1 John 5:6-8 - Water and blood

5:6

There is no agreement on what it means when John says Jesus came by water and blood, though it is likely that the phrase was familiar to his original readers. There are three main suggestions to the meaning:

• One is that water represents baptism, and blood represents the Lord’s Supper. This was actually favoured by Luther and Calvin, but the suggestion does seem unlikely and does not have much to commend it. For instance, blood is part of the Lord’s Supper, and is signified by the wine, so it would be odd to have blood signifying itself.
• People like Augustine have seen reference to the crucifixion when the spear was thrust into Jesus’ side and water and blood flowed from Him. This has merit in that there is a clear scriptural reference, but it fails to make sense of “He came by water and blood”.
• Perhaps the most likely meaning is that water refers to His baptism, and blood to the cross. Some heretical teachings taught that Jesus was a mere man, not one sent by the Father (hence the repeated references in John’s gospel to Jesus being “sent by the Father”). They taught that Jesus and the Christ were separate, and Christ came upon Jesus at His baptism, and left before His death. The truth, the gospel, is that Jesus was sent by the Father, He died on the cross, and rose from the dead. This was all the Son of God. We don’t have identical false teachings today, but any notion that denies the full divinity and full humanity of Christ from conception onwards are false teachings.

And it is the Holy Spirit who testifies to the truth of the full humanity and deity of Christ. Any so-called superior spiritual insight that denies this truth is not inspired by the Holy Spirit.

5:7,8

The Holy Spirit, the baptism of Jesus and the death of Jesus all testify to the same thing. Jesus’ life is a complete and continuous whole. Any attempt to divide it up is deeply mistaken. There is agreement with all three. It is the divine Son of God who was conceived by the Holy Spirit in Mary. The Spirit came upon Him at His baptism. He went to the cross to die for our sins, and He was raised as we will be raised. There is perfect agreement and consistency in the life of Jesus.