FIRST
JOHN 5:7
1
John 5:6 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 (n) that beareth
witness (n), because the Spirit (n) is truth (f).
1
John 5:7 For there (m) are three (m: ‘oi treis) that bear record (m)
[in
heaven, the Father (m), the Word (m), and the (‘oi) Holy Ghost
(m: Jn 16:13): and these (m: ‘outos) three (m: treis) are one (m).]
1
John 5:8 And there (m) are three (m) that bear witness in earth,
the spirit (n: pneuma), and the water (n; ’udata), and the blood
(n: ’aima): and these three (m: ‘ho treis) agree in one (n: ta en).
“Three”
in 5:8 is masculine in Greek. The three nouns (spirit, water and blood) are all
neuter. Proper grammar demands that “three” refers to the “Father, Word and
Holy Spirit.”
First
John 5:7 is probably the most controversial text in the Bible. Since Westcott
and Hort’s time (c1861), newer versions of the Bible either do not include it
or add a footnote. The arch-conservative 1917 KJV Scofield Reference Bible
reads: “It is generally agreed that v. 7 has no real authority and has been
inserted.” The NKJ reads “Only four or five very late manuscripts contain these
words in Greek.” The NAS reads “A few late manuscripts read …”
What
are the facts?
A. It
is true that few very early Greek manuscripts contain verse 7.
B.
It is also true that used manuscripts were not kept because replacements from
monasteries were always available.
C.
Greek was only the preferred language in the East (Greece, Syria,
Constantinople, Babylon and the Holy Land). The Greek Orthodox Church
meticulously preserved God’s Word as sacred.
D.
Arianism (non-Trinitarians) was an Eastern heresy which spread to many in North
Africa and to the Germanic tribes which overran Europe and destroyed the
Western Roman Empire.
E.
Latin (not Greek) was the preferred language of the Roman Catholic Church in the
West and North Africa. The scarcity of Greek manuscripts is to be expected.
F. The
fact that the earliest existing Greek manuscripts such as Vaticanus B and Sinaiticus
A (circa A. D. 350) do not contain First John 5:7 is not proof that the text is
not genuine.
G. As
evidenced from the following list, First John 5:7 was well-known in the early
church long before A. D. 350. Something
that has never existed cannot be quoted, referenced or alluded!
H.
This subject has been far more researched than I could ever do. For much more
detail, Google “1 John 5:7 Another King James Believer” and “KJV Today.” “Another
King James Believer” is fully detailed with the exact source and quotes of the early
Church Fathers.
I.
The 3rd and 4th editions of the United Bible Society’s
Greek edition admits to eight early Church Fathers who quoted the text.
1. A.
D. 150: Tatian, an Assyrian Christian included it in his Diatessaron.
(Riplinger, New Age Bible Versions, 381) (L. Gaussen, Theopneustia, 1896,
p194).
2. A.
D. 157: The Waldenses used the Old Italia Bible which contained First John 5:7.
They quoted it in their 1120 Confession.
3.
A. D. 170: An Old Syriac Bible contains it. (Riplinger, ibid, 1993, p381) (L.
Gaussen, ibid, 1896, p194)
4. A.
D. 200: Tertullian quoted it in Adversus Praxean, Ch 25. (Riplinger, ibid, 381)
(L. Gaussen, ibid, 1896, p194)
5. A.
D. 200: An Old Latin manuscript contains it. (Kiplinger, ibid, p381)
6. A.
D. 250: Cyprian quoted it in From the United Catholic Church 6. (Hill,
Believing Bible Study, p211) (L. Gaussen, ibid, 1896, p194).
7. A.
D. 350: Athanasius quoted it. (Riplinger ibid, 381) (L. Gaussen, ibid, 1896,
p194)
8. A.
D. 350: A document, Liber Apologentius, quoted it. (Riplinger, ibid, 381)
9. A.
D. 380: Vadmarium quoted or referenced it. (Riplinger, ibid, 381)
10. A.
D. 385: Priscillian and Idacius quote it. (Hills, ibid, 211)
11.
A. D. 400: Augustine interpreted it in Contra Maximum 2.22.3 and alluded to it
in his homily of First John.
12. A.
D. 400-500: Many copies of the Latin Vulgate contain it. The Roman Catholic Church
knew it existed and added it after Jerome’s death. (Gaussen, ibid, 194)
(Riplinger, ibid, 381)
13. A.
D. 415: Documents from the Council of Carthage quote it. (Riplinger, ibid, 381)
14. A.D.
405: Jerome’s original Latin Bible contained it. (Riplinger, ibid, 381) Jerome
translated the Old Latin Bible into the Latin Vulgate Bible. Jerome even stated
that Arian (non-Trinitarian) scribes had been removing the text. Many thousands
of Latin Bibles contain it.
15. A.
D. 435: Cassian quoted or referenced it. (Riplinger, ibid, 381)
16. A.
D. 484: Vigilius quoted or referenced it. (Riplinger, ibid, 381)
17. A.
D. 484: Four hundred North African bishops signed a Confession of Faith which
quoted it. (L. Gaussen, ibid, 194) (Hills, ibid, 211)
18. A.
D. 489: Victor-Villa quoted or referenced it. (Riplinger, ibid, 381)
19. A.
D. 533: Fulgentius quoted or referenced it. (Riplinger, ibid, 381)
20. A.
D. 570: Cassiodorus quoted it. (Moorman, ibid, 234)
21. A.
D. 800: The Latin Vulgate added it from the Old Latin. (Moorman, ibid, p234)
22. A.
D. 1120: The Waldenses quoted it in their doctrinal confession. (See A. D.
157.)
23. A.
D. 1295: The first Armenian Bible (1666) based on a 1295 manuscript contain it.
24. A.
D. 1380: The Wycliffe Bible included it.
25. A.
D. 1466-1490: (Old) German Bible had it.
26. A.
D. 1520: Erasmus’ third edition contained it because Roman Catholic Church
leaders insisted it had been accepted by the Church.
27. A.
D. 1522: Although Luther’s German Bible lacked it, after his death it was added
by the German people who had accepted it. (James Ray Jasper, God Only Wrote One
Bible, 1985, p34)
28. A.
D. 1535: The Tyndale Bible included it.
29. A.
D. 1537: Matthew’s Bible included it.
30. A.
D. 1539: The Taverner Bible included it.
31. A.
D. 1539: The Great Bible included it.
32. A.
D. 1550: John Calvin accepted it as genuine. (Hills, ibid, 203)
33. A.
D. 1557: The Geneva New Testament had it.
34. A.
D. 1568: The Bishop’s Bible had it.
35. A.
D. 1600: Theodore Beza included it. (Hills, ibid, 205)
36. A.
D. 1611: The King James Bible included it.
37. A.
D. 1646: Westminster Confession, chapter II, references it.
38. A.
D. 1689: The London Baptist Confession includes it.
37. A.
D. 1700: John Wesley accepted it. (Jasper, ibid, 34)
38. A.
D. 1700: Matthew Henry accepted it.
39. A.
D. 1743: The first printed Georgian Bible in Moscow contains it.
40. A.
D. 1881 was the first time the text was removed from the standard English
Bible.
41. A.
D. 1815: Frederic Nolan wrote a defense of it.
42. A.
D. 1852: John Murdock’s Syriac Peshitta Bible has it.
43. A.
D. 1891: Robert L. Dabney wrote a defense of it.
44. A.
D. 1950: Roman Catholic Douay Bible has it.
45. A.
D. 1970: Peter Ruckman, President of Pensacola Bible College, accept it. (The
Christian’s Handbook of Manuscript Evidence)
46. A.
D. 1997: Nineteen (19) late cursive manuscripts contain the text. Sixty (60) lectionaries contain it. Uncials
R, F. M and Q contain it.
47. A.
D. 2009: Roman Catholic Sacred Bible Public Domain Version has it.
48. 2010: J. A. Moorman, When the KJV Departs
from the Majority Text, accepts it.
49. A.
D. 2012: Roman Catholic Revised Douay-Rheims Version has it.
50. 2017:
The Greek Nestle-Aland, 26th edition, lists 8 (not 4) Greek
manuscripts which contain the verse (1 John 5:7). Metzger and the UBS 1st
edition list nine (9).
CONCLUSION:
God
promised to preserve His Word forever. He did not allow His Holy Bible to be
lost for almost 1300 years and then begin its restoration using two men who
were spiritualists and did not believe in its inspiration and preservation.
It
is dishonest to state that “the earliest Greek manuscripts do not contain First
John 5:7” without telling “the rest of the story.” Like all of the Textus
Receptus, God has also preserved First John 5:7 (1) using the Early Church
Fathers, (2) using the Old Italia Bible, the Old German Bible, the Old Latin
Bible, the Syriac Peshitta and (3) especially the Greek Orthodox Church. The “late”
Greek manuscripts reflect the preservation of the earliest Traditional
Byzantine text as seen in the Textus Receptus.
Russell
Earl Kelly PHD
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