I John 5:1-12

Now here's a Scripture passage that "got stuck in my head" recently. The verses specifically that "got stuck":

6 - This is he that came by water and blood, even Jesus Christ: not by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit that bears witness, because the Spirit is truth.

7 - For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one.

8 - And there are three that bear witness in earth, the spirit, and the water, and the blood: and these three agree in one.

Now there are a lot of commentaries out there that try to explain the meaning of this passage. Some refer to the incarnation, some the atonement, some baptism and some the crucifixion. Not that I think all of these conclusions are wrong, oftentimes Scripture passages have more than one meaning. What else do / could these verses mean though? Good question: I think I may have an answer.

First thing we have to contend with, is that the phrase "came by" (water and blood) is present imperfect tense. Now most of us can easily deduce what "present tense" means. (Something that's happening in the now.) Imperfect tense though means something that is a continuous action. (Compare this to "perfect tense" which is a singular event that happened at a specific point in history.)

So we have "he that (presently and continuously) comes by water and blood". The next particle of the sentence defines that entity as being Jesus Christ. Now how did Jesus Christ who was born at a particular point in history, continuously come (by water and blood) throughout the course of history?

Good question! Now we have to define what it means to come by water and blood.

So now we know that for what ever point in history "the present" is/was, Christ came by water and blood. Now what on earth does that mean?

For part of that answer, let's go all the way back to Genesis and start with the first appearance of water. We have "darkness was upon the face of the deep and the Spirit of God moved upon the waters." Now the first chapter of this study, dealt a bit with what this "darkness upon the face of the deep" was. It didn't address the Spirit of God and the water though. Now here is where the Hebrew in Genesis gets interesting.

In English it looks like the Spirit (one entity) moving upon the water (another entity). What that verse in Genesis means though is that the action of the Spirit of God is what actually created the water. The whole crux of this "theory on the origin of evil" is that as soon as God acted to create, the once theoretical opposite of Himself came into existence. Evil's presence in the world was an inevitable byproduct of God's creative action. "To every action is an "equal" and opposite reaction. Now obviously because God is eternal and anything He creates is not. The "reaction" as it pertains to the physical universe, isn't exactly equal to the action.

Now what do we know of water. It is the foundation of life. Everything that contains water is not necessarily "alive" but everything that is alive contains water. Water came into this universe via the entrance of the Holy Spirit. The Scripture says that all things were created through Christ and for Christ; the agent thereof being the Spirit of God. The "water" here I think is making reference to life itself, where as the "blood" has to do with atonement.

How are both of these "presently continuous"? We know Jesus secured the atonement once and for all. He did this at a particular point in the chronology of earthly time, but he also accomplished it outside of "time" in eternity. Revelation tells us he was the "lamb slain from the foundations of the world". Life as it exists in this current timetable has to have God's continuous sustaining thereof, for if He stops, death "takes over". This is why so long as the breath of life abides in an entity, it is "alive". So this is how the water (life) and the blood (atonement) are presently continuous. Not only does the Spirit of God sustain our physical life, (He sustains all physical life - even the physical lives of the wicked) He is the driving force in both redemption and sanctification. If the Paraclete (the comforter) isn't "continuously present" abiding within you - you're toast from a redemptive standpoint! In other words, the atonement is not "continuous" but the working out thereof, in the process of sanctification, is.

The Scripture tells us that the creation bears witness to God's plan and even things as complex as the Godhead, redemption, resurrection, atonement and incarnation are seen in the creation. Now not everything in creation that bears witness to the works of God is "alive"; yet on the flip side, we can only see that witness because we are alive.

So I suppose we could say that water is like unto "the breath of life" in the material world? We know that nothing is considered "alive" until it receives the breath of life and when the individual entity dies, the breath of life (that made it alive) returns to God. Genesis defines "the breath of life" as it relates to humanity, is what makes humans "living" souls.

The next interesting nuance of the material world; the Scripture says "the life is in the blood". (This is why Jesus gave his "life" and "without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sin.") Now this shouldn't surprise us that the major component of blood is water. In our current era of medical technology, we understand "blood" to be a substance consisting of certain elemental structures. This is basic "nuts and bolts" of biology. (The "how He did that"; if you will, aspect of God's creation.) Obviously though we know animals aren't the only kingdom that has "blood". Plants also have "blood", (which also consists primarily of water); they just don't have red blood cells and platelets. Just like creatures in the animal kingdom though, we certainly consider plants to be "alive".

So the verse "came by water and blood" seems to have more to do with the concept of redemption secured in the individual by the action of the Spirit, (which only came about because of the incarnation actually taking place); than it has specific reference to Jesus's earthly body. On the flip side of this though, Jesus could not have atoned for sinners without having an earthly body.

This gives the verse about the "3 that bear witness in the earth" an interesting nuance because there are only 2 persons of the Godhead who entered the created world. One being the Son (in that the incarnation involved being a living entity with a created body; i.e. "water" and that the other "portion" of his personhood was Divine. This is the aspect of him that was able to carry the "life" long enough to satisfy the payment; i.e. "blood". At the end of the ordeal only after "it is finished" did he actually die. The other person of the Godhead present in the created world being the Spirit. (The Spirit of which brought the very possibility of life into this universe by "bringing" water.)

The counter action manifest in the actions of fallen sinful humanity against the two persons of the Godhead who entered into the created realm, was blasphemy (against the Holy Spirit) and the literal murdering of Jesus. Fallen humanity has not done anything specifically "to" the Father, for our lack of access thereof. This is why I think this verse says the three that bear witness in the earth "agree" in one, where as in heaven they "are" one.

Now I don't know how much of this makes sense to anyone who's reading it; when it only "sort of" makes sense to me. It's a lot to wrap one's brain around. Thoughts, contemplations and pondering though are always welcome.