The book of First John

A Verse by Verse Study
Text 1st John 5:6 - 10

A. V. 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 beareth witness, because the Spirit is truth.”

     1. This verse feeds off of V. 5 “Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?”

          a. Several facts in these two verse the one who overcomes this sinful world, how we over come it, and who Jesus is, that is He was a man and He died to give us this life. It also deals with the trinity of God.

          b. V. 5 tells us the only way to over come this evil world and the sin in it is only through Christ. V. 6 will explain why that is and there is not other way to overcome this evil world.

     2. Verse 4 reminds us that that those who over come the world are born of God and that birth comes from God through faith.

     3. V. 5 ask who is He and V. 6 will answer that question. 

     4. Who is He? “This is he that came by water and blood, Jesus Christ;”

          a. Two things need to be defined, (1.) water and (2.) blood. The water is no doubt the natural birth as it is in John 3 and the blood is the shedding of blood on Calvary.

          b. This has nothing to do with the baptismal waters.

          c. The two points here are His natural birth showing He was a man and His death on Calvary. In context (the first 5 verses) is talking about salvation and that it comes through Christ and the reason it does is because He was born a man (by water) and shed His blood (by blood) to make this salvation possible.

     5. “And it is the Spirit that beareth witness,”

          a. Again the context is salvation so here what does the Holy Spirit bear witness too? John 15:26-27 “But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me:

(27.) And ye also shall bear witness, because ye have been with me from the beginning.”

          b. The Holy Spirit brings all of this to reality in our hearts That Christ became a man and that He shed His blood and that is where we are to place our faith and if we do we are saved.

          c. People can play games with the scripture all they choose too, however all of this taken in context is what it is. And the reason we know this is because the Holy Spirit has revealed it to us in our hearts and He is “the Spirit is truth.” V. 6     

 

B. V. 7, 8 “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.”

     1. There is no doubt that this is the Trinity, The Father, The Son, and the Holy Spirit, and that these three are one God and therefore there is no disagreement in the Trinity.

          a. The agreement I believe is the covenant made before the world began, and that is that Jesus come as a man and suffer the punishment as a man and die as a man for the trespasses of those given to Him at that time (the elect of God).

          b. This was (most likely) witnessed to by the Holy Spirit and the three agreed in unison.  

     2. “And there are three that bear witness in earth, the Spirit, and the water, and the blood:” V. 8

          a. There is much debate over if some of this verse is actual scripture, I say this it is in the bible and that makes it scripture. We take it as it is or we do not take it at all. We must trust the Lord to have held the scriptures together as He chose therefore we will take it as it is unless it is in italics.

          b. One thing for sure is this is a very difficult verse to define. It could be that the Holy Sprit is a witness to the birth and death of Christ and the Holy Spirit and the sacrifice is just as planned in heaven before the foundation of the world.

          c. J. Vernon McGee said the Spirit refers to the word and it is the witness of the birth and death of Christ, I disagree. However because of verse 9 McGee could be on to something.

          d. Most others make the water baptism and that I totally disagree.

          e. Therefore I will stick with what I have said until a better commentary comes along.   

 

C. V. 9 “If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater: for this is the witness of God which he hath testified of his Son.”

     1. This could confirm what McGee said as to the Spirit being the word of God, however I still disagree.

     2. This could be the witness of the men of God. God’s men preach truth and therefore since they are lead by the Spirit of God their testimony is the witness of God.

     3. All that John has said to this point has been what he has witnessed with his own eyes and I believe this is what he is saying here’ our witness is greater than other men.

     3. Let’s not forget the context of this book John is teaching mostly the young converts about maturity and this is part of maturity knowing how to divide truth and untruth.

D. V. 10 “He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself: he that believeth not God hath made him a liar; because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son.”

     1. I believe this sums up what I have said in V. 9 “He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself:”

     2. This could be the Holy Spirit and really we do have the Holy Spirit in us, however, we also have in our hearts that Christ was born a man and that He died as a man therefore shedding His blood to cleanse our sins. 1 Peter 3:15 “But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear:”

     3. And this is the witness of man “he that believeth not God hath made him a liar;” Because greater is the witness of God in our hearts than in the world. God is truth to us and  a lie to man. They make God a liar. Let’s remember 1 John 1:10 “If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.”