THE GOD OF
THE BIBLE IS ONE
In the Holy Bible, NOT ONE Holy Spirit inspired verse ever had the
word “three” next to God.
The God of
the Bible is ONE ENTITY, being, person.
Moses said, “God is One
Lord” Deut. 6:4 Jesus said, “God is One
Lord” Mark 12:29
Paul said,
“There is none other God but One” 1Cor. 8:4,6
Every other verse in the Bible
agrees with these foundational statements of truth.
As you read
this verses please keep in mind what God says regarding Abraham in Ezekiel
33:24 “Abraham was one” and ask yourself
if Abraham was three persons or one person.
What is so hard to understand about the word “one”? you must agree that one is one.
ENOUGH SCRIPTURAL EVIDENCE
1.- Hear,
O Israel: “The Lord our God is One Lord”
Deut. 6:4
2.- “… did
not ONE fashion us in the womb” Job 31:15
3.- “O my
GOD… thou Holy One of Israel” Psalm 71:22
4.- “…
and tempted GOD and limited the Holy One of Israel” Psalm78:41
5.- “the
Holy One of Israel is our King”Psalm 89:18
6.- They
have provoked the Holy One of Israel” Isaiah 1:4
7.- The
Lord of Hosts, the mighty One of Israel” Isaiah 1:24
8.- the counsel of the Holy One of Israel “
Isaiah 5:19
9.- the
word of the Holy One of Israel” Isaiah 5:24
10.- “the
Lord, the Holy One of Israel” Isaiah 10:24
11.-
“great is the Holy One of Israel”Isaiah 10:20
12.-
respect to the Holy One of Israel”Isaiah 17:7
13.-
Rejoice in the Holy One of Israel” Isaiah 29:19
14.-
the Holy One of Jacob… the God of
Israel” Isaiah 29:23
15.- “the
Holy One of Israel” Isaiah 30:11
16.- thus
said The Holy One of Israel” Isaiah 30:12
17.- for
thus said The Lord God, the Holy One of Israel”Isaiah 30:15
18.-
..the Mighty One, of Israel Isaiah
30:29
19.-
…they look not unto the Holy One of Israel” Isaiah 31.1
20.- …the
Holy One of Israel” Isaiah 37:23
21.- ..
To whom will ye liken me… saith the Holy One” Isaiah 40:25
22.- thy Redeemer, the Holy One of
Israel” Isaiah 41:14
23.-
…shalt glory in the Holy One of Israel
Isaiah 41:17
24.- …the Holy One of Israel hath created it, Isaiah 41:20
25.- I am
the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel”
Isaiah 43:3
26.- … your redeemer, the Holy One of
Israel Isaiah 43:14
27.- I am The Lord your Holy One, the creator
of Israel, your King Ïsaiah 43:15
28.- …The Lord of Hosts is His Name,
the Holy One of Israel Isaiah 47:4
29.- …the
Holy One of Israel; I am the Lord thy God
Isaiah 48:17
30.- …the redeemer of Israel, and his Holy
One Isaiah 49:17
31.- the
Lord that is faithful, and the Holy One of Israel
32.- …all flesh shall know that I the Lord am
thy Savior and thy Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob” Isaiah 49:26
33.- For thy maker… The Holy One of Israel;
The God of the whole earth” Isaiah 54:5 (The Lord
is our maker and our redeemer)
34.- …the Lord thy God and for the
Holy One of Israel” Isaiah 55:5
35.- For thus saith the high and lofty One that
inhabiteth eternity Isaiah 57:15
36.- …the Lord thy God, and to the Holy One of
Israel Isaiah 60:9
37.- The
Zion of the Holy One of Israel Isaiah
60:14
38.-
Thy redeemer, the mighty One of Jacob
Isaiah 60:16
39.-
…against the Holy One of Israel Jeremiah
50:29
40.- God, the Lord of Hosts… the Holy One of
Israel: Jeremiah 51:5
41.- …
and I heard a voice of One that spoke… “Thus saith The Lord God” Ezekiel 1:28; 2:4
42.- …the heathen shall know that I am the Lord,
the Holy One of Israel… saith the Lord God” Ezekiel 39:7-8
43.- I am God and no man; the Holy One… Hosea 11:9
44.- O Lord my God, mine Holy One… O mighty
God… Habakkuk 1:12
45.- God came from Teman, and the Holy One from
mount Paran… Habakkuk 3:3
46.- in that day shall there be ONE LORD and his
name ONE Zachariah 14:9 ( in the new earth)
47.- Have we not all ONE father? Hath not ONE God
created us… Malachi 2:10 One God created us.
48.- Why callest thou me good? Hath not ONE GOD
created us? Mathew 19:17 One creator
49.- …one is your father, which is
in heaven… one is your master, even Christ”
(habla Jesus) Mathew 23:9-10 (One God and Master)
50.-
…there is none good but ONE, that is God… Mark 10:18
51.- The Lord our God is One Lord (Jesus
speaking) Mark 12:29
52.-
…none is good, save One, that is God.
Luke 18:19
53.-
…we have ONE father, even God John 8:41
54.- I honor my father… there is ONE that
seeketh and judgeth” (Jesus speaking )
John 8:49-50
55.- Seeing it is ONE GOD which shall justify…
(Romans 3:30
56.- …there is none other God but One 1 Corinthians 8:6
57.- Now a mediator is not a mediator of
one, but God is One Galatians 3:20
(One God is the mediator)
58.- ONE GOD and Father of all, who
is above all Ephesians 4:6
59.- For there is ONE GOD, and one mediator
between God and men, the MAN Christ
Jesus. 1Timothy 2:5
(….. we know that the divinity of Jesus is
the ONE GOD, and God is eternal, can not die,
but he made himself one with human Jesus to become a mediator and a
Savior, a Redeemer as we have read before. )
(that is the reason the ONE mediator between God and men is the Man
Christ Jesus.
60.-
Thou believest that there is ONE God; thou doest well James 2:19
61.-
Draw nigh to God…there is ONE Lawgiver, who is able to save and to
destroy (GOD, THE LAW GIVER AND WHO DESTROYS, ARE ONE)
62.-
But Ye have an unction from THE HOLY ONE
1Jhon 2:20
(the unction of the Holy Spirit is given by
THE HOLY ONE,)
63.- …behold, a throne was set in heaven, and
ONE sat on the throne…LORD GOD ALMIGHTY v8 Revelation 4:2
WHAT ABOUT ELOHIM?
The
Hebrew noun for God is Elohim, and because it can have plural connotations,
some see in it a plurality of persons in the Deity, In light of the whole of Scripture, including
the sixty-five verses cited, this is doctrinal nonsense. Elohim is used of the ONE true God some 2300
times in the Bible, and every last time it takes a singular verb! Of Genesis1:1 “In the beginning God (Elohim)
created the heavens and the earth “ the Trinitarian scholars who translated the
NIV study Bible, are forced by the facts to say in their text notes:
“God
created. The Hebrew noun Elohim, is
plural, but the verb is singular, a normal usage in the O>T (old testament) when reference is to the ONE
true God. This use of the plural
expresses intensification rather than number and has been called the plural of majesty,
or of potentiality.
The noted
Trinitarian Scholar Professor Charles C Ryrie says regarding the noun Elohim
“To conclude plurality of persons from the name itself is dubious” (Basic
Theology; p. 58) Of course some people will grasp at any straw in an effort to
support their mistaken tradition.
THE
INFLUENCE OF A PAGAN NAMED PLATO
There is
not one verse of Scripture that says that God is three of anything! Not Three
co-equal, co-eternal persons, One God
–Three Persons, or three manifestations of One God, The terms Trinity, Triune,
Blessed Trinity, Holy Trinity, God the Son., God the Holy Spirit, are not
Biblical terminology. Their use is a
sure ticket to a misunderstanding of who God is, and the seriousness of this
error is that is robing our Father of His glory as THE ONE AND ONLY MOST HIGH
GOD!, THE ONLY SAVIOR, THE ONLY
REDEEMER.
SO HOW
DID CHRISTIANS FALL INTO THIS MISTAKEN VEW OF GOD?
The
shocking answer to that question is… We followed a blind guide, the pagan philosopher Plato. It is an indisputable fact of history that
Plato was teaching a doctrine of the Trinity in his Academy in Athens, Greece, 375 years before the birth of Jesus Messiah.
The ancient Greeks even had a city named
Hagia Triada (Holy Trinity).
According to the noted 20th century historian Will Durant,
Plato had a weird fascination with triangles
and the numeral three. Look at
the threes” that fascinated him. He saw
three elements in nature, fire, wind and
water. He saw three things at work in
nature, Motion, creation and a soul or principle of life. The soul or principle of life has three
parts, Desire, will and thought. Each part has its own virtue (three) moderation, courage and wisdom.
Beauty lies in three, fitness,
symmetry and order. A work of art should
have three features, head, trunk and
limbs. Love is the pursuit of beauty,
and has three stages, love of the body, the soul, or of truth. The soul of a man has three parts, mind,
aspirations, and sensations. An ideal
society has three parts, productive
(workers), protective (warriours), and governing(rulers).
But his three that has permeated
Christian doctrine and still troubles the understanding of millions of
Christians today is, his triune view of
God! It consists of 1.-
The Good, or first cause- “God”
2.- The changeless Ideas, Reason,
Wisdom or Mind of God- The “LOGOS”
3.- A soul or principle- the
“Spirit”of all things.
(The life
of greece; p. 510-518)
TRINITARIAN
PROFESSORS R. OLSON AND C. HALL… Make
the following shocking statement in their book Trinity:
“Very
early in the history of Theology, reflection began to focus on the immanent Trinity as church fathers became obsessed
with Greek ideas…”p. 110
TRINITARIAN
SCHOLAR MILLARD ERICKSON SAYS IN HIS WORK,
God in three persons:
“We have
observed that the specific meta-physical vehicle used to express THE CLASSICAL DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY
as originally formulated was a Greek
metaphysics… While it is customary to
assume that the major philosophical influence on the Greek (church) fathers was Plato and the Stoics, Durant believes the
influence of Aristotle should not be overlooked” p. 211, 259. (What do these men have to do with
Christian doctrine?)
Trinitarian
professor Shirley C. Guthrie, Jr. writes in his book Christian Doctrine:
“The Bible does not teach the doctrine of the
Trinity. The language of the
doctrine is the language of the ancient church, taken from classical Greek philosophy” p. 76-77
The educated apostle Paul knew how
insidious this Greek philosophy is and warned against it strongly in Colossians
2:8
“Beware lest any man spoi9l you through
philosophy and vain deceit, after the
tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ” Note:
Philosophy is Greek philosophy, Greek
in origin, and Plato is its father.
As Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “Plato is philosophy, and philosophy, Plato”
Paul also
knew that after his departure the church
would be devastated by false teaching.
He gave the following serious warning to the elders of the church At Ephesus
(and us),
“For I
know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you,
not sparing the flock. Also of your own
selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after
them. Therefore, watch and remember,
that by the space of three years I ceased not to warn every one night and day
with tears” Acts. 20:29-31
And
regrettable it did happen! After the
death of Paul and the other Apostles, men began to be “converted” who history
plainly says where followers of Plato and who became “Christian philosophers”
The list
includes:
Justin
Martyr (110-165 AD)
Clement
of Alexandria (150-215 AD)
Origen
(185-254 AD)
Athanasius
(297-373 AD)
Augustine
( 354-430 AD)
They
brought with them their Platonic concept of a triune God and began to “sprinkle
nuggets of Trinitarian ore” in their writings,
“that will later be mined and purified” (Olson and Hall; The
Trinity: p 17)
The
Enciclopedia Britannica says of this Platonic influence:
“From the middle of the 2nd.
Century AD. Christians who had some training in Greek Philosophy began to feel
the need to express their faith in its terms…
The philosophy that suited them best was Platonism. The first Christian to use Greek philosophy
in the service of the Christian faith was Justin Martyr. Each of the great Christian Platonist
understood Platonism and applied it to the understanding of his faith in his
own individual way. But the CHRISTIAN
PLATONISM that had the widest, deepest, and most lasting influence in the West
was that of St. Augustine of Hippo. In
his theology, insofar as Augustine’s thought about God was Platonic, he conformed fairly closely to the general
pattern of Christian Platonism. Perhaps the most distinctive influence of
Plotinian Neo-Platonism on Augustine’s
thinking about God was in his Trinitarian
Theology . Because he thought that something like the Christian doctrine of the
Trinity was to be found in Plotinus and Porphyry (two pagan thinkers-followers
of Plato) , he tended to regard it as a philosophical doctrine and tried to
make philosophical sense of it…
Britannica-Macropaedia; Vol. 25; p 903-904
A GOD
CONSISTING OF TWO PERSONS
In 325 AD
The Roman Emperor Constantine convened the Council of Nicea to Settle a very
heated dispute between the bishops of two cities, Alexandria and Antioch, regarding the relationship
between Jesus Christ and God the Father.
This dispute was troubling his empire and he desperately needed to
resolve it.
After
thirty days of debate, Constantine arose
from the gold chair on which he had presided over the meetings and gave a
lengthy speech, just before the issue was decided by majority vote. The speech was recorded by Eusebius, “the
father of church history” Shockingly,
in this gathering that was about to
decide for Christianity for the next 1700 years the all important question,
“Who is Jesus Christ”? The emperor did
not quote one Bible verse; not one word
from Peter, Paul, John, James, Jude or Jesus himself. Who did he quote? PLATO!
Yes The homosexual, pagan, Greek
philosopher, Plato! He called Plato
“The gentlest and most refined of all” and credited him with teaching us the
doctrine of the Second God… distinguishing them numerically as Two… and
te being of the second deity proceeding
from the first.
“He
says, “Plato’s sentiments where sound”
and “a doctrine not merely to be
admired, but profitable too” He went on to quote the demon inspired priestess
who spoke as an oracle at the temple of Apollo at Erythrea, the demon oracle at Cuma, and the Romans Cicero and Virgil. (The Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers; Vol. 1 p. 566-576)
It was in
this atmosphere that the 300 bishops voted that Jesus is God just as the Father
is “of one substance with the Father”
Thus Christianity arrived at a doctrine of God consisting of two
persons.
THE BIRTH
OF CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY
As late
as the year 350 AD there was still no Christian doctrine of the Trinity on this
planet. However, fifty six years after
Nicea, in 381 AD the emperor Theodosius
called the Council at Constantinople to try and settle the continuing quarrel
regarding the personhood of God. Three
bishops from the province of Cappadocia in Asia Minor, also followers of Plato,
had supposedly figured it out, there is one God whe exists as Three
Persons. They came to be called “The three Cappadocians” and one, Gregory of
Nazianzus presided over the Council.
After much bitter wrangling the views of the three Cappadocians won out,
and this council of 186 bishops adopted the “Creed of Constantinople” It states
in part:
“We
believe in the Holy Spirit, the
Lord, the giver of life, wo proceeds from the Father and the Son With the Father and the Son he is worshiped and glorified” Encyclopedia Americana; vol 20; p 310
Thus for
the first time in history, Christianity had a doctrine of “Three persons in one
God” “the Trinity” The doctrine of Plato
had prevailed!
Note:
According
to Jesus, Peter, and Paul, Luke, John, The Holy Spirit is not a third person of
God, but rather the Spirit of the Father, and the Spirit of Christ as well… Matt
10:20, Mark 13:11, John 15:26, Luke 4:18, Luke 24:49, Isa. 61:1, Acts, 2:17,
33; Rom. 8:11, Eph. 3:14-16
Filipenses
1:19, Romanos
8:9 , 1 Pedro
1:11 Lucas
4:18 Hechos
5:9, Hechos
8:39, 2
Corintios 3:17, 18, Juan 1:33 Juan 7:39 Juan
14:26 . Juan
20:22
NOTE…(we understand is only One Holy Spirit),
it bring us to the truth that God the Father and Jesus are
ONE Person. Yes, it makes us feel ignorant about the conception
of Christ, in human terms, or understanding,
but since we know that Jesus Christ
was 100 human and in Him abided the fullness of the Deity according to Colosenses
2:9-10 , and the Holy Spirit is not an individual person, we can understand that God was in Christ
reconciling the world to Himself. Physically,
As our other studies have shown.
Christ is our God because He
choose to present Himself to us as The
Christ, Jesus, The savior, Emanuel,
God with us. While He was in this earth he was the son of God, because
He presented himself as his only begotten son
But as He said to Phillip, whom has seeing
Him has seen The Father… we must remember that
“God was in Christ” or in our
words, the two natures of Christ. Divine and Human.
Continuing with the History about the Trinity.
Consider the following quotes:
Trinitarian
Scholar Charles C Ryrie:
“In the second half of the fourth century, three theologians from
the province of Cappadocia in eastern Asia Minor gave definitive shape to the doctrine of the Trinity” (Basic Theology; p. 65)
Trinitarian Baptist professor
Millard J. Erickson:
“What athanasius did was to extend his teaching about the Word to the
Spirit, so that God exists eternally
as a Triad sharing one identical and indivisible substance. The Cappadocians-
Basil, Gregory of Nazianzus, and Gregory
of Nyssa- developed the doctrine of the Spirit, and thus of the Trinity, further”
(God in Three Persons p. 90)
Harper-Collins Encyclopedia of
Catholicism:
“Trinitarian
doctrine as such emerged in the fourth century, due
largely to the efforts of Athanasius and
the Cappadocians… The doctrine of the Trinity formulated in
the late fourth century thus affirms
that the one God exists as three persons” P. 1271
Collier’s Encyclopedia:
“Of the many who wrote on
theology… Basil of Caesaerea ( fourth century) who, with his brother, Gregory
of Nyssa, and their friend, Gregory
of Nazianzus, fixed de orthodox
formulation of the doctrine of the Trinity” (vol 9, pl 41-42)
Encyclopedia Britannica:
The Greek
philosophical theology that developed during the Trinitarian controversies over the
relationships among the persons of the
Godhead, which were settled at the
ecumenical councils of Nicea (325) and Constantinople (381) owed a great deal to Origen on both sides,
orthodox and heretical. Its most
important representatives on the orthodox side were the three Christian Platonist (i.e.
followers of Plato) theologians of
Cappadocia, Basil of Caesaerea, Gregory of Nazianzus, and Basil’s brother Gregory of Nyssa”
( Macropaedia vol 25, p. 903 )
Nineteenth century Adolph
Harnack:
“The Cappadocians were still relatively independent theologians, worthy disciples and admirers of Origen,
using new forms to make the faith
of Athanasius, intelligible to
contemporary thought, and thus establishing
them. Though with modifications”
(History of Dogma; vol 3 p. 151).
Gregory (of
Nyssa) was able to demonstrate the application of the incarnation more definitely than Athanasius could… But he does so
by the aid of a thoroughly Platonic idea
chich is only slightly suggested in Athanasius, and is not really covered by Biblical reference”
(Vol 3; p 297)
Collier’s
Encyclopedia:
During the 4th century… the content of Christian dogma was
developed… by the very able men who have come to be known as the Fathers of the Church. Living in the eastern part of the Roman
Empire, and writing in Greek, were St. Basil of Caesarea, ST. Gregory of Nyssa, and St. Gregory of Nazianzus. These
men continued the speculative and Platonist tendencies of Clement and Origen.
(Vol. 15; p. 318 )
Note… The fathers of what Church? The Catholic church!
The
Encyclopedia Britannica sums it up well:
‘Although
Athanasius prepared the ground, constructive agreement on the central
doctrine of the Trinity was not reached in his lifetime (297-373) AD. The
decisive contribution to the Trinitarian argument was made by a remarkable
group of philosophically minded theologians from Cappadocia- Basil
of Caesarea, his younger brother Gregory of Nyssa, and his lifelong
friend Gregory of Nazianzus. So far as Trinitarian dogma is concerned,
the Cappadocian succeeded… in formulating a conception of God as three
persons in one essence that eventually proved generally acceptable” (
Macropaedia; vol 16; p. 319)
Note…. Athanasius died in 373 AD but “agreement on the central doctrine of the Trinity was
not reached in his lifetime” Wow!
The above
statement is shocking since the great majority of Christians today believe in
the non biblical doctrine of the Trinity.
Again: “So far as Trinitarian
dogma is concerned, the Cappadocians succeeded… in formulating a conception of
God as three persons in one essence that
eventually proved generaly acceptable (at Constantinople in 381 AD)
PROOF THAT 1JOHN 5:7 IS A LATER INSERTION.
Author
Lee Strobel in his book, The Case for Christ, interviewed Bruce M. Metzger, PH>D>,
an 84 year old authority on the authenticity of the NT. Who authored or edited fifty books relating
to the subject. He puts the “grand total
of (early) Greek manuscripts at 5,664” Metzger tells Strobel that if someone
challenges the authenticity of 1 John 5:7
“For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word
and the Holy Ghost; and these three are
one,” saying that’s not in the earliest
manuscripts, “ His answer would be “ AND
THAT’S TRUE ENOUGH. I think that these
words are found in only about seven or eight copies (manuscripts) all from the
fifteenth or sixteenth century. I ACKNOWLEDGE THAT IS NOT WHAT THE AUTHOR
OF 1 John was inspired to write. “ Strobel and Metzger are both trinitarian
in belief, but they have cast doubt on one of the main scriptures Trinitarians
use to support their doctrine.
The NIV
quotes in its text notes the words “The
Father, the Word and the Holy Spirit, and these three are one. And there are three that testify on earth” and then explains why they are not included
in the text of the text NIV. They say, “the addition is not found in any
Greek manuscript or N>T> translation prior to the 16th
century” These words are also not found
in the New Revised standard version, the
New American Standard Bible, the English
Standard version, the Holman Christian Standard Bible, or the New Living
Translation.
Respected
Trinitarian Biblical Scholar professor Charles C Ryrie agrees. Writing in his well known work, Basic
Theology, he states:
“The NT. Contains
no explicit statement of the doctrine of the Triunity of God (Since these three
are one”in 1 John 5:7 is apparently not a part of the genuine text of
Scripture”
Trinitarian Millard J.
Erickson (Southern Baptist) in his book
God in Three Persons, says that some oppose the doctrine of the Trinity because
of:
… The apparent silence of the Bible on this
important subject. This contention notes
that there really is not explicit
statement of the doctrine of the Trinity in the bible, particularly since
the revelation by textual criticism of
the spurious nature of 1John 5:7
. Other passages have been seen on closer study to be applicable only under the greatest strain”
The New
Bible Commentary says regarding 1John
5:7
“ The whole
of verse 7 of the Authorized Version is omitted in the Revised Version because
it was not written by John”
Explanation
of 1 John 5:7, using the Bible as its own interpreter.
1 John
5:7 “For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and
the Holy Ghost: and these three are one.”
Although
this verse of Scripture is often used by those who believe in three persons of
God, it actually refutes this view, for it says that “these three are one.”
Some
interpret this phrase to mean one in unity as a man and wife are one. But it
should be pointed out that this view is essentially polytheistic.
If the
word one referred to unity instead of
a numerical designation, then the Godhead can be viewed as many gods in a
united council or government. I unity
were meant, the verse should have read, “These three agree as one.”
It is
also interesting to note that this verse does not use the word Son, but Word. If Son were the special name of a separate
person in the Godhead, and if this verse were trying to teach separate persons,
why did it use Word instead of Son?
Son does not refer does not refer
primarily to deity, but Word does.
The Word is not a separate person from the Father and more than a man and his
word are separate persons.
Rather,
the Word is the thought or plan in the mind of God and also the expression of
God.
In a
similar way, the Holy Ghost or Holy Spirit is not a separate person from the
Father any more than a man and his spirit are separate persons.
Holy
Spirit just describes what God is. 1 John 5:7 says that three bear record in
heaven; that is, God has recorded Himself in three modes of activity or has
revealed Himself in three ways. He has at least three heavenly roles: Father,
Word (not Son), and Holy Ghost.
Furthermore,
these three roles describe one God “these three are one.”
1 John
5:7 in a way that is consistent with the rest of Scripture. However, there is
practically unanimous agreement among bible scholars that this verse is really
not part of the Bible at all! All major translations since the King James
Version have omitted it, including the Revised Standard Version, the Amplified
Bible, and the New International Version. So does the generally accepted Greek
text (Nestlé’s text). The NIV renders 1 John 5:7, 8 as, “For there are three
that testify: The Spirit, the water and the blood; and these three are in
agreement.”
The KJV
included verse 7 only because the 1522 edition of the Greek text compiled by
Erasmus included it. Originally Erasmus had excluded this passage from his
editions of 1516 and 1519 because it was not in any of 5000 Greek manuscripts
but only in late manuscripts of the Vulgate//the Latin version then used by the
Roman Catholic Church.
When the
Catholic Church put pressure on Erasmus to include this verse, he promised to
do so if they could find even one Greek manuscript that had it. They finally
produced one, so Erasmus reluctantly added the verse in, even though the
manuscript so produced dated from 1520. (See Norman Geisler and William Nix, A
General Introduction to the Bible, Chicago; Moody Press, 1968, p. 370.)
From this
evidence, it seems plausible that some overzealous copyist saw “there are three
that testify” and decided to insert a little teaching of his own. Certainly,
the passage in question is completely unrelated to the rest of John’s
discussion here and interrupts the flow of his logical argument.
Note: Although all the evidence this passage was
not originally a part of 1 John, God had His hand of protection and
preservation on His Word. Despite the efforts of man, God did not allow the
passage to contradict His Word. Whether a person believes that 1 John 5:7 was
originally part of the Bible or that it was a later interpolation, it does not
teach three persons of God but rather reaffirms the Bible teaching of one
indivisible God .
One
question in closing: Who would have had
the audacity to commit such an act of forgery?
I say this with compassion for a fellow human being, but I know that he
will be condemned at Jesus coming for
inserting uninspired words into God’s Bible.
Revelations 22:18-19 Please do
not follow them…
I would
choose to describe God as;
One indivisible Holy God, that presented
Himself to his people and to us in the person of Jesus, and comes to us in
Spirit.
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