are not genuine verses. Christians need to let go of the Trinity – Triune God, for Jesus never taught such doctrine. God never said he was a Trinity. The Bible never mentions anything about God being “three.” The Bible never mentions anything about God referenced as a “Person.” Lastly, the Bible never mentions anything about the “holy Spirit” as God. I will finish off with these verses from Jesus’ mouth and what God says of Himself in the Old Testament
This Text is part of the book “First Commandment OR Trinity? – Encyclopedia of Evidences of the Old Trampled Truths of All Areas“