1 John 5:7, the Trinity verse almost no Greek manuscript has
The packet does not decide whether 1 John 5:7 originally lacked the heavenly-witnesses sentence or contained the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit. It traces why both forms are discussed.
The APB text at this verse
The manuscripts, editions, and versions
The committee record at this verse
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. Since revision 3.5, the places where the manuscripts disagree are decided before translation by three readers, Grok 4.3, GPT-6 Astra, and Claude Fable 5.1, who see the readings and the witnesses by age and class but never a reference or a manuscript name. Whatever was done at this verse was done on the language and the evidence alone, and the record is public.
“The base text reads (nothing). The copies also carry ἕν τῷ οὐρανῷ ὁ πατήρ ὁ λόγος καὶ τὸ ἅγιον πνεῦμα καὶ οὗτοι οἱ τρεῖς ἕν εἰσιν [later majority tradition]; the committee kept the base text. Default wording chosen; evidence is strong.”
The committee’s decision at this unit was to retain the base text rather than print the longer wording in the main line: “the committee kept the base text. Default wording chosen; evidence is strong.” Its published text gives 1 John 5:7 as “For there are three who testify:” and places the Spirit, water, and blood in the following verse. The three readers made this decision blind, seeing witnesses only by class and date. No matching rationale note appears, and the pericope audit verdict is clean.
The argument for each reading
If the Comma is Latin growth
The case for reading A begins with the Greek manuscript tradition: its reading is the absence of the sentence. The packet states that no Greek manuscript of the first millennium contains the Comma, and that the wording occurs only in a handful of very late copies, some influenced by Latin. That pattern can be read as a reason to keep the shorter Greek wording in view. The surrounding APB text still has three witnesses: the Spirit, the water, and the blood. On this account, the question is whether the later heavenly-witnesses sentence represents growth within transmission rather than part of the earlier Greek form.
If the sentence is original
The case for reading B rests on a substantial Latin history and on its later Greek printed form. The Old Latin / Vulgate tradition, from c. 4th-5th century A.D., reads Pater, Verbum, et Spiritus Sanctus, and the packet says this sentence became standard in medieval Vulgate copies. The Textus Receptus preserves the corresponding Greek wording in Erasmus’s 1522 third edition. The packet further connects that edition to the line that flowed into the KJV. These facts show why readers encounter the heavenly witnesses in an influential printed Bible tradition, even as the packet distinguishes that history from the earlier Greek manuscript pattern.
The packet supplies a transmission history for the two readings, but not a full account of every stage by which the wording moved between traditions. The variant changes whether 1 John 5:7 includes the heavenly-witnesses sentence. It does not remove the APB’s surrounding references to the Spirit, water, and blood. No doctrine is decided here; most doctrines rest on many passages.
Common questions
Is “these three are one” in the original Greek text of 1 John 5:7?
The packet does not decide that question. It reports the sentence absent in the Greek manuscript tradition, while the Old Latin / Vulgate tradition and the Textus Receptus preserve the heavenly-witnesses wording.
Why does the King James Bible include the heavenly witnesses?
The packet says Erasmus added the sentence in his 1522 third edition after being shown a Greek manuscript containing it. That edition flowed into the KJV.
What does the APB print at 1 John 5:7?
The APB prints “For there are three who testify:” at 1 John 5:7, followed by the Spirit, the water, and the blood at 1 John 5:8.
Related entries
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. The page does not declare which reading is original.
The registry gives no verdict
The registry does not say which reading is original. Each page lists the witnesses, shows what the committee did with the same text, and leaves the judgment to the reader.