Some Say 1st John 5:7 as It Reads "Father, Word and Holy Ghost", Was Not in the Original Text and Is an Alteration to the Bible. What Do You Say?
1) Direct Answer
I receive 1 John 5:7 as Scripture as it stands. It is not an alteration to me; it is the Word of God, and it perfectly agrees with the whole Bible’s witness of one God revealed as Father, Word (made flesh as the Son), and Holy Ghost.
2) Scriptural Explanation
- God guards His Word: “Forever, O LORD, thy word is settled in heaven” (Psalm 119:89). “The word of our God shall stand for ever” (Isaiah 40:8). “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away” (Matthew 24:35).
- The wording fits John’s own vocabulary and theme:
- “In the beginning was the Word… and the Word was God… And the Word was made flesh” (John 1:1,14).
- John’s subject in 1 John 5 is the threefold witness: “This is he that came by water and blood, even Jesus Christ… it is the Spirit that beareth witness” (1 John 5:6). Verse 7 gives the heavenly witness; verse 8 gives the earthly witness. That’s John’s pattern of testimony.
- And the truth it declares is taught everywhere else: “Hear, O Israel; the LORD our God is one LORD” (Deuteronomy 6:4). “God was manifested in the flesh” (1 Timothy 3:16). “In him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily” (Colossians 2:9). “I and my Father are one” (John 10:30).
3) Simple Clarifying Logic
- If “Father, Word, and Holy Ghost” were an intrusion, why does it fit John’s own language (“Word”), his theme of witnesses, and the immediate parallel of verse 8?
- If someone removes verse 7, does the Bible stop teaching one God manifested in Christ? No. The same truth stands in many clear passages.
- The harmony of verse 7 (“these three are one”) with verse 8 (“these three agree in one”) shows a deliberate, Spirit-given structure: one God’s heavenly witness, and His witness in the earth.
Short Reinforcing Statement
I stand with the Scripture as written. 1 John 5:7 is a true, Spirit-breathed witness of the one God—Father, Word, and Holy Ghost—these three are one.
Ask a Follow-up Question
What did the Laodicean Church Age (our age) Angel (- messenger) Say about this?
Ranked passages from the local William Branham sermon and Church Age Book database. Relevance is relative, not a statement of doctrinal certainty.
Questions and Answers
59-0628E §92
Now, that cannot... You cannot make a target hit here and a target hit there. "Father, Son, and Holy Ghost," say, "Let them go, they're all right!" And "Jesus name," let that go and say, "They're all right." There's got to be something that's got to hit right. God's not a author of confusion. And you run that through the Bible anywhere you want to, and you'll find out that it's a false baptism. Then go back to history, and down in the sixth century when great Agtobus, I believe it was, that baptized or one of the.....
The Mark of the Beast
54-0513 §86
Oh, for this glorious Gospel! It's dripping in blood, yes, it's dripping in blood, (Count the cost! "If he will follow Me, let him deny himself, take up his cross---death---and follow Me.") This Holy Ghost Gospel is dripping with blood, The blood of disciples who died for the truth, This Holy Ghost Gospel is dripping with blood. The first one to die for this Holy Ghost plan, Was John the Baptist, but he died like a man; Then came the Lord Jesus, they crucified Him, He preached that the Spirit would save men from si...
An Exposition Of The Seven Church Ages
CAB 4:E-102
To further bring out what we have just said, and to also use a Scripture that should be borne in mind as we talk about who it is that is baptized with the Holy Ghost, see what Jesus says in John 6:45, "It is written in the prophets, And they shall All be taught of God." But turn to Isaiah 54:13 whence this is taken and it reads, "And all thy children shall be taught of the Lord." The ALL of God are the CHILDREN of God. Thus it is that the evidence of being a true child of God, (he whom the Spirit has come upon and...
Questions and Answers
59-0628E §85
Now, ten days later Peter said, "Repent, every one of you and be baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ." Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, see how the extreme trinitarian idea... See, they try to make three gods out of that. There's no three gods. I'd like to read that to you out of the original Greek here. The only way they were baptized in Jesus' name was, the Bible said in the original Greek, was to make them recognize that He was God. Father, Son, and Holy Ghost is offices of one God. He was the Father; He w...
An Exposition Of The Seven Church Ages
CAB 4:E-109
Now when God is silent we had better be silent. But where He has spoken we had better speak, too, and say what He has already said. He told us the evidence, or what would happen after being baptized with the Holy Ghost was that we would have the Teacher come and teach all truth. But that Teacher was an INSIDE teacher, not an outside teacher. If the Spirit wasn't inside, you wouldn't hear the truth and receive it by revelation if you heard it every moment of the day. That was the sign of the indwelling Spirit in the...