1 John 5:7-8 — "The Comma Johanneum"

Presbyterian scholarship recognizes that the phrase 'For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one' (1 John 5:7, KJV) — known as the Comma Johanneum — is absent from the earliest Greek manuscripts and appears to be a later interpolation into the Western text tradition. No Greek manuscript earlier than the fourteenth century contains this phrase, and it is missing from all the major early textual witnesses. Modern critical editions of the Greek New Testament and virtually all contemporary Presbyterian seminaries teach this textual history.

Despite this, Presbyterian theology fully affirms the Trinitarian doctrine that the passage expresses. The Trinity is established on the basis of other Scripture passages (John 1:1, Matthew 28:19, 2 Corinthians 13:14, and others) and systematic theological reasoning from the whole of Scripture. The Westminster Confession of Faith (Chapter II) presents Trinitarian doctrine without relying on the Comma Johanneum. This position allows Presbyterians to be honest about textual criticism while maintaining uncompromising commitment to the doctrine of the Trinity. The example illustrates the Reformed principle that no single textual variant determines doctrine; doctrine is established through careful exegesis of the full scriptural canon.