The Story of the Johannine Comma

1 John 5:7–8 KJV For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one. ₈ And there are three that bear witness in earth, the Spirit, and the water, and the blood: and these three agree in one.

Several Bible translations like the KJV contain a passage in 1 John 5:7–8 which is not found in many other Bible translations. This passage is known as the “Johannine Comma”.

Historical Evidence for the Johannine Comma

All of the earliest Greek manuscripts of the New Testament do not contain the Johannine Comma. Moreover, the earliest New Testament manuscripts in Latin, Ethiopic, Syriac, Armenian, Slavic, and Arabic do not contain the Johannine Comma. This means that the Bibles used by early Christians did not contain the Johannine Comma.

The Johannine Comma is found in 95% of all Latin manuscripts. However, the earliest Latin manuscripts which contain the Johannine Comma were produced as late as the 9th century. During the 15th century, copyists began adding the Johannine Comma to Greek manuscripts which did not originally contain it. The earliest Greek manuscript which contains the Johannine Comma in the main text was produced during the 16th century.

These considerations, among others, make it more reasonable that the Johannine Comma is probably not authentic, meaning that it was likely not originally written by the Apostle John, and so it is not part of the Bible.

The Controversy over the Johannine Comma

Today, the Johannine Comma is found in some editions of the Greek New Testament and some Bible translations. This can be traced back to the work of Desiderius Erasmus, a Roman Catholic priest who lived during the 16th century.

Erasmus compiled an edition of the Greek text of the New Testament by comparing the New Testament Greek manuscripts that were available to him. Erasmus’ Greek manuscripts did not contain the Johannine Comma. Accordingly, the first and second editions of his Greek New Testament likewise did not contain the Johannine Comma.

However, Erasmus faced a lot of criticism because he did not include the Johannine Comma in his Greek New Testament. This was because the Johannine Comma was found in the official version of the Bible for the Roman Catholic Church, the Latin Vulgate. In response to one of his critics, Erasmus wrote:

If I had one manuscript which had what we read [in the Latin Vulgate], I would surely have added it there, even though it was absent in the other manuscripts. Since I did not have such a manuscript, I have done the only reasonable thing: I have indicated what was missing in the Greek manuscripts. (Erasmus against Leo.)

Erasmus refused to include the Johannine Comma in his Greek New Testament because he could not find any Greek manuscript which contained it. He even wrote to a friend in Rome, asking him to check if Codex Vaticanus contained the Johannine Comma. Codex Vaticanus is a Greek Bible manuscript from the 4th century CE. Indeed, Codex Vaticanus does not contain the Johannine Comma. Today, the page containing 1 John 5:7–8 in Codex Vaticanus is the most ragged because of how much it had been used over the years. Drops of candle wax can even be seen on that page because of how much it had been examined at that place.

The Johannine Comma in the Bible

Erasmus eventually gave in to the pressure by the Roman Catholic Church. He included the Johannine Comma in the third and subsequent editions of his Greek New Testament. However, he also wrote a long note about 1 John 5:7–8 in order to clarify that he himself did not think that the Johannine Comma was authentic. Part of the note reads:

Therefore, from this British manuscript, we have put back the passage which was said to be missing in our [editions], so that no one would have a basis to slander us, although I suspect that even this manuscript has been amended according to the Latin manuscripts. (Erasmus’ Annotations in the New Testament)

Someone had sent Erasmus a Greek manuscript from Britain which contained the Johannine Comma. This “British manuscript” was produced during the time of this controversy, and it was quite obvious to Erasmus that its Greek text had been modified to match the Latin Vulgate more closely. Nonetheless, Erasmus included the Johannine Comma from the British manuscript into his Greek New Testament. Today, this British manuscript opens naturally to the page containing 1 John 5:7–8 because of how much it had been opened to that page over the years.

Conclusion

A careful consideration of the historical evidence indicates that the Johannine Comma was probably not authentic. This is why many Bible translations do not contain the Johannine Comma.