The Spirit, the Water, and the Blood: A Meditation on 1st John 5

The first letter of St. John is one of those parts of Holy Scripture that shows the scars of many battles with heretics over the centuries since it was written.  It was contested during the first few centuries by various groups, especially those who denied either the fullness of Jesus' human incarnation, the fullness of His eternal divinity, or the unity of the Triune God.  Because many perceived John to be the clearest witness in his various writings to these essential doctrines of the Christian faith, it is no wonder that heretics of various stripes sought to be rid of him.

Chapter five of his first epistle shows one of these lingering scars, especially in verse 7.  Depending on which translation of the Greek you're using, it may not even show up in your Bible.  It actually begins in verse 6, and continues through verse 8 in this way:

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.  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.  (NKJV-- KJV reads similarly, based on common Greek texts.)

What precedes in verses 1-5 is the direct declaration that the Christian's victory over the world (sin, death, hell, and the power of the devil) is found by living faith in Jesus who secured that victory for us by His life, death, and resurrection; i.e., Jesus' victory becomes our victory by a living faith which abides in Jesus and His Word.  The testimony, or witness, which is born in heaven and on earth, is a testimony to this wonderful and life-giving Gospel.  This witness made by God concerning our salvation in Christ alone, is what our faith clings to for forgiveness and eternal life.  If Jesus was anything less than He claimed to be-- fully God and fully man, united in one Christ-- then there would be no witness in heaven before the Father for our salvation, and nothing for the Holy Spirit to declare.  If there is no unity between Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, there is no God who has saved us from our sins.

Likewise, without the unity of testimony from the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, the earthly witness which is established by them, is meaningless.  The Spirit, who speaks through the Word of Christ in Holy Scripture, who seals and sanctifies the whole Christian church on earth by giving and nurturing faith in Jesus, would be gone.  The witness of the water in which Jesus establishes Holy Baptism for the forgiveness of sins, would become an empty gesture.  The witness of the blood, which Jesus pours out on Calvary and establishes in His Supper for all generations, would become nothing but an ancient tragedy.  The earthly witness of the Church, with her eternal gifts of Word and Sacrament, is nothing without the eternal witness of the Triune God.

But thanks be to God, that His witness is true!  For Jesus truly is as He declared Himself to be, and as the Prophets and Apostles bore witness of Him.  He has truly been born of the Blessed Virgin Mary, assuming her human nature into His divine nature, that He might become for us the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.  And having united humanity to the divinity in His one Person, He has reconciled the world to the Triune God in Himself.  Thus the Father sees the Christian who abides in Jesus by grace through faith, as one bought with the price of Jesus' blood, forgiven and free.  Thus the Spirit sends forth the eternal witness to our salvation by grace through faith in Christ alone.  Thus the Christian lives in Easter joy, for as Christ our Savior is risen from the dead and shall never die again, so we shall live forever in Him.

This is the eternal witness which heretics of any age cannot destroy, be they the Gnostics and Arians of the first few centuries of the Church, or the modern Textual Critics of the last few centuries of the Church.  In every age, the unbelieving and unrepentant have thrown their infernal powers at the Word of God, and He who sits enthroned in the heavens laughs them to scorn.  The devil is defeated.  The witness is sure.  Our salvation is accomplished, and the Word of the Lord endures forever.  Be of good cheer, dear Christian, and abide in the witness of God to you, for it is your life, your sweetness, and your sure hope.  Amen.