Three That Testify

The principle in legal matters that one is to be considered innocent until proven guilty recognizes that human beings sometimes make false accusations against others, whether through malice or error. Though this principle is well known in modern jurisprudence, the recognition that the rights of the innocent must be protected finds its roots far earlier. The Mosaic law dictates that no one can be convicted of a crime without the testimony of two or three witnesses (Deut. 19:15).

The emphasis on three witnesses to the reality of the incarnation found in 1 John 5:6–8 likely has its roots in this teaching from the Torah. Yet the law of Moses was not only concerned with the number of witnesses; it also had much to say about the character of a witness. False and malicious witnesses were to receive the punishment due for the crime of which they falsely accused another (Deut. 19:16–21). This concern for the character of the witness is naturally shared by John, who summons in today’s passage witnesses whose testimony God Himself stands behind.

Readers of the King James Version will notice additional words in 1 John 5:7–8 about “the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost” as three witnesses in heaven who are one. These words, known as the Johannine Comma, are not found in any early Greek manuscripts or early translations from the Greek, and they are not quoted by any of the early church fathers. They date from long after the Apostolic age. Therefore, most modern translations of the Scriptures omit them. The Johannine Comma is sometimes held up as necessary for proving the doctrine of the Trinity, but its absence does not destroy this doctrine, so believers should not have their confidence in Scripture shaken. The doctrine of the Trinity rests on the whole of Scripture and does not depend on later additions to God’s Word (see Westminster Confession of Faith 1.6).

Today’s passage indicates that God has supplied, in the Spirit and the water and the blood, the full number of witnesses that His own law requires. The events at the Jordan and at Calvary are fixed in history, and the Spirit continues to testify to them in the hearts of His beloved people. When our assurance wavers, we are to return to this indisputable testimony rather than yield to the shifting witness of our feelings, for the three witnesses say one thing about the Son.