Footnotes

1. 1 John 5:6 John is answering the false teachers who claimed that Jesus was born only a man, then at his Baptism the Son of God descended on him, but he left Jesus before the latter’s death on the Cross; therefore, it was only the man Jesus who died. In keeping with his teaching throughout the Letter that Jesus is God as well as man (1 Jn 1:1-4; 4:2; 5:5), John emphasizes that Jesus was Son of God all the time. This is a key point because if Jesus had died only as a man, his atonement would not have been enough to take away the sins of human beings.
2. 1 John 5:7 Three: the Scriptures required three witnesses (see Deut 17:6; 19:15; 1 Tim 5:19). In many manuscripts the text has been amplified; thus the post-Tridentine Vulgate has: “There are three witnesses in heaven: the Father, the Word, and the Spirit, and these three are as one: there are three witnesses on earth: the Spirit, the water, and the blood, and these three are as one.” The words in italics are not found in any of the early Greek manuscripts or translations, or in the best manuscripts of the Vulgate. They are almost universally regarded as a gloss.
3. 1 John 5:8 The three witnesses converge; blood and water join the Spirit (see 1 Jn 2:20, 27; Jn 3:5; 4:14) in testifying (see Jn 3:11f) to the mission of the Son who gives life (v. 11; Jn 3:15).