The Anselm Project Bible · The Crux Registry

1 John 5:7 — the Trinity verse almost no Greek manuscript has

The packet does not settle whether 1 John 5:7 originally had only the Spirit, water, and blood or also the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit. It sets the Greek and Latin evidence beside the printed edition that included the longer sentence.

three witnesses: the Spirit, the water, and the blood
ὁ πατήρ, ὁ λόγος, καὶ τὸ ἅγιον πνεῦμα
ho patēr, ho logos, kai to hagion pneuma — the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit
The famous heavenly-witnesses sentence appears in no Greek manuscript before the late Middle Ages — yet it reached the King James Bible. This page is how.
IThe Reading

What the APB prints.

For there are three who testify:
1 John 5:7 (source numbering) · Anselm Project Bible
IIThe Witnesses

Every witness, on the record.

Greek manuscript tradition
Greek mss · 2nd century A.D. onward
the sentence is absent
No Greek manuscript of the first millennium contains the Comma; it appears in a handful of very late copies, some influenced by Latin. This row says the sentence is absent in the Greek manuscript tradition and appears only in a handful of very late copies, some influenced by Latin. NT Virtual Manuscript Room (INTF)
Old Latin / Vulgate tradition
Lat · from c. 4th-5th century A.D.
Pater, Verbum, et Spiritus Sanctusthe Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit
The sentence grew up in the Latin tradition and became standard in medieval Vulgate copies. From c. 4th-5th century A.D., this tradition contains Pater, Verbum, et Spiritus Sanctus and says the sentence became standard in medieval Vulgate copies. Biblia Sacra Vulgata (academic-bible.com)
Textus Receptus (Erasmus, 3rd edition, 1522)
TR · printed edition, 1522
ὁ πατήρ, ὁ λόγος, καὶ τὸ ἅγιον πνεῦμαthe heavenly witnesses, in Greek at last
Erasmus, shown a Greek manuscript containing it, added the sentence in his third edition — the line that flowed into the KJV. None of WH, Tregelles, NA28, or the Byzantine textform prints it. Erasmus added the sentence in the 1522 third edition after being shown a Greek manuscript containing it. Textus Receptus at STEPBible
supports if the comma is latin growthsupports if the sentence is original
IIIThe Blind Test

What a blind committee did here.

The APB's translation committee works blind: it is never told it is translating the Bible, never given a book name or a verse number, and it never sees the witnesses above. Whatever it did at this verse, it did on the language alone — and its record is public.

Committee recordaudit verdict: clean

The blind committee's record supplies no rationale note for this crux. The APB text prints, “For there are three who testify:” and then names the Spirit, the water, and the blood. The pericope's audit verdict is 'clean'.

IVThe Stakes

The case for each reading.

If the Comma is Latin growth

Reading A follows the Greek manuscript tradition as described in the packet: the heavenly-witnesses sentence is absent, leaving the three witnesses as the Spirit, the water, and the blood. The row characterizes this as the reading of Greek mss from 2nd century A.D. onward and says that no Greek manuscript of the first millennium contains the Comma. It also notes that the sentence appears in only a handful of very late Greek copies, with some influenced by Latin. On this account, the shorter wording reflects a Greek transmission in which the three witnesses remain the Spirit, water, and blood, while the longer sentence represents Latin growth reaching some late Greek copies.

If the sentence is original

Reading B has substantial presence within the Latin evidence supplied here. The Old Latin / Vulgate tradition reads Pater, Verbum, et Spiritus Sanctus and is said to have made the sentence standard in medieval Vulgate copies. The Textus Receptus, Erasmus, 3rd edition, 1522 also prints the Greek sentence, ὁ πατήρ, ὁ λόγος, καὶ τὸ ἅγιον πνεῦμα. Its row says Erasmus added it in his third edition after being shown a Greek manuscript containing it. The case for B therefore rests on an established Latin form and on its eventual appearance in a Greek printed edition, rather than on an early Greek manuscript chain described in this packet.

The supplied material leaves unresolved how the longer sentence entered the Greek manuscript copies described as very late, and how its Latin history relates to that appearance. The variation changes whether the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit are named here. It does not by itself settle broader doctrine: most doctrines rest on many passages.

VQuestions

Asked plainly.

Is these three are one in the Greek manuscript tradition?

The packet says the Greek manuscript tradition lacks the heavenly-witnesses sentence and reads the Spirit, the water, and the blood. It says the longer sentence appears in a handful of very late Greek copies.

Why does the Textus Receptus include the longer reading?

Its row says Erasmus added the sentence in his third edition after being shown a Greek manuscript containing it. The edition is dated 1522.

Where is the longer reading found in the supplied evidence?

The Old Latin / Vulgate tradition reads Pater, Verbum, et Spiritus Sanctus, and the Textus Receptus prints ὁ πατήρ, ὁ λόγος, καὶ τὸ ἅγιον πνεῦμα.

VIThe Registry

More places where the manuscripts argue.

Witness readings for critical editions are quoted from the SBLGNT apparatus (CC BY 4.0); Hebrew text from the Westminster Leningrad Codex (Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible). Readings of ancient manuscripts and versions are cited as published scholarly fact with their sources linked above. Nothing on this page declares a winner — the evidence is the point.

Weigh it yourself.

The registry doesn't tell you which reading is true. It puts every witness on one page, shows what a blind committee did with the same language, and leaves the verdict where it belongs — with the reader.