1 John 5:6-7
6 This is the One who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ; not with the water only, but with the water and with the blood.
We must believe in Jesus as Son of Man, as Messiah, to overcome. Jesus often called himself the Son of Man when He was talking to people of His identity as the Messiah. 1 John 4:2 2 By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God;
In focusing on Jesus’ incarnation here, John reminds us of Jesus’ humility. The Son of Man, was born in a manger and “despised and rejected by mankind” (Isaiah 53:3) The Son of Man suffered at the hands of men (Matthew 17:12), all the way through His earthly ministry, but especially during His passion.
Jesus, as the Son of Man is the supreme example of all that God intended us to be when He created Adam and Eve. We see this in Paul’s discussion in 1 Cor 15:45-47 45 So also it is written: “The first man, Adam, became a living person.” The last Adam was a life-giving spirit. 46 However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural; then the spiritual. 47 The first man is from the earth, earthy; the second man is from heaven. So, Jesus has His origins in Heaven, but came to earth so that He could point the Way to God and give us eternal life. Colossians 2:9 9 For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form. And, of course, it is the Son of Man who will return someday. Daniel 7:13–14, “I kept looking in the night visions, And behold, with the clouds of heaven One like a son of man was coming, And He came up to the Ancient of Days And was presented before Him. 14 And to Him was given dominion, Honor, and a kingdom, So that all the peoples, nations, and populations of all languages Might serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion Which will not pass away; And His kingdom is one Which will not be destroyed.”. Daniel saw glory, worship, and an everlasting kingdom given to the Messiah called the “Son of Man”—and Jesus applied this prophecy to Himself.
This is the One who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ;
Jesus is the One who came by water and blood. He is the one who accomplished the incarnation, God becoming man. He lowered Himself from His status as Ruling in Heaven to Son of Man in humility, as a dutiful Son to God His Father. Philippians 2:6–8 6 who, as He already existed in the form of God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, 7 but emptied Himself by taking the form of a bond-servant and being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death: death on a cross. In the supreme example of humility, Jesus became a little baby.
He Came by Water
By saying that Jesus came by water, John is pointing to the fact that Jesus was born as a human, just like we all are. This reference to natural birth as being “by water” is used by Jesus when He is talking to Nicodemus in John 3:5-6 saying Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless someone is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 6 That which has been born of the flesh is flesh, and that which has been born of the Spirit is spirit. And, so we see that John considers it of paramount importance that we know that Jesus was a man, and that He was therefore qualified to be our Kinsman-redeemer. So John marks the beginning of Jesus’ incarnation, with water indicating His birth. How would His Birth by water, just as we all are testify, concerning the fact that He is the Son of God? The fact that He was born of a virgin! I can’t think of any piece of evidence speaking louder than the testimony that Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit, and born to the virgin Mary to say that He is the Son of God! When John points to the incarnation in John 1:1, he points to Jesus’ origin in God. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. And, then again in verse 14 14 And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us; and we saw His glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. Continuing this idea of sonship, John is emphasizing how Jesus came to us, so His origin in God as the Son of God. But manypeople see John pointing to Jesus’ baptism, by which God consecrated Him to His Messianic work. And so, John would be pointing us to Jesus’ ministry as evidence that He is the Son of God (see Matthew 3:13-17). Jesus, being baptized to fulfill all righteousness—doing right according to the Will of God. We see the Holy Spirit testifying by descending from Heaven and alighting on Him. We hear God the Father testifying that “This is My beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.
He Came by Blood
Jesus came by blood. Back in 1 John 1:7 he reminded us that we are cleansed from sin by the blood of Jesus saying 1 John 1:7 7 but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin. So, John is talking about Jesus’ shed blood on Calvary. Jesus came to die for our sins, so that they could be cleansed; washed away in His blood. And, so we have the consummation of His earthly ministry on the cross.
not only by water but by water and by blood.
His coming was not in the water of John’s Baptism alone, it was realized even more fully in the Blood which He shed upon the Cross. It isn’t just Jesus’ incarnation as Emmanuel, God with Us, or His baptism and empowerment by the Holy Spirit that must be understood in order to have overcoming power. It is by the blood of the lamb. And this is exactly what we read about those who overcome the enemy in Revelation 12:10-11 “Now the salvation, and the power, and the kingdom of our God and the authority of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers and sisters has been thrown down, the one who accuses them before our God day and night. 11 And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony, and they did not love their life even when faced with death. It is by His atoning sacrifice, His shed blood on calvary that we overcome. It’s the blood of the lamb, and the testimony of the Holy Spirit agreeing with our spirit that we are His. Romans 8:16 16 The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God.
It is the Spirit who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth.
John calls the Holy Spirit ‘the Spirit of truth’, emphasizing His trustworthiness as a witness. Why does the Spirit bear witness of Jesus be trusted? Because the Spirit is truth personified. In the upper room discourse, Jesus describes the Spirit in a similar way three times: Saying in John 14:17 the Helper is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him; but you know Him because He remains with you and will be in you. So, we are able to receive the Holy Spirit, and know that He is a faithful witness. Again in John 15:26 26 “When the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, namely, the Spirit of truth who comes from the Father, He will testify about Me, 27 and you are testifying as well, because you have been with Me from the beginning. So Jesus has sent the Holy Spirit to us to tell the truth about Jesus, and His Word. The Holy Spirit himself continually offers a present and continuing testimony to the Person and Work of Jesus, and His earthly ministry, coming by water and blood,’ significantly, including his sacrificial death on the cross.”
7 For there are three that testify: 8 the Spirit and the water and the blood; and the three are in agreement.
“so that there are three who bear witness.” The veracity of the testimony is strengthened by a third witness. Under the Mosaic Law one could not be condemned of a capital offense based on a single witness but required two or more (Deut 17:6 6 On the testimony of two witnesses or three witnesses, the condemned shall be put to death; he shall not be put to death on the testimony of only one witness.; Deut 19:15 15 “A single witness shall not rise up against a person regarding any wrongdoing or any sin that he commits; on the testimony of two or three witnesses a matter shall be confirmed. We see this rule established over and over in Scripture, and here’s the point—anything that we need to know will be found in the scriptures. And, anything that is vital for salvation, for doctrine, or for some other important point, we will find witnessed to by the Holy Spirit, in at least two places, and often in many more. God cares that we are following Him in Spirit and Truth, and worshiping Him in Spirit and Truth. He wants us to understand His expectations of us, and of course how much He loves us. So He makes sure that we have multiple witnesses to the Person and Work of Jesus, especially in saving us from our sins.