complete verse (1 John 5:7)

Following are a number of back-translations of 1 John 5:7:

  • Uma: “So, this is the way God makes-clear to us that Yesus is his Child: the Holy Spirit testifies that he is God’s Child. And what happened when he was baptized and when he died also makes-clear that he is God’s Child. These three things have the same purpose, that Yesus is God’s Child.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “So-then, three are that witness:” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “There are three who witness about Jesus Christ.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “When Jesu Cristo came to this earth, there were three-things which confirmed that he was the Child of God. The one, it was his being baptized in/with water. But it wasn’t only his being baptized which confirmed-it but rather his blood as well which flowed-down at his death. As for the third, it was the Holy Spirit, and all that he says is true. These three, what they confirmed regarding Jesu Cristo was the same.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “The truth is, there are really three who testify about this, concerning Jesu-Cristo, as to who he really is.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “But now there are three who testify in heaven to the truth that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. The first is his Father. The second is the Son of God, the one who makes known who God is. The third is the Holy Spirit. These three say the same thing.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
  • Yatzachi Zapotec: “There are three witnesses in heaven speaking about Jesus Christ: Our Father God, and the person who is the Word, and the Spirit of God. And just the same thing speaks our father God, with what the person speaks who is the word, and with what the Spirit of God speaks.”
  • Eastern Highland Otomi: “There are (living) three in heaven who witness saying the same thing, that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. One is the Father, One is the Word, and One is God’s Good Spirit.”
  • Tzotzil: “There are three there in heaven that tell us about Jesus Christ. They are our Father God and the one whose name is Word and the Holy Spirit. The three of them say the same thing that Jesus Christ is God’s Son.” (Source for this and two above: John Beekman in Notes on Translation 12, November 1964, p. 1ff.)

Translation commentary on 1 John 5:7

In Greek New Testament, Nestle, and Good News Translation, this verse is taken as part of verse 6. In And the Spirit is the witness, the discourse turns now to the Spirit. This may seem a rather abrupt shift, but it was not so for John. In his school of thought there must have been a close connection between the Divine Sonship and the Spirit, as is shown, for example, by John 1.32-33; 3.34. For the Spirit (in the sense of God’s Spirit, or the Holy Spirit) see comments on 4.1.

The witness in the Greek is a participle of the present tense, literally “the witnessing/testifying one”; see comments on “to testify” in 1.2. The present tense expresses continuation. The reference is to the continuing witness, or testimony, of the Spirit in the congregation (compare also John 14.26 and 15.26). The verb is used here in the sense of “to affirm,” “to assert as valid,” “to say that something (here Jesus’ coming by water and blood) has really happened as stated.”

In order to stress that the Spirit’s testimony about the circumstances of Jesus’ coming can be trusted, the author adds because the Spirit is the truth, that is, because all which the Spirit does or says has the quality of divine truth. Sometimes the absoluteness of this assertion can be better brought out by a negative wording such as ‘because the Spirit cannot be a lie (or a liar).’ For truth see also comments on 1.8.

Quoted with permission from Haas, C., de Jonge, M. and Swellengrebel, J.L. A Handbook on The First Letter of John. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1972. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

Sung version of 1 John 5

Living Water is produced for the Bible translation movement in association with Lutheran Bible Translators. Lyrics derived from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®).

For more information, see here .