1 John 5:6 - Meaning and Application

The Christian believer’s faith is powerful and victorious, so it must rest on solid ground. It has, in fact, the clearest heavenly proof of the divine mission, authority, and office of the Lord Jesus. Christ brings his own credentials, both in the way he came and in the witness that goes with him.

He came by water and blood. That means he came not only to enter the world, but to appear and work as a Savior in the world. He came to save us from our sins, give us eternal life, and bring us to God, and he did this by means of water and blood, and by none other than Jesus Christ.

We are defiled both inwardly and outwardly. Inwardly, sin has polluted our nature and controls our hearts, so we need spiritual washing that reaches the soul. This is why Christ gives the washing of new birth and the renewing work of the Holy Spirit. He showed this when he washed the disciples’ feet, and he told Peter, who refused the washing, “If I do not wash you, you have no part with me.”

We are also defiled outwardly by the guilt and condemning power of sin on our persons. Because of that guilt, we are separated from God and shut out from his gracious presence unless we are purified by atoning blood, blood that makes payment for sin. Heaven has determined that without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness (Hebrews 9:22). So the Savior from sin had to come with blood.

These two ways of cleansing were also shown in the old ceremonial laws. People and objects had to be purified by water and blood. There were many washings and outward regulations given until the time of reform, and the ashes of a heifer mixed with water purified the unclean (Hebrews 9:10, 13; Numbers 19:9). In the same way, almost everything was purified with blood according to the law (Hebrews 9:22). Those rites showed our double defilement, and they also pointed ahead to the Savior’s twofold cleansing.

This was especially shown at Jesus Christ’s death. When a soldier pierced his side with a spear, water and blood came out at once (John 19:34-35). John, the beloved apostle, saw it himself and carefully recorded it, because he understood that it carried deep meaning. Water and blood together cover everything needed for our salvation. The water pictures the cleansing of our souls for heaven, and the blood honors God, upholds his law, and displays his justice. Through Christ’s blood, we are justified, that is, counted right with God, reconciled to him, and presented as righteous before him (Romans 3:25-26). Through that blood, the curse of the law is satisfied, and the purifying Spirit is given for the inward cleansing of our nature (Galatians 3:13).

The water and blood that came from the side of the sacrificed Redeemer together include everything needed for salvation. They set apart and make holy all that God chooses to use for that great end. Christ loved the church and gave himself for it, so that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, and present it to himself as a glorious church (Ephesians 5:25-27). The one who comes by water and blood is a complete and perfect Savior.

Christ also has another witness, the Holy Spirit. It was fitting that the commissioned Savior of the world should have a constant agent to support his work and testify about him to the world. A divine power should attend him, his gospel, and his servants, showing the world what mission they came on and by what authority they were sent. Jesus said the Spirit would glorify him, take what is his, and make it known to his people and then through them to the world (John 16:14).

John adds that this witness is worthy of full acceptance because “the Spirit is truth” (1 John 5:6). As the Spirit of God, he cannot lie. Some copies read, “because Christ is the truth,” which would point to the truth of Christ as the matter the Spirit testifies to. The sense is still clear either way, the Spirit bears witness that Christ is the truth, and therefore that Christianity is the truth of God. Yet the present reading is fitting, and we keep it.

The Spirit is indeed the Spirit of truth (John 14:17). His witness is trustworthy because he is a heavenly witness, one of the witnesses from heaven to Christ’s truth and authority. For there are three who bear witness in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit, and these three are one.

And so 1 John 5:7 fits very well here, as proof that the Spirit’s witness is trustworthy. He must be true, or truth itself, if he is not only a witness in heaven, but one in being and essence with the Father and the Word. That is, he does not merely agree in testimony, like an angel might, but shares the same divine nature.

Here, though, we are stopped by the dispute over whether 1 John 5:7 is genuine. It is claimed that many old Greek manuscripts do not include it. We will not enter the full debate here. The critics are not agreed about which manuscripts have it and which do not, and they do not always tell us enough about the condition and worth of the copies they examine.

Still, there are reasonable thoughts that support the present reading. If we replace 1 John 5:7 with 1 John 5:8, the passage sounds too much like a repeated statement of what was already said in 1 John 5:6: Christ came by water and blood, not by water only, but by water and blood, and the Spirit bears witness. Then the three witnesses would simply be the Spirit, the water, and the blood. That gives them a far less noble introduction than the present reading does.

It is also noted that many copies read the phrase “upon the earth.” That seems to point to some witness or witnesses elsewhere, and opponents say this phrase must be missing in most books that do not have 1 John 5:7. But by the same logic, it should be missing everywhere. If we read 1 John 5:6, “This is he who came by water and blood. And it is the Spirit who bears witness, because the Spirit is truth,” it would not naturally be followed by, “For there are three that bear witness on earth,” unless the apostle were telling us that all the witnesses are earthly, while one of them is infallibly true, indeed truth itself.

There is also variation in the Greek text itself. In 1 John 5:7, some copies read “are one,” while others, including at least the Complutensian edition, read “are to one,” or “agree in one.” In 1 John 5:8, where the passage is supposed to continue, some read “upon earth” instead of the common “in earth.” That suggests the Complutensian edition relied on some Greek authority, not merely on the Latin version or on Thomas Aquinas, though his testimony may be added to it.

The seventh verse also fits John’s style and teaching very well. He often uses the title “the Father,” whether he means God in general or the Father as distinct from the Son. “I and the Father are one” (John 10:30). “I am not alone, because the Father is with me” (John 16:32). “I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper” (John 14:16). “If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him” (1 John 2:15). “Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father” (2 John 1:3).

The name “the Word” is also almost, if not entirely, unique to this apostle. If another writer had invented the text, it would have been easier, and more natural from baptismal language and church usage, to use “the Son” instead of “the Word.” Tertullian and Cyprian do use that name when they refer to this verse. Some even object that they cannot be referring to this verse because they speak of the Son, not the Word. Yet Cyprian’s words, as Facundus himself quotes them, seem very clear. Blessed Cyprian, the bishop and martyr of Carthage, understood John’s testimony as speaking of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. He says, “The Lord says, I and the Father are one,” and again, “It is written of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and these three are one.” Those exact words are written nowhere else but in 1 John 5:7.

It is likely that Cyprian, either from memory or because he was stressing the persons more than the exact wording, used the more common church names, calling the second person the Son rather than the Word. If anyone accepts Facundus’s idea that Cyprian meant the Spirit, the water, and the blood were really the Father, Word, and Spirit, that person may keep the idea for himself. He would then have to say that Cyprian changed all the names and even changed the apostle’s order. The blood, which Cyprian would place second, John places last. He would also have to say that Cyprian thought the blood from Christ’s side meant Christ himself, the water meant the Holy Spirit, and the Spirit, called truth in verse 6 and the Spirit of truth in the Gospel, meant the Father, even though that is nowhere else how John speaks when he names the Father with the Son and the Holy Spirit.

We need solid proof before we can believe that the Carthaginian father understood the apostle that way. Anyone who reads him that way must also believe that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are called three witnesses on earth. But Facundus himself admits that Cyprian says, “these three are one.” Those are the words not of 1 John 5:8, but of 1 John 5:7. They are not said of the three on earth, the Spirit, the water, and the blood, but of the three in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit.

So we are told that the author of the book *On the Baptism of Heretics*, which is thought to be from the time of Cyprian, quotes John’s words in line with the Greek manuscripts and the ancient versions like this: “John says about our Lord in his epistle, This is he, Jesus Christ, who came by water and blood, not by water only, but by water and blood; and it is the Spirit that bears witness, because the Spirit is truth; for there are three that bear witness, the Spirit, the water, and the blood, and these three agree as one.” If all the Greek manuscripts and ancient versions say of the Spirit, the water, and the blood that they “agree as one,” then Cyprian was not speaking of those words when he said, “it is written, they are one,” even if the copies in his day had some differences. So Cyprian’s words still seem to be strong support for verse 7, and they also suggest that a forger of the text would hardly have been able to hit so exactly on the apostolic name for the second witness in heaven, the Word.

As only this apostle records the history of the water and blood flowing from the Savior’s side, so he is also the one, or at least mainly the one, who records the Savior’s promise and prophecy of the Holy Spirit’s coming. In John’s Gospel, Christ says the Spirit will glorify him, testify about him, and convince the world of its unbelief and of Christ’s righteousness (John 14:16, John 14:17, John 14:26; John 15:26; John 16:7-15). It is very fitting, then, for this apostle’s way of writing and for his Gospel to mention the Holy Spirit as a witness for Jesus Christ.

It was also much easier for a copyist, by looking away or because the manuscript was blurred or worn at the top or bottom of a page, to leave out a passage than for an insertor to invent and add one. Such a person would have to be bold and shameless to think he could avoid being exposed, and also ungodly to dare to add to what was taken as a sacred book. And it is hard to imagine that, when the apostle is speaking about the Christian’s faith in overcoming the world and about the grounds for holding fast to Jesus Christ, he would leave out the full witness that supports him. This is especially true when he goes on to say, “If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater,” because this, the witness he has just described, is the witness of God about his Son (1 John 5:9).

In the three earthly witnesses, there is neither the whole witness of God, nor even any witness that is truly and directly God. Those who oppose the text because they reject the Trinity will deny that the Spirit, the water, or the blood is God himself. But in the reading before us, there is a noble collection of witnesses and testimonies supporting the truth of the Lord Jesus and the divine authority of his work. Here, I think, is one of the clearest short summaries of the reasons for faith in Christ, the proof that the Savior brings with him, and the evidence for our Christianity in all the Bible. For that reason alone, even if we set aside the doctrine of the divine Trinity, the text deserves full acceptance.

Having these sound reasons on our side, we go on. The apostle has told us that the Spirit who bears witness to Christ is truth, and he now shows that this is so by telling us that the Spirit is in heaven, with others who can only be true, or truth itself, joining in witness with him: “For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost, and these three are one” (1 John 5:7).

Here we have a Trinity of heavenly witnesses, men and women, so to speak, who have testified to the world that Jesus Christ is true and that his office and claims are right. The first in order is the Father. He set his seal on Christ’s mission all the time Jesus was on earth, especially by proclaiming him at his baptism (Matthew 3:17), confirming him at the transfiguration (Matthew 17:5), and backing him with miraculous works: “If I do not do the works of my Father, do not believe me. But if I do, even if you do not believe me, believe the works, so that you may know and believe that the Father is in me and I am in him” (John 10:37, John 10:38). He also declared him at his death (Matthew 27:54), and then raised him from the dead and received him into glory. Christ said that the Spirit would convict the world “of righteousness, because I go to my Father and you will see me no longer” (John 16:10), and this is also said in Romans 1:4.

The second witness is the Word, a mysterious name that points to the highest nature of the Savior, Jesus Christ. This shows that he existed before the world, that he made the world, and that he truly was God with the Father. He must bear witness to the human nature, or to the man Christ Jesus, in and by whom he redeemed and saved us. He did this, first, by the mighty works he performed, as in John 5:17, “My Father is working until now, and I am working.” Second, he did it by giving Christ glory at the transfiguration: “We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son from the Father” (John 1:14). Third, he did it by raising him from the dead: “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up” (John 2:19).

The third witness is the Holy Ghost, or Holy Spirit, a noble and honorable name, pointing to the one who owns holiness, gives holiness, and is the source of holiness. The Spirit of holiness must be truthful and faithful when he gives his seal and solemn witness to anyone. He did this for the Lord Jesus, the head of the Christian world, in several ways. First, he brought about Christ’s sinless human nature in the virgin’s womb: “The Holy Spirit will come upon you” (Luke 1:35). Second, he came down visibly at Christ’s baptism: “The Holy Spirit descended in bodily form” (Luke 3:22). Third, he gave Christ power over the spirits of hell and darkness: “If I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you” (Matthew 12:28). Fourth, he came in visible power on the apostles, giving them gifts and power to preach Christ and his gospel after Jesus went to heaven (Acts 1:4, Acts 1:5; Acts 2:2-4). Fifth, he upheld the name, gospel, and cause of Christ by miraculous gifts and works in and among the disciples and the churches for two hundred years (1 Corinthians 12:7).

These are witnesses in heaven, and they bear witness from heaven. They are one, not only because they agree in the same testimony, since they are three witnesses to the same truth, but also in a deeper way, because they are in heaven. They are one in heavenly being and essence, and if they are one with the Father, they must be one God.

To these heavenly witnesses there is joined, though in a different way, a trinity of witnesses on earth, who continue here below: “There are three that bear witness on earth, the Spirit, the water, and the blood, and these three agree in one” (1 John 5:8). The first witness is the Spirit. This is not the same as the person of the Holy Spirit, who is in heaven. Rather, we must think of what the Savior said, as reported by this apostle, “That which is born of the Spirit is spirit” (John 3:6).

The disciples of Christ, like all others, are born according to the flesh. They come into the world with a sinful, carnal nature that is hostile to God. That nature must be put to death and removed. A new nature must be given. Old sins and corruptions must be driven out, and the true disciple must become a new creation. The regeneration, or making new, of souls is a testimony to the Savior. It is his saving work already begun, though not yet complete.

This is a witness on earth because it continues in the church here, and it is not shown in the same public and astonishing way as miracles from heaven. This Spirit includes not only the new birth and conversion of the church, but also its growth in holiness, victory over the world, peace, love, joy, and every grace that makes believers ready for the inheritance of the saints in light.

The second witness is the water. Earlier this was considered as a means of salvation, but here it is a witness to the Savior himself, showing his purity and his power to make others pure. It points, first, to the purity of his own nature and conduct in the world. He was holy, harmless, and undefiled. Second, it points to the witness of John the Baptist, who testified about him, prepared a people for him, and directed them to him (Mark 1:4, Mark 1:7, Mark 1:8).

Third, it points to the purity of Christ’s own teaching, by which souls are washed and cleansed. “Now you are clean through the word that I have spoken to you” (John 15:3). Fourth, it points to the actual holiness of his disciples. His body is the holy catholic church, the whole church of believers. “Having purified your souls by obeying the truth through the Spirit” (1 Peter 1:22). Fifth, it points to the baptism he appointed for bringing disciples into his fellowship, where he clearly says by that sign, “Unless I wash you, you have no part with me.” This is not the mere washing away of dirt from the body, but “the answer of a good conscience toward God” (1 Peter 3:21).

The third witness is the blood, the blood Christ shed as our ransom. This blood testifies for Jesus Christ in many ways. First, it sealed and completed the sacrifices of the Old Testament, for “Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us.” Second, it confirmed his own predictions and the truth of all his teaching and ministry (John 18:37). Third, it showed his unmatched love to God, because he was willing to die as a sacrifice for God’s honor and glory, making payment for the sins of the world (John 14:30, John 14:31).

Fourth, it showed his unspeakable love to us, and no deceiver would love people in a way that could not be used to mislead them, as Christ’s love did (John 14:13-15). Fifth, it showed that the Lord Jesus had no selfish aim in worldly gain or power. No impostor ever plans for contempt and a cruel death for himself (John 18:36). Sixth, it places a duty on his disciples to suffer and die for him. No deceiver would call followers to his side at such a cost. “You will be hated by all because of my name.” “They will put you out of the synagogues, and whoever kills you will think he is serving God” (John 16:2). Christ often calls his servants to share in his sufferings: “Let us go to him outside the camp, bearing his reproach” (Hebrews 13:13).

This also shows that neither Christ nor his kingdom is of this world. Seventh, the benefits that come from his blood, if rightly understood, immediately prove that he is truly the Savior of the world. Eighth, these things are shown and sealed in his own supper: “This is my blood of the New Testament,” meaning the covenant that confirms the new covenant, “which is shed for many for the forgiveness of sins” (Matthew 26:28).

Such are the witnesses on earth. Such is the many-sided testimony given to the founder of our religion. It is no wonder that the person who rejects all this evidence is judged a blasphemer against the Spirit of God and is left to perish in his sins without remedy. These three witnesses, because they differ more from one another than the three heavenly witnesses, are not so much said to be one as to be for one, that is, to agree in one purpose and cause, and in the same testimony as those who bear record from heaven.

The apostle rightly concludes, “If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater, for this is the witness of God that he has testified of his Son” (1 John 5:9). Here we have a very reasonable assumption. This is the witness of God, the witness by which God has testified about his Son. That must mean an immediate and undeniable testimony, especially the Father’s testimony about his Son. God has, by himself, proclaimed and made him known to the world.

We also see the authority and worth of that testimony, argued from the lesser to the greater. If we accept the witness of men, and such testimony must be accepted in all courts and among all nations, then the witness of God is greater. It is truth itself, with the highest authority and perfect trustworthiness. The rule is then applied to this case: this is the witness of God, of the Father as well as of the Word and the Spirit, that he has testified about his Son.

God, who cannot lie, has given the world enough assurance that Jesus Christ is his Son, the Son of his love, and Son by office, sent to reconcile and restore the world to himself. He has therefore testified to the truth and divine origin of the Christian religion, and to the sure appointed way by which we are brought to God.