ris3n's Apologetics Codex

Passage

1 John 5.7-8

Book: 1 John · ASV / WEB / KJV / YLT

Immediate context (±2 verses)

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ASV

5. And who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God? 6. This is he that came by water and blood, even Jesus Christ; not with the water only, but with the water and with the blood.

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.

  1. If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater: for the witness of God is this, that he hath borne witness concerning his Son. 10. He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in him: he that believeth not God hath made him a liar; because he hath not believed in the witness that God hath borne concerning his Son. (1 John 5:5-10, ASV)
WEB

5. Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? 6. This is he who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ; not with the water only, but with the water and the blood. It is the Spirit who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth.

7. For there are three who testify: 8. the Spirit, the water, and the blood; and the three agree as one.

  1. If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater; for this is God’s testimony which he has testified concerning his Son. 10. He who believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself. He who doesn’t believe God has made him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has given concerning his Son. (1 John 5:5-10, WEB)
KJV

5. Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God? 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.

  1. If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater: for this is the witness of God which he hath testified of his Son. 10. He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself: he that believeth not God hath made him a liar; because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son. (1 John 5:5-10, KJV)
YLT

5. who is he who is overcoming the world, if not he who is believing that Jesus is the Son of God? 6. This one is he who did come through water and blood, Jesus the Christ, not in the water only, but in the water and the blood; and the Spirit it is that is testifying, because the Spirit is the truth,

7. because three are who are testifying [in the heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit, and these, the three, are one; 8. and three are who are testifying in the earth], the Spirit, and the water, and the blood, and the three are into the one.

  1. If the testimony of men we receive, the testimony of God is greater, because this is the testimony of God that He hath testified concerning His Son. 10. He who is believing in the Son of God, hath the testimony in himself; he who is not believing God, a liar hath made Him, because he hath not believed in the testimony that God hath testified concerning His Son; (1 John 5:5-10, YLT)

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Setting

  • Speaker: The letter is formally anonymous. Early and unanimous tradition assigns it to John the apostle (Irenaeus, Against Heresies 3.16.5 and 3.16.8, c. AD 180), and its vocabulary and style are closely shared with the Fourth Gospel.
  • Audience: Churches in Roman Asia, addressed after a secession: "they went out from us, but they were not really of us" (1 John 2:19). The departing teachers denied that Jesus is the Christ (2:22) and that He has come in the flesh (4:2).
  • Location: Traditionally Ephesus, the center of the Johannine circle in Asia Minor.
  • Time period: c. AD 85-95, late in the apostolic period. The stated purpose is assurance: "these things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life" (1 John 5:13).

Theological reading

The verse behind the best-known textual problem in the New Testament, the Comma Johanneum.

The disputed words. The KJV reads: "For there are three that bear record 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 Spirit, and the water, and the blood." The heavenly-witnesses clause is absent from modern translations, which read simply: "For there are three that testify: the Spirit and the water and the blood; and the three are in agreement."

The manuscript evidence, stated plainly.

  • The clause appears in no Greek manuscript before the fourteenth century, and in only a handful thereafter, most of which appear to be translated back from Latin.
  • It is absent from every ancient version except the Latin, and from the Greek fathers entirely, including through the fourth-century Trinitarian controversies where it would have been decisive and was never cited.
  • It enters the Latin tradition gradually from around the fourth century, apparently as a marginal gloss that migrated into the text.
  • Erasmus omitted it from his first two editions (1516, 1519) and added it in the third (1522) after a Greek manuscript containing it was produced; from there it entered the Textus Receptus and so the KJV.

What follows, and what does not. The doctrine of the Trinity does not rest on this verse and never did, which is demonstrated by the fact that it was formulated at Nicaea and Constantinople by writers who did not have the clause. Its absence removes a proof text, not a doctrine. See Trinity and Comma Johanneum.

Honest use. Do not quote 1 John 5:7 as a Trinitarian proof text; an informed objector will know, and the credibility cost is high. Concede it first and argue from Matthew 28:19, 2 Corinthians 13:14, John 1:1, and the rest. See Manuscript Variants Bible Corruption Objection Defeater for why a known and openly reported variant is evidence of a well-documented transmission rather than of corruption.

Key words

Theologically-loaded Greek or Hebrew words in this verse may have entries in the lexicon. Curated to roughly 100 contested terms across the corpus, not every word; see Lexicon Roadmap.

Quoted in

Arguments and defeaters:

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Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

  • ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
  • WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
  • KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
  • YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.