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. (1 John 5:6-8)
Examining the Threefold Witness of God
John’s gospel account is the most unique of the four gospels. The first three were all written within ten years of one another, but John’s account was probably written twenty years later. John’s account contains many different accounts of Jesus’s ministry that you will not find in Matthew through Luke. One unique detail is from Christ’s crucifixion where a soldier pierced His side with a spear and immediately blood and water came out. This evidence left no one with any doubts that Jesus died as a full human being (John 19).
The fact that Jesus died a fully human death counters the claim of some false teachers that Jesus was a spiritual being who appeared among us but did not take physical form. The water and the blood testify of His humanity, while the Spirit attests to the humanity of Jesus through the prophetic Scriptures. The piercing of Jesus’s side and the Spirit’s prediction offer compelling evidence that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. This witness of God assures me that I believe the truth (1 John 5).
Trusting the Witness of God
If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater. On several occasions, God testified of Jesus’ identity. The miracles Jesus performed were a witness from God the Father. From changing water to wine to feeding five thousand to raising Lazarus from the dead, all of these works bear witness to Jesus. At both His baptism and His transfiguration, the voice of God from heaven announced that Jesus was His Son. God raising Jesus from the dead provides a conclusive witness and proof (John 5).
To reject the witness of God is to call God a liar. God provides definitive proof of Jesus Christ’s identity and dispatched the apostles to testify about Him. If we reject the testimony of God as communicated through the apostles, we call God a liar. The stakes could not be higher: eternal life depends on receiving and believing this testimony. God chose only one way to save the world. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son for our everlasting life (John 3).
The Witness of God and Eternal Life
There is no other prophet, holy person, sacrifice, religion, or way to have a relationship with the divine. If I have Jesus, I have everything; if I do not have Jesus, I have nothing. Eternal life comes through Him and Him alone. Those who believe in the Son of God have the witness in themselves. The Spirit dwells in us, and by this we know that He abides in us. The Spirit helps us to discern truth from error so that we are not led astray (John 14).
My confidence in the witness of God rests upon the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Because He lives in me, I can be certain that I live in God. The Spirit is truth and provides the internal testimony needed to confirm the external signs of the water and the blood. When we accept this divine record, we move from spiritual death into the fullness of life found only in the Son of God. This is the foundation of our assurance and our eternal hope (1 John 3).
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