We continue as we are coming to the close of the study that we started on the non-Pauline letters—letters that were not written by Paul. So this is the last one, the letter written by John, who also wrote the Gospel of John. He wrote three letters, and here we come to the first letter, and we close our study with that before we go to the Christmas story starting next week.
I wanted to close our study on the doctrines that we began several weeks ago, focusing on how our doctrines and our faith are rooted in the divinity of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and He is God, and He has always been God, and He is eternally the Son of God. The Trinity is a mystery that many times we do not fully understand, but it is also something we need to grasp as the foundation of our faith—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
In those early times when the Church started, they had a major controversy about the divinity of Jesus Christ. Many said that He was a creation of God rather than the Creator. But Scripture clearly tells us that He is God Himself, who is part of the Creator God. He was there during creation—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. So John is addressing this as a very important topic: the divinity of Jesus Christ. He is God Himself and not a creation of the Father. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are three in one—one substance, three persons.
John talks about the witness of God through various means, and one of the things he talks about are the three witnesses he mentions here: the Spirit, the water, and the blood. “There are three that testify,” verse seven says: the Spirit, the water, and the blood, and the three are in agreement.
Witnesses are very important when we make decisions, especially in courts of justice or in other cases we have to deal with. Witnesses are very important. And there are witnesses who claim to be Christian witnesses who come and knock on your door regularly. You know who they are. They call themselves Jehovah’s Witnesses, and they come and knock on your door and tell you what we believe or what we need to believe, and they have literature and things like that. We have to be very careful. The early church had the same problem, and it continues even today. They teach that Jesus Christ, even though He is the Redeemer, was a creation of God—that’s what Jehovah’s Witnesses say—and that He is not God Himself. They say He is the Son of God, and that when He was on this earth, He was just a human being.
But that is not what we believe, nor what Scripture teaches. He was never outside of His divinity. Even when He was living as a human being, He was God Himself. And He made witness of Himself during that time. We will go through that as we discuss His divinity and the teaching of the Trinity.
I know this is not a very interesting subject for many of you, but as we come to the close of our doctrinal studies, we need to know what we believe. Because when you get a knock on the door, you can tell them right away, “We believe in the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—one God in three persons. Amen.” Three persons in one God, one substance. If they don’t believe that, you can say, “Then I don’t want to talk to you.” There is nothing to debate. They will try to get into a debate with you. But we don’t want arguments or debates. We believe in the Holy Scripture, and that is our foundation—nothing more, nothing less. We don’t want to add anything to it, and we don’t want to remove anything from it. That’s why we separated from the United Methodist Church to begin with—because we wanted to stay on the foundation of Scripture itself, the Word of God’s truth that we believe.
So here John is saying that the witnesses are very important and that we need to understand who the witness of God is. He mentions three here, but there are many other witnesses throughout Scripture that we can see. Right from the beginning of creation, we see that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit were there in one substance, one God, who created the whole universe, including humans. We read that in Genesis.
As we come along through Scripture, God sent witnesses in many forms. The prophets were witnesses of God’s truth. Many historians were also witnesses. Then God Himself came into this world to bear witness of Himself in Jesus Christ. Then the apostles were witnesses.
So that is what John is teaching—the importance of witnesses. He is mentioning only three here, not all the witnesses I described. The three he mentions are the Spirit, the water, and the blood.
In the Jewish justice system, which we see in the Bible in Deuteronomy—and Jesus and Paul also mention this—two or three witnesses are required to confirm a fact. That was the foundation of their justice system. So John is mentioning three witnesses about the divinity of Jesus Christ: the Spirit, the water, and the blood. They all testify as witnesses, and they all agree. That is what he is saying.
So who are these three witnesses? Many preachers consider that the Spirit refers to the Holy Spirit. Yes, that is definitely the Holy Spirit who descended on Jesus Christ during His baptism. We saw that there was a voice from heaven that declared, “This is my beloved Son. Believe in Him,” during the baptism of Jesus.
The baptism also happened in water. According to Scripture, water reflects the Word of God through which we are purified. The Word purifies us just as water cleanses the body. The Holy Spirit, the Scripture, and the blood—the blood of the sinless Lamb of God—all three agree that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. There is no question about it, and there should be no doubt in our minds about His divinity.
The Spirit, the water, and the blood: the Spirit witnesses within us; the water witnesses to the world; and the blood witnesses for all eternity. That is the importance of these three witnesses.
When Jesus Christ was in this world, He said that if you do not believe His words, then believe His works, because His works come from the Father. He said He did not speak anything that did not come from the Father. So the Word of God is itself a testimony and witness that we can believe, as well as the testimony of the Holy Spirit. When Jesus was about to be taken up, He said, “I am going to send you a Comforter, a Counselor, to be with you, and He will guide you into all knowledge and truth.” And the truth is the Word of God. So the Holy Spirit was sent to confirm us in the Word of God, the Scripture.
Then the blood of Jesus Christ—the blood of the sinless Lamb of God—redeems us from our sins and cleanses us every day in this sinful world. All these three witnesses together testify to our salvation. There is nothing to be added to the work of Jesus Christ on the cross and His resurrection from the dead. The work of salvation is complete, and God Himself testifies to that through His Spirit, His Word, and His sacrifice. There is nothing to fear or doubt. Jesus Christ is the Son of God. The witness of God to Jesus Christ as the Son of God is unmistakable, unambiguous, and absolutely authoritative.
Verse six says, “This is the One who came by water and blood, and it is the Spirit who bears witness.”
Then John says that the three agree—different moments, one constant message. Throughout history—from creation onward—they were in agreement. God created each day of creation, and they were in agreement that it was good. Every part of creation was in agreement among the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
When Jesus Christ came into the world, He gave another aspect of witnessing to His people who believe in Him. He told us who believe in Him, “You are my witnesses to this world.” So not only are the Spirit, water, and blood witnesses in agreement, but He also added us as part of the human Church—the body of Christ—to be witnesses in this world as we live.
When He was about to leave this world, we read in Acts 1 that Jesus said, “You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” Now, along with the Spirit, the water, and the blood, you and I are chosen to be part of that witness body. Through our lives in this world, we witness that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. He gave us eternity, and we believe in Him. Our lives testify to that truth.
So we can add our names to that list: Spirit, water, blood, and my name. That is the plan of salvation that God laid out. Without you and me, that plan is not complete. Heaven is not complete without you and me. That is why He sent His Son—because He loved us so much and wanted each one of us to be there, not lost in this world. To complete the witness, John teaches us that we must take our part in that witness body to testify to the life of Christ.
How do we do that? By reflecting Christ in us. When the world sees us, they should see Jesus Christ in our actions, in our words, and in everything we do. A Christian is someone in whom Christ lives. Simply being in a church building does not make you a Christian—just as living in a garage does not make you a car, and working at McDonald’s does not make you a hamburger. We must reflect Christ in our lives.
Many of you do that already. When you walk around in grocery stores or in the community, there is a glory that goes with you. People notice it, because a Christian carries that glory in their actions, words, and attitudes. We are a people of hope. In the midst of despair and hopelessness, the Christian community stands out. The world is surviving because of Christians. Believe me—if there were no Christian body in this world, no Church of Christ, what hope would remain? People would be fighting and killing each other, overwhelmed by hatred and evil. The Church preaches the message of love everywhere because God has chosen us to be here as witnesses.
Thanks be to God for our life in this world. Amen. And He redeemed us. Thanks be to God for that.
There is also the cloud of witnesses cheering us on from heaven—the ones who have gone before us, waiting for us to join them in eternity. We live here as witnesses, and they cheer us on as we finish our race and join them in eternal life.
So this is how we close our doctrinal study. Next week, we will begin our Christmas story as we enter this Advent season.
As Christians, we live in this world to testify to the witness of Jesus Christ. The Spirit speaks, leads, and comforts. God’s voice is the Spirit. God’s voice is also revealed in the water. God’s voice is also completed in the work of Jesus Christ through His sacrifice on the cross.
Jesus is the Christ. He is the Lord. He is our Savior. May the good Lord bless us with these words as we go from this place to be affirmed and confirmed in our faith that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. Amen.
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