According to Frederick Nolan, Robert Dabney and Edward Hills, each article-participle phrase (οἱ μαρτυροῦντες bearing-witness) in 1 John 5:7–8 functions as an adjective that modifies the three subsequent articular nouns (ὁ πατὴρ ὁ λόγος καὶ τὸ ἅγιον πνεῦμα Father, THE Word and THE Holy Spirit / τὸ πνεῦμα καὶ τὸ ὕδωρ καὶ τὸ αἷμα Spirit and THE water and THE blood) and therefore must agree with the grammatical gender (masculine / neuter) of the first subsequent articular noun (ὁ πατὴρ Father / τὸ πνεῦμα Spirit).