These Three are One in 1 John 5:7

John Calvin

The Majority Text dates back to the autographs but because it (being excellent copy) was often worn out by use, new copies were continually made. Although these copies are later than those found in ancient garbage dumps and monastery trash bins, that is explained by their excellency causing them to be worn out by use.

But the strongest evidence for the “Johannine comma” is the context. Its written against those like Cerinthus who theorized a divine Christ descended on the man Jesus, so He was not the Son of God.

There is symmetry in the proof Jesus is the Son of God. Father, Word, Holy Spirit IN HEAVEN “these three are one” testify Jesus is the Son of God, and ON EARTH the witness is paralleled by the water and blood that flowed out from Christ’s heart when the soldiers pierced His side (John 19:34). This signifyed “eternal life” or “living water” gushes out from Jesus because of the New Testament in His Blood shed at Calvary, which the Holy Spirit bears witness to ON EARTH every time someone is converted to Christ (“born of water and the Spirit”, John 3:5-7) “so these three agree as one”

The symmetry is lost when the text is corrupted leaving out the phrase. Three in Heaven and Three on Earth are united in compound unity to proclaim Jesus is the Son of God

4 For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world– our faith.
5 Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?
6 This is He who came by water and blood– Jesus Christ; not only by water, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit who bears witness, because the Spirit is truth.
7 For there are three that bear witness in heaven: the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit; and these three are one.
8 And there are three that bear witness on earth: the Spirit, the water, and the blood; and these three agree as one.
9 If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater; for this is the witness of God which He has testified of His Son.
10 He who believes in the Son of God has the witness in himself; he who does not believe God has made Him a liar, because he has not believed the testimony that God has given of His Son.
11 And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son (1 Jn. 5:4-11 NKJ)

Early Christians were aware of the phrase:

Cyprian (c. 200 – 258 AD) – Cyprian, the Bishop of Carthage, is one of the earliest and most frequently cited fathers in relation to the Comma. In his treatise, “De ecclesiae catholicae unitate,” Cyprian makes a statement that has been interpreted as an allusion to the Comma Johanneum: “The Lord says, ‘I and the Father are one;’ and again it is written of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, ‘And these three are one.'” While this does not directly quote the passage as it appears in later Latin manuscripts, it reflects a Trinitarian understanding that some argue hints at a knowledge of the Comma.
Priscillian (c. 340 – 385 AD) – Priscillian, a Spanish ascetic and theologian, is another figure associated with an early reference to the Comma. His writings include a Latin text that resembles the Comma, but this could reflect a later interpolation or recension in the manuscript tradition rather than an original citation.
Jerome (c. 347 – 420 AD) – Jerome, who translated the Latin Vulgate, noted that the Comma was found in some Greek manuscripts, although it is widely accepted that these references might be to Latin manuscripts, as no existing Greek manuscript from his time or earlier contains the Comma. Jerome’s involvement and comments have been seen as key in the Comma’s inclusion in the Latin Vulgate tradition.
Augustine (354 – 430 AD) – Augustine sometimes mentioned a triadic formula when discussing the unity of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, but his writings do not explicitly quote the Comma. Like Cyprian, his discussions on the Trinity have been scrutinized for possible allusions to the Comma.




“Implication” is the interpretive key unlocking the Holy Scriptures so you see what Christ and His Apostles saw

Critical Thinking

“Implication” is the interpretive key opening the door to a mass of evidence for postmortem opportunity for salvation.

 

36 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?”
37 Jesus said to him, “`You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’
38 “This is the first and great commandment.
39 “And the second is like it:`You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’
40 “On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.” (Matt. 22:36-40 NKJ)

 

In Jesus’ day Rabbinic argument often pivoted upon an implied premise: Jesus asked the Pharisees “if David calls Christ ‘my Lord’ how can he be David’s son? (Mt 22:41-45); ” I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob” proves Sadducees twice wrong, not only about the afterlife but the resurrection of the body for daily God is reminded He promised they and their offspring would inhabit the land physically forever (Gen. 17:7-8; 26:3; 28:13). James quotes Amos 9:11-12 to prove Gentiles were always participants in God’s salvation (Acts. 15:15-18); Paul argues “This, ‘He ascended’– what does it mean but that He also first descended into the lower parts of the earth?'” (Eph. 4:9).

18 You have ascended on high, You have led captivity captive; You have received gifts among men, Even from the rebellious, That the LORD God might dwell there.
19 Blessed be the Lord, Who daily loads us with benefits, The God of our salvation! Selah
20 Our God is the God of salvation; And to GOD the Lord belong escapes from death. (Ps. 68:18-20 NKJ)

Today scholars believe Paul’s application is “contextually problematic.” Not to the School of Hillel where Paul learned exegesis at the feet of Gamaliel (Ac. 22:1-3). Both the translators of the Greek Septuagint and Aramaic Targums of this verse parallel Paul’s Holy Spirit-inspired application. They conclude similar premises from the implication of David’s prophecy.

The prophet David speaks of Christ’s descent into hell and preaching to the formerly disobedient “spirits in prison” (1 Pt. 3:18-22) who gladly give gifts for being shown the LORD could dwell among them. Like the Church, they responded to Christ’s preaching “with the answer of a good conscience towards God”. That is the “like figure” Peter saw in Baptism, not referring to water at all. Having believed Christ’s preaching the formerly dead were raised to a newness of life (Rom. 6:4. Col. 2:12. Eph. 2:3-7) “through the resurrection of Jesus Christ (1 Pt. 3:21-22). Upon learning Christ is the only way to Salvation; the formerly rebellious become God’s gift to the church of apostles prophets evangelists pastors teachers “for the edifying of the body of Christ.” (Eph. 4:7-16). Without postmortem opportunity, none of these connections can be made.

Postmortem Opportunity does not exist for those who deliberately and in full knowledge reject the gospel of Christ (Heb. 6:4-8). Ignorance of God is the only ground for divine mercy. Christ made this clear: “He who is not with me is against me”, which implies Christ’s identity is fully known. However, if “anyone speaks a word against the Son of Man” (incarnation veiling Jesus’ identity) “it will be forgiven” “in the age to come” (Mt. 12:30, 32) for he spoke in ignorance of God.

Explanation of how postmortem opportunity fits into the larger Christian theology of salvation.

This theory of Universal Opportunity is Exclusive to Christ: “Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” (Jn. 14:6 NKJ). “Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12 NKJ). It does not require temporal or geographical luck, everyone from Adam and Eve hears the gospel of Christ preached when their appointed deaths occur. Then is the “Judgment/trial” if Christ’s sacrifice “to bear the sins of many” includes them. To finite creatures living in spacetime this “is impossible, but not with God; for with God all things are possible” (Mk. 10:27 NKJ).

 

https://endtimenews.net/does-the-bible-teach-a-second-chance/




The Majority Text: Divine Preservation and Christian Reason

Scripture of Truth

Many believers have been deceived; they have been made to question if Christ’s words are accurate:

“For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled. (Matt. 5:18 NKJ)

Literal Jots and titles have no meaning to fulfill.

“Jot” and “tittle” symbolize “the smallest meaning”: “Not the smallest meaning in scripture will pass until its fulfilled.”

Christ never promised copyists wouldn’t make errors in copying, that diacritical marks would never change. Or that synonyms wouldn’t be used, or some words misspelled, left our or added, or other minor changes in word order.

He promised none of these “errors of transmission” would change even the smallest meaning and prevent its fulfillment.

AND beyond any reasonable doubt, that is precisely what the Majority Text proves happened. Nothing has changed, we have the same bible of the apostles, its in the Majority Text.

 

None of this implies there is no value to newer translations. I like the NIV and sometimes its use of “dynamic equivalence” explains obscure idiom.

One NIV translation I really like is Isaiah 56:3-7.

Its like a prophetic “word of the LORD” to all born again believers, who love the LORD and carry His cross daily, but made to feel like a foreigner in God’s House—“a dry tree” because they manifest only the miracle of a changed heart and spirit 100% given to Jesus, and not tongues signs or wonders.

3 Let no foreigner who is bound to the LORD say, “The LORD will surely exclude me from his people.” And let no eunuch complain, “I am only a dry tree.”

4 For this is what the LORD says: “To the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths, who choose what pleases me and hold fast to my covenant–
5 to them I will give within my temple and its walls a memorial and a name better than sons and daughters; I will give them an everlasting name that will endure forever.

6 And foreigners who bind themselves to the LORD to minister to him, to love the name of the LORD, and to be his servants, all who keep the Sabbath without desecrating it and who hold fast to my covenant–
7 these I will bring to my holy mountain and give them joy in my house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house will be called a house of prayer for all nations.”
(Isa. 56:3-7 NIV)

Revelation 13:1 “I stood” versus “He stood”




Revelation 13:1 “I stood” versus “He stood”

Revelation 13

Christians are told scholars establish the “original text” through careful analysis, picking the best variant that conforms to their idea of what the original said. However, that is unsound being circular. They produce a text in their own preconceived image and believe its the truth!

They assume where John “stood” or whether he “stood” at all is “wholly immaterial; where the dragon stood is material”. Of course the variant conforming to their presupposition is the one they prefer: “he [the Dragon] stood”, not “I [John] stood”. Dr. Bruce Metzger opines “The latter reading appears to have arisen when copyists accommodated ἐστάθη to the first person of the following εἶδον.”-Metzger, B. M., United Bible Societies. (1994). A Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament, Second Edition a companion volume to the United Bible Societies’ Greek New Testament (4th rev. ed.) (p. 673). United Bible Societies.

Consider the stupidity of having John and the Dragon as tourists calmly gazing out to the sea. Weren’t we just told “the dragon was enraged with the woman, and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ” (Rev. 12:17 NKJ). Wow! That was a short war!

If we let the blind Scholars rewrite our scriptures, what does that say about us? Let the shiny dragon capture their attention.

We must interpret the phrase “I stood upon the sand of the sea” as allusion to Daniel 7:4-8:27 where the “interpretive keys to the symbolism of beasts and horns are found.

The monster having seven heads and ten horns (Rev. 13:1-5) is the last global government to rise in the seven-year end time “week” before the coming Kingdom of God. In the book of Daniel this is the fourth and last government beast to rise (Dan. 7:7). Because it is a Grecian version of the old Byzantine Roman Empire (before the split) it has 7 heads (count the heads Dan. 7:2-7) in a leopard body. The head that died and was revived is Ancient Babylon, its first head. So this entire beast is in effect the Eighth king “out of seven” (Rev. 17:7-10). The Beast is both Empire and Emperor just as in Daniel 7:17.

John saw two phases of this revived Grecian Roman Babylonian Empire Beast. It rises from a sea of spiritism (Job 38:16-17; Isa. 27:1; Ps. 74:13; Dan. 7:2 compare Rev. 21:1) when Satan and his fallen angels appear on earth (Rev. 12:7-9) insisting they can only work through global government to deliver global peace and safety (1 Thess. 5:3).

They install the False Christ Rider on the White Horse as its first “Chancellor”, “the mouth of a lion” (Rev. 13:2). The second phase begins at mid week, after 3.5 years when Adonikam the false Christ breaks the covenant he made with the world’s religions and reveals he actually is the Seed of Satan “Son of Destruction” (Dan. 9:27; 2 Thess. 2:3-4; Rev. 13:5). He now denies the Father and Son and blasphemes Yahweh God, both His dwelling and His angels:

5 And he was given a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies, and he was given authority to continue for forty-two months.
6 Then he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme His name, His tabernacle, and those who dwell in heaven.
7 It was granted to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them. And authority was given him over every tribe, tongue, and nation.
8 All who dwell on the earth will worship him, whose names have not been written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
9 If anyone has an ear, let him hear.
10 He who leads into captivity shall go into captivity; he who kills with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints. (Rev. 13:5-10 NKJV)

The Majority Text: Divine Preservation and Christian Reason
The Grecian-Roman Empire with Seven Heads and Ten Horns