1 John 5:7

For there are three that testify:

Berean Standard Bible

Study note

Setting — John, writing to an unnamed congregation he addresses as "little children," is in the middle of a sustained argument (5:1–12) about how believers can know they have eternal life. This verse is the hinge between the Spirit's testimony (v. 6) and the explicit list of three witnesses (v. 8).

The words — μαρτυροῦντες (marturountes), present active participle of μαρτυρέω, "bearing testimony," marks the act as ongoing and active rather than a single past declaration. The supplied Greek includes ἕν τῷ οὐρανῷ ("in the heaven"), a reading found in the longer text tradition (Comma Johannicum) and absent from the earliest manuscripts.

The thread — The tripartite witness pattern recurs in the Trinitarian formula of Matthew 28:19, the benediction of 2 Corinthians 13:14, and the pairing of apostolic and Spirit testimony in Acts 5:32. John's list is the only place in the New Testament that explicitly enumerates three distinct witnesses to Christ's identity.

Why it lands — The verse asks the reader to treat the claim about Jesus as a multi-source testimony rather than a single assertion, and to check the sources against one another. It is an epistemological move: assurance rests on the convergence of Spirit, water, and blood, not on any one of them alone.

Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.

The Greek words

King James Version

For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one.

Cross-references

Matthew 28:19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
2 Corinthians 13:14 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with all of you.
Acts 5:32 We are witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey Him.”
Matthew 3:16 As soon as Jesus was baptized, He went up out of the water. Suddenly the heavens were opened, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and resting on Him.
John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
Acts 2:33 Exalted, then, to the right hand of God, He has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit and has poured out what you now see and hear.
1 John 5:6 This is the One who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ—not by water alone, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit who testifies to this, because the Spirit is the truth.
John 8:54 Jesus answered, “If I glorify Myself, My glory means nothing. The One who glorifies Me is My Father, of whom you say, ‘He is our God.’
Isaiah 61:1 The Spirit of the Lord GOD is on Me, because the LORD has anointed Me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent Me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and freedom to the prisoners,
Matthew 17:5 While Peter was still speaking, a bright cloud enveloped them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Listen to Him!”