Dr. Couch, it would seem that 1 John 5:8 has a grammatical problem. The
words "Spirit, water, and blood" are neuter in gender, yet the pronoun
and numeral "these three" is masculine. Is there a problem? Also I
notice that the verse is not in the Textus Receptus.
Let me address the Textus Receptus issue first lest we spook a bunch of
dear folks who do not know how textual work is really handled. The verse
is not found in any reliable Greek manuscripts (MS) except in two very
late cursives (number 162 in the Vatican Library of the fifteenth
century, and number 34 cursive of the sixteenth century at Trinity
College in Dublin.) The verse was not in Jerome’s Bible. A false
spurious addition exists which reads: "In heaven, the Father, the Word,
and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one. And there are three that
bear witness in earth."
Way back, a Latin scholar got a hold of Cyprian’s marginal textual notes
and exegesis and embedded those notes into the Bible verses. This is
how it got into the Latin Vulgate, and finally into the Textus Receptus.
Erasmus then later translated the verse from Latin into Greek and
inserted it into what would later be known as the Textus Receptus. (See
A. T. Robertson’s discussion on this.)
However, to keep some from fainting who believe the biblical manuscripts
are wrongly tampered with, our doctrine of the Trinity, and the work of
Christ, are not in anyway destroyed by this one verse that may not be
part of the inspired Word of God!
As to your grammatical question, if the verse should be left in our
Bible, is there a problem with "these three" being masculine, with the
three words being neuter in gender? No there is not. And no scholar of
Greek grammar, such as myself, nor any others, would argue that there
is. The Greek actually reads:
"And three [they] are the ones bearing witness continually (participle) in the
earth, the Spirit, and the water, and the blood, and the three into the one (they)
are."
The participle "the ones bearing witness continually" would naturally be
a masculine as part of the outflow of Greek grammar. There is no
problem whatsoever in the structure. In fact, all grammarians note what
is going on here and have no issue with the text.
Thanks for asking.
Dr. Mal Couch
