Month: February 2020

Comma Johanneum

Satan invented doubting footnotes in Gen 3:1 “yea, hath God said”

Many seeking to undermine the authority of the bible challenge that 1 John 5:7, often referred to as the “Comma Johanneum” does not belong in the bible.

1 John 5:7 was quoted by many early church writers, and was in manuscripts (mss) they had, long before it was left out of corrupted mss.

The following early church writers quoted 1 John 5:7 and were never accused of adding that verse to the word of God by their contemporaries.

This indicates the mss they used included this verse in the text.

200 AD – Tertullian quoted the verse in his Apology, Against Praxeas

250 AD – Cyprian of Carthage, wrote, “And again, of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost IT IS WRITTEN: “And the THREE are ONE” in his On The Lapsed, On the Novatians.
Note that Cyprian is quoting and says “it is written, And the three are One.” He lived from 180 to 250 A.D. and the scriptures he had at that time contained the verse in question. This is at least 100 years before anything we have today in the Greek copies. If it wasn’t part of Holy Scripture, then where did he get it?

350 AD Priscillian referred to it [Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum, Academia Litterarum Vindobonensis, vol. xviii, p. 6.]
“and there are three which give testimony on earth, the water, the flesh the blood, and these three are in one, and there are three which give testimony in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Spirit, and these three are one in Christ Jesus.” – PRISCILLIAN (380AD)

350 AD Idacius Clarus referred to it [Patrilogiae Cursus Completus, Series Latina by Migne, vol. 62, col. 359.]

350 AD Athanasius referred to it in his De Incarnatione

380 AD Priscillian in Liber Apologeticus quotes “and there are three which give testimony in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Spirit, and these three are one in Christ Jesus.”

398 AD Aurelius Augustine used it to defend Trinitarianism in De Trinitate against the heresy of Sabellianism

415 AD Council of Carthage. The contested verse (1 John 5:7) is quoted at the Council of Carthage (415 A. D.) by Eugenius, who drew up the confession of faith for the “orthodox.” It reads with the King James. How did 350 prelates in 415 A.D. take a verse to be orthodox that wasn’t in the Bible? It had to exist there from the beginning. It was quoted as “Pater, VERBUM, et Spiritus Sanctus”.
“…..and in order that we may teach until now, more clearly than light, that the Holy Spirit is now one divinity with the Father and the Son. It is PROVED by the EVANGELIST JOHN, for HE SAYS, ‘there are THREE which BEAR TESTIMONY in heaven, the FATHER, the WORD, and the HOLY SPIRIT, and THESE THREE ARE ONE” – Eugenius said at the Council of Carthage

450AD – “And there are three who give testimony in heaven, the Father, The Word, and the Spirit, and these three are one.” – I John 5:7 – Anchor Bible; Epistle of John – Contra Varimadum 1.5 (CC90,20-21)

450-530 AD. Several orthodox African writers quoted the verse when defending the doctrine of the Trinity against the gainsaying of the Vandals. These writers include Vigilius Tapensis, Victor Vitensis, Fulgentius

485AD – Vigilius Tapensis in “Three Witnesses in Heaven”
there are three which bear testimony in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit, and these three are one.”

485AD – Victor Vitensis in his Historia persecutionis [Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum, Academia Litterarum Vindobonensis, vol. vii, p. 60.]

527AD – Fulgentius in “The Three Heavenly Witnesses” [Patrilogiae Cursus Completus, Series Latina by Migne, vol. 65, col. 500.]
“There are three who bear testimony in heaven, the Father, the Son and the Spirit. And the three are one being.” – FULGENTIUS(527AD)

500 AD Cassiodorus cited it [Patrilogiae Cursus Completus, Series Latina by Migne, vol. 70, col. 1373.]

527 AD Fulgentius in Contra Arianos stated: “Tres sunt qui testimonium perhibent in caelo. Pater, Verbum et Spiritus, et tres unum sunt.”

550 AD The “Speculum” has it [The Speculum is a treatise that contains some good Old Latin scriptures.]

636 AD Isidor of Seville quotes the verse as it stands in the KJB.

750 AD Wianburgensis referred to it

1 John 5:7 is also in many geographically separated lines of mss that simultaneously have 1 John 5:7 while their line origin predates supposed “oldest and best” mss like Siniaticus and Vaticanus.

For example The “Waldensian,” or “Vaudois” received the Scriptures from missionaries of Antioch of Syria in the 120s AD and finished translating it into their Latin language by 157 AD. Their bibles include 1 John 5:7