The Beloved Disciple's First Letter - Pt 19

 

This is he who came by water and blood—Jesus Christ; not by the water only but by the water and the blood. And the Spirit is the one who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth. For there are three that testify: the Spirit and the water and the blood; and these three agree. If we receive the testimony of men, the testimony of God is greater, for this is the testimony of God that he has borne concerning his Son. Whoever believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself. Whoever does not believe God has made him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has borne concerning his Son. And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life. (1 John 5:6–12 ESV).

 

In yesterday’s devotional we saw that confession of the incarnation is essential for overcoming the world, the Apostle John now moves to defend the incarnation in one of the more perplexing passages in the New Testament. It is fair that I present two different interpretations of this passage so that we might understand what the apostle is telling us in this passage. Now, before we look at these interpretations, we should first note that in the King James Version of the Bible, verses 7–8 include three witnesses in heaven (Father, Son, Holy Spirit) along with the Spirit, the water, and the blood. Modern translations omit these witnesses because they are not found in any of the earliest Greek manuscripts and are not quoted by the early church fathers. More than likely, they are a later addition made by a scribe and not a part of the original text. You will notice they are absent from the English Standard Version I have used here.

 

So, one interpretation of today’s passage teaches us that Jesus came by water and the blood and that the Spirit testifies with them concerning the person of Jesus. Most modern commentators believe John’s reference to the water and the blood is a reference to the historical facts of Jesus’ baptism and death. This understanding assumes John is refuting the heretic Cerinthus who said the “spirit of Christ” descended upon Jesus at His baptism and left just before His death. By asserting Jesus came by water and blood (v. 6), John would thus be saying Jesus remained the God-man even in His death and thus had a true incarnation.

 

A second interpretation says the blood and water refer to the wound in Jesus’ side that confirmed the reality of His death and resurrection (cf. John 19:34; 20:25). This understanding has the advantage of referring to events described in John’s gospel and by stating that the Spirit testifies with this wound (vv. 7–8), John demonstrates believers must confess the death of a truly incarnate Savior.

 

I tend to agree with the early reformers. John Calvin writes in His “Commentaries on the Catholic Epistles” that the theological meaning of the water, blood, and Spirit explains how Christ fulfills our need for cleansing and reconciliation. The “water” represents legal cleansing). Calvin interprets "water" as a symbol of the legal purification and washing away of sins, heavily tied to the baptismal reality. The “blood” (Expiation) links "blood" to full reconciliation and expiation. Christ did not just come to wash us (“water”), but to pay the ultimate sacrificial penalty through his death (blood). And, the Spirit acts as the internal witness that seals these truths in a believer's heart, transforming historical facts into an experiential, internal certainty of Christ's power.

 

However we interpret this passage, it cannot be denied that John defends the incarnation. Docetic teaching that embraced the “spirit of Christ” without the incarnation could not lay claim to orthodoxy in John’s day because the Spirit testifies to the incarnation (vv. 7–8). Today, those who claim to be Christian but deny Jesus is truly God and truly man likewise deny the Savior. As the early church grappled with heretics of various sorts, the orthodox were united on the absolute necessity of the full deity and full humanity of Jesus Christ. They realized that only God Himself could rescue us from our desperate plight and that only a man could earn back what the first man had lost.

 

This is significant for us. It points to the great lengths God was willing to go to redeem and restore His chosen. That is the heart of love in God’s manifest grace! Celebrate that grace!