This is He who came by water and blood—Jesus Christ. He did not come by water only, but by water and blood. It is the Spirit who bears witness, because the Spirit is the truth. There are three who testify in heaven: the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit, and the three are one. There are three that testify on earth: the Spirit, the water, and the blood, and the three are toward the one.
1 John 5:6–8
This one is going to take some time to reason through as it is not without controversy. The importance is that John is going to show again that Jesus is indeed Jehovah now. The controversy comes with a discrepancy in the text. In some versions of the Bible, the two verses seven and eight are far less verbose than what is in the King James Version. The text included in the KJV has a technical name. It is called the Johannine Comma. To explain that idea in detail will take much time, I will not do that. There is an excellent article on this posted from the Berean Patriot: The Johannine Comma. It’s a good read that may help all to understand.
Of course, my foundations in the faith comes by Independent Fundamental Baptist preaching. So I’ve heard much on why the King James Version is the only reliable Bible. I don’t embrace that anymore, and consider much of the argumentation proving the case rather juvenile.
Don’t get me wrong, the KJV is a great and reliable Bible. I say that having read up on the issue of textual criticism over the years. Especially since the introduction of Facebook which has greatly broadened my perspectives. As a result, I prefer the non-Alexandrian text of the Textus Receptus, also called the Majority Text and loosely, the Masoretic Texts. There are caveats that must be understood, more than I want to know. I investigate when issues arise and to learn. If you read this blog regularly, it is also clear that I use the Septuagint when it helps to clarify.
As I learn what the Bible says, the issue that guides me mostly, is the avoidance of Greek Gnosticism. Specifically, it is almost exclusively the denial of the humanity and/or divinity of Jesus Christ. The early church encountered this, as did the apostle John. It is one reason for his epistle. This denial is still around today, and embraced by many who call themselves Christians. You may even have some in your church.
It is with that primary concern that provides the purpose for this post… Jesus is Jehovah. I encourage you to take the time to actually say that out loud. It has a unique way of clearing the air and the mind. Those three words are powerful, yet immensely freeing.
I appreciate the indulgence toward me letting you know my approach to the text. With that, let’s go!
By Water and Blood
This is He who came by water and blood—Jesus Christ. He did not come by water only, but by water and blood. It is the Spirit who bears witness, because the Spirit is the truth.
1 John 5:6
When it comes to the apostle John, I am learning that he has a very intimate revelation of Jesus. Not only did He know Him as He walked on earth before His crucifixion and after His resurrection. He was in His divine presence in his book Revelation. One cannot understand what is said here, without the entire panorama of what John wrote. One must start from the beginning of the end in Revelation.
When I saw Him, I fell at His feet as though I were dead. Then He laid His right hand on me, saying to me, “Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. I am He who lives, though I was dead. Look! I am alive forevermore. Amen. And I have the keys of Hades and of Death.
Revelation 1:17–18
I think John’s reaction to seeing the Divine Jesus is important to note. It’s not like his interactions with Jesus before. John is awestruck at the presence of this Being with burnished orange feet. (That’s probably all he saw falling there. I think the rest of His body has the same skin color. Perhaps this very image is why some direct their hate toward an orange man. There is a real spiritual congruence. No, I am not likening Trump as Jesus or vice-versa. Just pointing out a very real and dark spiritual manifestation. I digress.)
The recurring themes and phrases that thread though John’s major writings are many. There’s the I am (ego eimi.) There’s the after these things (meta tauta.) There are many others to discover. The text in 1 John 5 points to the first of these.
John’s Gospel contains one of the greatest apologetics on the divinity of Jesus. He begins that by saying Jesus is God. He also says that He became flesh. He came by blood, which is the antithesis of being born again which is not by blood. There fore, in my understanding, by blood refers to human birth.
He came by water and by blood.. Though there are differing interpretations of what this means. When I read it, the water immediately points me to John 3 where Jesus is speaking of birth.
Jesus answered, “Truly, truly I say to you, unless a man is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.
John 3:5
This part of the epistle is going to provide a rock solid testimony of the essential Truth. Just as John witnessed to in his Gospel account of Jesus’ own words. The first is that Jesus is indeed born human by water. Which means He gestated in the womb, too. The reference to the blood is the second witness to His humanity. Humans have blood, divine beings do not. It’s not just that He is born human, He is human. He has blood.
The Bible teaches us that a matter is established by two or three witnesses. We have two to His humanity. The third Witness is Divine. John wrote of this briefly from the eyewitness testimony of John the Baptizer.
Then John bore witness, saying, “I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it remained on Him. I did not know Him, but He who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘The One on whom you see the Spirit descending and remaining, this is He who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ I have seen and have borne witness that He is the Son of God.”
John 1:32–34
The Holy Spirit descended on Him and remained. Other accounts add some detail to the event.
And a voice came from heaven, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”
Matthew 3:17
This event testifies to the Divine Nature of Jesus Christ. He is the Son of God. But knowing some of the Old Testament Scriptures that give a foundation and testify to the idea, Jesus is Jehovah. In Isaiah, the proof is clear: the Son given is called Mighty God and Everlasting Father. Remember, His birth testifies to His humanity, it also testifies to His divinity, He is born of a virgin.
These three witnesses testify to Jesus’ divinity and His humanity. It’s not two natures existing in One being. He is the unique perfection of both joined as One.
Saying Jesus is Jehovah is just as true as saying Jesus is Human.
This refutes the Gnostic idea that Jesus was only divine. It refutes lots of other ideas, like Arianism, Modalism, Sabellianism, and that Jesus was created by God. There are some who say Jesus is not Jehovah because He sits at the right hand of Jehovah.
All of these are heresies that deny the Truth. These three testify of Jehovah in flesh.
Our Testimony
This is the controversy with the Johannine Comma. If these are really words written by John, then there are three in heaven that testify. Which then makes it rock-solid evidence of the reality about Jehovah. One which John knows very well.
Read this paragraph and see what you encounter.
Jesus answered him, “Are you the teacher of Israel, but you do not know these things? Truly, truly I say to you, We speak of what We know and bear witness of what We have seen, but you do not receive Our testimony. If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things? No one has ascended to heaven except He who descended from heaven, even the Son of Man who is in heaven.
John 3:10–13
Did you see it?
We speak of what We know. We have seen. Yet Nicodemus did not believe “Our testimony.” Who is the We to Whom Jesus is refering?
I find it ironic that Jesus was speaking to a scribe there. One who would have known the Scriptures in the Tanakh. The words that testify of Him. And it is always with Jesus encountering Israel’s leaders that He expected them to expect Him. As pointed to above from Isaiah 9, the Mighty God and Everlasting Father would be a Son given to Israel
My Father
Before He came to Nicodemus, Jesus overturned tables in the temple, claiming it as His Father’s house. He claimed God as Father, and that should not have been shocking. No reaction to that was recorded, if there was one. Yet John cites it as a fulfillment of a prophecy in the Psalms.
Jesus testified that the Father so loved the world that He gave His unique Son. The language used is a direct reference to Isaiah 9:6, “a child is born,” and “a Son is given.”
Here is testimony that parallels 1 John 5:
He who comes from above is above all. He who is of the earth is earthly and speaks of the earth. He who comes from heaven is above all. He bears witness of what He has seen and heard, yet no one receives His testimony. He who has received His testimony has certified that God is true. For He whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God gives the Spirit without measure to Him.
John 3:31–34
Those are the words of John the Baptist. John says Jesus comes from heaven. He testifies to what He has seen and heard. Those that do not believe will not have eternal life. Those that receive what He says, meaning those that take it or lay hold of it, demonstrate that God is real.
After the recording of this, John shows that Jesus intentionally seeks out a Samaritan woman. He reveals to her His divinity, too. He says He is the Messiah. Knowing Isaiah 9, the Son given is a reference to the Messiah. Jesus told her plainly that He is Jehovah.
In John 5, there is the lame man at the pool of Bethesda whom Jesus singled out to heal. He told the man to get up and walk, and the man did. However that day was Shabbat. The authorities took note. The man was then grilled by them because he was carrying his bed—He was working. The man testified he did not know Who healed him, and said as much when asked. Jesus later found the man. That healed man left to tell the authorities that is was Jesus Who healed him. It was then the authorities sought to kill Jesus. It was not for the reason many suspect. The penalty for working on Shabbat is death. Since the man did as he was told, the responsibility for the penalty fell on the One commanding him. (Managers take note.) When the authorities came to Jesus for an explanation, here are the things that followed:
Jesus answered them, “My Father is working still, and I am working.” So the Jews sought even more to kill Him, because He not only had broken the Sabbath, but also said that God was His Father, making Himself equal with God.
John 5:17–18
The authorities immediately knew what Jesus claimed. John is not done with making the Truth about Jesus plain to all. Jesus is still speaking to those authorities that seek to eradicate Him.
Three Who Testify in Heaven
Then Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do. For whatever He does, likewise the Son does. For the Father loves the Son and shows Him all things that He Himself does. And He will show Him greater works than these so that you may marvel. For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son gives life to whom He will. The Father judges no one, but has committed all judgment to the Son, that all men should honor the Son, just as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him.
John 5:19–23
He continues…
“If I bear witness of Myself, My testimony is not true. There is another who bears witness of Me, and I know that the testimony which He bears of Me is true.
John 5:31–32
Who is the Other Who bears witness of Jesus?
It is the Father in Heaven. He testifies to the truth of Jesus in the works that Jesus does. These things prove that the Father sent Jesus. He is the Miracle Worker of old Who bore Noah through the flood and the Israelis through the sea.
Where John writes his epistle, Jesus has already been caught up to Heaven. He is there now, so it makes perfect sense to say that there are three in Heaven Who bear witness.
The Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit
I personally don’t like to use the word Trinity. I don’t reject the concept. I reject the oversimplification and the baggage added to the idea. Even though that is simple. God has told us of Himself. I take hold of that testimony, all of it.
Considering Father, Word, and Spirit, there are many overt testimonies to find in the Tanakh. The first one comes from Genesis 1:1… In the beginning God. The Hebrew word for God there is Elohim. Hebrew has many unique peculiarities, this is one of them. Elohim is the plural of the singular Hebrew noun El. Both translate to God. Hebrew nouns come in singular form, dual form, and plural. The dual form is Elohayim, which would signify a set of two. Which means that a Hebrew plural is really more than two. Or at least, three. Elohim is three or more which is the initial idea.
Then there is the Sh’ma Yisrael…
Hear, O Israel: The Lord is our God. The Lord is one!
Deuteronomy 6:4
One, in this verse, is translated from the Hebrew word echad. Which properly means united as one, as in a unity of parts. The word Lord there is the Tetragrammaton. I usually use Jehovah. Jehovah is One!
Two witnesses, but are there more?
Yes, there are a lot of them. Besides the earlier reference to Isaiah 9, there are more. I will reference two.
Thus says the Lord the King of Israel,
Isaiah 44:6
and his Redeemer the Lord of Hosts:
I am the first, and I am the last;
besides Me there is no God.
Thus says Jehovah, the King of Israel. This title that belongs to the Messiah. The Lord (Jehovah) of Hosts is also a title belonging to the Messiah. Finally, the first and the last is also how the Messiah describes Himself in Revelation. There is also a hint of this in Genesis 1:1 where the Hebrew says, “Bereshit bara Elohim et.” Literally in English it is, “In the beginning God.” But the et is not translated. It is two letters encoded in the text. They are the aleph and the tav. These are the first and the last letters of the Hebrew alphabet. It is the equivalent of alpha and omega.
Come near to Me, hear this:
Isaiah 48:16
I have not spoken in secret from the beginning;
from the time that it was, there I am.
And now the Lord God has sent me
and His Spirit.
I encourage the reader to diligence—read all of Isaiah 48. For purposes here, I will tell you that the person speaking is Jehovah. (Back in Isaiah 45:18, Jehovah declares Himself as the One speaking.) When getting to this verse, it is Jehovah’s call to Israel. He identifies Himself yet again, but differently. He declares He, Adonai (Lord) God, sent Jehovah and His Spirit.
This text tells us that Jehovah is the One sent from Adonai. John is borrowing heavily from the Tanakh. The sent One is Jesus, Who is clearly Jehovah. John knew this from Jesus’ Own testimony.
The Father Himself, who has sent Me, has borne witness of Me. You have neither heard His voice at any time, nor seen His form.
John 5:37
The Father sends the Son to give life. One of the previous references above included John 5:21 where Jesus says, “For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son gives life to whom He will.” To another group of people, Jesus will say in John 6:63, “It is the Spirit who gives life.”
By Jesus’ testimony, there are Three Who give life, the Father, the Son, and the Spirit.
One of those other important consistencies, in Isaiah 48 is that Jehovah declared things would happen before they did. It is God Who alone knows the beginning from the end.
Remember the former things of old,
Isaiah 46:9–10
for I am God, and there is no other;
I am God, and there is no one like Me,
declaring the end from the beginning,
and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying,
“My counsel shall stand,
and I will do all My good pleasure,”
Throughout Jesus’ Own testimony in John’s Gospel, He says He tells what happens before it does. In His case to the authorities, He said if one knew the Father they would know Him.
I am He
Back to John. He knew the Father, and he recorded these words from Jesus.
“Now I tell you before it happens, that when it does happen, you may believe that I am He. Truly, truly I say to you, he who receives whomever I send receives Me. And he who receives Me receives Him who sent Me.”
John 13:19–20
When Jesus says He speaks future things before they happen, He is identifying Himself. Remember, God said there is no other like Him, He knows the future. Therefore, if Jesus says He knows the future there is only one conclusion. He says that “I am He.” This is for His friends so that they may believe that.
In some of your Bibles, the He is italicized. That means it is added for clarification. The underlying Greek is ego eimi, literally I am. Jesus is telling everyone present exactly Who He is.
Furthermore, whoever receives who Jesus sends receives Him. What does that mean and Who does He send?
It is the Holy Spirit.
“But when the Counselor comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will bear witness of Me. And you also will bear witness, because you have been with Me from the beginning.
John 15:26–27
This verse cements the idea that the Spirit is sent by Jesus. Yet He calls the Spirit Counselor. Recall Isaiah 9:6, the child born and the Son given shall be called… Counselor. Isaiah 48:16 referenced previously says that Adonai sends Jehovah and the Spirit. John 14:26 says that the Father sends the Spirit.
The Father is Jehovah, the Son is Jehovah, and the Spirit is Jehovah. The clear cut reality—Jehovah is One! There is plenty of testimony in John’s own writings that the controversial passage is probably part of the original.
Three testify in heaven, and these Three are One.
Three That Testify on Earth
There are three that testify on earth: the Spirit, the water, and the blood, and the three are toward the one.
1 John 5:8
Just as Three in Heaven testify as One, the three on earth testify toward the One. That is, they testify that God has indeed come in Flesh. He is Emmanuel, God with us.
The testimony from John himself is very consistent. That One God exists in Three Persons is not just a tradition, but a reality from the Tanakh. The rejection of which has dire consequences.
This Witness in You
If we receive the testimony of men, the testimony of God is greater; for this is the testimony of God which He has given concerning His Son. Whoever believes in the Son of God has this witness in himself. Whoever does not believe God has made Him out to be a liar, because he does not believe the testimony that God gave about His Son.
1 John 5:9–10
The testimony of the eyewitnesses of Jesus… Like John’s… Needs to be received. It is eternal life. It is not just John’s testimony, but the greater testimony of God.
These testimonies must agree, that the Man Jesus is indeed Jehovah Himself. Which means if a person comes and says Jesus is not Jehovah, they disagree with the testimony of God. The consequences of that is to make Jehovah a liar. That will not work out well for anyone who does that.
This was a prevalent heresy at the time John wrote. The Gnostics denied the uniqueness of Jesus… Man and Jehovah. This denial of truth is still present today. It has become more subtle. Yet it is easily identified when people scoff at the Truth… Jesus in flesh is Jehovah, He is Jehovah today, sitting at the right hand of Jehovah. That Truth never changes.
Those that believe this, have the same witness in themselves. That is, they have Jehovah in them. That is the Counselor that was sent by Jesus. Receiving Him, one receives Jesus and the Father. The Truth reconciles.
And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. Whoever has the Son has life, and whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.
1 John 5:11–12
That is the consistent testimony of John… That Jesus gives life, and as such… Is indeed Jehovah.
The choice is yours to believe or not.
He who believes in the Son has eternal life. He who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.
John 3:36
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