- 1 John 5:7
Although the 3 in 1 elohim (G-d), or Trinity, is never mentioned in the Scriptures, there are two passages that are often times used to promote such a doctrine. 1 John 5:7, which we'll take a look at now, and Matt 28:19, which we'll look at in another study.
We've already took at look passages such as John 10:30, "I and My Father are one"; Jn 8:58, "Before Abraham was, I am," Gen 1:26, "Let us make man in OUR image," and others, in previous articles. At which time it was brought out, quite clearly, that these verses WERE NOT, in any way, referring to a 3 in 1 G-d, or Trinity. Please refer to the website for those articles.
In this article we're going to look at what is probably the most celebrated, so-called, Trinitarian passage, in the entire Bible,
1 John 5:7, For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one.
Many of you that are reading this now and following along in your bibles, if your not reading from a King James Version or a Catholic version, you’re probably puzzled as to why this passage, as I quoted it above, IS NOT found in your Bibles. The reason is because this passage with the additional words,
'the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one,'
are NOT found in ANY OTHER translation of the bible, other then the King James Version, and the Catholic Versions.
1Jo 5:7 For there are three that bear record in heaven,
That’s how 1 John 5:7 reads in the King James Version of the Bible and the Catholic, Douay - Rheims Version, which are quite possibly the only two translations today with that contain the phrase "the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one. "
For just about all, if not all, other translations leave out the celebrated "Trinitarian" passage, ‘the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost.’ To name just a few of the many translations in which it is omitted:
New American Standard (NASV),
New International Version (NIV),
Revised Standard Version (RSV)
New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)
New King James Version (NKJ)
Modern King James Version (although the MKJV left the phrase in the text, they put in initialized letters to show that it was added)
Living Bible (LB)
New Century Version (NC)
American Standard Version (ASV)
Bible in Basic English (BBE)
Contemporary English Version (CEV)
International Standard Version (ISV)
Literal translation of the Bible (LITV)
And of course the list can go on and on.
The question should be, why do just about all translations, other then the KJV and Catholic Version leave out ‘‘bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word and the Holy Ghost’ from verse 7 of 1 John?
The reason it's omitted in just about every other translations is due to the fact that it is NOT found in any Greek Manuscripts, earlier then the 15th Century. That means this passage, 1 John 5:7, with the words, 'the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one,' are not contained in any Manuscript until approximately, 1,400 years after the death of the Apostle John, who, of course, wrote the epistle of 1 John.
The FACT that these 'ADDED' words to the Epistle of 1 John, where NOT written by the Apostle John, is something that almost, if not all, Biblical Scholars agree on. Because there isn't a Greek Manuscript in existence with this passage before the 15th Century.
I've never heard of anyone that would argue the fact, that since the Apostle John, who had been dead for almost 1,400 years, prior to these words being ADDED to his text, suggest that John could have somehow have written them.
The Bible Scholar, Dr. C. I. Scofield, of the renown Scofield Reference Bible, adds this footnote to verse 7 of 1 John; "It is generally agreed that this verse has no ms. (manuscript) authority and has been inserted."
"...no manuscript authority" means that it is NOT supported by ANY manuscripts. It wasn't until the 15th century, that this verse was inserted into the text.
Dr. Edgar J. Goodspeed, the Bible translator, comments on 1 Jn 5:7; "This verse ...does not appear in any Greek manuscript of 1 John before the fifteenth century, when one cursive has it; one from the sixteenth also contains the reading. These are the only Greek manuscripts of the New Testament in which it has ever been found. But it occurs in no ancient Greek manuscript or Greek Christian writer or in any of the oriental versions...It is universally discredited by Greek scholars and editors of the Greek text of the New Testament." end of quote
Regarding this addition to 1 John, the textual critic F. H. A. Scrivener wrote: "We need not hesitate to declare our conviction that the disputed words were not written by St. John: that they were originally brought into Latin copies in Africa from the margin, where they had been placed as a pious and orthodox gloss on ver. 8: that from the Latin they crept into two or three late Greek codices, and thence in the printed Greek text, a place to which they had no rightful claim.
The Catholic Church, who includes this passage in the text of their various translations, readily admits that this verse was added many years later. In an article entitled:
The following was taken from a Catholic publication entitled "The "Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma":
The Tri-personality and the unity of essence in G-d is most perfectly expressed in the so-called Comma Ioanneum 1 John 5:7 el seq.: "And they are Three who give testimony (in Heaven; the Father, the Word and the Holy Ghost. And these Three are one. And there are three that give testimony on earth.)" The genuineness of the words in parenthesizes, however, is subject to the gravest doubts as they are missing in all the Greek biblical manuscripts up to the 15 century, in all the Oriental translations, also in the oldest and best Vulgate manuscripts, and are not used by the Greek and Latin Fathers in the great Trinitarian controversies of the 4th and 5th centuries. The passage is first found in the writings of the a Spanish heretic Priscillian though in a heretical form. As they have been adopted in the official Vulgate edition, and have been used by the Church for centuries, they may be regarded as an expression of the Church's teaching. Further, they enjoy a status as a testimony of Tradition. Even if the passage be not a genuine constituent part of the Vulgate, it is nevertheless authentic, that is free from error dogmatically. End of excerpt.
So we see that the Catholic church readily admits that the celebrated phrase "the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost" we're not written by the apostle John. I imagine if you happen to be a Catholic and hold to the idea that 'tradition' has as much authority as the written Word then I suppose it wouldn't matter to you that the apostle John had nothing to do with these additional words being added.
We see than that without question this celebrated passage, found only in the King James Version and the Catholic Versions, was not written by the Apostle John, thus all other translation, rightfully so, did not include it in their translation.
Again we see that the words of the Savior, Yahshua the Messiah, are true, in that His Father and ours, Yahweh is the “ONLY True Elohim (G-d)” (John 17:3 , John 20:17). And NOT the 2 in 1, 3 in 1 g-d, or ‘oneness’ g-d, of so many today.
Only the Truth can set us free, no one has ever been set free by believing a lie. And the truth is, “the Father, Yahweh, is the Only True Elohim (G-d). And as the Savior tells is "this is a matter of Eternal Life" (John 17:3).