BIG IDEA:
OUR FAITH AND OUR ASSURANCE REST UPON THE HISTORICAL VALIDITY OF THE WITNESSES WHICH GOD HAS PROVIDED
I. (:6) FAITH IN GOD’S WITNESS OF THE INCARNATION
A. (:6a) Baptism of Jesus
“This is the one who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ;”
– divine proclamation of Christ as Son of God
– the outpouring of the Holy Spirit for His ministry
– the beginning of His public ministry
B. (:6b) Crucifixion of Jesus
“not with the water only, but with the water and with the blood.”
– Completion of His Mission — “It is finished”
– Paid the full penalty for our sins
His Baptism and Death mark the two bookends of His earthly ministry. The Holy Spirit through the inspired testimony of the apostles continues to bear witness to the person and ministry of Christ.
Boice: “If this is the meaning of these words, then two circumstances arising out of the context support it. First, John is obviously stressing the historical groundings of the faith in this passage. And if that is so, then an emphasis upon the earthly minstry of Christ bounded in one sense and on one side by His baptism and on the other by His death is understandable. Moreover, at each of these God intervened in a miraculous way to bear a testimony to Him: by a voice at the baptism (‘This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased,’ Matt. 3:17), and by various miracles at the time of the Crucifixion. The second supporting circumstance is that throughout the letter John has been opposing the Gnostics, who, significantly enough, are known to have taught that the historical Jesus was not the Christ but rather only a man on whom the Christ descended at the baptism but who was deserted by Him before His crucifixion. If this is in view, then John would be emphasizing that there is only one Jesus, the Christ, who was then present on earth not only in and through the baptism but in and through the Crucifixion as well.”
II. (:7-10) FAITH IN GOD’S WITNESS BY HIS SPIRIT
A. (:7) Dominant Witness
“And it is the Spirit who bears witness, because the Spirit is the truth.”
The record in the Scriptures (from the Spirit) speaking of the life and death and resurrection of Christ — especially focusing on His baptism and crucifixion.
Lenski: “The ultimate One bearing testimony, from whom all the apostles also derive their testimony, on whom their own faith also rests, is the Holy Spirit, none less.”
B. (:8-10) Impressive Witness
1. (:8) Impressive Agreement of 3 Witnesses
“For there are three that bear witness, the Spirit and the water and the blood; and the three are in agreement.”
2. (:9) Impressive Character of the Witness
“If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater; for the witness of God is this, that He has borne witness concerning His Son.”
3. (:10) Blasphemy of Rejecting the Witness (which is self-authenticating)
“The one who believes in the Son of God has the witness in himself; the one who does not believe God has made Him a liar, because he has not believed in the witness that God has borne concerning His Son.”
Boice: “If a person does believe God, he has an internal assurance that what he has believed is trustworthy. This is the work of God’s Spirit, the testimonium Spiritus Sancti internum, as the Reformers termed it. It is in addition to the assurance provided on other grounds. On the other hand, if a person does not believe God, he makes Him out to be a liar; for in this way he eloquently testifies to his belief that God cannot be trusted. Here the heinous nature of unbelief is evident, for, as Stott writes, ‘Unbelief is not a misfortune to be pitied; it is a sin to be deplored. Its sinfulness lies in the fact that it contradicts the word of the one true God and thus attributes falsehood to him.'”