“WATER AND BLOOD”

6 “This is he who came by water and blood—Jesus Christ; not by the water only but by the water and the blood. And the Spirit is the one who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth.” 

1 John 5:6

How can we say that Jesus is fully God and fully man?

John begins an entirely new passage to describe the testimony about Jesus, whom the writer presents as the Son of God. He uses two things as an illustration of Jesus being God in the flesh: water and blood.

Throughout history, different theologians have given their takes on what this verse means. Some think that the water and the blood refer to that which flowed from Jesus’ side. Others are convinced that the water refers to the Holy Spirit and the blood to Jesus’ Crucifixion. Still, some say that the two items refer to the sacraments, i.e., baptism and communion.

To help us better understand John’s point, it helps to go back to the purpose of the writing of this letter. During that time, Gnosticism found its way among the people in the church. Gnostics believed that the Spirit of Christ came upon the human Jesus at His baptism and went away before Jesus’ passion in the Garden of Gethsemane. This belief is an outright denial of Christ’s humanity, a key Christian doctrine.

To combat this false belief, John argues that Jesus is the Christ, the God-Man who came by water in blood, meaning, He was a real human being and God at the same time.

John isn’t the only one who testifies to this truth. More importantly, the Holy Spirit reveals that God the Son came in human form, in the Person of Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit is also called “the Spirit of truth” (John 16:13) and thus gives a reliable witness. The Holy Spirit witnesses Jesus’ baptism by coming down from heaven in the form of a dove and staying on Him. When Jesus died and rose back to life, the Holy Spirit testified to Jesus’ words by fulfilling the prophecies spoken by our Lord.

John’s point is rather simple: Jesus is fully God and fully man and the Holy Spirit attests to these truths. Anyone who says otherwise is a liar and should be rejected.

Do you affirm Jesus’ deity and humanity?

Pursue the Savior today!