Saturday, November 29, 2014

Is the Book of Mormon Dependent upon the Spurious Comma Johanneum?

Carlos Xavier, an online Unitarian apologist (and son-in-law to Sir. Anthony Buzzard, author of Unitairan works such as Jesus was not a Trinitarian [for a thorough refutation of this book, see here]) recently posted an image on facebook in the Socinian-themed group, “Restoration Fellowship”:




No doubt, Xavier is attempting to portray the Book of Mormon as being textually dependent upon the spurious 1 John 5:7-8. Notice, however, 3 Nephi 11:35-36 is not a quotation of the Comma Johanneum. Moreover, that the Father and Son (and Holy Spirit) (1) bear witness to one another and (2) are "one" (though not within a Trinitarian or Modalist understanding) are themes found in non-contested texts n the Johannine literature (John 8:18; 10:25, 30; 17:11, 21-22).

As with many arguments against the Book of Mormon, this one does not hold up under any scrutiny.