What is the Comma Johanneum?

But the text here has suffered, whether by inadvertence or by design. Be it said briefly that from "in heaven" in ver. 7 to "on earth" in ver. 8 is not scripture but an interpolation. It may have been at first a mere marginal note, copied afterwards as the text by men that did not understand the truth. The history of the case has been fully and minutely traced, the result of which is that the same grounds which make the New Testament text certain elsewhere prove this insertion as certainly to be a human accretion. Let me however show that any Christian who does not know one Greek word ought to be satisfied that it is spurious. Such a one requires neither men of learning nor even the fruit of their researches to decide the question for himself. The word of God itself is amply sufficient and perfectly conclusive.

It is well known that there are passages printed as scripture which have no real title to be in the Bible, as the three heavenly witnesses, for instance, in 1 John 5. This also, I think, was then referred to; where every serious and unbiassed student would agree with him, because it is only ignorant prejudice that accepts these verses. Men versed in the diplomatic evidence of the New Testament know that the same grounds which demand our reception of the apostolic prophetic writings in general compel us to reject those clauses as an interpolation. Besides, I am assured that internally they weaken the truth, and do not help but hinder the effect of the full light on the capital truth of the Trinity. Testimony in heaven (to whom, and for what end?) is a strange doctrine. Again, the phraseology is unexampled in scripture; there is never such a correlation in it as "The Father and the Word." When the "Father" is spoken of, we hear of "The Son," if named in the same context; never of "The Father and the Word." For this answers not to "Father" but to "God." Wherever scripture treats of these terms, the true correlates are "God and the Word," or "The Father and the Son;" never, as in the spurious insertion, "The Father and the Word." I am not reasoning now on mere à priori grounds; for if a passage comes with sufficient outward authority, whether understood or not, I hold myself bound to receive it. Where there is evidence that it was originally given and received as an inspired document on God's authority, I receive it without dispute, question, or reasoning whatever. But in this case the fact is that the only Greek manuscripts known to support this particular portion are proved to be either forgeries or valueless from their want of antiquity. There is not one ancient Greek copy that contains the passage. Hence it was very properly left out in Luther's translation of the Bible into German, as also in the first Greek Testaments edited by Erasmus. That it was subsequently brought in was mainly due to the clamour of Roman Catholics, who were naturally anxious to have it accredited in Greek, because the Latin Vulgate, with some Latin ecclesiastical witnesses, vouches for it; and especially since the Council of Trent pronounced the Latin version to be authentic scripture. Consequently, if we are compelled by truth to give it up, their authentic scripture is seriously wrong. Thus Romanists have a palpable interest ecclesiastically in supporting it, whereas nobody else ought to have. But this a wholly different case and question from the one before us.

As to verse 7, reliable manuscripts have proven that it is an unwarranted addition inserted by some early copyist: it was not in the original. There is certainly no need of a witness in heaven: it is here that witness is required. And there is an abundance of Scriptural testimony to the fact of the Trinity, without the necessity of adding man’s witness.

The Revised Version is entirely justified in omitting the words, "There are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one"; and also the words "in earth" in verse 8. The omitted words are not found in any MS. previous to the 15th century; in fact, only in four MSS. out of some 150. And they are not quoted by any Greek theologian before the 14th century; so that no impartial mind could for one moment accept their authenticity. The internal evidence, moreover, favours the same conclusion. In verse 6 the apostle says of Jesus, the Son of God, "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." Then should follow, as a careful examination will show, the words, "For there are three that bear witness" (taking up the three things mentioned in verse 6), "the Spirit, and the water, and the blood: and these three agree in one." The introduction of verse 7 entirely interrupts the argument. The subject of this threefold testimony, we may add, is that God "has given to us eternal life, and this life is in His Son." E. D.

Verses 7, 8 omit a portion of these two verses, and read, "For there are three that bear record, the Spirit and the water and the blood: and these three agree in one." Three witnesses, but only one testimony.

"For they are three that bear witness — the Spirit, the water, and the blood; and these three agree in one." These witnesses are now taken inversely, the Holy Ghost being first named, as He is the living agent by whom the testimony is borne in power to the soul. As to the words that intervene in the common text, (i.e., from "in heaven" to "in earth" inclusive,) I am clear that there is no sufficient warrant for them. This is not to make but to exclude a change already made. We are bound to go back to the oldest and best text. The point here is that, though there are those three witnesses, they bear but one witness. And if we receive the witness of men (as we do ordinarily from credible people,) the witness of God is greater.

As an illustration of all the editors agreeing in leaving the commonly received Greek text, 1 John 5:7-8, may be referred to. All agree in omitting (what are known as 'the heavenly witnesses') from "in heaven" in verse 7 to "in earth" inclusive in 1 John 5:8.

The seventh verse has no business in our Bibles. It must be stricken out. It is an interpolation and all the historical evidences are against it. The oldest manuscripts do not contain these words which we read in verse 7. Leaving out this inserted verse we notice the connection which exists between verse 6 and 8. "And there are three that bear witness on earth, the Spirit, and the water, and the blood; and these three are one." The Spirit is the abiding witness of accomplished redemption, and He dwells in the believer.

A number of passages in Scripture, however, have been rendered obscure by this faulty copying. Occasionally, too, the copyist has dropped out a word, phrase, or even a sentence which is found in other manuscripts; and occasionally what was evidently a marginal note or explanation has been incorporated into the text by a succession of copyists who have apparently thought it helpful to the understanding of the passage. Thus, the familiar passage which found its way into our version (1 John 5:7-8) is an interpolation which was probably introduced by some monk copyist more than a thousand years after Christ, and does not exist in any manuscript that can be considered for a moment as authoritative on such matters. There are very few passages so glaring as this, but quite a few where the text has been more or less affected, and where a judicious and reverent scholarship has, by faithful research, found out the more ancient reading and the exact original wording.

The larger part of verse 7 and the opening of verse 8 have to be omitted, as having no real authority in the ancient manuscripts. The Revised, and other later versions show this. It simply is, "For there are three that bear record, the Spirit, and the water, and the blood: and these three agree in one." The Spirit of God is the living active Witness. The water and the blood are silent witnesses, but all three converge on one point. The point on which they converge is found in verses 11 and 12. Verses 9 and 10 are parenthetical.