The Tri-Unity of God
I.The Unity of God's Nature
A.
De 6:4 ¶
Hear, O
Ga
B. Ro 3:30 Seeing [it is] one God, which shall justify
the circumcision by faith, and uncircumcision through
faith.
God's
unity is seen in that, while He has dealt with men differently in the various
ages of time, He justifies all by faith.
He is not one God to the Jews and
another God to the Gentiles. He is the God of Jew and Gentile and is no respecter of persons. (see Acts
10: 34 ¶ Then Peter opened his mouth,
and said, Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons:
35
But in every nation he that feareth him, and
worketh righteousness, is accepted with him.
36
The word which God sent unto the children of
37
That word, I say, ye know, which was published throughout all
38
How God anointed Jesus of
39
And we are witnesses of all things which he did both in the land of the
Jews, and in
40
Him God raised up the third day, and shewed
him openly;
41
Not to all the people, but unto witnesses chosen before of God, even to
us, who did eat and drink with him after he rose from the dead.
42
And he commanded us to preach unto the people, and to testify that it is
he which was ordained of God to be the Judge of quick and dead.
43 To him give all the prophets witness, that
through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins.) The context of Gal.3:20 (Ga
C.There is no other God, according
to Scripture. Deut.32: 39 ¶ See now that I, even I, am he, and there is
no god with me: I kill, and I make alive; I wound, and I heal: neither is there
any that can deliver out of my hand.
40
For I lift up my hand to heaven, and say, I live for ever. Ne 9:6 Thou, [even]
thou, [art] LORD alone; thou hast made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all
their host, the earth, and all [things] that [are] therein, the seas, and all
that [is] therein, and thou preservest them all; and
the host of heaven worshippeth thee. Ps
86:10 For thou [art] great, and doest
wondrous things: thou [art] God alone. Isa 37:16 O LORD of hosts, God of Israel, that dwellest [between] the cherubims,
thou [art] the God, [even] thou alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth: thou
hast made heaven and earth. Isa 37:20 Now therefore, O LORD our God, save us from
his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that thou [art] the LORD,
[even] thou only.
Jer.10: 1 ¶ Hear ye the word
which the LORD speaketh unto you, O house of Israel:
2
Thus saith the LORD, Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not
dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them.
3
For the customs of the people are vain: for one cutteth
a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the axe.
4
They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and
with hammers, that it move not.
5
They are upright as the palm tree, but speak not: they must needs be
borne, because they cannot go. Be not afraid of them; for they cannot do evil,
neither also is it in them to do good.
6
Forasmuch as there is none like unto thee, O LORD; thou art great, and
thy name is great in might.
7
Who would not fear thee, O King of nations? for to thee doth it
appertain: forasmuch as among all the wise men of the nations, and in all their
kingdoms, there is none like unto thee.
8
But they are altogether brutish and foolish: the stock is a doctrine of
vanities.
9
Silver spread into plates is brought from Tarshish, and gold from Uphaz, the work of the workman, and of the hands of the
founder: blue and purple is their clothing: they are all the work of cunning
men.
10
But the LORD is the true God, he is the living God, and an everlasting
king: at his wrath the earth shall tremble, and the nations shall not be able
to abide his indignation.
11
Thus shall ye say unto them, The gods that have not made the heavens and
the earth, even they shall perish from the earth, and from under these heavens.
12
He hath made the earth by his power, he hath established the world by
his wisdom, and hath stretched out the heavens by his discretion.
13
When he uttereth his voice, there is a
multitude of waters in the heavens, and he causeth
the vapours to ascend from the ends of the earth; he maketh lightnings with rain, and bringeth forth the wind out of his treasures.
14
Every man is brutish in his knowledge: every founder is confounded by
the graven image: for his molten image is falsehood, and there is no breath in
them.
15
They are vanity, and the work of errors: in the time of their visitation
they shall perish.
16
The portion of Jacob is not like them: for he is the former of all
things; and Israel is the rod of his inheritance: The LORD of hosts is his
name. 1Cor.8: 1
¶ Now as touching things offered unto
idols, we know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffeth
up, but charity edifieth.
2
And if any man think that he knoweth any
thing, he knoweth nothing yet as he ought to know.
3
But if any man love God, the same is known of him.
4 ¶
As concerning therefore the eating of those things that are offered in
sacrifice unto idols, we know that an idol is nothing in the world, and that
there is none other God but one.
5
For though there be that are called gods, whether in heaven or in earth,
(as there be gods many, and lords many,)
6
But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and
we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by
him Jas 2:19 Thou believest that
there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble.
This great truth is
illustrated in a great way by Jeremiah (Jer.10:1-16) when he tells us
that the LORD is the Creator of all that exists and that all the gods of this
world are the creation of created beings.
This shows us that there can be no other god equal to our Creator (Isa.40:25 To whom then will ye liken me, or shall I be
equal? saith the Holy One.
26 Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who hath created these things, that bringeth out their host by number: he calleth them all by names by the greatness of his might, for that he is strong in power; not one faileth.).
II.The Tri-Une
Nature of The One God
A. Plurality
shown in the Scriptures Gen. 1: 26
¶ And God said, Let us make man in our
image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea,
and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and
over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.
28
And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply,
and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the
sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. Ge 3:22
¶ And the LORD God said, Behold, the man
is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his
hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever:
Gen11: 6 And the LORD said,
Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin
to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined
to do.
7 Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech.; Isa 6:8 Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here [am] I; send me. (“us”)
Isa.
6: 1 ¶ In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and
lifted up, and his train filled the temple.
2
Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six
wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and
with twain he did fly.
3 And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory. Re 4:8 ¶ And the four beasts had each of them six wings about [him]; and [they were] full of eyes within: and they rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come. tri-fold doxology
Pr 30:4 Who hath ascended up into heaven, or
descended? who hath gathered the wind in his fists? who hath bound the waters
in a garment? who hath established all the ends of the earth? what [is] his
name, and what [is] his son’s name, if thou canst tell?: Ps 2:7 ¶ I will declare the decree: the LORD hath said
unto me, Thou [art] my Son; this day have I begotten thee.
this one God has a Son who is begotten of Him from eternity Jn.1:11 ¶ In the beginning was the Word, and the Word
was with God, and the Word was God.
2 The same was in the beginning with God.
3 All things were made by him; and without him was
not any thing made that was made.
4 In him was life; and the life was the light
of men. Joh 1:14
And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his
glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and
truth. 3:
16 For God so loved the world, that he
gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish,
but have everlasting life.
17 For God sent not his Son into the world to
condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.
18 He that believeth on him is not condemned:
but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in
the name of the only begotten Son of God. Heb.1:
5 For unto which of the angels said he
at any time, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee? And again, I will
be to him a Father, and he shall be to me a Son?
6 And again, when he bringeth
in the firstbegotten into the world, he saith, And
let all the angels of God worship him.
Ps.45: Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: the sceptre
of thy kingdom is a right sceptre.
7 Thou lovest
righteousness, and hatest wickedness: therefore God,
thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows. Heb.1 But unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God,
is for ever and ever: a sceptre of righteousness is
the sceptre of thy kingdom.
9 Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity; therefore God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows. God has a God and this God is the God and Father of the only begotten Son of the Father.
Isa 48:16 ¶ Come ye near unto me, hear ye this; I have not spoken in secret from the beginning; from the time that it was, there [am] I: and now the Lord GOD, and his Spirit, hath sent me. We find in this verse one who is from eternity, the Lord God and His Spirit.
Joh
4:24 God [is] a Spirit: and they that
worship him must worship [him] in spirit and in truth.
Acts 5: ¶ But a certain man named
Ananias, with Sapphira his wife, sold a possession,
2 And kept back part of the price, his wife
also being privy to it, and brought a certain part, and laid it at the
apostles’ feet.
3 But Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan
filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost, and to keep back part of the price
of the land?
4 Whiles it remained, was it not thine own? and
after it was sold, was it not in thine own power? why hast thou conceived this
thing in thine heart? thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God.
5 And Ananias hearing these words fell down,
and gave up the ghost: and great fear came on all them that heard these
things.
Jn.14: 16 And I will pray the
Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for
ever;
17 Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world
cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and
shall be in you.
18 ¶ I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you. God is spirit and there is a Spirit which is a person and is equal to the Father and the Son
B. This Trinity is plainly revealed in the Scripture
1Jo 5:7 For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one.1 tells us that the Father, the Word (Jn.1:1-4,14) and the Holy Ghost (Jn.14:15-18; Acts5:1-5) are (Greek eisi are, a verb denoting existence) one. In other words, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost exist as one; they are one and the same God. They are of the same substance. (see also Jn.10:27-30 for Jesus's statement about being one with the Father. It is also to be noted that there is a correspondence between Jn. 10:27-30 and Eph.1:12-14 which tells us that we are kept by the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Mt 28:19 Go ye
therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and
of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost this tri-unity is shown forth in the
command to baptize in the name of the Trinity.
Rom. 8: 9 But ye are
not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in
you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.
10 ¶ And if Christ be in you, the body is dead
because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.
11 But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you. we find the Spirit mentioned as: Spirit, Spirit of God, Spirit of Christ, Christ, and the Spirit of Him that raised up Christ from the dead.
Jn.14: 10 Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father
in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father
that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works.
11 Believe me that I am in the Father, and the
Father in me: or else believe me for the very works’ sake.
12 ¶ Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that
believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than
these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.
13 And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that
will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.
14 If ye shall ask
any thing in my name, I will do it.
15 ¶ If ye love me,
keep my commandments.
16 And I will pray the Father, and he shall give
you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever;
17 Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world
cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and
shall be in you.
18 ¶ I will not leave you comfortless: I will come
to you. We find: the Son in the Father, Father in the Son, the
Father giving the Spirit (comforter), and the Comforter being of the same
essence as Christ (:18 I will not leave you comfortless; I will come to you.)
who is one with the Father.
Jn.
16:13 Howbeit when he, the Spirit of
truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of
himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.
14 He shall glorify
me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it
unto you.
15 All things that the Father hath are mine: therefore said I, that he shall take of mine, and shall shew it unto you. The work of the Spirit is to speak of the things of Christ, which are the things of the God.
Isa. 61:1
The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to
preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the
brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the
prison to them that are bound;
2 To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD,
and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn;
3 To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to
give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of
praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of
righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he might be glorified.
Lk. 4: 16 And he
came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went
into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up
for to read.
17 And there was delivered unto him the book of
the prophet Esaias. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where
it was written,
18 The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he
hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the
brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight
to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,
19 To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.
20 And he closed the book, and he gave it again
to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the
synagogue were fastened on him.
21 And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears. The Spirit up Jesus because God (the LORD YAHWEH) anointed Him for His earthly ministry. Total unity in this.
1 See below
for a defense of the validity of 1Jn.5:7.
The
genuineness of this text has been called in question by some, because it is
wanting in the Syriac version, as it also is in the
Arabic and Ethiopic versions; and because the old Latin interpreter has it not;
and it is not to be found in many Greek manuscripts; nor cited by many of the
ancient fathers, even by such who wrote against the Arians, when it might have
been of great service to them: to all which it may be replied, that as to the Syriac version, which is the most ancient, and of the
greatest consequence, it is but a version, and a defective one. The history of
the adulterous woman in the eighth of John, the second epistle of Peter, the
second and third epistles of John, the epistle of Jude, and the book of the
Revelations, were formerly wanting in it, till restored from Bishop Ushers copy
by De Dieu and Dr. Pocock,
and who also, from an eastern copy, has supplied this version with this text.
As to the old Latin interpreter, it is certain it is to be seen in many Latin
manuscripts of an early date, and stands in the Vulgate Latin edition of the
London Polyglot Bible: and the Latin translation, which bears the name of Jerom, has it, and who, in an epistle of his to Eustochium, prefixed to his translation of these canonical
epistles, complains of the omission of it by unfaithful interpreters. And as to
its being wanting in some Greek manuscripts, as the Alexandrian, and others, it
need only be said, that it is to be found in many others; it is in an old British
copy, and in the Complutensian edition, the compilers
of which made use of various copies; and out of sixteen ancient copies of
Robert Stephenss, nine of them had it: and as to its
not being cited by some of the ancient fathers, this can be no sufficient proof
of the spuriousness of it, since it might be in the original copy, though not
in the copies used by them, through the carelessness or unfaithfulness of
transcribers; or it might be in their copies, and yet not cited by them, they
having Scriptures enough without it, to defend the doctrine of the Trinity, and
the divinity of Christ: and yet, after all, certain it is, that it is cited by
many of them; by Fulgentius {z}, in the beginning of
the "sixth" century, against the Arians, without any scruple or
hesitation; and Jerom, as before observed, has it in
his translation made in the latter end of the "fourth" century; and
it is cited by Athanasius {a} about the year 350; and
before him by Cyprian {b}, in the middle, of the "third" century,
about the year 250; and is referred to by Tertullian
{c} about, the year 200; and which was within a "hundred" years, or
little more, of the writing of the epistle; which may be enough to satisfy
anyone of the genuineness of this passage; and besides, there never was any
dispute about it till Erasmus left it out in the, first edition of his
translation of the New Testament; and yet he himself, upon the credit of the
old British copy before mentioned, put it into another edition of his
translation. John Gill's Expositor on
1Jn. 5:7
THE AUTHENTICITY OF 1
JOHN 5:7
Updated August 25, 2003 (first published November 3, 1996)
(David
Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box
610368, Port
Huron, MI 48061, 866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org; for
instructions
about subscribing and unsubscribing or changing addresses,
see the
information paragraph at the end of the article) -
The following is excerpted from A Critique of D.A.
Carson's The King
James Version Debate by Thomas Strouse,
1980, Emmanuel Baptist
Theological Seminary, 296 New Britain Ave., Newington, CT
06111,
860-666-1055 --
The specific passage that Carson attempts to repudiate is
the
Johannine Comma (1 John 5:7,8). He lists some
"hand-me-down"
arguments against the inclusion of the passage in question.
For
instance, he states that "it is found in precisely
four Greek
manuscripts" (p. 60). Does he really have the final
count of the MS
evidence for the Johannine Comma? To answer this question
and other
related questions to the authenticity of the Johannine
Comma, several
considerations need to be advanced.
The first consideration is THE THEOLOGICAL ARGUMENT. The
strength of
forgery or interpolation is similarity and not uniqueness.
The
Trinitarian formula, Father, Word, and Holy Spirit"
is unique not
only for John but for all NT writers. The usual formula,
"Father,
Son, and Holy Spirit" would have been assuredly used
by a forger.
[Incidentally, this argument is an antidote for
rationalists who
repudiate the authenticity of the Petrine
authorship of 2 Peter.
Peter uses a unique spelling for his name (Sumeon), which is also the
first word of the Epistle, to demonstrate his mark of
authorship.
What forger would pass three dollar bills? Only the
authority, the
government, would attempt such a unique action.]
The second consideration is THE GRAMMATICAL ARGUMENT. The
omission of
the Johannine Comma leaves much to be desired
grammatically. 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. The
argument that the "Spirit" is personalized and
therefore masculine is
offset by verse 6 which is definitely referring to the
personal Holy
Spirit yet using the neuter gender. [I.H. Marshall is a
current voice
for this weak argument: "It is striking that although
Spirit, water,
and blood are all neuter nouns in Greek, they are
introduced by a
clause expressed in the masculine plural ... Here in I
John he
clearly regards the Spirit as personal, and this leads to
the
personification of the water and the blood." The
Epistles of John
(Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publ. Co., 1978), p. 237n.] Moreover,
the words "that one" (to hen) in verse 8 have no
antecedent if verse
7 is omitted, [Marshall calls this construction
"unparalleled," p.
237] whereas if verse 7 is retained, then the antecedent
is "these
three are one" (to hen).
The third consideration is THE MANUSCRIPT ARGUMENT. Carson
states
that there are only four MSS that contain this reading. He
is wrong
about the facts. The current UBSNT lists six MSS (61,
88mg, 429mg,
629, 636mg, and 918) containing the "Comma."
Moreover, D.A. Waite
cites evidence of some twenty MSS containing it (those
confirmed are
61, 88mg, 629, 634mg, 636mg, omega 110, 429mg, 221, and
2318) along
with two lectionaries (60, 173) and four fathers (Tertullian,
Cyprian, Augustine, and Jerome). ["I John 5.7,"
The Dean Burgon News
5 (1979); 1.]
This evidence is ample to argue for the retention of the
Johannine
Comma. Incidentally, some verses in the UBSNT have been
retained on
far less evidence than this. The whole issue at hand
concerning the
"Comma" is this: did the orthodox interpolate
the verse in the text,
or did the heretics expunge the verse from the text?
Acknowledging
the evidence, the most Christ-honoring approach is the
latter (Thomas
Strouse, A Critique of D.A. Carson's The
King James Version Debate,
1980).
AN ADDITIONAL ARGUMENT FROM THE CIRCUMSTANCES OF THOSE
TIMES
The following is excerpted from Robert Lewis Dabney, "The Doctrinal
Various Readings of the New Testament Greek,"
Discussions:
Evangelical and Theological, Vol. 1, 1891, p. 350-390
(Edinburgh:
Banner of Truth Trust, 1891, reprinted 1967). This first
appeared in
the Southern Presbyterian Review, April 1871:
"We must also consider the time and circumstances in
which the
passage was written. John tells his spiritual children
that his
object is to warn them against seducers (2.26), whose
heresy was a
denial of the proper Sonship and
incarnation (4.2) of Jesus Christ.
We know that these heretics were Corinthians and Nicolaitanes.
Irenaeus and other early writers tell us
that they all vitiated the
doctrine of the Trinity. Cerinthus
taught that Jesus was not
miraculously born of a virgin, and that the Word, Christ,
was not
truly and eternally divine, but a sort of angelic 'Aion' associated
with the natural man Jesus up to his crucifixion. The Nicolaitanes
denied that the 'Aion' Christ
had a real body, and ascribed to him
only a phantasmal body and blood. It is against these
errors that
John is fortifying his "children" and this is
the very point of the
disputed 7th verse. If it stands, then the whole passage
is framed to
exclude both heresies. In verse 7 he refutes the
Corinthian by
declaring the unity of Father, Word and Spirit, and with
the
strictest accuracy employing the neuter HEN EISIN to fix
the point
which Cerinthus denied--the
unity of the Three Persons in One common
substance. He then refutes the Nicolaitanes
by declaring the proper
humanity of Jesus, and the actual shedding, and
application by the
Spirit, of that water and blood of which he testifies as
on
eyewitness in the Gospel.
"John thus warns his spiritual 'children' against
'seducers' who
taught error regarding the true divine Sonship
of the Lord Jesus
Christ and regarding His incarnation and true humanity,
and when we
further see John precisely expose these errors in verses 7
and 8 of
Chapter 5, we are constrained to acknowledge that there is
a
coherency in the whole passage which presents strong
internal
evidence for the genuineness of the 'Received Text.'"
VINDICATION OF 1 JOHN 5:7
Republished August 25, 2003 (first published December 13,
1996)
(David Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service,
P.O. Box
610368, Port Huron, MI 48061, 866-295-4143,
fbns@wayoflife.org; for
instructions about subscribing and unsubscribing or
changing
addresses, see the information paragraph at the end of the
article) -
The following is summarized by the Trinitarian Bible
Society from
Discussions of Robert Lewis Dabney,
"The Doctrinal Various Readings
of the New Testament Greek," Discussions: Evangelical
and
Theological, Vol. 1, 1891, pp. 350-390 (Edinburgh: Banner
of Truth
Trust, 1891, reprinted 1967). It first appeared in the
Southern
Presbyterian Review, April 1871:
In 1 John 5:7,8 the Received Text presents us with two
sorts or
triads of witnesses, one in heaven, the other on earth,
and asserts
the unity of the first triad in one. In the revised Greek
text
underlying the modern versions all this is omitted, and
all reference
to a trinity is obliterated. The significant fact to which
we would
draw attention is that many of the variations proposed by
modern
scholars which have any doctrinal importance appear to
undermine the
doctrine of the Trinity, and particularly the doctrine of
Christ's
deity. The various readings in the manuscripts and
versions may be
counted by hundred thousands, but the vast majority are
insignificant. Among the few important various readings
there are
several that bear on this one doctrine--a doctrine which
was keenly
debated between orthodox believers and heretics just
before the three
most ancient existing copies were made.
The Sabellian and Arian
controversies raged in the 3rd and 4th
centuries and the copies now held in such high repute
among scholars
were written in the 4th and 5th centuries. The hostility
of these
documents to the Trinitarian doctrine impels the mind to
the
conclusion that their omissions and alterations are not
merely the
chance errors of transcribers, but the work of a
deliberate hand.
When we remember the date of the great Trinitarian contest
in the
Church, and compare it with the supposed date of these
documents, our
suspicion becomes much more pronounced. Did the party of Athanasius
introduce spurious testimonies into the text to advance
their
Trinitarian doctrine, or did the party of Arius expunge authentic
testimonies from copies of the sacred text in order to
obscure the
doctrine?
The so-called oldest codices agree with each other in
omitting a
number of striking testimonies to the divinity of Christ,
and they
also agree in other omissions relating to Gospel faith and
practice.
Was this because these ancient documents represent the
views of
copyists who regarded the Athanasian
Trinitarians as corrupters, or
can it be established that the omissions were deliberately
made by
the Arians to expunge the Scriptural evidence against
their case?
All the critics vote against the authenticity of 1 John
5:7 but let
us see whether the case is quite as clear as they would
have it. The
arguments in favour of its claim to genuineness carry a
good degree
of probability and this text is a good instance of the
value of that
internal evidence which recent critics profess to discard.
The full
text follows with the disputed words in brackets:
HOTI TREIS EISIN HOI MARTUROUNTES [EN TO OURANO, HO PATER,
HO LOGOS,
KAI TO HAGION PNEUMA; KAI HOUTOI HOI TREIS HEN EISI. KAI
TREIS EISIN
HOI MARTUROUTES EN TE GE] TO PNEUMA, KAI TO HUDOR, KAI TO
HAIMA; KAI
HOI TREIS EIS TO HEN EISIN.
FOR THERE ARE THREE THAT BEAR WITNESS [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: AND THESE THREE AGREE IN ONE.
The internal evidence against the omission is as follows:
1. The masculine article, numeral and participle HOI TREIS
MARTUROUNTES (there are three that bear witness), are made
to agree
directly with three neuters, an insuperable and very bald
grammatical
difficulty. If the disputed words are allowed to remain,
they agree
with two masculines and one
neuter noun HO PATER, HO LOGOS, KAI TO
HAGION PNEUMA (the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost)
and,
according to the rule of syntax, the masculines
among the group
control the gender over a neuter connected with them. Then
the
occurrence of the masculines
TREIS MARTUROUNTES (three bear witness)
in verse 8 agreeing with the neuters PNEUMA, HUDOR and
HAIMA (Spirit,
water, and blood) may be accounted for by the power of
attraction,
well known in Greek syntax.
2. If the disputed words are omitted, the 8th verse coming
next to
the 6th gives a very bald and awkward, and apparently
meaningless
repetition of the Spirit's witness twice in immediate
succession.
3. If the words are omitted, the concluding words at the
end of verse
8 contain an unintelligible reference. The Greek words KAI
HOI TREIS
EIS TO HEN EISIN mean precisely--"and these three
agree to that
(aforesaid) One." This rendering preserves the force
of the definite
article in this verse. Then what is "that One"
to which "these three"
are said to agree? If the 7th verse is omitted "that
One" does not
appear, and "that One" in verse 8, which
designates One to whom the
reader has already been introduced, has not antecedent
presence in
the passage. Let verse 7 stand, and all is clear, and the
three
earthly witnesses testify to that aforementioned unity
which the
Father, Word and Spirit constitute.
4. John has asserted in the previous 6 verses that faith
is the bond
of our spiritual life and victory over the world. This
faith must
have a solid warrant, and the truth of which faith must be
assured is
the Sonship and Divinity of
Christ. See verses 5,11, 12, 20. The only
faith that quickens the soul and overcomes the world is
(verse 5) the
belief that Jesus is God's Son, that God has appointed Him
our Life,
and that this Life is true God. God's warrant for this
faith comes:
FIRST in verse 6, in the words of the Holy Ghost speaking
by inspired
men; SECOND in verse 7, in the words of the Father, the
Word and the
Spirit, asserting and confirming by miracles the Sonship and unity of
Christ with the Father.; THIRD in verse 8, in the work of
the Holy
Ghost applying the blood and water from Christ's pierced
side for our
cleansing. FOURTH in verse 10, in the spiritual consciousness
of the
believer himself, certifying to him that he feels within a
divine
change.
How harmonious is all this if we accept the 7th verse as
genuine, but
if we omit it the very keystone of the arch is wanting,
and the
crowning proof that the warrant of our faith is divine
(verse 9) is
struck out.
We must also consider the time and circumstances in which
the passage
was written. John tells his spiritual children that his
object is to
warn them against seducers (2.26), whose heresy was a
denial of the
proper Sonship and incarnation
(4.2) of Jesus Christ. We know that
these heretics were Corinthians and Nicolaitanes.
Irenaeus and other
early writers tell us that they all vitiated the doctrine
of the
Trinity. Cerinthus taught that
Jesus was not miraculously born of a
virgin, and that the Word, Christ, was not truly and
eternally
divine, but a sort of angelic "Aion"
associated with the natural man
Jesus up to his crucifixion. The Nicolaitanes
denied that the "Aion"
Christ had a real body, and ascribed to him only a
phantasmal body
and blood. It is against these errors that John is
fortifying his
"children" and this is the very point of the
disputed 7th verse. If
it stands, then the whole passage is framed to exclude
both heresies.
In verse 7 he refutes the Corinthian by declaring the
unity of
Father, Word and Spirit, and with the strictest accuracy
employing
the neuter HEN EISIN to fix the point which Cerinthus denied--the
unity of the Three Persons in One common substance. He
then refutes
the Nicolaitanes by declaring
the proper humanity of Jesus, and the
actual shedding, and application by the Spirit, of that
water and
blood of which he testifies as on eyewitness in the
Gospel--19.34,35.
John warns his spiritual "children" against
"seducers" who taught
error regarding the true divine Sonship
of the Lord Jesus Christ and
regarding His incarnation and true humanity, and when we
further see
John precisely expose these errors in verses 7 and 8 of
Chapter 5, we
are constrained to acknowledge that there is a coherency
in the whole
passage which presents strong internal evidence for the
genuineness
of the "Received Text".
THE MANUSCRIPTS
It is true that the disputed verse has little support from
Greek
copies and has been found in only two--the Montfort MS in Dublin
University Library and the Codex WIZANBURGENSIS of the 8th
century.
The Chief manuscript authority for 1 John 5.7 is in the
Latin
versions and it is found, with few exceptions in all the
codices of
these, both in the Vulgate and in the Old Latin. Among ancient
writers who refer to all or allude to the disputed words
are
Tertullian and Cyprian and many later Latin
authors. The passage is
asserted as genuine Scripture with the almost unanimous
agreement of
Latin Christendom from the earliest ages. It should be
remembered
that the Old Latin was translated from the Greek at a very
early age,
certainly within a century of the death of the Apostles.
The African
churches did not lose their sacred books to the same
extent as the
Greek Churches during the great persecutions and it is in
African
Latin writers that we find some of the earliest citations
of the
disputed verse. Another relevant fact is that the ancient
Latin
churches were not so much tainted with the Arian heresy,
the
suspected source of so many corruptions. In the contest
with Arians,
the Council of Carthage, and other early
"Fathers" appeal to this
verse with questioning confidence as a decisive testimony
against
them.
Origen exercised a powerful influence
over the transmission of the
Greek text in the period before some of the most ancient
copies now
in existence were written. Mosheim describes him as
"a compound of
contraries, wise and unwise, acute and stupid, judicious
and
injudicious; the enemy of superstition, and its patron; a
strenuous
defender of Christianity, and its corrupter; energetic and
irresolute; one to whom the Bible owes much, and from who
it has
suffered much." He was the great corrupter, and the
source, or at
least the channel, of nearly all the speculative errors
which plagued
the Church in after ages. Nolan asserts that the most
characteristic
discrepancies between the common Greek text and the texts
current in
Palestine and Egypt in Origen's
day are distinctly traceable to a
Marcionite or Valentinian
source, and that Origen's was the mediating
hand for introducing these corruptions into the latter
texts.
It is highly significant that important texts bearing on
the
Trinitarian doctrine, which appear in the Greek and Latin
are lacking
in the old MSS of the Palestinian and Egyptian. The
disputed texts
were designed to condemn and refute the errors of the Ebionites and
Gnostics, Corinthians and Nicolaitanes.
It is not surprising that the
influence of Origen should
result in the suppression of some of these
authentic testimonies in the Greek copies, while the old
Latin which
circulated in areas not much affected by Origen's influence, should
preserve such a reading as that found in 1 John 5.7
(Summarized from
by the Trinitarian Bible Society from Discussions of
Robert Lewis
Dabney).