The Certainty of God’s Witness

6 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. 7 For there are three that bear witness in heaven: the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit; and these three are one. 8 And there are three that bear witness on earth: the Spirit, the water, and the blood; and these three agree as one.

9 If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater; for this is the witness of God which He has testified of His Son. 10 He who believes in the Son of God has the witness in himself; he who does not believe God has made Him a liar, because he has not believed the testimony that God has given of His Son. 11 And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. 12 He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. 13 These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God. (1 John 5:6-13)

Ideas to Consider

• Read 1 John 5:5, the verse just before this passage. Who overcomes?
• Who bears witness, or tells us, that Jesus is the Christ? (vv 6,8)
• If a person chooses not to believe that Jesus is the Son of God, what is that person accusing God of? (v 10)
• What is God’s testimony about Jesus? (vv 11-12)

COMMENTARY

(This is just a little bit of what I took away from the passage. Remember, I’m human and severely flawed. Don’t just take my words as God’s truth. Be sure to be led by the Spirit, not me.)

In order to overcome the world and all of it’s pretty enticements, as well as our own sin, we must believe that Jesus is the Son of God (1 John 5:5). We must believe that Jesus is the Christ, the anointed one sent by the Father to be Savior and Redeemer to all who will place their faith in Him and Him alone for salvation. Because it is only Jesus, who by His perfect power and Spirit living in us, who conforms us to bears His likeness in love and obedience.

Remember that one of the reasons John was writing was to combat false teachings within the church. One of the false teaching was that Jesus couldn’t have been human because everything physical or material was evil; therefore Jesus was only God in spirit form, but not human. This teaching had the potential to ruin the Gospel message, because if Jesus wasn’t human then He couldn’t take on the responsibility or receive the punishment for human sin.

There are many different thoughts on what John was attempting to communicate with the “He who came by water and blood” thing. And though I do not fully understand it, I believe that John was attempting to confirm that Jesus was both fully God and fully human. Therefore, He was fully capable of living a holy life and fully capable of paying the debt for mankind’s sin.

John also says that we know this because the Spirit, who speaks only truth, has told us so. Jesus also said that the Spirit would bear witness of Him.

But when the Helper comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify of Me. (John 15:26)

We can hear that Jesus is the Christ from hundreds of people, but unless we choose to take the Spirit at His word we won’t believe — we won’t accept — the truth about the Son of God.

And if we hear the Spirit and choose to ignore Him? Then we are calling God a liar. We are saying that He doesn’t speak truth and that truth comes from some other source (like people claiming Jesus wasn’t fully human, or not God’s son at all, or not God’s only son, etc., etc.).

God’s testimony, through His Holy Spirit is this: That Jesus, who is God and has forever co-existed with the Father and the Spirit, humbly stepped down out of heaven. He was born as a human baby to a virgin with the sole purpose of glorifying the Father. Jesus glorified the Father through full surrender and obedience to Him, leading Jesus to take the full responsibility and the full punishment for our sins. And it is by our faith and full confidence in God’s testimony of His Son that we have eternal life in the Son.

PRAYER

Lord in Heaven, how wonderful you are! Thank you for sending your Son to us so that we may have eternal life with in Him! Thank you for sending your Spirit to speak truth to us over and over and over again! Thank you!

REFLECTION QUESTIONS

1. Why is it important to believe what the Spirit says over what man says?
2. How are God’s testimony of His Son and the Gospel the same? Are they different in any way?
3. How do we have life in the Son?

FURTHER STUDY IDEAS

Here are a few study ideas to do between now and next Tuesday. I suggest doing one or two a day in order to keep you thinking about the passage all week long.

• Start or continue a double entry journal.
• Hand write the passage.
• Did this passage make you think of other passages in the Bible? Share those passages with the rest of us in the comments.
• Read John 3:1-21. What words or themes also appear in todays’ passage? How are the two passages related?
• Write a summary of what you’ve learned from this passage. If you are a blogger, write a post and share it in the next #QuietlyThroughThursday LINK UP.
• Read 1 John 1-5. Yes, ma’am, the whole thing.

Want to read or reread past posts in this series? Click the image below.

SaveSave