Commentary on 1 John 5.7-8 [2 pages]
by Sean Finnegan rated at 2.0 (7 votes so far)
Which is the original Greek text for 1 John 5:7-8?
1 John 5:7-8 [KJV] 7 For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one. 8 And there are three that bear witness in earth, the Spirit, and the water, and the blood: and these three agree in one.
OR
1 John 5:7-8 [NASB] 7 For there are three that testify: 8 the Spirit and the water and the blood; and the three are in agreement.
This article explains when and why the mysterious addition (known as the comma Johanneum) came to be in the most influential version in English history--the KJV.
books
These books, written by people from diverse backgrounds, express the simple truth that God is one. Some of them are more scholary while others are more autobiographical. In addition, a few of them are available to read online. If you would like more in depth treatment of christian monotheism, these books are the next step to take. Note: if you know of other books, not listed here, please leave us feedback.
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John 1.1 Caveat Lector (Reader Beware)
by Anthony Buzzard [13 pages]
rated at 1.6 (out of 6 votes)
In all probability John has been "turned on his head." What he intended was to stave off all attempts to introduce a duality into the Godhead. For John the word was the one God Himself, not a second person. The later, post-biblical shift from "word" as divine promise from the beginning, the Gospel lodged in the mind and purpose of the one God, to an actual second divine "person," the Son, alive before his birth, introduced a principle of confusion and chaos from which the church has never freed itself. This shift was the corrupting seed of later Trinitarianism. God became two and later, with the addition of the holy spirit, three. It remains for believers today to return to belief in Jesus as the human Messiah and in the One God of Israel, his Father, as the "one who alone is truly God" (John 17:3). God is one person not three.