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.
An Exposition Of The Seven Church Ages
CAB 4:E-101
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Questions and Answers on Genesis
53-0729 §97
Five of them... Ten of them were virgins. Five was wise that had oil in their lamp, and the other five was just as pure and holy but they had no oil (they were sanctified, without the Holy Ghost). "There's three that bear record in earth: the water, the blood, the Spirit." St. John 5:7 ... I John 5:7, rather, said, "There are three that bear record in Heaven: Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, these three are one." But there's three that bear record in earth: water, blood, and Spirit, they're not one, but they agree as o...
Revelation, Chapter 5, part 1
61-0611 §32
Now, when we get beyond that, then that's not it. But it backs up the true message. Like we find out in Acts 2:38, where, "Repent, and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of your sins." And today they adopted the name of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost to be baptized in. There's no scripture for that. There's no background. There's nothing to guard that, not a thing! You say, "Matthew said it." Matthew guarded it. Matthew 28 ... 1:18 says: ... the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When ... h...
An Exposition Of The Seven Church Ages
CAB 3:E-81
Now Paul was a prophet, taught by the Holy Ghost. If Paul baptized in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and said anyone that did different from his preaching was accursed, then it is time to wake up and see that the church is no longer controlled by the Holy Ghost but it is controlled by the Nicolaitanes. Acts 20:27-30, "For I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God. Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the chu...
An Exposition Of The Seven Church Ages
CAB 9:E-49
The Baptists have their creeds and dogmas based on the Word and you can't shake them. They say the apostolic days of miracles are over and there is no Baptism with the Holy Ghost, subsequent to believing. The Methodists say (based on the Word) there is no water baptism (sprinkling is not baptism) and that sanctification is the Baptism with the Holy Ghost. The Church of Christ majors in regenerational baptism and in all too many cases they go down dry sinners and come up wet ones. Yet they claim their doctrine is Wo...