Jerusalem Blade
Puritan Board Professor
Hi Logan,
You can take your pick of these sources re Paulus Bombasius and his correspondence with Erasmus from various places, it being common knowledge.
You are surely entitled to your view of God's providential preservation of His word, especially as you have considered this matter for some time. But it comes down to this: there are essentially two lines of textual transmission of that text, the Critical Text and the TR. Yes, the TR has some fine points at variance in the general TR mss, if we may refer to them in that manner.
There are so many battles pertaining to the 1 John 5:7 passage; here's a now rare book on that topic from my Google Drive: Michael Maynard's, A History Of The Debate Over 1 John 5.7-8 free for the taking; Mr. Maynard died young (fairly recently) – and it's a shame he's not around to speak to this matter. But he did leave his witness.
The translators of the Reformation's AV (and the Geneva 1599) considered it genuine, as did the Westminster divines to use it in their Scripture proofs. The Johannine Comma was cited a proof text for the Trinity in the following confessions and catechisms:
* Westminster Confession of Faith 1646 2.3
* Westminster Larger Catechism Q&A 6
* Westminster Shorter Catechism Q&A 6
* The London Baptist Confession of 1689 2:3
* The Belgic Confession of 1561, Article 9 quotes the passage: “There are three who bear witness in heaven– the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit– and these three are one.”
* The Heidelberg Catechism of 1563, Lord’s Day 8, Q&A 25, footnote 5
I'll side with these witnesses over the modern ones who differ.
You can take your pick of these sources re Paulus Bombasius and his correspondence with Erasmus from various places, it being common knowledge.
You are surely entitled to your view of God's providential preservation of His word, especially as you have considered this matter for some time. But it comes down to this: there are essentially two lines of textual transmission of that text, the Critical Text and the TR. Yes, the TR has some fine points at variance in the general TR mss, if we may refer to them in that manner.
There are so many battles pertaining to the 1 John 5:7 passage; here's a now rare book on that topic from my Google Drive: Michael Maynard's, A History Of The Debate Over 1 John 5.7-8 free for the taking; Mr. Maynard died young (fairly recently) – and it's a shame he's not around to speak to this matter. But he did leave his witness.
The translators of the Reformation's AV (and the Geneva 1599) considered it genuine, as did the Westminster divines to use it in their Scripture proofs. The Johannine Comma was cited a proof text for the Trinity in the following confessions and catechisms:
* Westminster Confession of Faith 1646 2.3
* Westminster Larger Catechism Q&A 6
* Westminster Shorter Catechism Q&A 6
* The London Baptist Confession of 1689 2:3
* The Belgic Confession of 1561, Article 9 quotes the passage: “There are three who bear witness in heaven– the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit– and these three are one.”
* The Heidelberg Catechism of 1563, Lord’s Day 8, Q&A 25, footnote 5
I'll side with these witnesses over the modern ones who differ.