56 Matthew Oseka Fiore, where Thomas referred to the Comma and took it as proof of the essential unity of the Trinity (unitas divinae essentiae)44 as Jerome did in his preface (una divinitatis substantia)45. Thomas quoted the Comma according to the Vulgate form thereof (et hi tres unum sunt). The purpose of the Polyglot note is vague unless it is supposed that the Polyglot editors had a premonition of an imminent tussle over the Comma and therefore sought legitimisation in Aquinas. Calvin discerned46 the difference between the Polyglot (οἱ τρεῖς εἰς τὸ ἕν εἰσι) and Erasmus’ final edition (οἱ τρεῖς ἕν εἰσι) based on Codex Montfortianus. The Geneva Reformer explained that in 1 John 5 εἰς τὸ ἕν εἰσι cannot be referred to the unity of the Trinity in terms of the essence (essentia) for this text communicates that the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are one in the same way as the Spirit, the water and the blood are one (v. 8) namely by consenting to the common testimony. Similar arguments for the consensus of the testimony (consensus testimonii) and against the essential exposition were presented by Erasmus in his annotations47. In his lectures on 1 John 5 dated 1527 Luther announced that Greek manuscripts have no Comma which was composed to repulse the Arians48. Therefore, the Protestant Vulgate49 and Luther German Bible50 abstained from it. The Wittenberg Reformer stated that the original text of 1 John 5,7-8 treats of the Spirit, the water and the blood that testify towards mankind (namely on earth), not in heaven, as the Comma alleged. Luther interpreted the water as the baptism and the blood - as Christ’s blood. In his opinion, οἱ τρεῖς εἰς τὸ ἕν εἰσιν should be rendered as “these three [i. e. the Spirit, the water and the blood] amount to one”. Thus, the Wittenberg Reformer agreed with certain versions of the Vulgate (“tres 44 Thomas Aquinas, “Expositio secundae decretalis,” in Opuscula omnia (Venice: Apud haeredem Hieronymi Scoti, 1587), 351-352 [Opusculum 24]. 45 Hieronymus Stridonensis, “Prologus in Epistulas Canonicas,” in Codex Fuldensis: Novum Testamentum Latine interprete Hieronymo, ed. Ernst Ranke (Marburg and Leipzig: Elwert, 1868), 399. 46 Jean Calvin, “In Epistolae Iohannis,” in In Epistolas Novi Testamenti Catholicas commentarii (Halle: Gebauer, 1832), 157 [1 John 5,7]. 47 Erasmus Roterodamus, In Novum Testamentum annotationes (Basel: Froben, 1540), 768-772 [1 John 5,7-8]. 48 Martin Luther, “Vorlesung über den 1. Brief des Johannes (1527),” in Werke: Kritische Gesamtausgabe, vol. 20 (Weimar: Böhlau, 1898), 780-782 [1 John 5,7-8]. 49 Kurt Aland and Barbara Aland, ed., Novum Testamentum Latine (Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, 1998), 623-624 [1 John 5,8; Siglum: Wi]. 50 Martin Luther, trans., Biblia das ist die ganze heilige Schrift Deutsch (Wittenberg: Hans Lufft, 1545), [sine pagina].