The Johannine Comma (Latin: Comma Johanneum) is an interpolated phrase (comma) in verses 5:7–8 of the First Epistle of John.^[1]

The text (with the comma in italics and enclosed by square brackets) in the King James Bible reads:

⁷For there are three that beare record ⁸, the Spirit, and the Water, and the Blood, and these three agree in one.

— King James Version (1611)

It became a touchpoint for the Christian theological debate over the doctrine of the Trinity from the early church councils to the Catholic and Protestant disputes in the early modern period.^[2]

It may first be noted that the words "in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one" (KJV) found in older translations at 1 John 5:7 are thought by some to be spurious additions to the original text. A footnote in The Jerusalem Bible, a Catholic translation, says that these words are "not in any of the early Greek MSS , or any of the early translations, or in the best MSS of the Vulg itself." A Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament, by Bruce Metzger (1975, pp. 716-718), traces in detail the history of the passage. It states that the passage is first found in a treatise entitled Liber Apologeticus, of the fourth century, and that it appears in Old Latin and Vulgate manuscripts of the Scriptures, beginning in the sixth century. Modern translations as a whole, both Catholic and Protestant, do not include them in the main body of the text, because of their ostensibly spurious nature.—RS, NE, NAB. ^[3][4]

The comma is absent from almost all Greek manuscripts of the New Testament along with being totally absent in the Ethiopic, Aramaic, Syriac, Slavic, Armenian, Georgian, and Arabic translations of the Greek New Testament. It appears in some English translations of the Bible via its inclusion in the first printed New Testament, Novum Instrumentum omne by Erasmus, where it first appeared in the 1522 third edition. In spite of its late date, some members of the King James Only movement have argued for its authenticity.

Text

The "Johannine Comma" is a short clause found in 1 John 5:7–8.

Erasmus omitted the text of the Johannine Comma from his first and second editions of the Greek-Latin New Testament (the Novum Instrumentum omne) because it was not in his Greek manuscripts. He added the text to his Novum Testamentum omne in 1522 after being accused of reviving Arianism and after he was informed of a Greek manuscript that contained the verse,^[5] although he expressed doubt as to its authenticity in his Annotations.^[6][7]

Many subsequent early printed editions of the Bible include it, such as the Coverdale Bible (1535), the Geneva Bible (1560), the Douay-Rheims Bible (1610), and the King James Bible (1611). Later editions based on the Textus Receptus, such as Robert Young's Literal Translation (1862) and the New King James Version (1979), include the verse. In the 1500s it was not always included in Latin New Testament editions, though it was in the Sixto-Clementine Vulgate (1592).

The text (with the Comma in square brackets and italicised) in the King James Bible reads:

⁷For there are three that beare record ⁸, the Spirit, and the Water, and the Blood, and these three agree in one.

— King James Version (1611)

The text (with the Comma in square brackets and italicised) in the Latin of the Sixto-Clementine Vulgate reads:

⁷Quoniam tres sunt, qui testimonium dant ⁸: spiritus, et aqua, et sanguis: et hi tres unum sunt.

— Sixto-Clementine Vulgate (1592)

The text (with the Comma in square brackets and italicised) in the Greek of the Novum Testamentum omne reads:

⁷ὅτι τρεῖς εἰσιν οἱ μαρτυροῦντες ⁸ τὸ πνεῦμα καὶ τὸ ὕδωρ καὶ τὸ αἷμα καὶ οἱ τρεῖς εἰς τὸ ἕν εἰσιν.

— Novum Testamentum omne (1522; absent in earlier editions)

There are several variant versions of the Latin and Greek texts.^[1]

English translations based on a modern critical text have omitted the comma from the main text since the English Revised Version (1881), including the New American Standard Bible (NASB), English Standard Version (ESV), and New Revised Standard Version (NRSV).

The Catholic tradition publishes Vulgate editions which have the verse, such as the Rheims, the Confraternity Bible (1941), the Knox Bible (1945), the Jerusalem Bible (1966) and the New Jerusalem Bible (1985). However the Holy See's Nova Vulgata (1979) omits the comma as it is based on the modern critical text. The Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (1965 and 2006) and New American Bible (1970 and 1986) also omit the comma.^{[citation needed]}

Origin

Several early sources which one might expect to include the Comma Johanneum in fact omit it. For example, Clement of Alexandria's (c. 200) quotation of 1 John 5:8 does not include the Comma.^[8]

The earliest reference to the Comma appears by the 3rd-century Church father Cyprian (died 258), who in Unity of the Church 1.6^[9] quoted John 10:30: "Again it is written of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, 'And these three are one.'"^[10]

The first work to quote the Comma Johanneum as an actual part of the Epistle's text appears to be the 4th century Latin homily Liber Apologeticus, probably written by Priscillian of Ávila (died 385), or his close follower Bishop Instantius.

This part of the homily was in many Old Latin and Vulgate manuscripts. It was subsequently back-translated into the Greek, but it occurs in the text of only four of the Greek manuscripts of First John and in the margin of five more.^{[citation needed]} The earliest known Greek ms. occurrence appears to be a later addition to a 10th-century manuscript now in the Bodleian Library. The exact date of the addition is not known; in this manuscript, the Comma is a variant reading offered as an alternative to the main text. The other seven sources date to the fourteenth century (Codex Ottobonianus) or later, and four of the seven are hand-written in the manuscript margins. In one manuscript, back-translated into Greek from the Vulgate, the phrase "and these three are one" is not present.^[11]

No Syriac manuscripts include the Comma, and its presence in some printed Syriac Bibles is due to back-translation from the Latin Vulgate. Coptic manuscripts and those from Ethiopian churches also do not include it.^{[citation needed]}

Manuscripts

The comma is not in two of the oldest extant Vulgate manuscripts, Codex Fuldensis and the Codex Amiatinus, although it is referenced in the Prologue to the Canonical Epistles of Fuldensis and appears in Old Latin manuscripts of similar antiquity.

The earliest extant Latin manuscripts supporting the comma are dated from the 5th to 7th century. The Freisinger fragment,^[13] León palimpsest,^[14] besides the younger Codex Speculum, New Testament quotations extant in an 8th- or 9th-century manuscript.^[15]

The comma does not appear in the older Greek manuscripts. Nestle-Aland is aware of eight Greek manuscripts that contain the comma.^[16] The date of the addition is late, probably dating to the time of Erasmus.^[17] In one manuscript, back-translated into Greek from the Vulgate, the phrase "and these three are one" is not present.

Both Novum Testamentum Graece (NA27) and the United Bible Societies (UBS4) provide three variants. The numbers here follow UBS4, which rates its preference for the first variant as { A }, meaning "virtually certain" to reflect the original text. The second variant is a longer Greek version found in the original text of five manuscripts and the margins of five others. All of the other 500 plus Greek manuscripts that contain 1 John support the first variant. The third variant is found only in Latin manuscripts and patristic works. The Latin variant is considered a trinitarian gloss,^[18] explaining or paralleled by the second Greek variant.

1. The comma in Greek. All non-lectionary evidence cited: Minuscules 61 (Codex Montfortianus, c. 1520), 629 (Codex Ottobonianus, 14th/15th century), 918 (Codex Escurialensis, Σ. I. 5, 16th century), 2318 (18th century) and 2473 (17th century).
2. The comma at the margins of Greek at the margins of minuscules 88 (Codex Regis, 11th century with margins added at the 16th century), 177 (BSB Cod. graec. 211), 221 (10th century with margins added at the 15th/16th century), 429 (Codex Guelferbytanus, 14th century with margins added at the 16th century), 636 (16th century).
3. The comma in Latin. testimonium dicunt in terra, spiritus aqua et sanguis, et hi tres unum sunt in Christo Iesu. 8 et tres sunt, qui testimonium dicunt in caelo, pater verbum et spiritus. All evidence from Fathers cited: Clementine edition of Vulgate translation; Pseudo-Augustine's Speculum Peccatoris (V), also (these three with some variation) Cyprian (3rd century), Ps-Cyprian, & Priscillian (died 385) Liber Apologeticus. And Contra-Varimadum, and Ps-Vigilius, Pseudo-Jerome (5th century) Prologue to the Catholic Epistles, Fulgentius of Ruspe (died 527) Responsio contra Arianos, Cassiodorus (6th century) Complexiones in Ioannis Epist. ad Parthos, Thomas Aquinas (died 1274) Summa Theologica.^[19]

The appearance of the Comma in the manuscript evidence is represented in the following tables:

Latin manuscripts
Date	Name	Place	Other information
546 AD	Codex Fuldensis (F)	Fulda, Germany	The oldest Vulgate manuscript does not have the verse, it does have the Vulgate Prologue which discusses the verse
5th-7th century	Frisingensia Fragmenta (r) or (q)	Bavarian State Library, Munich	Spanish - earthly before heavenly, formerly Fragmenta Monacensia
7th century	León palimpsest (l) Beuron 67	León Cathedral	Spanish - "and there are three which bear testimony in heaven, the Father, and the Word, and the Holy Spirit, and these three are one in Christ Jesus" - earthly before heavenly
8th century	Codex Wizanburgensis	Herzog August Bibliothek Wolfenbüttel[20]	the dating is controversial.[21]
9th century	Codex Speculum (m)	Saint Cross monastery (Sessorianus), Rome	scripture quotations
9th century	Codex Cavensis C	La Cava de' Tirreni, Biblioteca della Badia, ms memb. 1	Spanish - earthly before heavenly
9th century	Codex Ulmensis U or σU	British Museum, London 11852	Spanish
927 AD	Codex Complutensis I (C)	Biblical University Centre 31; Madrid	Spanish - purchased by Cardinal Ximenes, used for Complutensian Polyglot, earthly before heavenly, one in Christ Jesus.
8th–9th century	Codex Theodulphianus	National Library, Paris (BnF) - Latin 9380	Franco-Spanish
8th–9th century	Codex Sangallensis 907	Abbey of St. Gallen	Franco-Spanish
9th century	Codex Lemovicensis-32 (L)	National Library of France Lain 328, Paris
9th century	Codex Vercellensis	Rome, Biblioteca Vallicelliana ms B vi	representing the recension of Alcuin, completed in 801
960 AD	Codex Gothicus Legionensis	Biblioteca Capitular y Archivo de la Real Colegiata de San Isidoro, ms 2
10th century	Codex Toletanus	Madrid, Biblioteca Nacional ms Vitr. 13-1	Spanish - earthly before heavenly

Greek manuscripts
Date	Manuscript no.	Name	Place	Other information
14th [22] –15th century	629	Codex Ottobonianus 298	Vatican	Original. Diglot, Latin and Greek texts.
c. 1520[22]	61	Codex Montfortianus	Dublin	Original. Articles are missing before nouns.
16th century[22]	918	Codex Escurialensis Σ.I.5	Escorial (Spain)	Original.
16th century		Ravianus (Berolinensis)	Berlin	Original, facsimile of printed Complutensian Polyglot Bible, removed from NT ms. list in 1908
c. 12th century[22]	88	Codex Regis	Victor Emmanuel III National Library, Napoli	Margin: 16th century[22]
c. 14th century[22]	429	Codex Guelferbytanus	Herzog August Bibliothek, Wolfenbuttel, Germany	Margin: 16th century[citation needed]
15th century[22] - 16th century[23][22]	636		Victor Emmanuel III National Library, Naples	Margin: 16th century[citation needed]
11th century	177	BSB Cod. graec. 211	Bavarian State Library, Munich	Margin: late 16th century or later[24][22]
17th century	2473		National Library, Athens	Original.
18th century[22]	2318		Romanian Academy, Bucharest	Original. Commentary mss. perhaps Oecumenius
c. 10th century[22]	221		Bodleian Library, Oxford University	Margin: 19th century[citation needed]

Patristic writers

Clement of Alexandria

The comma is absent from an extant fragment of Clement of Alexandria (c. 200), through Cassiodorus (6th century), with homily style verse references from 1 John, including verse 1 John 5:6 and 1 John 5:8 without verse 7, the heavenly witnesses.

He says, "This is He who came by water and blood"; and again, – For there are three that bear witness, the spirit, which is life, and the water, which is regeneration and faith, and the blood, which is knowledge; "and these three are one. For in the Saviour are those saving virtues, and life itself exists in His own Son."^[8][25]

Another reference that is studied is from Clement's Prophetic Extracts:

Every promise is valid before two or three witnesses, before the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit; before whom, as witnesses and helpers, what are called the commandments ought to be kept.^[26]

This is seen by some^[27] as allusion evidence that Clement was familiar with the verse.

Tertullian

Tertullian, in Against Praxeas (c. 210), supports a Trinitarian view by quoting John 10:30:

So the close series of the Father in the Son and the Son in the Paraclete makes three who cohere, the one attached to the other: And these three are one substance, not one person, (qui tres unum sunt, non unus) in the sense in which it was said, "I and the Father are one" in respect of unity of substance, not of singularity of number.^[28]

While many other commentators have argued against any Comma evidence here, most emphatically John Kaye's, "far from containing an allusion to 1 Jo. v. 7, it furnishes most decisive proof that he knew nothing of the verse".^[29] Georg Strecker comments cautiously "An initial echo of the Comma Johanneum occurs as early as Tertullian Adv. Pax. 25.1 (CChr 2.1195; written c. 215). In his commentary on John 16:14 he writes that the Father, Son, and Paraclete are one (unum), but not one person (unus). However, this passage cannot be regarded as a certain attestation of the Comma Johanneum."^[30]

References from Tertullian in De Pudicitia 21:16 (On Modesty):

The Church, in the peculiar and the most excellent sense, is the Holy Ghost, in which the Three are One, and therefore the whole union of those who agree in this belief (viz. that God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost are one), is named the Church, after its founder and sanctifier (the Holy Ghost).^[31]

and De Baptismo:

Now if every word of God is to be established by three witnesses ... For where there are the three, namely the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, there is the Church which is a body of the three.^[32]

have also been presented as verse allusions.^[33]

Treatise on Rebaptismedit

The Treatise on Rebaptism, placed as a 3rd-century writing and transmitted with Cyprian's works, has two sections that directly refer to the earthly witnesses, and thus has been used against authenticity by Nathaniel Lardner, Alfred Plummer and others. However, because of the context being water baptism and the precise wording being "et isti tres unum sunt", the Matthew Henry Commentary uses this as evidence for Cyprian speaking of the heavenly witnesses in Unity of the Church. Arthur Cleveland Coxe and Nathaniel Cornwall also consider the evidence as suggestively positive, as do Westcott and Hort. After approaching the Tertullian and Cyprian references negatively, "morally certain that they would have quoted these words had they known them" Westcott writes about the Rebaptism Treatise:

the evidence of Cent. III is not exclusively negative, for the treatise on Rebaptism contemporary with Cyp. quotes the whole passage simply thus (15: cf. 19), "quia tres testimonium perhibent, spiritus et aqua et sanguis, et isti tres unum sunt".^[34]

Jeromeedit

The Catholic Encyclopedia of 1910 asserts that Jerome "does not seem to know the text",^[15] but Charles Forster suggests that the "silent publication of the text in the Vulgate ... gives the clearest proof that down to his time the genuineness of this text had never been disputed or questioned."^[35] (See also: Pseudo-Jerome below)

Marcus Celedensisedit

Coming down with the writings of Jerome is the extant statement of faith attributed to Marcus Celedensis, friend and correspondent to Jerome, presented to Cyril:

To us there is one Father, and his only Son who is very or true God, and one Holy Spirit, who is very God, and these three are one; – one divinity, and power, and kingdom. And they are three persons, not two nor one.^[36][37]

Phoebadius of Agenedit

Similarly, Jerome wrote of Phoebadius of Agen in his Lives of Illustrious Men. "Phoebadius, bishop of Agen, in Gaul, published a book Against the Arians. There are said to be other works by him, which I have not yet read. He is still living, infirm with age."^[38] William Hales looks at Phoebadius:

Phoebadius, A. D. 359, in his controversy with the Arians, Cap, xiv. writes, "The Lord says, I will ask of my Father, and He will give you another advocate." (John xiv. 16) Thus, the Spirit is another from the Son as the Son is another from the Father; so, the third person is in the Spirit, as the second, is in the Son. All, however, are one God, because the three are one, (tres unum sunt.) ... Here, 1 John v. 7, is evidently connected, as a scriptural argument, with John xiv. 16.^[39]

Griesbach argued that Phoebadius was only making an allusion to Tertullian,^[40] and his unusual explanation was commented on by Reithmayer.^[41][42]

Augustineedit

Augustine of Hippo has been said to be completely silent on the matter, which has been taken as evidence that the Comma did not exist as part of the epistle's text in his time.^[43] This argumentum ex silentio has been contested by other scholars, including Fickermann and Metzger.^[44] In addition, some Augustine references have been seen as verse allusions.^[45]

The City of God section, from Book V, Chapter 11:

Therefore God supreme and true, with His Word and Holy Spirit (which three are one), one God omnipotent ...^[46]

has often been referenced as based upon the scripture verse of the heavenly witnesses.^[47] George Strecker acknowledges the City of God reference: "Except for a brief remark in De civitate Dei (5.11; CChr 47.141), where he says of Father, Word, and Spirit that the three are one. Augustine († 430) does not cite the Comma Johanneum. But it is certain on the basis of the work Contra Maximum 2.22.3 (PL 42.794–95) that he interpreted 1 John 5:7–8 in trinitarian terms."^[30] Similarly, Homily 10 on the first Epistle of John has been asserted as an allusion to the verse:

And what meaneth "Christ is the end"? Because Christ is God, and "the end of the commandment is charity" and "Charity is God": because Father and Son and Holy Ghost are One.^[48][49]

Contra Maximinum has received attention especially for these two sections, especially the allegorical interpretation.

I would not have thee mistake that place in the epistle of John the apostle where he saith, "There are three witnesses: the spirit, and the water, and the blood: and the three are one." Lest haply thou say that the spirit and the water and the blood are diverse substances, and yet it is said, "the three are one": for this cause I have admonished thee, that thou mistake not the matter. For these are mystical expressions, in which the point always to be considered is, not what the actual things are, but what they denote as signs: since they are signs of things, and what they are in their essence is one thing, what they are in their signification another. If then we understand the things signified, we do find these things to be of one substance ... But if we will inquire into the things signified by these, there not unreasonably comes into our thoughts the Trinity itself, which is the One, Only, True, Supreme God, Father and Son and Holy Ghost, of whom it could most truly be said, "There are Three Witnesses, and the Three are One": there has been an ongoing dialog about context and sense.

— Contra Maximinum (2.22.3; PL 42.794-95)

John Scott Porter writes:

Augustine, in his book against Maximin the Arian, turns every stone to find arguments from the Scriptures to prove that the Spirit is God, and that the Three Persons are the same in substance, but does not adduce this text; nay, clearly shows that he knew nothing of it, for he repeatedly employs the 8th verse, and says, that by the Spirit, the Blood, and the Water—the persons of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, are signified (see Contr. Maxim, cap. xxii.).^[50]

Thomas Joseph Lamy offers a different view based on the context and Augustine's purpose.^[51] Similarly Thomas Burgess.^[52] And Norbert Fickermann's reference and scholarship supports the idea that Augustine may have deliberately bypassed a direct quote of the heavenly witnesses.

Leo the Greatedit

In the Tome of Leo, written to Archbishop Flavian of Constantinople, read at the Council of Chalcedon on 10 October 451 AD,^[53] and published in Greek, Leo the Great's usage of 1 John 5 has him moving in discourse from verse 6 to verse 8:

This is the victory which overcometh the world, even our faith"; and: "Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God? This is he that came by water and blood, even Jesus Christ; not by water only, but by water and blood; and it is the Spirit that beareth witness, because the Spirit is truth. For there are three that bear witness, the spirit, the water, and the blood; and the three are one." That is, the Spirit of sanctification, and the blood of redemption, and the water of baptism; which three things are one, and remain undivided ...^[54]

This epistle from Leo was considered by Richard Porson to be the "strongest proof" of verse inauthenticity.^[55] In response, Thomas Burgess points out that the context of Leo's argument would not call for the 7th verse. And that the verse was referenced in a fully formed manner centuries earlier than Porson's claim, at the time of Fulgentius and the Council of Carthage.^[56] Burgess pointed out that there were multiple confirmations that the verse was in the Latin Bibles of Leo's day. Burgess argued, ironically, that the fact that Leo could move from verse 6 to 8 for argument context is, in the bigger picture, favourable to authenticity. "Leo's omission of the Verse is not only counterbalanced by its actual existence in contemporary copies, but the passage of his Letter is, in some material respects, favourable to the authenticity of the Verse, by its contradiction to some assertions confidently urged against the Verse by its opponents, and essential to their theory against it."^[57] Today, with the discovery of additional Old Latin evidences in the 19th century, the discourse of Leo is rarely referenced as a significant evidence against verse authenticity.

Cyprian of Carthage - Unity of the Churchedit

The 3rd-century Church father Cyprian (c. 200–58), in writing on the Unity of the Church 1.6, quoted John 10:30 and another scriptural spot:

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."^[58]

The Catholic Encyclopedia concludes "Cyprian ... seems undoubtedly to have had it in mind".^[10] Against this view, Daniel B. Wallace writes that since Cyprian does not quote 'the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit', "this in the least does not afford proof that he knew of such wording".^[59] The fact that Cyprian did not quote the "exact wording… indicates that a Trinitarian interpretation was superimposed on the text by Cyprian".^[60] The Critical Text apparatuses have taken varying positions on the Cyprian reference.^[61]

The Cyprian citation, dating to more than a century before any extant Epistle of John manuscripts and before the Arian controversies that are often considered pivotal in verse addition/omission debate, remains a central focus of comma research and textual apologetics. The Scrivener view is often discussed.^[62] Westcott and Hort assert: "Tert and Cyp use language which renders it morally certain that they would have quoted these words had they known them; Cyp going so far as to assume a reference to the Trinity in the conclusion of v. 8"^[63][64]

In the 20th century, Lutheran scholar Francis Pieper wrote in Christian Dogmatics emphasizing the antiquity and significance of the reference.^[65] Frequently commentators have seen Cyprian as having the verse in his Latin Bible, even if not directly supporting and commenting on verse authenticity.^[66] Some writers have also seen the denial of the verse in the Bible of Cyprian as worthy of special note and humor.^[67]

Daniel B. Wallace notes that although Cyprian uses 1 John to argue for the Trinity, he appeals to this as an allusion via the three witnesses—"written of"—rather than by quoting a proof-text—"written that".^[60] Therefore, despite the view of some that Cyprian referred to the passage, the fact that other theologians such as Athanasius of Alexandria and Sabellius and Origen never quoted or referred to that passage is one reason why even many Trinitarians later on also considered the text spurious, and not to have been part of the original text.

Ad Jubaianum (Epistle 73)edit

The second, lesser reference from Cyprian that has been involved in the verse debate is from Ad Jubaianum 23.12. Cyprian, while discussing baptism, writes:

If he obtained the remission of sins, he was sanctified, and if he was sanctified, he was made the temple of God. But of what God? I ask. The Creator?, Impossible; he did not believe in him. Christ? But he could not be made Christ's temple, for he denied the deity of Christ. The Holy Spirit? Since the Three are One, what pleasure could the Holy Spirit take in the enemy of the Father and the Son?^[68]

Knittel emphasizes that Cyprian would be familiar with the Bible in Greek as well as Latin. "Cyprian understood Greek. He read Homer, Plato, Hermes Trismegistus and Hippocrates ... he translated into Latin the Greek epistle written to him by Firmilianus".^[69] UBS-4 has its entry for text inclusion as (Cyprian).

Ps-Cyprian - Hundredfold Reward for Martyrs and Asceticsedit

The Hundredfold Reward for Martyrs and Ascetics: De centesima, sexagesimal tricesima^[70] speaks of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit as "three witnesses" and was passed down with the Cyprian corpus. This was only first published in 1914 and thus does not show up in the historical debate. UBS-4 includes this in the apparatus as (Ps-Cyprian).^[71]

Origen and Athanasiusedit

Those who see Cyprian as negative evidence assert that other church writers, such as Athanasius of Alexandria and Origen,^[72] never quoted or referred to the passage, which they would have done if the verse was in the Bibles of that era. The contrasting position is that there are in fact such references, and that "evidences from silence" arguments, looking at the extant early church writer material, should not be given much weight as reflecting absence in the manuscripts—with the exception of verse-by-verse homilies, which were uncommon in the Ante-Nicene era.

Origen's scholium on Psalm 123:2edit

In the scholium on Psalm 123 attributed to Origen is the commentary:

spirit and body are servants to masters,
Father and Son, and the soul is handmaid to a mistress, the Holy Ghost;
and the Lord our God is the three (persons),
for the three are one.

This has been considered by many commentators, including the translation source Nathaniel Ellsworth Cornwall, as an allusion to verse 7.^[73] Ellsworth especially noted the Richard Porson comment in response to the evidence of the Psalm commentary: "The critical chemistry which could extract the doctrine of the Trinity from this place must have been exquisitely refining".^[74] Fabricius wrote about the Origen wording "ad locum 1 Joh v. 7 alludi ab origene non est dubitandum".^[75]

Athanasius and Arius at the Council of Niceaedit

Traditionally, Athanasius was considered to lend support to the authenticity of the verse, one reason being the Disputation with Arius at the Council of Nicea which circulated with the works of Athanasius, where is found:

Likewise is not the remission of sins procured by that quickening and sanctifying ablution, without which no man shall see the kingdom of heaven, an ablution given to the faithful in the thrice-blessed name. And besides all these, John says, And the three are one.^[76]

Today, many scholars consider this a later work Pseudo-Athanasius, perhaps by Maximus the Confessor. Charles Forster in New Plea argues for the writing as stylistically Athanasius.^[77] While the author and date are debated, this is a Greek reference directly related to the doctrinal Trinitarian-Arian controversies, and one that purports to be an account of Nicaea when those doctrinal battles were raging. The reference was given in UBS-3 as supporting verse inclusion, yet was removed from UBS-4 for reasons unknown.

The Synopsis of Scripture, often ascribed to Athanasius, has also been referenced as indicating awareness of the Comma.

Priscillian of Avilaedit

The earliest quotation which some scholars consider a direct reference to the heavenly witnesses from the First Epistle of John is from the Spaniard Priscillian c. 380. The Latin reads:

Sicut Ioannes ait: tria sunt quae testimonium dicunt in terra aqua caro et sanguis et haec tria in unum sunt, et tria sunt quae testimonium dicent in caelo pater uerbum et spiritus et haiec tria unum sunt in Christo Iesu.^[78]

The English translation:

As John says and there are three which give testimony on earth the water the flesh the blood and these three are in one and there are three which give testimony in heaven the Father the Word and the Spirit and these three are one in Christ Jesus.^[79]

Theodor Zahn calls this "the earliest quotation of the passage which is certain and which can be definitely dated (circa 380)",^[80] a view expressed by Westcott, Brooke, Metzger and others.^[81]

Priscillian was probably a Sabellianist or Modalist Monarchian.^[82] Some interpreters have theorized that Priscillian created the Comma Johanneum. However, there are signs of the Comma Johanneum, although no certain attestations, even before Priscillian".^[30] And Priscillian in the same section references The Unity of the Church section from Cyprian.^[83] In the early 1900s the Karl Künstle theory of Priscillian origination and interpolation was popular: "The verse is an interpolation, first quoted and perhaps introduced by Priscillian (a.d. 380) as a pious fraud to convince doubters of the doctrine of the Trinity."^[84]

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