“This is He who came by water and blood – Jesus Christ; not only by water, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit who bears witness, because the Spirit is truth.” 1 John 5:6.
The consensus of opinion is that the water represents the baptism of the Lord at the beginning of His ministry and the blood refers to that which He shed on the cross.
It is easy to lose sight of the importance of Jesus’ baptism because the significance is lost to the modern mind. It is much more important than one would think though for it was His introduction to Israel as the promised Messiah.
It was the task of John the Baptist to introduce Jesus Christ to the children of Israel, for he said of himself.
“…I am ‘The voice of one crying in the wilderness: “Make straight the way of the Lord,”’ as the prophet Isaiah said.” John 1:23.
Jesus also refers to John the Baptist as the doorkeeper in the following passage.
“Most assuredly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door, but climbs up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice; and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.” John 10:1-3.
“Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan to be baptized by him. And John tried to prevent Him, saying, ‘I have need to be baptized by You, and are You coming to me?’ But Jesus answered and said to him, ‘Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.’ Then he allowed Him. Then Jesus, when He had been baptized, came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon Him. And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, ‘This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.’” Matthew 3:13-17.
“And John bore witness, saying, ‘I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and He remained upon Him. I did not know Him, but He who sent me to baptize with water said to me, “Upon whom you see the Spirit descending, and remaining on Him, this is He who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.” And I have seen and testified that this is the Son of God.’” John 1:32-34.
The stated reason for Christ’s baptism is so He would be revealed to John the Baptist and to Israel. John was sent to Israel to announce the coming Messiah/Christ and to preach repentance to them. “… [To] Make straight the way of the Lord…” John 1:23b; quoted from Isaiah 40:3.
The baptism, which was one of repentance, was an acknowledgement of the Israelite’s sin and a desire to return to the God of their fathers.
Jesus, who had never sinned, came to be baptized to identify with the common man and to further validate that the preaching of John was from God.
Christ’s baptism was not only a sign to the Israelites, but it also underscores the importance of the Christian baptism; which is not a baptism of repentance but one of identification with Christ.
“What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. For he who has died has been freed from sin.” Romans 6:1-7.
“Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always even to the end of the age. ‘Amen’” Matthew 28:19-20.
There are those who hold to the idea that the water spoken of in our passage is that which came forth with the piercing of Jesus’ side at His crucifixion.
“But when they came to Jesus and saw that He was already dead, they did not break His legs. But one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out. And he who has seen has testified, and his testimony is true; and he knows that he is telling the truth, so that you may believe. For these things were done that the Scripture should be fulfilled, ‘Not one of His bones shall be broken.’ And again another Scripture says, ‘They shall look on Him whom they pierced.’” John 19:33-37.
Both concepts have merit, but the more likely is that of the baptism of John and the blood shed on the cross; if only because they bracket the entire ministry of the Lord.
I know you will consider these things carefully, because they are quite fascinating. At the same time, if you have not been baptized yet, consider that too.
“This is He who came by water and blood – Jesus Christ; not only by water, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit who bears witness, because the Spirit is truth.” 1 John 5:6.
That the Spirit is truth is borne out by the Lord Jesus in these words.
“And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you.” John 14:16-18.
The Spirit can and has borne witness to these things in many ways; through the Scriptures, through Christ’s witnesses who are indwelt by the Spirit, or by the attesting miracles which the Lord did while on this earth.
“They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth.” John 17:16-17.
Sanctify here means, to set apart to God. This is done by the Holy Spirit through the Scriptures; yet another reason why we must diligently study the Bible.
“For there are three who bear witness in heaven: the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit; and these three are one. And there are three that bear witness on earth: the Spirit, the water, and the blood; and these three agree as one.” 1 John 5:7-8.
You will find that in some other translations, the whole block (verse 7) about the trinity in heaven is omitted, because some of the older manuscripts leave them out.
If you have a New American Standard Bible (a good translation), NIV, or a Revised Standard Version, you will not find it. These verses will read something like this, “For there are three who bear witness, the Spirit, the water, and the blood; and these three agree as one.”
Some think that the heavenly witnesses are left out due to the work of a sloppy transcriber; others think that they simply were not there to begin with.
According to John Gill’s commentary on the Bible there are still many manuscripts that have the passage intact, and there are citations of this passage by early churchmen such as, Cyprian in 250 A.D. and Tertullian in 200 A. D. the latter being only about 110 years after the Apostle John wrote them.
This, as they say is close enough for government work, and indeed many works such as Homer’s “Iliad” and “Odyssey” are accepted as accurate translations without argument even though the most recent copy is hundreds of years after the original.
So then, the “three who bear witness in heaven: the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit; and these three are one.” Really are bearing witness from heaven, both now and during the Lord’s baptism.
When Jesus, the Word was being baptized, the Holy Spirit descended as a dove from heaven and the Father spoke from heaven and witnesses heard Him.
Possibly the most important part of this sentence is the phrase, “…and these three are one.” We have already seen the trinity in action here, which is contrary to many heretical teachings which deny the trinity.
The triune God is an important doctrine for Christians because as we have seen in this epistle:
“Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God.” 1 John 4:15.
This confession means that the one confessing knows and understands that Jesus is God Himself, anything less than that is untrue.
Along with the above statement, “…and these three are one.” we have Jesus’ own words, “I and My Father are one.” John 10:30.
The marginal in the New American Standard Bible says that the word “one” means, a unity, or one essence. Even more telling is the response of the Jews who heard this.
“Then the Jews took up stones again to stone Him. Jesus answered them, ‘Many good works I have shown you from My Father. For which of those works do you stone Me?’ The Jews answered Him, saying, ‘For a good work we do not stone You, but for blasphemy, and because You, being a Man, make Yourself God.’” John 10:31-33.
“Jesus said to them, ‘Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM.’ Then they took up stones to throw at Him; but Jesus hid Himself and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by.” John 8:58-59.
Again Christ tells us that He is God by using the covenant name of God, I AM, stating clearly to His audience that He is Yahweh of the Old Testament. That this was clear enough for them can be seen by the fact that they were about to stone Him to death for blasphemy.
Do not let anyone tell you that Christ never claimed to be God! Notice that Jesus hid Himself and walked out through the midst of them. In other words, He turned invisible, or something akin to it.
“And there are three that bear witness on earth: the Spirit, the water, and the blood; and these three agree as one.” 1 John 5:8.
If this is a reference to the work of Christian witness on earth, then the Spirit would be the Spirit working through the believer, the water would be the witness of water baptism, and the blood would be either the gospel of the shed blood of Christ for all, or communion as given in 1 Corinthians 11.
“For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you: that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which He was betrayed took bread; and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, ‘Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me.’ In the same manner He also took the cup after supper, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.’ For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death till He comes.” 1 Corinthians 11:23-26.
If however, it is a continuation of the witness given by heaven on earth, then the Spirit would refer to the work of the Holy Spirit in and through men, the water would be a reference to the cleansing of the church.
“…that He might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word…” Ephesians 5:26.
Water could also mean the testimony of the word of God to all men. The blood would be a reference to the shed blood of Christ which is a proof of the love of God toward mankind.
“In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him.” 1 John 4:9.
“If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater; for this is the witness of God which He has testified of His Son. He who believes in the Son of God has the witness in himself; he who does not believe God has made Him a liar, because he has not believed the testimony that God has given of His Son.” 1 John 5:9-10.
In a court of law the witness of men can establish a matter; even things as serious as the death penalty are settled by witnesses of character. The Law of Moses was no different.
“One witness shall not rise against a man concerning any iniquity or any sin that he commits; by the mouth of two or three witnesses the matter shall be established.” Deuteronomy 19:15.
If men can tell the truth and be believed, how much more should the word of God be believed.
“…that by two immutable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we might have strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before us.” Hebrews 6:18.
The two immutable, unchangeable, things referred to here are God’s promise and His oath.
We lie to get out of trouble, to get something we want, or to enhance our reputation. God is omniscient, omnipresent, and omnipotent; He does not get into trouble, need something, or need to lie to be greater than He is, there is none greater.
God not only does not need to lie, it is impossible for Him to do so.
“…in hope of eternal life which God, who cannot lie, promised before time began…” Titus 1:2.
Having established that God cannot lie, what is He testifying to?
“And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.” 1 John 5:11-12.
The conclusion is inescapable. If you believe God’s word that you are separated from Him by sin, know that Christ has paid for all of your sins, and by accepting Christ as your savior all your sins will be taken away and eternal life given to you in Jesus. God says you will be saved.
But if you do not believe God, you are calling Him a liar; see 1 John 5:10 quoted earlier.
“He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him” John 3:36.
“He has delivered us from the power of darkness and translated us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.” Colossians 1:13-14.
Water and Blood, 1 John 5:6-13 taken from godisrevealed.com posted on 2-15-12, updated on 7-22-18.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version, copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission, all rights reserved.