Ask Lee... About a Disputed Verse

By Lee Strobel
11.2.2006

Thanks to everyone who submitted a question! CLICK HERE to pose a question for a future newsletter. Though we can’t answer them all, we’ll select the ones that seem to have the broadest appeal – or are the most intriguing!

Q. I saw your recent piece on the Trinity and I have a verse for you. I don't know which translation of the Bible you use, but this is the reason I prefer the King James or New King James. Others don’t have this verse in them! Look for yourself: 1 John 5:7-8, "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."

The Mystery of the Trinity (2:03)

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A. Thanks for your note! I appreciate your concern for demonstrating that the Trinity is thoroughly biblical. However, there’s a reason why I don’t use that passage in making the case for the Trinity: the vast majority of scholars believe it’s inauthentic – that is, it wasn’t part of the original writings that were inspired and inerrant, but was added to the Bible centuries later.

And that’s the opinion of both liberal and conservative experts. For instance, Dr. Daniel B. Wallace of Dallas Theological Seminary, one of the leading authorities on the text of the New Testament, said this wording is not found in any Greek manuscripts prior to the 1500’s.

"The passage made its way into our Bibles through political pressure, appearing for the first time in 1522, even though scholars then and now knew that it was not authentic," he said.

Also, Dr. Bruce Metzger, the greatest textual expert of our generation, calls the passage "certainly spurious" in his classic book The Text of the New Testament.

That’s why it’s not found in modern translations such as the New International Version. Instead, there’s a footnote indicating that this explicit teaching on the Trinity is only found in "late manuscripts." The NIV accurately translates 1 John 5:7-8 this way: "For there are three that testify: the Spirit, the water, and the blood; and the three are in agreement."

Does this damage the case for the Trinity? Not at all. As Wallace notes, the Council of Constantinople in A.D. 381 explicitly affirmed the Trinity without the benefit of this passage, which didn’t get into the Greek New Testament for another millennium!

"Just because a particular verse does not affirm a cherished doctrine," Wallace said, "does not mean that the doctrine cannot be found in the New Testament. In this case, anyone with an understanding of the healthy patristic debates over the Godhead knows that the early church arrived at their understanding from an examination of the data in the New Testament."

In other words, as I spelled out in a previous newsletter, the Bible affirms four truths: The Father is God, the Son is God, the Holy Spirit is God, and there is but one God. And that, in sum, is the Trinity.