The text (with the Comma in brackets and in bold caps) in the King James Bible reads:

“For there are three that bear record [IN HEAVEN, THE FATHER, THE WORD, AND THE HOLY GHOST: AND THESE THREE ARE ONE. AND THERE ARE THREE THAT BEAR WITNESS IN EARTH], the Spirit, and the water, and the blood: and these three agree in one.”(1 JOHN 5:7-8; emphasis in caps added)

In the Greek Textus Receptus (TR), the verse reads thus:^[2]

ὅτι τρεῖς εἰσιν οἱ μαρτυροῦντες εν τῷ οὐρανῷ, ὁ πατήρ, ὁ λόγος, καὶ τὸ Ἅγιον Πνεῦμα· καὶ οὗτοι οἱ τρεῖς ἕν εἰσι.

Trinitarian assertion: These verses states that the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost are one. Therefore, it affirms the teaching of one God being a trinity of three co-eternal persons.

Objection: The words in bold caps within the brackets above, which is commonly known as Johannine Comma, is believed by many Bible scholars (including SDA Bible Commentary) to be not part of the generally accepted New Testament manuscripts and therefore is an interpolation and spurious. Please click HERE to learn more. Even if the Comma portion was legitimate text, the wordings within the passage does not by itself proclaim the Trinity doctrine. The additional wording included notwithstanding, the text merely presents the Father, the Word and the Holy Spirit as three witnesses who are “one” in their testimony. In other words, they are in agreement when it comes to their testimonies. This passage says nothing about the 3 Persons being one God.

For those who insist that it’s not an interpolation, let’s take a closer look and see what the passage really reveals (even with the noted Comma portion included).

1 John 5:7 begins with the words: “For there are three that bear record in heaven”. The Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost are one in the record they bear.

First of all, the passage does not say that these three are a trinity, nor that these three constitute “one God”, made up of three co-eternal persons. It simply says: “they are one”. We are admonished not to add on to God’s word (Proverbs 30:6).

Notice also the following verse. “And there are three that bear witness in earth, the Spirit, and the water, and the blood: and these three agree in one.” 1 John 5:8

Please note, when 1 John 5:7 says “these three are one”, it refers to the record they bear. They are one in witness and testimony not that “one” constitutes “one god.”

Now, what is the record that they are united in? “Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?” 1 John 5:5

If one interprets 1 John 5:7 to teach a trinity of three co-eternal Persons, that actually denies the record that Jesus is truly the literal Son of God. This is because the trinity (at least how Adventist interprets its own Fundamental Beliefs) teaches that Jesus is only a Son in a metaphorical sense but not a real Son of God.

Yet only two verses prior, we are admonished that the only way to overcome the world is to believe that Jesus is “the Son of God”!

Furthermore, in verse 6 we read:

“This is he that came by water and blood, [even] Jesus Christ; not by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit that beareth witness, because the Spirit is truth.” (1 John 5:6)

Consider John 19:32-36 and how the Spirit was witnessing or bearing record through John when he saw them pierce his side instead of breaking His legs:

vs. 32 “Then came the soldiers, and brake the legs of the first, and of the other which was crucified with him.

vs. 33 But when they came to Jesus, and saw that he was dead already, they brake not his legs:

vs. 34 But one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came there out blood and water.

vs. 35 And he that saw it bare record, and his record is true: and he knoweth that he saith true, that ye might believe.

vs. 36 For these things were done, that the scripture should be fulfilled, A bone of him shall not be broken.”

According to prophecy, no broken bones (Psalm 34:20, which says, “He protects all his bones; not one of them will be broken”) point to Jesus being the true Messiah.  Piercing points to Jesus’ being the Son of God (Zechariah 12:10 “they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn.”

“Spirit beareth witness” by the truth of the Scriptures being fulfilled, testifying that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God by the witnessing of the bone not broken and the piercing of Jesus’ side.

Now in verse 9, we see the Father’s testimony of His Son. “If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater: for this is the witness of God which he hath testified of his Son.” 1 John 5:9 (See also Matthew 3:17 “And a voice from heaven said, ‘This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.'” and Matthew 17:5 “While he was still speaking, a bright cloud covered them, and a voice from the cloud said, ‘This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!'” ).

And what if we do not believe the record which God gave of His Son? John continues:

“He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself: he that believeth not God hath made him a liar; because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son.” 1 John 5:10

How important is it to believe in the Son of God? John once again affirms:

“And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life; [and] he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.” 1 John 5:11-12, 22

Let us not forget the testimony of Jesus Himself, as penned by the same author:

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” John 3:16

It is interesting to note that in 1 John 5:7, the term John uses for the Son is “the Word”. This is important because in John’s gospel, he tells us exactly who the Word is.

“And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.” John 1:14

Thus, one could rightly translate 1 John 5:7 as: “For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word [the only begotten of the Father], and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one.” 1 John 5:7

We have seen that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost are one in the record that they bear, and that record is “that Jesus is the Son of God” (1 John 5:5).

Amazing! The very text which Trinitarians use to teach a trinity of three co-eternal persons (and thereby deny that Jesus is the Son of God) actually testifies to the record that Jesus is the Son of God. Moreover, the same chapter clearly states that our eternal life depends on us believing this truth.

“These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life…” 1 John 5:13

Again, the concept of “one” illustrated here does not denote one triune god, made up of three persons but rather it speaks of the Father, Son, and their own Spirit’s testimony being of “one” accord.

“…that there is none other God but one. For though there be that are called gods, whether in heaven or in earth, (as there be gods many, and lords many,) But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him. Howbeit there is not in every man that knowledge…” 1 Corinthians 8:4-7

“The religious organizations of the day [sadly now including the GCSDA] have REFUSED TO LISTEN TO UNPOPULAR TRUTHS plainly brought to view in the Scriptures, and in combating them they have adopted interpretations and taken positions which have sown broadcast the seeds of skepticism. Clinging to the PAPAL ERROR…they have rejected the only defense against the delusions of SPIRITUALISM.” {GC88 586.2}

“And Peter, describing the dangers to which the church was to be exposed in the last days, says that as there were false prophets who led Israel into sin, so there will be false teachers, “who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them. . . . And many shall follow their pernicious ways.” 2 Peter 2:1, 2. Here the apostle has pointed out one of the marked characteristics of SPIRITUALIST teachers. THEY REFUSE TO ACKNOWLEDGE CHRIST AS THE SON OF GOD. Concerning such teachers the beloved John declares: “Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son. Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father.” 1 John 2:22, 23. SPIRITUALISM, by denying Christ, denies both the Father and the Son, and the Bible pronounces it the manifestation of antichrist.” {PP 686.1}