6This is the One who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ; not with the water only, but with the water and with the blood. It is the Spirit who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth. 7For there are three that testify: 8the Spirit and the water and the blood; and the three are in agreement.
John has the most interesting way of describing the coming of Jesus Christ. Various interpretations have arisen for this enigmatic statement that He “came by water and blood.” Some think the phrase refers to the birth of Christ, where blood and water (amniotic fluid) were present. Others have suggested it refers to the water and blood flowing from the spear wound in Jesus’ side when He was hanging on the cross, proving His death; John even used the word “testified” in his description of what he saw (John 19:34–35). Both of these interpretations speak to the physicality of the Son coming into the world, that is, that “Jesus Christ came in the flesh,” which the false teachers denied (see 1 John 4:1–3). However, neither interpretation fits with the contextual emphasis on the meaning of the blood and water “testifying” along with the Spirit. Nor does either address why John makes a point of writing that Jesus came not only by water but also by blood.
Others think that water in our passage today refers to the Spirit, and blood refers to Jesus’ blood shed on the cross. Still another interpretation is that the phrase refers to the bloody OT animal sacrifices and the copious amounts of water used for purification.
Most commentators today agree that water probably refers to Jesus’ baptism and blood to his death, encompassing the totality of His earthly ministry. At the time John wrote this letter, the beginnings of a philosophy called Gnosticism were taking root. This errant teaching held that the physical world was essentially evil and that the immaterial, spiritual world was good. The Gnostics denied that “the Christ,” who is spiritual and therefore good, could have incarnated into this world as the physical man Jesus. Their philosophy undermined the atoning work of the cross, since (in their way of thinking) Jesus’ humanity negated His deity. While full-fledged Gnostic thought did not come until the next centuries, we see traces of it in what John writes in this letter.
So, John emphasizes the physical and historical nature of Jesus Christ, using both terms, and emphasizing that He began His ministry with physical baptism and ended His ministry with physical death. This is the truth to which the Spirit of God, the ultimate authority, also testifies.
Lord, I believe in You as the incarnate, historical, and physical Jesus Christ, who died in my place for my sins!
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