"Three that bear record in heaven": the Comma Johanneum
The words "in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one" in the KJV's 1 John 5:7 entered the text from Latin tradition. They are absent from the Greek manuscripts for over a thousand years and never quoted by the Greek Fathers, and they reached the KJV through the printed Greek editions of the 16th century. Catholic and most Protestant scholarship agree on this, though some defenders of the Textus Receptus still argue for the words and the Greek Orthodox Patriarchal text of 1904 prints them; the Church's Trinitarian faith was defined without this verse.
The verse
Text
BSB5:7For there are three that testify:8the Spirit, the water, and the blood—and these three are in agreement.
KJV5:7For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one.8And there are three that bear witness in earth, the Spirit, and the water, and the blood: and these three agree in one.
WEB5:7For there are three who testify:8the Spirit, the water, and the blood; and the three agree as one.
Without the added words the passage reads: there are three that testify, the Spirit, the water and the blood, and the three agree (BSB, WEB, Darby, the Byzantine and SBL Greek texts). The KJV, Geneva and Douay-Rheims add the "heavenly witnesses". Metzger's summary of the evidence: the words are "absent from every known Greek manuscript except eight", all late (the oldest with the words in the text, 629, is of the 14th or 15th century; four have them only as a variant added later in the margin), and these "contain the passage in what appears to be a translation from a late recension of the Latin Vulgate"; "the passage is quoted by none of the Greek Fathers, who, had they known it, would most certainly have employed it in the Trinitarian controversies"; it is absent from all ancient versions (Syriac, Coptic, Armenian, Ethiopic, Arabic, Slavonic) except the Latin, and not in the Vulgate as Jerome issued it. Its first clear appearance as part of the text is in a 4th-century Latin treatise, the Liber Apologeticus, attributed to Priscillian or his follower Instantius; Metzger and the New Catholic Encyclopedia both explain it as a Trinitarian gloss on the three witnesses that moved from the margin into Latin copies. Defenders of the words point to Cyprian (c. 251), who writes "it is written of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, 'And these three are one'"; the Catholic Encyclopedia of 1910 judged that he "seems undoubtedly to have had it in mind". Metzger instead counts Cyprian among the early Latin witnesses whose text lacked the Comma. The alternative is that Cyprian was applying to the Trinity the end of verse 8, which in Latin also reads "and these three are one" (so the Douay-Rheims). Defenders of the Textus Receptus also argue from grammar: in verses 7–8 the masculine "three that testify" introduces three neuter nouns (Spirit, water, blood), which they explain as attraction to the masculine "Father" and "Word" of the Comma. Gregory of Nazianzus (4th century) remarked on the same masculine-with-neuter wording while quoting only "the Spirit and the Water and the Blood"; scholars such as Marshall explain it as personification of the three witnesses. Even the Byzantine majority text in this site's database omits the words; of the Greek editions in the TAGNT data, only the Textus Receptus has them. In print, the Complutensian Polyglot's New Testament (completed 1514, given its papal licence in 1520) included them in a Greek translated from the Latin. Erasmus left them out of his Greek New Testament in 1516 and 1519 and included them in 1522, after a transcript of a Greek copy was sent to him (now minuscule 61, Codex Montfortianus, early 16th century, which de Jonge calls "as good as certain" to have been produced to order). The common story that he had promised to include them if a single Greek manuscript was found is, de Jonge showed, not in Erasmus's works: he said he included the words so that no one would have occasion to slander him (ne cui sit causa calumniandi). From Erasmus's third edition the words passed into English Bibles from Tyndale (1526) onward and into the later Textus Receptus editions (both TR texts in this database have them). Catholic practice changed over time: in 1897 the Holy Office ruled that the authenticity of the passage could not "safely be denied, or at least called into doubt"; in 1927 it declared that this did not prevent Catholic scholars from "inclining toward an opinion in opposition to its authenticity", provided they were ready to abide by the Church's judgment; the official Latin Nova Vulgata (1979) and the NAB omit it. The Greek Orthodox Patriarchal text of 1904 prints the words. The evidence settles the textual question for most scholars; the doctrine of the Trinity was formulated in the 4th century without this verse, which the Greek Fathers did not quote.12345678910111213
How translations render it
“in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost”
KJV
“in heauen, the Father, the Worde, and the holy Ghost”
GNV
“three who give testimony in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost”
Counted from this site's STEPBible data: Which editions in the database contain the words↩How this was derivedtokens (STEPBible TAGNT): 1John.5.7 words 6 onward (ἐν τῷ οὐρανῷ ὁ πατήρ ὁ λόγος ...) text_type 'K', editions 'TR' only; words 1–5 (ὅτι τρεῖς εἰσιν οἱ μαρτυροῦντες) editions 'NA28+NA27+Tyn+SBL+WH+Treg+TR+Byz'. verses: byz (Robinson–Pierpont 2018) and sblgnt 1John.5.7 end at 'οἱ μαρτυροῦντες,'; tr and scrivener1894 include the added words. verse_notes: bsb 1John.5.7 footnote 'TR and GOC three that 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:'; web 1John.5.7 footnote 'Only a few recent manuscripts add ...'.
Catholic Church, Nova Vulgata, Epistula I Ioannis 5, Libreria Editrice Vaticana (1986) — '7 Quia tres sunt, qui testificantur: 8 Spiritus et aqua et sanguis; et hi tres in unum sunt.' (no Comma). Promulgated as the 'typica' edition by John Paul II's apostolic constitution Scripturarum Thesaurus, 25 April 1979.↩
13
Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, New American Bible (New Testament revised 1986), 1 John 5, Libreria Editrice Vaticana (1986) — '7 So there are three that testify, 8 the Spirit, the water, and the blood, and the three are of one accord.'↩
Source 1
Counted from this site's STEPBible data: Which editions in the database contain the words
Bruce M. Metzger, A Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament, 2nd ed. (1993), on 1 John 5:7–8 — Quoted verbatim on bible-researcher.com: 'That these words are spurious and have no right to stand in the New Testament is certain in the light of the following considerations. (A) External Evidence. (1) The passage is absent from every known Greek manuscript except eight, and these contain the passage in what appears to be a translation from a late recension of the Latin Vulgate.' Lists 61, 88 (marg.), 221 (marg.), 429 (marg.), 629, 636 (marg.), 918, 2318. 'Four of the eight manuscripts contain the passage as a variant reading written in the margin as a later addition to the manuscript.' 629 is 'a fourteenth or fifteenth century manuscript in the Vatican'. '(2) The passage is quoted by none of the Greek Fathers ... Its first appearance in Greek is in a Greek version of the (Latin) Acts of the Lateran Council in 1215.' '(3) ... it is not found (a) in the Old Latin in its early form (Tertullian Cyprian Augustine), or in the Vulgate (b) as issued by Jerome ... The earliest instance of the passage being quoted as a part of the actual text of the Epistle is in a fourth century Latin treatise entitled Liber Apologeticus (chap. 4), attributed either to the Spanish heretic Priscillian (died about 385) or to his follower Bishop Instantius. Apparently the gloss arose when the original passage was understood to symbolize the Trinity (through the mention of three witnesses: the Spirit, the water, and the blood), an interpretation that may have been written first as a marginal note that afterwards found its way into the text.'
Cyprian of Carthage, On the Unity of the Church 6 (ANF vol. 5) — 'The Lord says, I and the Father are one; and again it is written of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, And these three are one.' (The New Advent editors link the quotation to 1 John 5:7; whether Cyprian is quoting the Comma or interpreting 5:8 is the point in dispute.)
Henk Jan de Jonge, “Erasmus and the Comma Johanneum” (1980), Ephemerides Theologicae Lovanienses 56, pp. 381–389 — Read in a transcription and the scanned offprint (https://dick.wursten.be/preken/teksten/dejonge-comma-erasmus.pdf). 'It is generally known that Erasmus omitted this passage from his first edition of 1516 and his second of 1519, and only restored it in his third edition of 1522.' Conclusion: 'The current view that Erasmus promised to insert the Comma Johanneum if it could be shown to him in a single Greek manuscript, has no foundation in Erasmus' works.' Erasmus's stated reason: 'ne cui sit causa calumniandi'. 'It is as good as certain, as J.R. Harris demonstrated, that this manuscript was produced to order.' The text he received was copied 'from a Codex Britannicus, also named, after a later owner, Codex Montfortianus ... minuscule Gregory 61'.
Holy Office, decree of 13 January 1897 and declaration of 2 June 1927 (Denzinger, tr. R. J. Deferrari, no. 2198) — 'To the question: "Whether it can safely be denied, or at least called into doubt that the text of St. John in the first epistle, chapter 5, verse 7, is authentic ..."---the response was given on January 13, 1897: In the negative.' 1927: 'This decree was passed to check the audacity of private teachers who attributed to themselves the right either of rejecting entirely the authenticity of the Johannine comma, or at least of calling it into question by their own final judgment. But it was not meant at all to prevent Catholic writers from investigating the subject more fully and, after weighing the arguments accurately on both sides, ... from inclining toward an opinion in opposition to its authenticity, provided they professed that they were ready to abide by the judgment of the Church'. The declaration was 'made a part of public law in EB n. 121'.
C. Draina and F. J. Moloney, “Johannine Comma”, New Catholic Encyclopedia (via Encyclopedia.com) — 'Apparently, it developed as a result of the Trinitarian interpretation of the triad: spirit-water-blood found in 1 John 5.8b. By way of a gloss on the sacred text it eventually found its way into the text itself.' 'the Church considered it necessary in its decree of the Holy Office of January 13, 1897, to caution its scholars against rashly rejecting or doubting the authenticity of this passage. However, in a decree of June 2, 1927, the Holy Office clarified its earlier statement'. (Read directly; previously cited via Catholic Answers.)
Walter Drum, “Epistles of Saint John”, The Catholic Encyclopedia, vol. 8 (New Advent) (1910) — 'St. Cyprian (third century) seems undoubtedly to have had it in mind, when he quotes John 10:30, and adds: "Et iterum de Patre et Filio et Spiritu Sancto scriptum est — Et hi tres unum sunt" (De Unitate Ecclesiæ, vi).' On 1897: 'the authenticity of the Comma Johanninum may not with safety (tuto) be denied or called into doubt. This disciplinary decision was approved by Leo XIII two days later.' Also: 'We cannot say that the decree of Trent on the Canon necessarily included the three witnesses.'
F. H. A. Scrivener, A Plain Introduction to the Criticism of the New Testament, 4th ed., vol. 2 (1894), pp. 177, 185–187 — Complutensian New Testament: 'the colophon on the last page of the Apocalypse states that it was completed January 10, 1514'; 'Pope Leo's licence was not granted until March 22, 1520, and Erasmus did not see the book before 1522'; 'the error of Stunica and his colleagues in translating from the Latin version into Greek, 1 John v. 7, 8'. Erasmus: 'The third edition (1522) is chiefly remarkable for its insertion of 1 John v. 7, 8 in the Greek text'; n. 165: 'The first complete printed English N. T. (Tyndale 1526) followed Erasmus' third edition ... as well as 1 John v. 7, 8.' (Page numbers from the archive.org scan, https://archive.org/details/plainintroductio02scri.)
David Cloud, “A Defense of 1 John 5:7”, Way of Life Literature (2023) — A KJV-defending source, quoting Thomas Strouse: 'The words ‘Spirit,’ ‘water’ and ‘blood’ are all neuters, yet they are treated as masculine in verse 8. This is strange if the Johannine Comma is omitted, but it can be accounted for if it is retained; the masculine nouns ‘Father’ and ‘word’ in verse 7 regulate the gender in the succeeding verse due to the power of attraction principle.' It also quotes I. H. Marshall (The Epistles of John, 1978, p. 237 n.): 'Here in 1 John he clearly regards the Spirit as personal, and this leads to the personification of the water and the blood', and cites Gregory of Nazianzus as alluding to the passage.
Gregory of Nazianzus, Oration 31 (Fifth Theological Oration, On the Holy Spirit) 19 (NPNF 2nd ser. vol. 7) — 'What about John then, when in his Catholic Epistle he says that there are Three that bear witness, the Spirit and the Water and the Blood? ... Secondly, because he has not been consistent in the way he has happened upon his terms; for after using Three in the masculine gender he adds three words which are neuter, contrary to the definitions and laws which you and your grammarians have laid down.'
Catholic Church, Nova Vulgata, Epistula I Ioannis 5, Libreria Editrice Vaticana (1986) — '7 Quia tres sunt, qui testificantur: 8 Spiritus et aqua et sanguis; et hi tres in unum sunt.' (no Comma). Promulgated as the 'typica' edition by John Paul II's apostolic constitution Scripturarum Thesaurus, 25 April 1979.
Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, New American Bible (New Testament revised 1986), 1 John 5, Libreria Editrice Vaticana (1986) — '7 So there are three that testify, 8 the Spirit, the water, and the blood, and the three are of one accord.'