Witnesses to eternal life through God’s Son.

1 John 5.6-12.

Previously I wrote about the Johannine Comma, the textual variant found in the KJV and in the footnotes of current-day bibles, which inserts the trinity into verse 7. It kinda changes this passage substantially; it makes verses 7-8 read like so:

1 John 5.7-8 KWL

7For three are the witnesses {in heaven:

The Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit.

These three are one.

8And three are the witnesses on the earth}:

The Spirit, the water, and the blood.

The three are in the one.

The part in brackets comes from the Textus Receptus, which includes the comma—a clause which wasn’t found in Greek New Testaments until the 1100s. Yep, it was added to the bible in medieval times; John didn’t write it. Doesn’t belong there. Even if it does support the doctrine of the trinity; just because God really is a trinity doesn’t mean the comma should be in our bibles. Especially since the comma interrupts what John’s trying to teach.

In verse 5, John stated, “Who’s the winner over the world, if not one who trusts that Jesus is God’s son?” 1Jn 5.5 KWL Then he states Jesus has come into the world:

1 John 5.6-8 KWL

6This Christ Jesus is the one who comes by water and blood.

Not only by water,

but by water and by blood,

and the Spirit is the witness,

for the Spirit is the truth.

7For three are the witnesses:

8The Spirit, the water, and the blood.

The three are in the one.

Jesus is the one who comes by water and blood; and three are witnesses of this—the water and blood, plus the Holy Spirit. And these three are in the one, i.e. Jesus.

Now, insert the Johannine Comma into the text, and suddenly “the one” in verse 8 doesn’t appear to be referring to Jesus anymore. Now it’s referring to the trinity—“the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit. These three are one.” John’s trying to make a point about who Jesus is, but the Johannine Comma hijacks his point and makes it about the trinity—and says the Spirit, the water, and the blood testify to the trinity, not to Jesus.

What does water and blood have to do with the Father and the Holy Spirit? They don’t, ’cause neither of these persons of the trinity became human. Only the Word, the Son, the Second Person, became the man Jesus. Only he became incarnate. Only he “comes by water and blood,” which is an ancient euphemism describing childbirth. Jesus didn’t only appear to be human; he is human. Fully human. (And fully divine; I’m not denying that part, but John wants to emphasize Jesus’s humanity here.)

This is why the Johannine Comma doesn’t belong in 1 John. If you love that passage ’cause you can teach the trinity from one verse… well I can understand that; it’s handy. But it’s not what John wrote, and interferes with what John wrote. Teach the trinity from other, legitimate verses. (Jesus is God, Jn 1.1 Jesus’s Father is God, Jn 8.54 the Holy Spirit is God, Ac 5.3-4 and God is One. Dt 6.4) Don’t poke a hole in 1 John just because that verse is so convenient.

Historically, John’s whole water-’n-blood childbirth euphemism went right over Christians’ heads. Still does. So they either assume one of three things:

• It has something to do with the water of Jesus’s baptism and the blood of Jesus’s sacrificial death—the beginning and end of his earthly ministry.
• Or it has to do with the water and blood which poured out of Jesus’s side when the Roman soldier speared him. Jn 19.34
• Or the water refers to the sacrament of water baptism, and the blood refers to the sacrament of holy communion. How, it’s hard to say, but Martin Luther and Jean Calvin really, really liked this interpretation.

But properly, the water and blood testify to Jesus’s humanity. And so does the Holy Spirit, who indwelt Jesus same as he did the Old Testament prophets and the New Testament Christians; who empowered Jesus same as he can the rest of us Christians. These three are witnesses to Jesus’s humanity—the Spirit, the water, and the blood. ’Cause these three were in Jesus. “In the one,” as John put it.

And since the Holy Spirit is God, his witness isn’t a minor witness. It’s hugely important.

God’s witness of his son.

Oh, I’m not stopping today at verse 8. There’s more of this paragraph:

1 John 5.9-12 KWL

9If we accept the witness of people,

God’s witness is greater,

for this is the witness of God:

He witnessed about his Son.

10One who trusts in God’s Son

has the witness in themselves.¹

One who doesn’t trust God

makes him out to be a liar,

for he didn’t believe the witness

which God witnessed about his Son.

11And this is the witness:

God gives us life in the age to come,

and this life is in his Son.

12One who has the Son, has life.

One who doesn’t have God’s Son, doesn’t have life.

If we would accept a human witness as being valid and sufficient, we should be even more inclined to accept a divine witness. And the Holy Spirit is most definitely a divine witness. If Jesus’s birth isn’t enough for us, the Holy Spirit should fully convince us.

Well, assuming we have the Spirit within us. Or believe him—and if we don’t believe him, there’s a decent chance he’s not in us anyway. John points out if we don’t believe him, we’re making him out to be a liar, because God did witness about the Son, and grants us eternal life through the Son. Rejecting the Son means we’ve rejected eternal life.

Trusting God—or “faith,” as we tend to call it—is a central part of following the One God, and trusting his witness that Jesus is who he claims he is. Jesus’s legitimate humanity and historicity, and the Holy Spirit’s confirmation, should be plenty enough to prove he’s God’s son. (Many Christians will also point to the bible, but I would remind ’em the bible was inspired by the Holy Spirit; the bible is part of the Spirit’s confirmation.) That’s plenty enough to start from, and God expects us to confirm the truth of that through obeying him and learning from experience it’s all true.

But if we reject faith, we won’t obey. Won’t have any victory. Won’t have any personal experiences to supplement Jesus’s historicity and the Spirit’s leading. It’ll just be us, thinking we’re Christian because we like Jesus, but living a faithless, godless existence, filled with uncertainty, doubt, and anxiety.

Whereas those of us who obey God, who trust in the living Jesus, who depend on the Spirit to empower us, have overcome huge obstacles, impossible odds, and terrifying opposition. Both back then, and now. And in the end will receive life in the age to come; will live forever with the living Jesus. Trust God’s witness.