Read with Me
1 John 5:6-12 (HCSB)
Jesus Christ—He is the One who came by water and blood, not by water only, but by water and by blood. And the Spirit is the One who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth. For there are three that testify: the Spirit, the water, and the blood—and these three are in agreement. If we accept the testimony of men, God’s testimony is greater, because it is God’s testimony that He has given about His Son. (The one who believes in the Son of God has this testimony within him. The one who does not believe God has made Him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony God has given about His Son.) And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son.
The one who has the Son has life. The one who doesn’t have the Son of God does not have life. I have written these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.
Listen with Me
The final theological statement of John in relation to the importance of receiving Jesus as the incarnate Son of God might seem a little convoluted at first glance. But his statement is actually quite simple when it is broken down.
To begin with, Jesus was not recognized as the Messiah simply through His water baptism by John the Baptist, who then testified that Jesus was indeed not only the Messiah, but also the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world (John 1:32-36). He was also recognized as the Messiah in His crucifixion, the pouring out of His blood as a propitiatory sacrifice, which was then validated by His resurrection on the third day.
To both of these, the Holy Spirit gave confirmation, both externally through His descent on Jesus in the form of a dove at His baptism (Matthew 3:16-17), and through His being poured out into the hearts of believers in Jesus on the day of Pentecost and afterwards (acts 2:1-4). John’s point is that all three, the water, the blood, and the Holy Spirit, were testifying to and validating the same truth: Jesus was and is the eternal Son of God made flesh, the Messiah, the Lord.
John’s next point is critical. Many people, from John the Baptist to the apostles, were testifying as to Jesus’ identity. But the testimony of mere people can always be rejected by others as simply human opinion. But God’s own testimony that Jesus is His one and only Son cannot be denied by people without denying that God is truthful and all-knowing. Those who deny Jesus despite God’s clear testimony, given not only with audible words (Matthew 3:17, 17:5; John 12:27-29), but with the signs and wonders He performed through Jesus, things that no one else had ever done, are denying God as well (Luke 10:16).
John’s final point is that the one who receives Jesus as the Son of God has eternal life. But anyone unwilling to receive Jesus as He truly is does not have eternal life. Thus, accepting Jesus’ true identity is key to salvation. Those who are only willing to accept Him as a good man, a great teacher, a prophet, or a good moral example are closing their hearts to the true salvation that only the eternal Son of God can bring to them.
Pray with Me
Father, that is much simpler than it first seems. In a sense, John is simply recapping what he has been teaching up to this point in his letter. Thank You, Lord, for the reality of Jesus as your one and only Son who came, who died for me, and then rose again, so that I can not only have salvation, but so that I can also have eternal life. Amen.