I John 5:7-8 of the King James Version cannot be validly used as a
basis for the alleged Trinitarian doctrine. The authenticity of I John 5:7-8 of
the King James Version has long been in question. The statement in the said
verses--
"... in heaven: the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost, and
these three are one. And there are three that bear witness in earth"--
is what scholars commonly call the "Johannine Comma."
Scholars seriously question the authenticity of the Comma because it is absent
in all the ancient Greek manuscripts of the New Testament: The Comma is absent
in all the ancient Greek manuscripts of the NT with the exception of four
rather recent manuscripts that date from the 13th to 16th centuries. The Comma
is lacking in such ancient Oriental versions as the Peshitta, Philoxenian,
Coptic, Ethiopic, and Armenian. ...
”The Fathers of the East do not quote or refer to the Johannine
Comma in their Christological controversies. This omission indicates that the
Comma was not part of the Bibilcal text of their time. For they surely would
have used it had it been in the text." (New Catholic Encyclopedia, vol. 7,
p. 1004)
Moreover, the use of the Johannine Comma was apparently influenced
by a pre-conceived belief in the Trinity. Starting as a gloss or a commentary,
the Johannine Comma eventually found its way into the text itself:
”The development of the Comma can be followed in the ecclesiastical
writers of the late 4th and 5th centuries, especially in Spain and Africa.
Apparently, it developed as a result of the Trinitarian interpretation of the
triad: spirit-water-blood found in I John 5:8b. By way of a gloss on the sacred
text it eventually found its way into the text itself." (Ibid.)
The rendition of I John 5:7 in the King James Version is clearly
erroneous. Even the Catholic Church, a major proponent of the doctrine of
Trinity, denies the authenticity of the verse. The Vatican said:
"In recent times the doubts concerning its authenticity have
grown and the Holy Office, in 1927, declared that, after careful examination of
the whole circumstances, its genuineness could be denied." (Fundamentals
of Catholic Dogma, p. 56)
No properly-translated version of the Bible teaches about the
Trinity. Christ explicitly taught that there is only one true God, the Father
in heaven (Jn. 17:1,3), who Himself proclaimed,
"... there is no other god besides me" (Is. 45:21, Revised
Standard Version).
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