On the corruption of 1 John 5:7-8, the “Comma Johanneum”

Just recently on Facebook, I’ve been quoted a famous text, verses which for hundreds of years were a favorite trinitarian proof text, seemingly the “smoking gun” verse that was needed – 1 John 5:7-8. Here’s how it reads in the King James Bible:

For there are three that bear record 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.

Scholars refer to the parts in bold as the Comma Johanneum. The only problem is that this is demonstrably a corruption; and it was inserted very late. In short, a marginal note from the high middle ages jumped into the main body of the text. The correct reading is

There are three that testify: the Spirit and the water and the blood, and these three agree. (NRSV)

This is only relevant to the Trinity (or the trinity) in that it mentions God’s Spirit/spirit; there’s no longer any statement that the Three are one god. To our shame, this corruption was known to the great scholar Erasmus (1466-1536). But we still have some people citing the corrupted version. This is a failure of biblical education in various churches since that time.

Here’s an in-depth article that tells the whole story: Pastor Sean Finnegan: The Story Behind The Comma Johanneum (1 John 5.7)

Unitarians of various sorts were out in front when it came to undoing this corruption (e.g. Clarke nukes it on p. 121; Lardner, pp. 159-62; Lindsey pp. 495; Priestley p. 136) Of course, now all competent scholars in the relevant fields agree.