1 John 5:7

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And it is the Spirit that beareth witness, because the Spirit is the truth. (ASV)

(note: extensive corrections to this article are offered in the "Discussion" page)

The verse which the Christians and theologians use, to prove the concept of trinity is this verse: 1 John 5:7. This verse doesn't exist in the earliest and most reliable manuscripts, since it was added in as a marginal note in about 300-400 CE in Spain in a Latin manuscript, and it ultimately it got into a late Greek manuscript in 1500-1600 CE. This was a certain note, made by a certain of Vigilius Tapensis in the 4th century. When the publishers came across this manuscript, the marginal note came into the text. This is why very few late manuscripts has this verse.

When the 1st scholar to put together a printed Greek New Testament (Erasmus was his name, & he was from Rotterdam, who lived from 1466-1536), in the year 1516, he had his New Testament in Greek. This never included the verse, because his edition never had the verse, at that time. The Latin theologians went ballistic, and according to a story that circulated, Erasmus said: "Look, it's (the verse) not in any if the previous Greek manuscripts."

The theologians said: "Yes, but it is part of the church's doctrine, so we need to include it in there, otherwise you would have got rid of the trinity." Erasmus said: "If you can produce a Greek manuscript which has it (the verse) in it, I'll include it in my next edition." And so, the theologians produced a Greek manuscript, by adding the verse in, themselves. When the theologians copied the Latin, they took the verse which was in Latin, translated it back into Greek, and stuck it at 1 John 5:7, and Erasmus was true to his word, and included that in his next edition of the Bible. It was on the basis of that edition & manuscript that the KJV Bible translators put the Bible into English. This was based on much later and least reliable manuscripts. This is the reason the KJV Bible has this verse, but the most reliable versions of the Bible (NRSV & RSV) don't have these verses.

The scholars who did not include this verse in the RSV had a problem, which was: the difference between the number of verses in KJV as compared to the RSV would be evident. They went to 1 John 5:6 of the RSV and cut 1 John 5:6 of RSV in half, and placed the following part of the verse in 1 John 5:7 of the RSV: "And the Spirit is the witness, because the Spirit is the truth."

RSV - 1 John 5:6-8:

"6 This is he who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ, not with the water only but with the water and the blood. 7 This is he who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ, not with the water only but with the water and the blood. 8 And the Spirit is the witness, because the Spirit is the truth.

KJV - 1 John 5:6-8:

"6 This is he that came by water and blood, even Jesus Christ; not by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit that beareth witness, because the Spirit is truth. 7 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.."

Notice in the RSV, the verse: "And the Spirit is the witness, because the Spirit is the truth," is now part of verse 7. In the KJV (printed in 1611) it wasn't that way before. Now, let us see what scholars have to say regarding 1 John 5:7:

NIV footnote of 1 John 5:7:

"1 John 5:8 Late manuscripts of the Vulgate testify in heaven: the Father, the Word and the Holy Spirit, and these three are one. 8 And there are three that testify on earth: the (not found in any Greek manuscript before the 16th century)

TNIV footnote of 1 John 5:8:

"Late manuscripts of the Vulgate testify in heaven: the Father, the Word and the Holy Spirit, and these three are one. 8And there are three that testify on earth: the (not found in any Greek manuscript before the 14th century)."

New American Standard Bible footnote of 1 John 5:

"1 John 5:8 A few late mss add ...in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit, and these three are one. And there are three that testify on earth, the Spirit."

Amplified Bible footnote of 1 John 5:7:

"1 John 5:7. The italicized section is found only in late manuscripts."

New King James Version of footnote of 1 John 5:

"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."

New Living Translation footnote of 1 John 5:7:

"1 John 5:7 A few very late manuscripts add in heaven—the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit, and these three are one. And we have three witnesses on earth."

New Century Version footnote of 1 John 5:7:

"1 John 5:7 So . . . witnesses A few very late Greek copies and the Latin Vulgate continue, "in heaven: the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit, and these three witnesses agree. 8And there are three witnesses on earth:"

People's New Testament Commentary:

"5:7 There are three that bear record in heaven, etc. This verse is not found in the Revised Version or in any ancient MS. It is no doubt an interpolation."

Scofield Reference Notes of 1 John 5:7:

"It is generally agreed that v.7 has no real authority, and has been inserted. 1Jn 5:7."

Holman Christian Standard Bible footnote of 1 John 5:7:

"Other mss (the Lat Vg and a few late Gk mss) read testify in heaven, the Father, the word, and the Holy Spirit, and these three are One. 8 And there are three who bear witness on earth."

GOD'S WORD Translation - footnote of 1 John 5:7:

"Four very late manuscripts add verses 7b-8a: "in heaven: the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit. These three witnesses agree. And there are three witnesses on earth."

AAT Bible - footnote of 1 John 5:7:

"All the older manuscripts lack verses 7b-8c. Early in the 16th century a translator apparently took these words from Latin manuscripts and inserted them in his Greek New Testament. Erasmus took them from this Greek New Testament and inserted them in the third edition (1522) of his Greek New Testament. Luther used the text prepared by Erasmus. But even though the inserted words taught the Trinity, Luther ruled them out and never included them in his translation. In 1550 Bugenhagen objected to these words "on account of the truth." In 1574 Feyerabend, a printer, added them to Luther's text, and in 1596 they appeared in the Wittenberg copies."

EDW Bible - footnote of 1 John 5:7:

"The Received Text reads: "For there are three who bear witness in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit, and these three are one. And there are three that bear witness on earth." This text concerning the heavenly witness is not contained in any Greek manuscript which was written earlier than the fifth century. It is not cited by any of the Greek ecclesiastical writers; nor by any of the early Latin fathers, even when the subjects upon which they treat would naturally have led them to appeal to its authority. It is therefore evidently spurious, and was first cited (though not as it now reads) by Virgilius Tapsensis, a Latin writer of no credit, in the latter end of the fifth century; but by whom forged, is of no great moment, as its design must be obvious to all."

IB Bible - footnote of 1 John 5:7:

"In the Preface "The Hebrew and Greek Texts," it is stated that this version took this verse from the Complutensian Bible. The IB translators did not accept it as true scripture, but allowed it to remain. [The Complutensian Bible is a scholarly Polyglot Bible, edited by Stunics under the sponsorship of Francisco Ximénez de Cisneros and printed at Alcalá, Spain (1514-17)."

KTC Bible - footnote of 1 John 5:7:

"This verse does not occur in any good Greek manuscript. But the Latin versions may have preserved the true text; scribes often omitted by error, the former of two sentences which had deceptively similar endings. In this very chapter, two important manuscripts omitted the first six words of verse 15, for the same reason."

PNC Bible - footnote of 1 John 5:7:

"The so-called Authorized Version is followed in rendering this verse. The verse however does not appear in any Greek manuscript written earlier than the fifth century."

SCM Bible - footnote of 1 John 5:7:

"The words in brackets are not found in the oldest manuscripts now extant, and the majority of Catholic critics today hold that they were not part of the original text. On the other hand, the arguments for the authenticity of the passage have such weight that it would not be safe to regard non-authenticity as established. As the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit bear witness to Christ's divinity, so the spirit which he yielded up on the cross, and the water and the blood that issued from his side, bear witness to his human nature."

TJB Bible - footnote of 1 John 5:7:

"Vulgate verses 7-8 read as follows: "There are three witnesses in heaven: the Father, the Word and the Spirit, and these three are one: there are three witnesses on earth: the Spirit the water and the blood." The words in italics (not in any of the early Greek MSS, or any of the early translations, or in the best MSS of the Vulgate itself) are probably a gloss that has crept into the text."

WVSS Bible - footnote of 1 John 5:7:

"In the opinion of nearly all the critics and of most Catholic writers of the present day the words "in heaven -- the Father, ... on the earth" were not contained in the original text; at the same time, until further action be taken by the Holy See it is not open for Catholic editors to eliminate the words from a version made for the use of the faithful."

WNT Bible - footnote of 1 John 5:7:

"Verse 7 in the Authorized Version not in the best manuscripts."

Robertson's Word Pictures of the New Testament: footnote of 1 John 5:7:

"At this point the Latin Vulgate gives the words in the Textus Receptus, found in no Greek MS. save two late cursives (162 in the Vatican Library of the fifteenth century, 34 of the sixteenth century in Trinity College, Dublin). Jerome did not have it. Cyprian applies the language of the Trinity and Priscillian has it. Erasmus did not have it in his first edition, but rashly offered to insert it if a single Greek MS. had it and 34 was produced with the insertion, as if made to order. The spurious addition is: en twi ouranwi o pathr, o logov kai to agion pneuma kai outoi oi treiv en eisin kai treiv eisin oi marturountev en thi ghi (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 last clause belongs to verse 8. The fact and the doctrine of the Trinity do not depend on this spurious addition. Some Latin scribe caught up Cyprian's exegesis and wrote it on the margin of his text, and so it got into the Vulgate and finally into the Textus Receptus by the stupidity of Erasmus."

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary:

"three-Two or three witnesses were required by law to constitute adequate testimony. The only Greek manuscripts in any form which support the words, "in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost, and these three are one; and there are three that bear witness in earth," are the Montfortianus of Dublin, copied evidently from the modern Latin Vulgate; the Ravianus, copied from the Complutensian Polyglot; a manuscript at Naples, with the words added in the Margin by a recent hand; Ottobonianus, 298, of the fifteenth century, the Greek of which is a mere translation of the accompanying Latin. All the old versions omit the words. The oldest manuscripts of the Vulgate omit them: the earliest Vulgate manuscript which has them being Wizanburgensis, 99, of the eighth century. A scholium quoted in Matthæi, shows that the words did not arise from fraud; for in the words, in all Greek manuscripts "there are three that bear record," as the Scholiast notices, the word "three" is masculine, because the three things (the Spirit, the water, and the blood) are SYMBOLS OF THE Trinity. To this Cyprian, 196, also refers, "Of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, it is written, 'And these three are one' (a unity)." There must be some mystical truth implied in using "three" (Greek) in the masculine, though the antecedents, "Spirit, water, and blood," are neuter. That THE Trinity was the truth meant is a natural inference: the triad specified pointing to a still Higher Trinity; as is plain also from 1Jo 5:9, "the witness of God," referring to the Trinity alluded to in the Spirit, water, and blood. It was therefore first written as a marginal comment to complete the sense of the text, and then, as early at least as the eighth century, was introduced into the text of the Latin Vulgate. The testimony, however, could only be borne on earth to men, not in heaven. The marginal comment, therefore, that inserted "in heaven," was inappropriate. It is on earth that the context evidently requires the witness of the three, the Spirit, the water, and the blood, to be borne: mystically setting forth the divine triune witnesses, the Father, the Spirit, and the Son. Luecke notices as internal evidence against the words, John never uses "the Father" and "the Word" as correlates, but, like other New Testament writers, associates "the Son" with "the Father," and always refers "the Word" to "God" as its correlate, not "the Father." Vigilius, at the end of the fifth century, is the first who quotes the disputed words as in the text; but no Greek manuscript earlier than the fifteenth is extant with them. The term "Trinity" occurs first in the third century in Tertullian [Against Praxeas, 3]."

Peake’s Commentary of 1 John 5:7:

"The Famous interpolation after ‘three witnesses’ is not printed even in RSV, and rightly. It cites the heavenly testimony of the Father, the Logos, and the Holy Spirit, but is never used in the early Trinitarian the controversies. No respectable Greek MS contains it. Appearing first in a late 4 –cent. Latin text, it entered the Vulgate and finally the NT of Erasmus."

Interpreter's Bible, Volume 12. Abingdon Press, 1931, pages 293-294:

"This verse in the KJV is to be rejected (with RSV). It appears in no ancient Greek manuscript nor is cited by any Greek father; of all the versions only the Latin contained it and even this in none of its ancient sources. The earliest manuscripts of the Vulgate do not have it. It is first quoted as a part of 1 John by Priscillian, the Spanish heretic, who died in 385, and it gradually made its way into manuscripts of the Latin Vulgate until it was accepted as part of the authorized Latin text."

Interpreter's One-Volume Commentary Abingdon Press, 1971, page 939:

"The Spirit, the water, and the blood may be an allusion to the church's sacramental rites of initiation, viz., confirmation, baptism, and Eucharist, in a form and order observed in the churches in Asia Minor at the time of writing of 1 John. During the controversies of the fourth century over the doctrine of the Trinity the text was expanded -- first in Spain circa 380, and then taken up in the Vulgate -- by the insertion: "There are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit: and these three are one." A few late Greek manuscripts contain the addition. Hence it passed into the KJV. But all modern critical editions and translations of the New Testament, including the RSV, omit the interpolation, as it has no warrant in the best and most ancient manuscripts or in the early church fathers."