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Bible Study		April 8, 2024
Bible Text Tampering

Introduction

I've done studies about tampering with the Greek manuscripts before. We know these occurred due to differences between Greek manuscripts.

In these, we've seen a large variety of changes:

Word order
Swapping one word for another with a similar meaning
Swapping one word for another with a different meaning that changes the point of the verse
Dropping a large clause from a verse
Dropping a verse or verses

In all of these, we couldn't impute bad motives to whomever did it. The change was either accidental or the editor thought he was making it better … according to his thinking. They shouldn't have been doing this of course, but, judging from the change, there was no attempt to make a doctrinal change.

Not this time. This time the editor is trying to make a doctrinal change.

This is the worst case of tampering in the Bible, that I know of. It may be the most interesting case and also the most humorous. When the changed manuscripts are put in the correct order, they tell a story.

An early Greek manuscript was changed
That manuscript became the basis for many copies
Later, copyists could see the change. They did their best to change it back
But they couldn't put it all back - some information was lost
But some unchanged manuscripts survived

In our time, we have a manuscript from before the change, a copy of the changed manuscript, and a copy of the corrected manuscript.

Where to Make a Change?

If you want to insert a doctrine into a manuscript, where would you do it?

Peter gives us the answer. He talks about Paul saying difficult things in his writings that people twist. Difficult passages can be an opportunity for people to inject their own ideas. So you would want to choose a place in the text that most people don't understand.

Paul isn't the only Bible author who said difficult things. In both John's gospel and his letters, we see John works at a higher level than most people understand. This change occurs in 1 John 5.

Text in Context

To see the change that was made and especially to understand how it was recognized and restored, we need to understand what John was saying. As mentioned, a passage that is difficult to understand was chosen. So we'll take our time working through it.

Who is he who conquers the universe but he who believes that Yeshua is the son of God? ⁶ This is he who came by water and blood, Yeshua the Messiah; it was not by water only, but by water and blood. ⁷ And the Spirit testifies because the Spirit is the truth. ⁸ And there are three testifying: the Spirit and the water and the blood, and the three of them are in one.

⁹ If we receive the testimony of men, how much greater is the testimony of God? And this is the testimony of God which he testifies about his Son: ¹⁰ Everyone who believes in the son of God has this witness in his soul. Everyone who does not believe God makes him a liar because he does not believe the testimony that God testifies concerning his Son. ¹¹ And this is the testimony: God has given us Eternal Life, and that life is in his Son. (1 John 5:5-11)

The first section above isn't too hard to understand, though it has a couple quirks in it. The second section can be baffling.

I'll break the text above into sections and explain each.

Who is he who conquers the universe but he who believes that Yeshua is the son of God? ⁶ This is he who came by water and blood, Yeshua the Messiah; it was not by water only, but by water and blood. ⁷ And the Spirit testifies because the Spirit is the truth. (1 John 5:5-7)

John is asking: What testimonies do we have that Jesus is the son of God? His basis for determining truth from witnesses comes from the Old Testament - by the testimonies of 2 or more witnesses. So he says there are two testimonies about Jesus, the Water and the Blood.

No one is certain what he means by the Water and the Blood. This is John after all. I think, and some others agree:

Water - his baptism (God says "this is my son")
Blood - his crucifixion (God darkened the sun, tore the temple curtain, etc.)

The phrase "are in one" means that they are in in unity. In this case it means they are in agreement.

And there are three testifying: the Spirit and the water and the blood, and the three of them are in one. (1 John 5:8)

John is saying: In fact there is a third witness - the Holy Spirit. He is referring to the Holy Spirit within believers like us. He says: We know that the Spirit speaks the truth because he is Truth (being God).

If we receive the testimony of men, how much greater is the testimony of God? (1 John 5:9)

John says: Testimonies of men (like the apostles) are good but the testimonies of God about his son (the water and the blood) are greater. Also, those who believe have the third testimony, that of the Spirit within us, who is God.

Everyone who believes in the son of God has this witness in his soul. Everyone who does not believe God makes him a liar because he does not believe the testimony that God testifies concerning his Son. (1 John 5:10)

John understands that those who do not believe the testimony of a witness, essentially call the witness a liar. When the witness is God, they are calling God a liar.

And this is the testimony: God has given us Eternal Life, and that life is in his Son. (1 John 5:11)

God's testimony about his son is that we have eternal life through the life in his son.

Summarizing this, the most important thing to remember is that the topic is about the testimonies of God about his son. If you aren't convinced of that, here is another look at all the verses.

Who is he who conquers the universe but he who believes that Yeshua is the son of God? ⁶ This is he who came by water and blood, Yeshua the Messiah; it was not by water only, but by water and blood. ⁷ And the Spirit testifies because the Spirit is the truth. ⁸ And there are three testifying: the Spirit and the water and the blood, and the three of them are in one.

⁹ If we receive the testimony of men, how much greater is the testimony of God? And this is the testimony of God which he testifies about his Son: ¹⁰ Everyone who believes in the son of God has this witness in his soul. Everyone who does not believe God makes him a liar because he does not believe the testimony that God testifies concerning his Son. ¹¹ And this is the testimony: God has given us Eternal Life, and that life is in his Son. (1 John 5:5-11)

Three Manuscript Variations

Here are the three manuscript variations, showing only the affected verses. I've highlighted the different sections in these verses so you can see where they are in each. I've also ordered these chronologically. The manuscript before the change is first.

And the Spirit testifies because the Spirit is the truth. ⁸ And there are three testifying: the Spirit and the water and the blood, and the three of them are in one. (1 John 5:7-8)

Based on the English translations available on BibleHub.com, there are 4 that say this, including Aramaic Bible (AB) and New American Standard Bible 1977 (NASB1977).

For there are three that bear witness in heaven: the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit; and these three are one. ⁸ And there are three that bear witness on earth: the Spirit, the water, and the blood; and these three agree as one. (1 John 5:7-8)

There are 7 translations that say this, including New King James Version (NKJV) and King James Version (KJV).

The grey highlighted text and the unhighlighted text are the added change. Here we see the doctrine that the editor wanted to add to the Bible. Nowhere does the Bible clearly state that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are a unity and equally God. This understanding of the nature of the Godhead was the biggest fight in early Christianity.

The grey highlight marks a parallel that the editor tries to add to make his change convincing. We'll talk about that more in a moment.

The editor has also duplicated the "there are three testifying" section as part of that parallel.

For there are three that testify: ⁸ the Spirit, the water and the blood; and the three are in agreement. (1 John 5:7-8)

There are 20 translations that say this, including New International Version (NIV) and New American Standard Bible 1999 (NASB99). Note that NASB was also in the first set above. This is because they changed the manuscript they use and believe to be closest to the original.

How Did They Know to Remove the Addition?

Later copyists could look at the addition and see that the addition is completely off-topic.

Verse 5-6 are about the water and blood being testimonies about who Jesus was
Verse 7 is an obvious Trinitarian statement.
Verse 8 tries to draw a parallel between the trinity and the water, blood, and Spirit

Heaven Father Word Spirit

Earth Water Blood Spirit

This is a stupid parallel. It infers there are parallels between things in Heaven and things in Earth. Therefore there is a parallel between the Father and Water and between the Word and Blood. When you know what John was saying about the water and the blood, this parallel makes no sense.
Verse 9 continues on the topic of witness testimonies, referring back to some earlier text about testimony (water and blood)

This was an effort to have a clear trinity statement in the Bible but that Trinitarian statement is obviously out of place in what John was saying. Therefore, someone took it upon themselves to correct it.

Corrected, But Something Was Lost

These are the verses as changed and the correction that was made.

For there are three that bear witness ~~in heaven: the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit; and these three are one.~~ ⁸ ~~And there are three that bear witness on earth:~~ the Spirit, the water, and the blood; and these three agree as one. (1 John 5:7)

Removing that section leaves us with the version that is most commonly found in the translations.

For there are three that testify: ⁸ the Spirit, the water and the blood; and the three are in agreement. (1 John 5:7-8)

That isn't, however, what the manuscripts before the change said. Something is missing.

And the Spirit testifies because the Spirit is the truth. ⁸ And there are three testifying: the Spirit and the water and the blood, and the three of them are in one. (1 John 5:7)

The missing part is John's statement about the Spirit testifying and that he can be trusted because he is from the same truth as God. Those people making the correction never had access to those manuscripts. Even in our time, they are less common than the other two. Because the correctors couldn't see the missing part, they couldn't add it back in and move "there are three that testify" back into verse 8.

Summary

There were many changes in the Bible manuscripts. We've talked about that before.

The vast majority are small and not malicious, but there were a few malicious changes in the manuscripts, like this one. Fortunately this one was caught and mostly undone.

This is why I recommend everyone use more than one translation. Even if you can't tell which is the original, at least you can tell, something is going on.

Heaven	Father	Word	Spirit
Earth	Water	Blood	Spirit